FCC releases hundreds of pages of BPL test data

The FCC has made public more than 650 pages of technical presentations, correspondence and filings that it says it used in making its decision on the BPL Report and Order in ET Docket 04-37.

The Commission adopted new rules to govern so-called Access Broadband over Power Line systems on October 14, but they have not yet become effective. The ARRL subsequently filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that called on the FCC to release any studies the Commission had relied upon in deciding to embrace the technology. Some information contained in the documents has been blanked out or redacted.

"Certain portions of those presentations have been redacted, as they represent preliminary or partial results or staff opinions that were part of the deliberative process," FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Associate Chief Bruce Romano said in a cover letter releasing the
documentation December 22. "Moreover, the redacted information was not relied on by the Commission in making its decision," Among the FCC Laboratory presentation charts the FCC redacted was one titled "New Information Arguing for Caution on HF BPL."

The documentation includes presentations and graphs resulting from field tests of BPL trials in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York and North Carolina. The tests, conducted by the FCC Laboratory's Technical Research Branch, looked at BPL technology by Amperion, Current Technologies, Ambient Technologies and Main.Net.

The ARRL is continuing to review the extensive documentation in detail. ARRL Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, maintains that the FCC documents tend to back up assertions the League made in its filings.

"The FCC reports clearly show that BPL operating at the FCC Part 15 emission limits generates a strong RF signal for long distances along overhead power lines," Hare said. "The FCC data showed noise that was many decibels above otherwise quiet ambient noise levels." Hare said that even in spectrum notched out by BPL system providers, the FCC-provided reports indicate a measurable increase in noise levels on amateur frequencies.

Approximately 150 pages of the documentation consisted of technical material and presentations by FCC staffers. The remaining 500-plus pages include correspondence, technical reports and interference complaints from radio amateurs to the FCC. Falling into the last category is extensive
correspondence involving the Alliant Energy BPL field trial in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. That pilot project was abandoned after difficulties in resolving interference issues with local radio amateurs proved insurmountable.

The FCC just this week provided additional spreadsheet data to ARRL under separate cover. By releasing the information, the FCC made it part of the official record in the proceeding. Some, but not all, of the BPL-related material is on the FCC Electronic Comment Filing System under ET Docket 04-37.

In an interview January 3, OET Deputy Chief Bruce Franca asserted there's enough spectrum to permit Amateur Radio and BPL to coexist. Franca, who heads the Commission's BPL Task Force, spoke with Broadband over Power Line World's Marc Strassman.

"There are enough frequencies that amateurs can operate and BPL can operate in a compatible mode," Franca told Strassman. Franca also expressed confidence in technological solutions to any Amateur Radio-BPL
interference issues that might arise. "I'm very optimistic at the end of the day," he said. "Technology is going to solve this problem."

In another BPL-related development, Electric Broadband LLC reportedly has dropped out of the Cottonwood, Arizona, BPL field trial, and project oversight has shifted to Mountain Telecommunications Inc (MTI), which had been handling system operations for EB. The FCC issued a Part 5
Experimental license to MTI on January 3.

On the same day, the Verde Valley Amateur Radio Association (VVARA) asked the FCC to hold up the swap and instead dismiss the pilot project's WD2XMB Part 5 license "with prejudice," alleging the operator had "failed to live
up to the terms of the instrument." The VVARA also said it wanted the BPL field trial shut down.

"Mountain Telecommunications Inc has been involved in the field with the Cottonwood BPL trial since its start and has not complied with the requirements of the existing license by promptly mitigating harmful interference on the 60 meter Amateur Radio band," VVARA Vice President Robert Shipton, K8EQC, told the FCC, noting that six weeks have passed
since the interference report was filed.

The Cottonwood Experimental license stipulates that the licensee "must establish and maintain a liaison relationship with the Verde Valley Amateur Radio Association" and respond to interference complaints "in a timely manner."

Source: ARRL Letter - courtesy of The American Radio Relay League

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