[EIDXA] ARRL DISAPPOINTED WITH ADMINISTRATION OVER BPL REPORT AND ORDER

[Jim Spencer]

==>ARRL DISAPPOINTED WITH ADMINISTRATION OVER BPL REPORT AND ORDER

The ARRL has expressed its disappointment with the Bush administration's
failure "to prevent radio spectrum pollution by BPL systems." In a
November 1 letter to Secretary of Commerce Donald L. Evans copied to
President George W. Bush, ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, recalled
Evans' assurances on the administration's behalf earlier this year "that
we are responsible and sensitive to valuable incumbent
[radiocommunication] systems." Haynie told Evans the FCC's BPL Report and
Order (R&O) in ET Docket 04-37--adopted October 14 and released two weeks
later--suggests otherwise.

"Despite excellent work conducted by the technical staff of your National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to document the
extensive harmful interference that will occur if BPL systems are deployed
at the radiated emission limits presently permitted by the FCC rules,"
Haynie said, "it appears that the NTIA concurred in the FCC's decision not
to tighten those limits."

The FCC maintains that BPL emissions are localized and at low enough
levels to preclude harmful interference in the first place, and it has
left the door open to possibly upping the limit in the future.

Haynie pointed out that both international treaty and US law entitle
licensed radiocommunication services to protection from harmful
interference that unlicensed systems like BPL might generate. "Despite
this," he continued, "the FCC has shifted the burden for initiating
interference mitigation from the BPL system operator to the radio
licensee." The NTIA's September 13 submission to the FCC shows that at FCC
Part 15 limits, the probability of harmful interference is essentially 100
percent within 200 to 400 meters (approximately 660 to 1300 feet) of a
power line carrying BPL signals--depending on the operating frequency.

"Amateur Radio stations are typically located in residential areas, nearly
always well within such distances," Haynie noted. "The FCC's Report and
Order provides no assurance that when interference occurs--as it
unquestionably will--it will be promptly eliminated."

As part of the Commerce Department, the NTIA not only administers radio
spectrum allocated to federal government users but advises the White House
on telecommunications policy. On June 24, President Bush extolled BPL
during a speech on technological innovation even while acknowledging
interference concerns.

Haynie said the League will continue efforts to improve the R&O. Calling
the HF spectrum "a unique and priceless resource," the ARRL president
expressed regret that the administration "is willing to squander such a
unique natural resource in order to provide a short-range broadband
connection that can easily be provided by several other non-polluting
means."

ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, echoed Haynie's concerns. The FCC R&O, he
said, "shifts the burden to licensed operators to react to interference
rather than adopting rules to prevent interference from occurring." The
R&O advises locating "sensitive receiver antennas" as far as practically
possible from power lines. Additionally, the FCC admonished ARRL that in
cases where its members experience RF noise, "such noise can often be
avoided by carefully locating their antennas."

Reacted Sumner: "If a BPL system operator wants to meet its obligation by
picking up all of the costs of relocating a licensee's antenna, it's free
to make the offer."

If interference occurs, the new Part 15 rules will require BPL system
operators to employ "interference avoidance techniques" such as "frequency
band selection, notching, or judicious device placement." Notches would
have to be at least 20 dB--slightly more than 3 S units--below applicable
Part 15 limits on HF and at least 10 dB below Part 15 limits on VHF--not
much protection for weaker signals common in HF work.

"We might be more optimistic if there had, to date, been a single instance
when the FCC had ordered a BPL system to terminate operation for causing
harmful interference," Sumner said. "The Commission continues to be in
denial, despite hundreds of pages of documentation of ongoing
interference."

Sumner said the ARRL was gratified that the FCC R&O recognized that BPL
devices have significantly greater interference potential than other Part
15 devices and that the Commission will require certification of BPL
systems rather than the less-stringent verification. Additionally, Sumner
said, the League was pleased that the FCC-mandated public BPL system
database will require systems to be listed several weeks ahead of actual
implementation so that amateurs and others have advance notice.

ARRL officials continue to mull possible formal responses to the R&O. The
ARRL Executive Committee already has okayed the filing of a Petition for
Reconsideration. It further authorized ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay,
W3KD, to "prepare to pursue other available remedies as to procedural and
substantive defects" in the BPL proceeding.

For more information on BPL, visit the Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) and
Amateur Radio Web page <http://www.arrl.org/bpl>.