House Resolution 230 'a fair request'

ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, says House Resolution 230 (HRes 230) represents 'a fair request' to the FCC and deserves the support of the US House of Representatives.

Sponsored by Rep Mike Ross, WD5DVR, of Arkansas, HRes 230 calls on the FCC to comprehensively evaluate BPL's interference potential incorporating "extensive public review and comment," then to "reconsider and review" its new BPL rules in the light of that public input.

Renewing his call for League members to contact their congressional representatives to sign on as co-sponors of the non-binding measure, Haynie said Ross's resolution only asks the FCC to do what it should have done in the first place regarding BPL.

"What this basically asks the FCC to do is to take another look at their methodology and how they arrived at the conclusions they did," Haynie said.

The FCC adopted rules to govern so-called Access BPL last October 14 in ET Docket 04-37. "I think that's a fair request and something that we should do as amateurs to make sure this is done right and without a lot of haste."

Haynie says Motorola's announcement of its Powerline LV system suggests the FCC rules can provide much greater protection to radicommunication services without preventing properly engineered BPL systems from going forward.

Ross, who is one of two amateur licensees in the US Congress (the other is Rep Greg Walden, W7EQI, of Oregon), introduced HRes 230 on April 21. He told Broadband Over Power Line World (BPLW) recently that he's concerned about potential interference that BPL deployment could generate. (The interview is on the BPLW Web site)

"Based on my own knowledge of the unique nature of the high-frequency radio spectrum, I was concerned about the evidence submitted to the Federal Communications Commission that I believe demonstrates the need to postpone any rules regarding BPL deployment," Ross said. He explained that passage of HRes 230 would put the House on record as "supporting a more careful study by the FCC of the radio interference issue, especially as it relates to public safety communication, and reconsideration of the adequacy of the rules in light of this study."

While HRes 230 does not specifically address the BPL concerns of the Amateur Radio community, Ross said those concerns were what led him to look more closely at BPL's implications for the public safety community. He noted that the federal interagency emergency SHARES (SHAred RESources) network uses HF, and many states and localities still use the 30-50 MHz "low-VHF" band for public safety communications--spectrum that some BPL pilot projects also have occupied.

Ross said BPL interference on HF would be proportional to the extent of the technology's deployment using medium-voltage power lines. "Broadband energy cannot be put on these lines without causing interference to radio receivers using the same frequencies," he explained to BPLW's Marc Strassman. He also said the existing emission limits are "much too high" and never were intended to apply to systems like BPL. Existing BPL systems should be made to conform to future limits, he added.

He said BPL's potential to disrupt aviation operations is so great that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) successfully argued to prohibit Access BPL via medium-voltage power lines on frequencies used by commercial aeronautical communications.

Ross also wants the Commission to address "without further delay" the "substantial number" of BPL interference complaints now pending at the FCC. And while he'd like to see his colleagues eventually approve HRes 230, he hopes the FCC will "take the interference issue to heart, whether or not the resolution is adopted."

He further expressed the hope that BPL companies will "realize it's in their interest to treat the interference issue as a technical and engineering challenge, not as a political issue."

Speaking at Dayton Hamvention in May, Haynie urged individual amateurs to begin participating in the political process. "We've got to ratchet up our presence," he told a forum audience. Haynie said that while ARRL can serve as the unified voice of the national association for Amateur Radio, individual licensees are voters, and lawmakers are quite aware that there are radio amateurs in their districts.

Regarding HRes 230 specifically, Haynie said this week that the task at hand is to encourage other House members to sign on as cosponsors of the resolution as the first step toward House adoption. And that's where League members come in, he said.

"I really encourage you to contact your congressional representative," Haynie said. "It's listed in the front of almost every phone book who your congressman is. If not, you can go to the United States House of Representatives Web site and find out by typing in your ZIP code. I really encourage you to do this because it's important to the future of Amateur Radio."

The full text of HRes 230 and a sample letter are available on the ARRL Web site. Haynie called on members to express their support for the resolution in their own words.

To expedite delivery, send all correspondence bound for Members of Congress - preferably as an attachment - to hres230@arrl.org; or fax it to 703-684-7594.

The ARRL will bundle correspondence addressed to each Member of Congress for hand delivery.

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

Other recent stories..

Other News Stories

• Get our news headlines for your website - click here
• Submit your news story - click here