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![Previous (earlier) Story](/images/sty-down.gif ""It Seems to Us . . ." BPL--A Blind Alley"){kind=small} Previous: "It Seems to Us . . ." BPL--A Blind Alley |  Next: Repair Spacewalk Trumps ARISS School Group QSO |
NEWINGTON, CT, Jul 1, 2004--The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) says its grant of public funds to promote a BPL project requires the contractor to monitor continually for interference. Utility Consolidated Edison and BPL developer Ambient Corporation on June 8 announced the award of NYSERDA funding, pending final contract negotiations, to enhance a BPL pilot project in the Westchester County Village of Briarcliff Manor. Responding to the League's June 10 letter to NYSERDA's president questioning the propriety of the public grant, Gunnar Walmet, NYSERDA's director of industry and buildings research and development, said Con Edison also would have to investigate ways to mitigate interference as well as "assess potential barriers to full-scale deployment including regulatory issues." ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, told Walmet June 29 that while the contract requirements were good news, Con Edison appears content to let interference from its BPL project continue.
 An Ambient BPL power-line connection in Briarcliff Manor. The yellow object is a tap off the medium-voltage primary. The gray cabinet holds the electronics. Crosswell reports QRM on 20 meters is S9+20 dB. [Alan Crosswell, N2YGK, Photo] |
"I am sorry to say that to date, Con Ed has demonstrated neither interest nor capability with regard to correcting the ongoing interference that its trial has been causing," Sumner wrote. "If it is to operate within the FCC rules, immediate changes must be made to eliminate this interference before any further testing can be conducted." He called on NYSERDA to insist that Con Edison and Ambient hold up their end of the deal. If NYSERDA gives final approval, the authority will provide up to $200,000 of the $480,000 BPL project.
Walmet expressed confidence that the Briarcliff Manor BPL trial "will operate within the parameters of the existing Federal Communication Commission license." Ambient has a "nationwide" FCC Part 5 Experimental license, WD2XEQ, to test BPL from 1.705 to 88 MHz. Walmet also voiced NYSERDA's understanding that a potential benefit of BPL would be "identification and timely repair" of faulty electrical power distribution equipment. "This should have the beneficial effect of reducing the possibility of radio interference of concern to Amateur Radio operators," he said.
Briarcliff Manor radio amateur Alan Crosswell, N2YGK, meanwhile reports that radio interference from the BPL trial project in his community continues unabated. Crosswell, who's filed two complaints--one in March and another this month--submitted reply comments in the FCC's BPL Notice of Proposed Rule Making in ET Docket 04-37. In them he remarked that Con Edison is aware that the BPL technology the company wishes to deploy has a track record of demonstrated harmful interference.
"It seems Con Edison feels that their pursuit of profits is more important than the communications needs of others and should be allowed to ignore rules that are inconvenient to them," Crosswell said. He asserted that Con Edison's own comments to the FCC suggest the utility wants to weaken FCC rules with respect to harmful interference. And he called on the FCC to enforce its own rules and the Communications Act of 1934 in response to his complaints.
"Nobody is asking them to shut down their BPL systems if they can stop the harmful interference another way," said Crosswell, who's noted extensive interference to his modest mobile station on HF. He attached more than nine pages of interference documentation to his formal remarks, filed June 28--after the reply comment deadline had passed. His interference log also documents his efforts to work with both Consolidated Edison and Ambient personnel to resolve the interference.
The June 14 entry in his interference log notes "S9+20 QRM on 14.240" in a segment of the system that had "gone silent for a few weeks" earlier this year. Ambient reportedly had notched out the 20-meter amateur band in April, although its attorneys have told the FCC that "full implementation" will require a hardware upgrade. Crosswell says he hasn't noticed any difference. He also says Ambient personnel told him that the BPL noise was a result of "the current along the power line" and not from a point source such as a discrete BPL device. BPL proponents have claimed in comments that radio interference from BPL is minimal because it only exists in the vicinity of BPL devices, not along the entire power line.
Crosswell has posted detailed information, including his interference "blog" on his "BPL in Briarcliff Manor" Web site.
Sumner's June 10 letter to NYSERDA contended that acknowledged
interference from the Briarcliff Manor installation clearly violates the
Communications Act of 1934 and FCC Part 15 rules. In 2003 and earlier this
year, ARRL staff members monitored severe interference within and around the 20-meter
band that they attributed to the Briarcliff Manor BPL field trial.
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