ARRL asks FCC to shut-down
New York BPL field trial
The ARRL this week asked the FCC to shut down a BPL field trial system
in Briarcliff Manor, New York, that has been the subject of past interference
complaints.
The ARRL says the system, operated by Ambient Corporation under an FCC
Experimental license, continues to cause "harmful interference"
to amateur stations and that the FCC must require it to cease operation
immediately.
"The operator of the system has attempted what it referred to as
'adjustments' in this system in order to reduce the severe interference
potential to licensed radio services such as the Amateur Service,"
said ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD. "These 'adjustments'
have come to be inaccurately referred to as 'notching' of certain bands,
and as a solution to interference to Amateur Service stations, they are
incomplete and inadequate."
The ARRL's October 8 letter of complaint asserts that the Briarcliff
Manor system not only is currently causing interference but fails to comply
with either applicable FCC Part 15 regulations or with the terms of its
FCC experimental authorization.
ARRL said the BPL facility at Briarcliff Manor should not be permitted
to resume operation until it can demonstrate "full compliance"
with FCC rules. The League also called on the FCC to impose "appropriate
monetary forfeitures" against Ambient.
Accompanying the League's complaint were technical exhibits substantiating
the degree of interference the League alleges. One exhibit shows the results
of frequency-shifting adjustments Ambient made to the system in the wake
of "multiple interference complaints from licensed radio amateurs."
The complaint maintains that the adjustments failed to reduce interference
on "a substantial portion" of the HF amateur allocations. The
ARRL study says Ambient has been trying for more than a year to mitigate
interference by using "notching" techniques, "but to no
avail."
The ARRL said measurements taken at 14.3 MHz at one point in the system
"revealed 30 to 40 dB of degradation to Amateur Radio operations
along a stretch of road over a kilometer in length." A sweep at another
location showed that BPL signals occupying the entire 15-meter band remained
strong more than a quarter mile from the BPL injector.
"The levels of interfering BPL signals are sufficient to obscure
virtually all Amateur Radio received signals and preclude Amateur Radio
communications in the areas and on the bands identified in the report,"
the ARRL concluded.
ARRL member Alan Crosswell, N2YGK, a resident of the community, has documented
interference, complaints and related information on his "BPL
in Briarcliff Manor" Web site.
The Briarcliff Manor BPL system, which is operated by the electric utility
Consolidated Edison, was the focus of a March 2004 front-page Wall Street
Journal article, "In This Power Play, High-Wire Act Riles Ham-Radio
Fans," by technology writer Ken Brown. ARRL staff members accompanied
Brown to the BPL site so he could hear the interference firsthand.
Source: ARRL Letter - courtesy of The
American Radio Relay League
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