[TMRA] FCC to address noise floor issue

[Steve Bellner]

An interesting article appeared on the ARRL HQ Web Site this week 
concerning the announcement by the FCC Office of Technology and 
Engineering (OET). In that office, the Technological Advisory Council 
(TAC) says that they are " is investigating changes and trends to the 
radio spectrum noise floor to determine if there is an increasing noise 
problem, and, if so, its extent".

Noise in this case refers to man-made noise whether "intended" or 
"unintended radiators". We are all familiar with the "intended" type 
from QRMers with malicious intentions. The "unintended" variety comes 
from several sources like motors, electric appliances, light sources and 
controls, power supplies, AC power distribution systems, and other 
devices not designed to emit RF but do so anyway. The term "noise" does 
not include common recurring terrestrial noise from geomagnetic and 
solar events.


Some devices are intended to emit RF but produce spurious emissions on 
frequencies other than designed. Most of these devices fall into just a 
few categories: industrial, medical, computer, and scientific. Too 
often, we find some ham radio devices, like power supplies, can produce 
RFI from internal sources not controlled properly.


The ARRL article goes on to say;

"Radio amateurs frequently complain about increasing noise from a 
variety of sources, so it should be welcome news that the FCC 
Technological Advisory Council (*TAC* 
<https://www.fcc.gov/general/technological-advisory-council>) — an 
advisory group to the FCC — is investigating changes and trends to the 
radio spectrum noise floor to determine if there is an increasing noise 
problem, and, if so, its extent. The FCC Office of Engineering and 
Technology (OET) *announced* 
<http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2016/db0615/DA-16-676A1.pdf> 
the TAC study this week in a /Public Notice/ and *invited comments* 
<http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs2/> and answers to questions that the TAC 
has posed in the notice. The comment deadline is August 11. The TAC said 
it is trying to determine the scope of any noise issues and has invited 
“quantitative evidence” of noise problems, as well as recommendations on 
how to perform a noise study.


The TAC is requesting input to help answer questions about the study of 
changes to the spectrum noise floor over the past 20 years,” the 
announcement said. “Noise in this context denotes unwanted radio 
frequency (RF) energy from manmade sources. Like many spectrum users, 
TAC members expect that the noise floor in the radio spectrum is rising 
as the number of devices in use that emit radio energy grows.”

If you are experiencing RFI from sources known or unknown, you may want 
to comment on this to the FCC. The deadline is August 11 as mentioned 
above.


By the way...the FCC is revamping the public comment system with its new 
Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) on Monday, June 20.This should 
make comments to the FCC on issues go much more streamlined and 
available to the public. As with any new system there may be glitches. 
These will be handled on an "as occurs" basis.


de AD5XJ SATERN International Digital Net Mgr.