I was also activated for relief duty in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina. Same situation: I was the only means for outside communications for a hospital in Washington Parish until commercial communications modes were brought back online. I have also served during numerous more localized disasters including severe electrical storms, floods, a tornado, a bunch of "lesser" hurricanes, and uncounted power outages.

I would not have been able to perform this public service without many years of training, thousands of hours of practice during drills and exercises, considerable practical experience in actual emergency communications ("emcomm"), and thousands of dollars of investments in expensive and sophisticated Amateur Radio technology. I will continue to provide this service as long as I can continue to train and practice the essential complex techniques and familiarize myself with continually updated equipment and technology required for emergency communications -- as long as I can conduct all this training and these exercises without the interference which can be and is caused by BPL.

Emergency communications by not only ham radio operators, but by other emergency organizations should not and must not be relegated to a secondary status by BPL and the FCC. Emergency communications absolutely must be the primary consideration in BPL planning and regulation and it must not be implemented at the expense of licensed wireless services which provide emergency services.

And, as a combat veteran and soldier, I sure as hell am not going to be pushed around by BPL's proven flawed technology and the politically-motivated and financially-driven bureaucrats and industry proponents who cannot see their hands in front of their faces because their heads are shoved someplace where the sun doesn't shine. While BPL may be made to work interference free (e.g., using Motorola or similar technology), BPL is not going to work as it is presently proposed, promulgated, deployed, and non-regulated.

In summary, until and unless the current Administration and the FCC understand and acknowledge that BPL is faulty technology, delete it from the political arena, and either remove it from consideration or modify the technology to be interference free, ham radio operators and the ARRL will continue to lead the battle against BPL not only on its own behalf but also for the benefit of the millions of other HF and low VHF spectrum users as well.

BPL as it is presently deployed and planned for the future by its advocates is a clear and present danger to the nation's security in times of disaster and war and must not continue to be forced upon us by those who serve only their own pecuniary interests and political agendas.

Fred Stevens, a retired wildlife biologist and US Army Signal Corps Lieutenant Colonel, now a DisAmVet, is a fulltime RVer currently in northern Arizona and holds FCC Amateur Radio Extra Class License K2FRD and Industry Canada License VO2FS. He participates in local, regional, and state ham radio emcomm exercises, nets, and organizations wherever he travels. An active Boy Scouting Volunteer, he is Editor-Publisher of the international ham radio/Scouting publication, the OCARG EAGLE at http://ocarg.org. His personal homepage is http://homepage.mac.com/k2frd/K2FRD.html. The author may be contacted at hyperlinks within these pages, but if volume is too high, please do not expect a speedy response.