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Doc. # 28
For The
American Radio
Relay League
Board of Directors Meeting
January 17-18, 2003
Submitted By
Dennis Bodson, W4PWF
Chairman, ARRL EMC Committee
Mission Statement:
The EMC Committee monitors developments in the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) field and assesses their impact on the Amateur Radio Service. The Committee informs the ARRL Board of Directors about these activities and makes policy recommendations for further action, if appropriate.
The overall goals of the committee are:
Members of the Committee:
HQ Staff:
The role of the ARRL HQ staff consists of the following:
HQ staff changes:
In October, 2002, Mike Gruber, W1MG was hired as the ARRL RFI engineer. Mr. Gruber replaced John Phillips, K2QAI, who retired.
Electric Utilities:
Power-line interference has continued to be the number one interference problem reported to ARRL HQ. These cases are being worked on by HQ staff, in cooperation with Riley Hollingsworth of the FCC. Although most of the cases are well on their way to a successful resolution, a number of older cases are still unresolved. The headquarters staff has worked with Mr. Hollingsworth on the text of a "second letter" that is being sent by the FCC as a last chance for utilities to correct a problem before cases are referred to the FCC regional offices for investigation.
Power-Line Interference Workshop:
In August, ARRL Headquarters hosted a session of the RFI Services power-line interference workshop. Nineteen people from power companies across the country attended this two-day course to learn the techniques and equipment used in efficient troubleshooting and repair of electrical interference. The FCC's own Mr. Hollingsworth was among the attendees. This course represents a true partnership between Amateur Radio, RFI Services and the electric utility industry. The course was featured in an ARRL news story at http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2002/08/27/3/. After the workshop, Mike Martin, K3RFI, the owner of RFI Services, made a $4500.00 contribution to ARRL.
Power-line communications (PLC):
Power-line communications (PLC) is the use of power lines to carry high speed digital signals. There are two types of PLC of concern to amateurs. Both have signals that occupy most or all of the HF range. The power-line or electrical wiring can act as an antenna and radiated these signals. PLC can be used to network computers within a building. It uses the building wiring to carry digital signals from one computer to another. Most of this type of PLC operates under the HomePlug industry specification. Over the past few years, ARRL has worked closely with HomePlug, with the end result being 30 dB notches in their specification to protect the HF ham bands. Looming on the horizon is "access" PLC. This will use electric-utility wiring (overhead and underground) to provide high-speed Internet access to residences and businesses. At the November meeting of the IEEE C63 "RFI" committee, Mr. Hare gave the committee a presentation on the potential impact of PLC to the Amateur Radio Service. Mr. Hare was appointed to chair a C63 working group on PLC. Field trials are just now getting started and ARRL is seeking to be part of their testing.
Automotive EMC:
Mr. Hare continues as the ARRL representative on the Society of Automotive Engineers EMC and EMR Committees. The Headquarters staff continues to send all reports of automotive EMC problems to interested people in the automotive industry. While these reports are advisory, they are helpful to the industry in planning for future designs. Mr. Hare also serves as the ARRL EMC Committee liaison to the ARRL Industry Advisory Council and he is helping to facilitate communication between amateur and automotive equipment manufacturers.
Cable Television:
As a whole, the cable industry is doing a reasonable job at adhering to the FCC's regulations about leakage and interference. ARRL has received few reports of problems, indicating that most systems are either clean or are addressing complaints effectively. The few cases ARRL has been involved with have been addressed through Mr. Hranac, the cable-industry member of this committee. He generally refers the report to the senior technical management of the involved cable company, who then in turn help the local system resolve the reported problem. The advent of digital cable has not created any major new problems, although the increasing use of the HF "talkback" channels may be responsible for one or two reports that appear to involve HF. The Committee is watching these cases closely, to ensure that no industry-wide problems are at hand.
Database:
The ARRL Lab's RFI database was started on January 1, 2002. Due to the staffing changes, not all of the 2002 cases have been entered into the database as of the end of the year. The database has been expanded to include code keys for the type of interference, follow-up dates and manufacturer/utility contact information. Laboratory Engineer Mike Tracy, KC1SX, is writing the necessary code to have screens that allow the rest of the Lab staff to easily enter and find information in the database. This will allow the database to be used as a case-management tool to juggle the several hundred RFI cases the staff handles in any given year.
Committees: ARRL continues to be represented on professional EMC committees. Messrs. Bodson and Hare continue to represent the interests of Amateur Radio on the IEEE/ANSI C63 RFI committee and the Society of Automotive Engineers EMC standards committee. Mr Bodson has been appointed as the C63 representative and HQ staff liaison Mr Hare is chairman of the C63 committee's ad-hoc working group on power-line communications devices. This continues to be a hot topic of discussion at the C63 meetings.
The C63 committee is working on developing industry standards for immunity, emissions and testing of electronic devices. ARRL serves as a resource to the committee to protect the interests of Amateur Radio. Subcommittee 1 continues to work on a variety of EMC projects, primarily related to test site standardization. Subcommittee 5 deals with immunity and immunity measurement issues. Subcommittee 8 deals with various types of medical equipment. The ARRL EMC-Committee representation on C63 watches immunity and testing developments.
The Future: Interference to hams appears to be the present major work of the committee. Although immunity problems still do occur, this is being addressed at the national and international standards level and the Committee feels that the changes the HQ staff is planning for the web pages are appropriate. RFI from unlicensed devices poses a major real threat to Amateur Radio at this time. This will continue to require significant Committee and ARRL staff attention. To the extent possible with existing staff, or with additional resources, the ARRL should increase its contact with standards organization, industry groups and individual companies, and continue to work on all aspects of RFI problems and solutions.
ARRL's information about RFI can be read at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/rfigen.html.
