DRM relays its concerns about
the hazards of PLC interference
The DRM consortium issued the following statement about the hazards of
Power Line Communications (PLC) interference, in September:
“Among DRM’s members are well-known commercial, public, international,
national and local broadcasters.
They provide indispensable news, analysis, information and entertainment
to local communities and remote populations across the globe via existing
short-wave, medium-wave/AM and long-wave radio bands. The DRM consortium
also includes leading network operators, broadcast electronics manufacturers
and high-tech research institutions. DRM also includes among its members
international NGOs that provide essential emergency services.
DRM’s members, and the listening audiences they serve, depend on
the integrity and security of the worldwide radio spectrum below 30 MHz
– now and in the future.
With a collective wish to provide enhanced media services to future generations,
DRM’s members joined forces to create a new, digital radio system
(also called DRM). DRM’s development was supported by the European
Commission, with funding provided within the Radiate, QOSAM and DIAM projects.
DRM is the world’s only, non-proprietary, universally standardized,
digital radio system for short-wave, medium-wave/AM and long-wave. It
provides clear, FM-like audio quality and excellent reception, free from
static, fading and interference. An open standard, DRM has received the
endorsement of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI),
the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the International
Electrotechnical Committee (IEC). More than 60 leading broadcasters have
already started DRM transmissions alongside their existing, analogue radio
broadcasts.
There is, however, an electrical radiation hazard that threatens today’s
analogue radio services, as well as radio’s bright digital future.
DRM’s members are deeply concerned about interference to the radio
spectrum caused by harmful emissions from Power Line Communications (PLC),
a controversial new method of delivering Internet service to, and distributing
data services within, households using AC power lines. PLC emissions levels
are currently under consideration by governmental bodies in several countries.
Over the past 2 years, DRM’s members have measured the effect of
PLC emissions on analogue and digital broadcasts in both laboratory and
field tests. The test results, which have been reported to the European
Broadcasting Union (EBU), show that PLC radiation obliterates radio broadcasts.
If PLC emissions are too high, existing analogue and digital radio broadcasts
are in many cases suddenly wiped out, meaning that listeners hear either
electrical interference, or nothing at all, instead of the radio programming
they have tuned into.
DRM’s members believe that further, independent testing of PLC emissions’
effect on radio broadcasts will reveal pertinent information for manufacturers
and consumers alike. DRM’s members are concerned that consumers may
be unaware of the hazards of PLC interference to the radio broadcasts
they rely on today, as well as future broadcasts.
DRM’s members strongly urge those governmental bodies that are exploring
PLC implementation to safeguard the broadcasting bands from PLC emissions’
interference.
In order to preserve the stability of the worldwide radio spectrum now
and into the future, it is vital that governmental officials and regulatory
bodies take appropriate protective measures today.”
|
