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ARRL
-- The National Association for Amateur Radio
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06111
(860) 594-0200
April 26, 2004
President
George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Via FAX (202) 456-2461
Dear Mr. President:
Today you said: "There needs to be technical standards to make possible new
broadband technologies, such as the use of high-speed communication directly over power lines. Power lines were for electricity; power lines can be used for broadband technology. So the technical standards need to be changed to encourage that."
This is the wrong direction for your administration to take. While everyone is of course supportive of bringing broadband services to more consumers at lower cost, broadband over power lines is an inappropriate technology with far greater disadvantages than advantages.
Power lines were designed to transmit energy. They were not designed to transmit broadband signals, which in fact are radio-frequency signals. The broadband signals radiate from power lines and cause severe interference to radio reception. This has been shown time and time again at test sites throughout this country and overseas. You may have been told otherwise; if so, you were misinformed. Your staff can check this at our Web site, www.arrl.org/bpl.
The existing technical standards for broadband over power lines are already too permissive. The FCC has proposed to tighten them by requiring certain mitigation procedures in the event of interference, but has not gone nearly far enough to protect the interests of radio communications services, including police, fire, and EMT "first responders," as well as radio amateurs, short wave listeners, and many other users of the radio spectrum. I am enclosing a two-page explanation of our concerns.
Please withdraw your support for broadband over power lines and focus your administration's attention on more suitable technologies, such as Broadband Wireless Access. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jim
Haynie, W5JBP
President, ARRL
3226 Newcastle Dr.
Dallas, TX 75220-1640