[BCVHFA] Fwd: ARLB027 FCC Poised to Act on BPL Report and Order in mid-October

[K8CM]

>SB QST @ ARL $ARLB027
>ARLB027 FCC Poised to Act on BPL Report and Order in mid-October
>
>ZCZC AG27
>QST de W1AW
>ARRL Bulletin 27  ARLB027
> From ARRL Headquarters
>Newington CT  September 24, 2004
>To all radio amateurs
>
>SB QST ARL ARLB027
>ARLB027 FCC Poised to Act on BPL Report and Order in mid-October
>
>The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) will present a
>draft broadband over power line (BPL) Report and Order to the full
>Commission when it meets October 14, the ARRL has learned. More than
>6100 comments have been filed on the topic since the FCC released
>its initial Notice of Inquiry in the proceeding, ET Docket 03-104,
>in April 2003 and a subsequent Notice of Proposed Rule Making
>(NPRM), ET Docket 04-37, in February of this year. The ARRL so far
>on this round has taken its concerns regarding Amateur Radio and BPL
>to three of the Commission's five members. In a meeting this week
>with FCC Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein, an ARRL delegation
>again asserted that the FCC is pushing the proceeding to a
>predetermined conclusion with little regard for technical issues.
>
>''Because the FCC has been unwilling to release for public review the
>results of its own tests and observations of BPL systems, the ARRL
>has no confidence that the draft Report and Order will be based on
>sound engineering and believes the rush to adoption is unwarranted
>and premature,'' ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ,
>said in a follow-up letter to Adelstein. The letter reiterated the
>League's key points that, it said, ''represent the minimum
>protection'' that should be incorporated into the BPL Report and
>Order prior to Commission adoption.
>
>''Without adequate safeguards, the deployment of BPL systems will
>result in the pollution and degradation of the unique natural
>resource of the high-frequency radio spectrum,'' Sumner said.
>
>The League argued that a reduction in the radiated emission limit
>for BPL systems be included in the R&O. The ARRL wants the limit set
>30 dB below current Part 15 requirements, which, it says, were
>established with narrowband point-source radiators in mind. ''The
>record in this proceeding clearly establishes that BPL is not a
>point-source radiator,'' the ARRL's letter asserted.
>
>The ARRL pointed out that the National Telecommunications and
>Information Administration (NTIA) has concluded that at the current
>Part 15 limit, interference is ''likely'' to receivers in land
>vehicles 75 meters from BPL-connected power lines and to fixed
>stations 460 meters from such power lines.
>
>''Given the number of amateur stations and the fact that they almost
>invariably are located near power lines, the areas of potential
>interference at the existing Part 15 limit are clearly too large to
>permit case-by-case resolution of interference issues,'' Sumner said.
>Based on past experience with BPL field trials, the ARRL told
>Adelstein, ''widespread BPL deployment at the existing Part 15
>radiated emission limit will result in an unmanageable incidence of
>interference.''
>
>Arguing for a reduction in the radiated emission limit, the ARRL
>said mandatory ''notching'' of the amateur bands by 30 dB would reduce
>the probability of interference to amateur stations sufficiently
>that the remaining interference cases might be resolved on a
>case-by-case basis. ''However,'' the League added, ''such notching
>would not solve the problem for other radio services.''
>
>Other points the ARRL has stressed in its meetings with Commission
>members include:
>
>* consider including the NTIA's recommendations to standardize
>measurement procedures and to require that Access BPL systems be
>certificated, not merely verified.
>
>* requiring independent confirmation of rules compliance before a
>BPL system is placed in operation.
>
>* the need for advance public notification of BPL system locations
>and characteristics, something not included in the NPRM.
>
>* performance standards for interference mitigation that would
>require that interference be terminated immediately upon
>notification to the operator; and meaningful penalties for
>non-compliance, including fines.
>
>* require BPL marketers to ''give clear notice to potential customers
>that licensed radio services have priority and that the delivery of
>broadband service via BPL cannot be guaranteed.''
>
>In addition to Adelstein, ARRL representatives have met so far with
>Commissioners Kevin J. Martin, and Michael J. Copps. The League
>hopes to meet with the principal advisors to Chairman Michael K.
>Powell and Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy before the October 7
>cutoff for ex parte communications in the proceeding.
>NNNN
>/EX