[HoustonHam] FW: ARLB030 FCC Adopts New BPL Rules

[Chris Boone]

Well, it happened!!!

Chris
WB5ITT

-----Original Message-----
From: ARRL Web site [mailto:memberlist at www.arrl.org] 
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2004 12:38 PM
To: cboone at earthlink.net
Cc: Subscribed ARRL Members:
Subject: ARLB030 FCC Adopts New BPL Rules


SB QST @ ARL $ARLB030
ARLB030 FCC Adopts New BPL Rules

ZCZC AG30
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 30  ARLB030
>From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  October 15, 2004
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB030
ARLB030 FCC Adopts New BPL Rules

Meeting October 14 in open session, the FCC adopted revised Part 15
(unlicensed services) rules to specifically regulate broadband over
power line (BPL) systems. Specifics of the new rules in a Report and
Order in ET Docket 04-37 won't be known for a few weeks. In comments
before voting, three members of the Commission, including Chairman
Michael K. Powell, specifically mentioned the concerns of Amateur Radio
operators and expressed either assurances or hope that the new BPL rules
will adequately address interference to licensed services. Republican
FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin addressed Amateur Radio's and
broadcasters' interference concerns in his written statement. ARRL
President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, said he was encouraged to see the
Commission acknowledge interference to Amateur Radio as a genuine issue
in the BPL proceeding.

''What the League has done in the last year and a half on this issue
showed in the Commission's public meeting today,'' Haynie said. He cited
the FCC's approval of three major points that the League had been
pushing for: Certification of BPL equipment instead of verification, a
requirement for a public BPL database--something the BPL industry did
not want--and mechanisms to deal swiftly with interference complaints.

Anh Wride of the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology (OET),
outlined the draft R&O and acknowledged that Access BPL devices ''pose a
somewhat higher potential for interference to licensed radio services
than typical Part 15 devices.'' But, Wride went on to say, ''we believe
the specific benefits of BPL warrant acceptance of a small degree of
additional risk, and that this interference potential can be
satisfactorily managed.''

Commissioner Michael Copps, a Democrat, said he remains concerned about
interference to Amateur Radio users. ''I take the concerns of this
community very seriously and believe that the FCC has an obligation to
work hard to monitor, investigate and take quick action, where
appropriate, to resolve harmful interference.''

Copps said if interference occurs, ''we must have a system in place to
resolve it immediately,'' and he expressed the hope that the new rules
would include such ''rapid turnaround'' provisions. Copps, who dissented
in part with the R&O, raised the question of whether utility ratepayers
should have to ''subsidize an electric power company's foray into
broadband.''

The Commission's other Democrat, Jonathan S. Adelstein, said the
interference question made the proceeding a challenging one because it
had to accommodate concerns raised by Public Safety licensees, federal
government users and Amateur Radio operators. ''These are important
services that we need to protect from harmful interference,'' Adelstein
said.

Adelstein also said that while it's clear that some BPL systems can
co-exist with existing licensees, others ''haven't fared so well.'' He
said those systems shouldn't be deployed commercially until it's assured
that they won't cause harmful interference.

Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy, a Republican, said the FCC had to
''make some hard compromises'' to deal with questions about
interference. But she expressed confidence in ''technical solutions.''

Chairman Powell called it ''a banner day'' for communications in the US
because, he said, BPL promises ''ubiquitous service to all Americans at
affordable rates.'' The chairman, a Republican, conceded that BPL will
affect some spectrum users--including ''all those wonderful Amateur
Radio operators out there.'' Powell said the FCC has taken Amateur Radio
interference concerns seriously from the start and has taken care to
ensure that protections are in place ''to allow that service to
continue.'' At the same time, Powell implied that the FCC must balance
the benefits of BPL against the relative value of other licensed
services.

''But let me underscore the potential for the American economy is too
great, too enormous, too potentially groundbreaking to sit idly by and
allow any claim or any possible speculative fear keep us from driving
this technology and drive America into the broadband future.''

ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, suggested that Powell was overstating the
necessity of yet another broadband pipeline. ''It's astonishing to me
that the chairman of the FCC can talk about needing a 'third way' to
provide broadband to consumers when multiple technologies already are
available, including wireless broadband,'' he said.

For more information on BPL, visit the ''Broadband Over Power Line
(BPL) and Amateur Radio'' page on the ARRL Web site, 
www.arrl.org/bpl .
NNNN
/EX