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 Previous: Legislative End Run Nets Win for Oklahoma Amateur Radio Antenna Bill |  Next: What's New at Dayton 2007? |
NEWINGTON, CT, May 23, 2007 -- The FCC has called on BPL equipment manufacturer Ambient Corporation to demonstrate that it's complying with all terms of its Part 5 Experimental license or face possible enforcement action. Ambient operates the Briarcliff Manor, New York, BPL pilot program under Experimental license WD2XEQ. In a May 21 letter to Ambient Chief Engineer Yehuda Cern, FCC Spectrum Enforcement Division Chief Kathryn S. Berthot noted that the FCC is investigating ARRL complaints dating back to 2006 that Ambient's Briarcliff Manor BPL system has caused and continues to cause harmful interference to Amateur Radio stations. She said Ambient's most recent six-month report failed to address one condition of its Part 5 license relating to emission measurements to prove compliance.
"Access BPL systems are generally required to meet the pertinent radiated emission requirements specified in Section 15.611(b) of the Commission's rules," Berthot wrote. "However, Ambient's facility, operating under an experimental license, is subject to the operating conditions contained on its license."
Condition 4, Berthot pointed out, requires a progress report six months from the date of grant, which was last August. Condition 5 provides that the progress report "should include, but is not limited to, a description of measurements and results demonstrating compliance" with the radiated emission limits of §15.109.
Ambient's most recent six-month report indicated that the company had notched out BPL signals on Amateur Radio bands, "demonstrating significant advancements," the FCC noted. Still lacking, the Commission contends, is information to satisfy Condition 5.
Berthot gave Ambient 20 days from the date of this month's letter to submit the results of any measurements it conducted before its most recent progress report to demonstrate compliance with §15.109. "Any measurements made in the areas addressed in the ARRL complaint should be highlighted," the she continued. "If any area included in the ARRL complaint was not previously subject to measurements, measurements must now to be taken in that area to test for compliance with §15.109."
Further, Berthot said, Ambient must note any measurements that reveal any non-compliance with §15.109, and, in that case, it must include a description of its plans to bring the system into compliance with the conditions of its Experimental license.
"Furthermore," Berthot concluded, "Ambient must submit to the Commission a follow-up report confirming compliance, once it has completed the necessary system modifications. We caution you that failure to respond to this letter may result in enforcement action."
Ambient operates the BPL system on power lines owned and operated by Consolidated Edison, under an experimental FCC authorization. In January 2006, in the wake of continued FCC inaction in response to several previous complaints, the ARRL filed a renewal of its complaint against Ambient's BPL system in Briarcliff Manor.
Without adjudicating ARRL's repeated complaints about interference throughout the amateur 20 meter band, the FCC renewed Ambient's experimental license for an additional term, from August 1, 2005 to August 1, 2007.
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