I'd like to answer the question with another question: Why doesn't X10 take the brainpower and real-world experience of the top contributors here and provide a USEFUL manual with their products? Wouldn't it be great to get your AHP bundle and find some great, clever Smart Macro examples included, or a FAQ pointing out the best way to trouble-shoot common problems?
Can you imagine buying a SONY HDTV, not getting a good picture, going to the SONY web site and then getting help from other SONY users, but not SONY staff??? X10 is getting a free ride from you great people. I'm amazed they don't send the "top guns" here regular free product samples, T-shirts and other goodies!
By the way, I live in the Seattle area, and I'll bet that if I took a $50 AHP starter kit to the average house, and randomly set up the CM15A and tried to automate a lamp two rooms away, it would probably work less than 30% of the time. Between noise, phase coupling issues, and lousy RF reception on an unmodified CM15A, the average new user doesn't stand a chance. I love my X10 stuff, and now that I have invested a lot of time, effort, and money into it, I have a super-cool and reliable setup. But X10 is still geared for interested hobbyists, not for the average Joe or Josephine. After all, I didn't have to learn about radio transmission to work my AM/FM clock radio, and I didn't even have to learn about the complexities of internal combustion to drive a car! But I certainly had to learn about X10's transmission scheme, noise and noise filters, and phase coupling alternatives before I could get my system to work at all. AND I had to void my CM15A's warranty in order to get RF reception throughout my entire house!
Rob