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N4YXW > QST 13.06.07 07:17l 49 Lines 4083 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 12677_N4YXW
Read: GUEST
Subj: ARLB017 ARRL to FCC: Shut Down "Gross
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Sent: 070602/0632z @:N4YXW.#NOVA.VA.USA.NOAM [Warrenton, Va.] n4yxw.#nova.va.us
BPL Pilot ProjectThe ARRL has again demanded that the FCC shut down Ambient Corporation's broadband over power line (BPL) pilot
project in Briarcliff Manor, New York. On May 21 the FCC called on the BPL equipment maker and system operator to demonstrate
it's complying with all terms of the Part 5 Experimental license authorizing the system, or face possible enforcement action. I
n a May 31 letter to FCC Spectrum Enforcement Division Chief Kathryn S. Berthot, ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, conten
ded that it's "long past time that the Commission enforce its own rules," and again objected to the Commission's "inexplicable
inaction" in the face of evidence the system is noncompliant. Imlay pointed out that the FCC's May 21 letter made no mention of
Condition #1 of Ambient's Part 5 Experimental license.
"That condition requires that if any interference occurs, the holder of the authorization will be subject to immediate shutdown
," Imlay wrote. "Interference has repeatedly occurred, and it has been witnessed and verified by a member of the Commission's E
nforcement Bureau staff. Yet no action has been taken whatsoever to terminate this experimental authorization over a period of
more than two and one-half years. This is inexcusable."
Ambient operates the Briarcliff Manor BPL pilot program under Experimental license WD2XEQ. ARRL testing as recent as late May i
ndicated the system is operating outside of the parameters of its FCC authorization.
The League called the FCC's most recent push to get the company to comply with the terms of its Experimental license "too littl
e, too late and an abdication of the Commission's responsibility to protect its licensees from interference from unlicensed RF
devices."
"The Commission's obsessive compulsion to avoid any bad news about BPL has clearly driven its multi-year inaction," the League
continued. "Had this been any other experimental authorization dealing with any technology other than BPL, the experimental aut
horization would have been terminated long ago." The League's complaints regarding interference to Amateur Radio communication
from the Briarcliff Manor system date back to October 2003 and included supportive technical reports and test results.
As it stands, the League maintained, the FCC should have shut down Ambient's BPL system a long time ago. The ARRL further objec
ted to Ambient's "repeated misrepresentations in its six-month reports claiming that its Briarcliff Manor BPL system meets FCC
emission limits."
New measurements done May 24 by ARRL Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, conclusively establish that the Ambient BPL system, in
Hare's words, "continues to operate well above the Part 15 emission limits that are stipulated as a condition of its Experiment
al license." Hare said his latest excursion marked the third time his emissions testing in Briarcliff Manor showed the system t
o be operating significantly above Part 15 emissions limits.
"The spectral masks in this system intended to protect some radio services from interference work poorly enough in this generat
ion-1 equipment, but when the system is operated at excessive levels, strong interference is an inevitable outcome," he comment
ed. "By operating this system above the Part 15 emissions limits, Ambient is making it impossible for any electric utility to u
se results from this experiment to reach any conclusions about the technical and commercial viability of BPL."
The ARRL further argued that the Ambient BPL system should not be permitted to continue operating under the radar with an Exper
imental license instead of under the FCC's Part 15 BPL rules, adopted in 2004. The Briarcliff Manor system does not even appear
in the FCC's BPL database, the League noted.
"Causing Ambient to operate in accordance with the BPL rules rather than allowing it to hide behind its experimental authorizat
ion would at least be consistent with the Commission's regulatory plan for BPL, however inadequate that plan is in terms of int
erference avoidance," Imlay's letter concluded. NNNN
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