[NLRS] Broadband over Power Lines (BPL)

Wed, 30 Apr 2003 19:18:44 EDT

Some of you may be familiar with what appears to be our most recent challeng=
e=20
to our hobby called broadband over power lines, or BPL.   The general=20
concept, as I understand it, is to provide short haul high speed data links=20
using existing neigborhood power line distribution lines.   As this emerging=
=20
market/technology may have a significant impact on us, its wise to be=20
familiar with this and to throw our weight behind the League in protecting=20
our resources.

I've attached at the bottom of this email a draft of Dave Sumner's "It Seems=
=20
To Us" that will appear in the June QST.   In addition, here is a link to a=20
technical document on the same subject.  <A HREF=3D"http://www.arrl.org/tis/=
info/HTML/plc/files/C63NovPLC.pdf">
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/files/C63NovPLC.pdf</A> .

A cut and paste from the Minnesota Wireless Assoc. reflector from Jay, K0QB=20
follows:=20
"ARRL staff have done a remarkable job, in a shot time, to pull together in=20
one place information that puts the lie to industry claims that "no=20
interference has been reported" from PLC/PLT/BPL tests to date.  This link=20
takes you to the news story posted on ARRL Web today: <A HREF=3D"http://www.=
arrl.org/news/stories/2003/04/30/2/?nc=3D1">
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/04/30/2/?nc=3D1</A>  This link takes y=
ou to=20
an introduction to the detailed information: <A HREF=3D"http://www.arrl.org/=
news/stories/2003/04/30/2/more.html">
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/04/30/2/more.html</A>  This link takes=
 you=20
directly to the detailed information:  http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc=
/
73,
Jay, K=D8QB"

It Seems To Us=A0 June 2003 QST
Regulators or Cheerleaders?

No one should doubt that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has
a difficult job. Its roots lie in the establishment of the Federal Radio
Commission (FRC) in 1927. The force behind the creation of the FRC was
chaotic interference that threatened to destroy the fledgling
broadcasting industry by driving listeners away. Too many stations were
being put on the air with inadequate coordination. In other words, the
marketplace alone was inadequate to control individual broadcasters'
behavior; regulations were needed to protect the industry from itself.=20

One of the FCC's obligations under the Communications Act is to
"generally encourage the larger and more effective use of radio in the
public interest." Like any resource, the radio spectrum is finite. One
way to ensure that the largest and most effective use of the spectrum
can be made is to prohibit unnecessary emissions. Thus, minimizing
interference remains a fundamental regulatory mission of the FCC.=20

On the other hand, U.S. policy is to encourage the provision of new
technologies and services to the public. FCC Chairman Michael Powell's
interpretation of this policy is that his Commission should be a
"cheerleader" for new technologies. On April 23 during an Open Meeting
he used that very word to describe the FCC's role with regard to the
deployment of a technology that gives us grave concern: broadband power
line communications, generally referred to as PLC but now dubbed BPL,
for Broadband over Power Line, by the FCC.=20

The reason for our concern is simple. " Access BPL " involves the
introduction of RF energy in the range from 2 to 80 MHz onto so-called
"medium voltage" power lines that run along nearly every road and street
and into every neighborhood. They are the lines that connect the
transformer feeding your home to the nearest substation. According to
industry sources, data rates of up to 20 MB/s are possible for distances
of up to 2,000 feet, and of up to 3 MB/s for distances of up to 4,000
feet. Because the power lines are already in place in existing
rights-of-way, this makes the technology potentially attractive for
delivering broadband services such as Internet access. "In-House BPL"
involves=20
much the same thing for LANs using the existing AC wiring in the walls
of homes and offices.=20
BPL does not require that this RF energy be radiated. However, as most
of you reading this page no doubt already have realized to your horror,
it will radiate for the simple reason that there's nothing to stop it.
Power lines are unshielded. They are designed to be transmission lines
at 60 Hz, not at HF or VHF. For a radio service such as ours that relies
for its very existence on the ability to detect and decipher weak
signals, including from our automobiles as we drive under these very
power lines, BPL could be an intolerable polluter of the radio spectrum.
That this would be merely an unintended consequence of BPL deployment
-collateral damage, if you will -does not ameliorate the situation.=20

What the FCC did at its April 23 meeting was to adopt a Notice of
Inquiry (NOI) regarding "Carrier Current Systems, including Broadband
over Power Line Systems" (ET Docket No.03-104). In the words of the NOI:

Through this inquiry, we seek inforn1ation and technical data so that we
may evaluate the current state of BPL technology and detern1ine whether
changes to Part 15 of the Commission's rules are necessary to facilitate
the deployment of this technology. While BPL may be deployed under our
existing Part 15 rules, the rules do not specifically provide
measurement procedures that apply to systems using the power line as a
transmission medium. We therefore seek comment on what changes, if any,
we should make to our Part 15 rules to promote and encourage the new BPL
technology and to our measurement procedures for all types of carrier
current systems. We further encourage present deployment of BPL that
complies with our existing rules, noting that if, or when, our rules are
modified, those rules will address prospective compliance.=20

The Commissioners were rather effusive in their praise of BPL technology
as an additional competitor, along with cable and DSL, in the delivery
of broadband services to the public. Their favorable impressions were
based largely on a single carefully orchestrated "dog and pony show" to
which they had been invited in suburban Maryland. (Needless to say, we
weren't invited. We'd have brought along an HF receiver for them to
listen to.) The NOI does at least raise interference as an issue
[emphasis added]:=20

In both Access and In-House high-speed BPL technologies, multiple
carriers spread signals over a broad range of frequencies that are used
by other services that must be protected from interference. In the
spectrum below 30 MHz, incumbent authorized operations include fixed,
land mobile, aeronautical mobile, maritime mobile, radiolocation,
broadcast radio, amateur radio terrestrial and satellite, and
radioastronomy. In the spectrum from 30 to 300 MHz, incumbent authorized
operations include fixed land mobile, aeronautical mobile, maritime
mobile and mobile satellite, radioastronomy, amateur radio terrestrial
and satellite, broadcast TV and radio. This spectrum is also used for
public safety and law enforcement, and Federal government aeronautical
radionavigation, radionavigation satellite and radio location. Each of
these authorized services in the spectrum must be protected from harmful
interference. Rest assured that the ARRL will do everything in its power
to hold the FCC to that promise.=20

The deadline for comments was not set at press time but probably will be
in the latter half of June. We will be posting as much inforn1ation as
possible, as quickly as possible, on the ARRL Web site for use by
members and others interested in filing their own comments.=20
We have a long, hard fight ahead of us. -David Sumner, Kl ZZ=20

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