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![Previous (earlier) Story](/images/sty-down.gif "FCC Releases Long-Awaited "Omnibus" Amateur Radio Report and Order"){kind=small} Previous: FCC Releases Long-Awaited "Omnibus" Amateur Radio Report and Order |  Next: The K7RA Solar Update |
NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 12, 2006 -- The ARRL this week notified the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that it's appealing certain aspects of the FCC's Part 15 rules governing broadband over power line (BPL) systems. The ARRL Executive Committee ratified plans to go forward with the Petition for Review when it met October 7. The League is asking the court to review the FCC's October 2004 Report and Order (R&O) establishing Part 15 rules to govern BPL systems as well as its August 2006 Memorandum Opinion and Order (MO&O) that dealt with various petitions for reconsideration of the 2004 R&O, including one from the ARRL.
"ARRL seeks review of the orders on the ground that they exceed the Commission's jurisdiction and authority; are contrary to the Communications Act of 1934; and are arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and otherwise not in accordance with law," the League said in its petition. "ARRL requests that this court hold unlawful, vacate, enjoin and set aside the orders."
A court filing that details the League's specific objections regarding the two orders is pending. Although the petition will argue a number of points, two specific aspects of the FCC's BPL orders precipitated the League's appeal. One is a new rule, only revealed after the FCC made the MO&O public, that limits the extent to which an unlicensed, unintentional radiator must protect a licensed mobile station.
The new rule, §15.611(c)(1)(iii), provides that BPL operators only have to reduce emission levels below established FCC permissible limits by 20 dB below 30 MHz and by 10 dB above 30 MHz -- even if that's not enough to resolve harmful interference complaints. The FCC called these levels "modestly above the noise level."
ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, contends the rule change in the MO&O regarding mobile stations contravenes the International Radio Regulations and the Communications Act of 1934. "The FCC has, in effect, tried to redefine harmful interference," he said. "It can't do that. The Commission doesn't have the authority to do that, and we're going to demonstrate that to the Court of Appeals."
ARRL Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, has said the levels applicable to mobiles would be some 25 dB higher than the median values for man-made noise in residential areas and up to 40 dB higher than the minimum values hams use for reliable communication.
The Commission also declined to adjust the 40 dB per decade "extrapolation factor" applied to measurements performed at distances from power lines other than those specified in Part 15. Sumner says this is an important technical point because the existing Part 15 rule underestimates actual field strength.
In their petitions for reconsideration, the ARRL and others demonstrated that the 40 dB per decade extrapolation factor was wrong and that a figure closer to 20 dB per decade was appropriate. Sumner called the Commission's stand on the 40 dB per decade rule "clearly, demonstrably and inarguably wrong."
Sumner said the League decided to go forward with its appeal only after considering the effect on licensed spectrum users of letting the BPL rules stand. He addressed a number of ARRL's concerns with the FCC's BPL rules in his "It Seems to Us . . ." editorial in October QST.
The firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP of Washington, DC, is handling the ARRL's Petition for Review in conjunction with ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD.
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