New Manassas BPL complaint arrives at FCC

Another Manassas, Virginia, radio amateur has joined the growing list of those filing formal complaints about disruptive interference from the city's broadband over power line (BPL) system.

The May 4 letter from ARRL member Arthur R. Whittum, W1CRO, went to the FCC's Spectrum Enforcement Division
just one day before the ARRL again prevailed upon the same office to act on several earlier--and similar--complaints of BPL interference.

Whittum reported that BPL interference to his mobile station on April 25 and May 3 made 40-meter SSB operation impossible "during a transit of streets in Manassas" covering about two miles.

"The digital hash from BPL obliterated even strong signals on 7255 kHz to the point of unintelligibility," Whittum wrote the FCC. "Since I couldn't identify who was transmitting or who was net control, I couldn't check into the nets and couldn't even identify whether or not there was any radio message traffic destined for this area."

Whittum said his latest complaint is the third he's attempted to submit. "The first two seem to have gone astray, even though they were introduced in advance by e-mail," he told Spectrum Enforcement Division Chief Joseph Casey. "I hope this one finds its way to you."

On May 5, the ARRL wrote Casey to ask when the FCC planned to respond to longstanding interference complaints from four other Manassas radio amateurs. The League said it also wants to know when it can expect the FCC to require BPL system operator COMTek, equipment maker Main.net and the City of Manassas "to comply with the Commission's rules governing radiated emissions and the non-interference requirement of §15.5 of those rules."

On March 7, Casey called on the city and COMTek to follow up on the January 19 complaint of Dwight Agnew, AI4II, citing harmful BPL interference along Virginia Business Route 234. The Commission instructed the city to conduct
measurements to ensure its system complies with FCC Part 15 rules and to "resolve any continuing harmful interference." In another letter the same day, Casey asked George Tarnovsky, K4GVT; Donald Blasdell, W4HJL; William South, N3OH and Jack Cochran, WC4J, to provide additional information regarding their longstanding interference complaints or the FCC would not consider them further. All four provided the requested addenda by early April.

"Since then, no action has been taken by the Spectrum Enforcement Division," the League said in its May 5 letter to Casey. "An investigation of these complaints is now long overdue and amply justified by the responses of Messrs Cochran, Tarnovsky, Blasdell and South to your March 7, 2006, letter."

On April 6, COMTek filed a report with the FCC in response to Agnew's interference complaint. The company said it did not believe the Manassas BPL system caused the interference Agnew and other Manassas ham radio operators have heard. Agnew told the ARRL a few days after COMTek's report that the BPL interference continues.

In a consolidated complaint on behalf of Tarnovsky, Blasdell and South filed October 13, the ARRL asked the FCC to order the BPL system shut down "until the operator can demonstrate compliance with the requirement that it not
cause harmful interference to licensed radio services."

Source: The American Radio Relay League

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