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 Previous: Hurricane Watch Net Plans Activation as Tropical Storm Chris Strengthens |  Next: Amateur Radio License of Convicted Felon in Jeopardy; Hearing Pending |
 Rep Mike Ross, WD5DVR (D-AR) |
NEWINGTON, CT, Jul 28, 2006--US Rep Mike Ross, WD5DVR (D-AR), and the ARRL have appealed to the FCC to accommodate the interference concerns of Amateur Radio operators. Ross's letter to FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin and the League's plea to individual commissioners and a face-to-face meeting with one FCC member come in advance of the Commission's consideration of two significant Broadband Over Power Line (BPL)-related actions.
"As you reconsider the BPL rules, please accommodate the very reasonable interests of Amateur Radio operators in avoiding interference in residential and mobile deployment," Ross asked Martin. "It is in the best interest of our emergency preparedness efforts to do so."
The FCC will meet in open session Thursday, August 3, to consider the United Power Line Council's Petition for Declaratory Ruling (WC Docket 06-10) regarding the classification of BPL Internet access service as an "information service." The FCC also will consider a Memorandum Opinion and Order in response to petitions for reconsideration -- 17 in all, one from the ARRL -- of the rules that apply to BPL systems (ET 04-37).
In letters to each FCC member on the League's behalf July 26, ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, spelled out what he called "a win-win solution" to the BPL interference issue. "Fortunately, as the result of extensive field studies and measurements conducted by ARRL, the Commission has an opportunity now to fix the rules before BPL deployment becomes widespread," Imlay said, "and before interference becomes an impossible enforcement burden and a substantial threat to the public service, emergency and disaster relief communications provided by the Amateur Service."
Imlay asserted the FCC does not have to choose between permitting BPL and protecting licensed radio services. The FCC only needs to do two things: Require that BPL providers only utilize frequencies above 30 MHz on overhead medium-voltage power lines, and make no use of Amateur Radio spectrum on underground lines and lines to customer premises. If the Commission does, Imlay said, any remaining interference issues "become manageable on a case-by-case basis."
Imlay explained that BPL systems using DS2 chipsets or
Main.net architecture have caused untenable instances of harmful interference
to Amateur Radio operators. "Unfortunately, the Commission's Enforcement Bureau
has been unresponsive in addressing a substantial number of BPL interference
cases," he said.
 Rep Ross and the ARRL told the FCC Current Technologies' BPL system, which uses spectrum above 30 MHz, is one that "has proven relatively benign toward Amateur Radio." |
"By notable contrast," Imlay continued, BPL systems that don't make use of HF spectrum on overhead lines avoid interference problems. He pointed out that the Current Technologies BPL system, which uses spectrum above 30 MHz, "has proven relatively benign toward Amateur Radio." The Motorola BPL system makes no use of HF at all on medium voltage lines "and is completely benign toward Amateur Radio," Imlay said.
In his letter, Ross noted that Amateur Radio was "instrumental in providing interoperability communications in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma last year." Infrastructure-free long-distance communication is provided "on a volunteer basis and cannot be duplicated," the congressman told the FCC chairman.
In their respective communications, Ross and Imlay emphasized that Amateur Radio operators are not opposed to BPL per se. They are opposed to interference and to the rules the FCC adopted in 2004 that "did not do anything to prevent inevitable, harmful interference from BPL systems" that employ HF spectrum on unshielded, overhead medium-voltage lines, Imlay said.
"This is the crux of the problem, and it is a very substantial one," Imlay maintained.
Earlier this week, Imlay was able to meet with FCC commissioner Robert McDowell and members of his staff to express Amateur Radio's concerns about interference problems the current Part 15 rules governing BPL fail to adequately address.
"The Amateur Radio Service and ARRL -- the National
Association for Amateur Radio needs your support in arriving at a solution that
meets the needs of all interested parties," Imlay concluded.
| Previous: Hurricane Watch Net Plans Activation as Tropical Storm Chris Strengthens | Next: Amateur Radio License of Convicted Felon in Jeopardy; Hearing Pending |
