[Ham-Mac] Power Line Carrier (PLC) technology and you

[Dick Rucker]

The deadline for comments on ET Docket No. 03-104 for BPL has been
extended to August 20, 2003.  Thanks to a heads-up from Dick Kriss, AA5VU,
I've sent in my comments via email and encourage you to consider doing the
same.  

AA5VU included some instructions from the FCC on how to email submissions to
them that I found very helpful -see below. I've edited them a bit for
clarity.  If you have problems, visit
      http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/
to find out more about the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS).

In brief, here are the rules for email submissions:

** Email submissions should be sent to ecfs@fcc.gov.

** Email submissions must be in printable ASCII text only.
   [turn off HTML encoding in your email program.]

** Email submissions must be contained in the body of the e-mail,
     rather than as attachments.  [Type your comments in following
       the <TEXT> tag in the template below.]

** For automated processing via email, you must use an SGML tag to identify
   each entry you make, and make only entry per line.

** These SGML tags are required in every Email submission:
    <PROCEEDING>
    <NAME>
    <ADDRESS1>
    <CITY>
    <STATE>
    <ZIP>
    <DOCUMENT-TYPE>
    <TEXT> 


** List of <DOCUMENT TYPES>:
     CO  COMMENT 
     ER  ERRATUM
     MN  MOTION
     PR  PETITION FOR RECONSIDERATION
     RC  REPLY TO COMMENTS
     RL  REPLY
     RQ  REQUEST

**Template for a typical email submission:

<PROCEEDING>         PUT-DOCKET-NUMBER or RULEMAKING-NUMBER HERE
<DATE>               FILED-DATE-IN-MM/DD/YY-FORMAT
<NAME>               APPLICANT-OR-PETITIONER-NAME
<ADDRESS1>           ADDRESS
<ADDRESS2>           ADDRESS
<CITY>               CITY
<STATE>              TWO-LETTER-STATE-CODE
<ZIP>                ZIPCODE
<LAW-FIRM>           LAW-FIRM
<ATTORNEY>           LAWYER-NAME
<FILE-NUMBER>        FILE-NUMBER
<DOCUMENT-TYPE>      TWO-LETTER-DOCUMENT-TYPE-CODE (See list of DOCUMENT
TYPES)
<PHONE-NUMBER>       SENDER-PHONE-NUMBER
<DESCRIPTION>        EMAIL-COMMENT
<CONTACT-EMAIL>      EMAIL-ADDRESS-RESPONSE-DESTINATION
<TEXT>               ACTUAL TEXT OF MESSAGE...

My message to <ecfs@fcc.gov> follows so you will have an example to
consider, but please replace my entries with your own to fit your situation
and point-of-view.

--------------------------------------
<PROCEEDING> 03-104
<DATE> 08/11/03
<NAME> Richard A. Rucker
<ADDRESS1> [deleted]
<ADDRESS2>
<CITY> Fairfax
<STATE> VA
<ZIP> 22030
<DOCUMENT-TYPE> CO
<PHONE-NUMBER> [deleted]
<DESCRIPTION> Email Comment
<CONTACT-EMAIL> [deleted]
<TEXT> 

I have watched the QuickTime movie prepared by Ed Hare, W1RFI, for the ARRL
which records the Power Line Communications (PLC) signals recorded by him at
several locations in several states where PLC trials are being conducted.  I
have listened to the PLC signals as demodulated by his receiver and noted
the level of interference that they would present to amateur communications
on those frequencies.

It is clear to me that such radiation would be intolerable to any amateur
radio operator who was trying to operate anywhere near those power lines.
Permission to offer high speed data communications over power lines should
not be granted by the FCC so long as these interference problems remain
unsolved.

Richard A. Rucker, KM4ML

-----------------------------------
Here's part of the message I received from the FCC's computer in reply:

"ECFS Accepted your Submission at Mon Aug 11 11:43:26 GMT-05:00 2003 Eastern
Time.  This confirmation verifies that ECFS has received and accepted your
filing..."