[FARC] Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) Alert

[Scott Galbraith]

This is worth your time to investigate the links and info, file objections
with the FCC, office of the President and contact your elected
representatives to mobilize blocks to the deployment of BPL. Those of us
who operate HF know of the long history in many areas of severe powerline
generated noise and power company reluctance or incompetence in addressing
it and BPL will only work to make HF frequencies useless. Check out the url
links at the end of the message.
  - Scott

=3D=3D>VIRGINIA BPL STARTUP SPARKS ARRL RESPONSE

The ARRL this week put officials in Manassas, Virginia, on notice that the
League will act on behalf of its members to ensure full compliance with
=46CC regulations when the city's Broadband over Power Line (BPL) system
starts up in a few months. The League was responding to media reports that
Manassas--a Washington, DC, suburb--has approved plans for a citywide BPL
rollout. Manassas City Council reportedly voted unanimously October 16 to
grant a 10-year franchise to Prospect Street Broadband to expand a BPL
field trial and offer high-speed Internet service to the entire community
over municipal power lines. ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, on October 22
faxed Manassas Mayor Marvin L. Gillum to point out BPL's dark side--the
potential for RF interference from and to any BPL system.

"Your advisors no doubt have made the Council fully aware of the great
potential for radio interference from such a system," Sumner said. "In
particular, you are no doubt well aware that Title 47 CFR =DF15.5 requires
that no harmful interference is caused to any radiocommunication service,
and that the operator shall be required to cease operation upon
notification by a Federal Communications Commission representative that
the device is causing harmful interference." Sumner noted that the same
=46CC Part 15 rule also provides no protection against interference from the
operation of an authorized radio station.

"Tests conducted by ARRL technical personnel have shown that the system
planned to be deployed in Manassas causes harmful interference to the
Amateur Radio service," Sumner said. "We also have reason to believe that
the system will be susceptible to interference from normal amateur station
operations."

An article in Potomac News.com touted the impending Manassas BPL rollout
as the first of its type in the US. Sumner said he was writing to alert
the City of Manassas "on behalf of its members who live in and use the
public thoroughfares of Manassas" that the ARRL "will ensure that there is
full compliance with the FCC regulations" once the city's BPL system is in
operation.

Prospect Street Broadband reportedly will offer the BPL service for $29.95
a month. One estimate predicts the city stands to gain up to $4.5 million
over the 10-year life of the contract, due to be signed this week.

The Manassas BPL field trial is one of the smallest now under way and
involves fewer than a dozen homes and businesses. It was installed in an
area that has underground utility wiring and no Amateur Radio licensees
nearby.

BPL articles in major media have proliferated in recent weeks, many of
them painting the service in rosy hues and neglecting to point out the
potential for radio interference to and from BPL by other HF spectrum
occupants. An October 13 article in The Wall Street Journal, "A New
Outlet," by Walin Wong, quotes one trial user who calls the service
"fantastic." But Wong also notes that one "Achilles' heel" of BPL is that
serving rural areas would require installing costly repeaters every mile
or so along the power line. The article also deals with the reluctance on
the part of some electric utilities to embrace the technology.

Sumner also reacted to the WSJ article. In a letter to the editor not yet
published, he pointed out that BPL "amounts to sending a wideband radio
signal over unshielded wires that were not designed for the purpose" and
that do not work well for the 2 to 80 MHz signals common in BPL systems.
Instead, "they function as antennas," he said, and that can lead to
interference to radio services, including some involved with public
safety.

Sumner said potential broadband technology and delivery investors would be
far better off considering fiber in densely populated areas and
adaptations of wireless LAN technology in rural areas.

Additional information on BPL and video clips from field trial sites are
on the ARRL "Power Line Communications (PLC) and Amateur Radio" page
<http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/>. To support the League's efforts
in the BPL fight, visit the ARRL's secure BPL Web site
<https://www.arrl.org/forms/development/donations/bpl/>.


-- 
73 de Scott Galbraith
N3OK, Frederick County, MD
=46M19ji
ARRL, QCWA 30013, GERATOL 2198, PVRC
NAVMARCORMARS - NNN0OPY, NNN0GAW
National Communications System SHARES
mailto:scottg@n3ok.com