ICASA takes a new look at PLC

At the Standards SA Technical Committee, TC73, held on Thursday last week, the PLC issue featured high on the Agenda.

Eric Winter reported back on the Standards Liaison meeting held the previous day where PLC (also known as BPL) was discussed with ICASA. ICASA agreed that no commercial PLC licenses will be issued and that only licences to test PLC will be issued for a six months period.

The issue of testing for potential inference to the radio spectrum was also addressed and proposals will be tabled at the ICASA Council meeting to set up a testing procedure with a monitoring liaison group on which the South African Radio League will be an observing member.

The SARL will continue to collect its own evidence and is requesting the following action by radio amateurs country wide. First, if you experience PLC interference when driving in or around Rooiwal, north of Pretoria, please send a complaint which will be forwarded to ICASA. The Email address is plc@sarl.org.za.

Amateurs in the rest of South Africa are requested to monitor the HF bands and report any PLC related interference. It is also important to watch your local newspapers for reports on PLC. Please scan any reports and mail to plc@sarl.org.za.

More information on PLC can be found on the SARL web at www.sarl.org.za.

The Standards SA TC73 committee's main task is standardisation in the field of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) which includes emission and immunity.

At Thursday's meeting, the SARL's status on the committee was changed from an observing member to a participating member. Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, is representing the SARL.

Source: The South African Radio League

• Get our news headlines for your website • Submit your news story