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 Previous: FCC Amateur Radio Enforcement Letters for the Period Ending April 3, 2006 |  Next: Three-Time World Champions Not Participating in WRTC 2006 |
NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 3, 2006--The ARRL has once again called for the immediate shutdown of the BPL pilot project in Briarcliff Manor, New York. In a March 29 letter that takes both BPL operator Ambient Corporation and the FCC to task, the League documented continued interference on Amateur Radio frequencies at various points of the Westchester County system. The ARRL has filed five previous interference complaints about the system, the first dating back to October 2004. The system operates under an FCC Part 5 experimental license.
"In response to this interference, which has never been resolved or even substantively addressed by the Commission," the League wrote, "the experimental permittee, Ambient, has defiantly and consistently denied the interference, which Commission Enforcement Bureau staff personally witnessed and confirmed."
Copies of the League's latest complaint went to the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology and its Experimental Licensing Division as well as to the FCC Secretary and Ambient Corporation.
The ARRL disputed representations in a February 14 letter from Ambient counsel George Y. Wheeler to FCC Experimental Licensing Division Chief James Burtle. Wheeler's letter "simply denies that there is interference, which is patently untenable at this point," the League said. "However, the Commission's inaction has implicitly validated Ambient's inaction and repeated misrepresentations."
Interference measurements ARRL Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, made February 20 revealed "no substantial changes" in the system's interference profile on amateur frequencies, the League pointed out.
"The system is still operating un-notched on amateur bands at several separate locations, although notching of the amateur bands was evident at other locations in the system," the League said this week. Despite Ambient's claims that it had notched amateur bands, Hare found in several areas and ham bands that "none of the system appears to be notched."
A 20-page supplement detailing Hare's February 20 findings accompanied the League's further complaint. The report indicates un-notched operation at one location extending into and through the 12 meter band "at very strong levels" on a communication receiver's S meter. At another site, apparently un-notched operation extends into and through 15 meters "at strong levels." Likewise, at a third location, un-notched operation extends into and through the 20 meter band "at very strong levels."
The findings show the Briarcliff Manor BPL system continues to cause harmful interference to Amateur Radio communication "and it is not compliant with applicable FCC Part 15 regulations," the League contended. It also fails to comply with the terms of its FCC Part 5 experimental authorization, most recently granted last August nor is its operation consistent with Ambient's claims in the six-month progress reports it filed with the FCC.
"ARRL reiterates that Condition #1 of the Ambient experimental authorization requires that if any interference occurs, the licensee of this authorization will be subject to immediate shutdown," the League wrote. "Interference has repeatedly occurred, and it has been witnessed and verified by a member of the Commission's Enforcement Bureau staff. Yet no action has been taken whatsoever to terminate this experimental authorization over a period of one and one-half years."
The League said it is "beyond any reasonable dispute" that the Briarcliff Manor BPL system fails to comply with Part 5 rules requiring permittees to cease transmissions "if harmful interference to an established radio service develops" and not resume transmissions until it's certain harmful interference will not recur. Part 15 rules contain similar provisions for unlicensed devices that may interfere with licensed services.
In addition, the League said, information regarding the Briarcliff Manor BPL system has yet to appear in the publicly accessible BPL database as Part 15 rules require. The ARRL took issue with Wheeler's assertions that the system' information does not have to appear in the database. "Section 15.615 of the rules makes no exception for Access BPL systems operating pursuant to an experimental authorization, and Ambient's defiant violation of that rule section cannot continue to be sanctioned by the Commission," the League stated.
Given its failure to comply with both Part 5 and Part 15 rules governing its operation, the Briarcliff Manor BPL system must be shut down, the ARRL demanded.
"It does not matter that there are ongoing 'experiments' with this system or that Ambient has made some token and ineffective efforts to try to notch certain bands," the League wrote. "It has to shut this system down right now, unless and until it shows that it is capable of getting it right." The ARRL also demanded that the Commission "enforce its own rules."
"Alternatively, the Commission should rescind the experimental authorization and determine other appropriate sanctions against Ambient Corporation," the ARRL concluded.
| Previous: FCC Amateur Radio Enforcement Letters for the Period Ending April 3, 2006 | Next: Three-Time World Champions Not Participating in WRTC 2006 |
