ARRL To FCC: Shut Down BPL System

TelecomWeb: "ARRL To FCC: Shut Down BPL System


ARRL To FCC: Shut Down BPL System

In support of amateur radio operator complaints of interference, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is asking the Federal Communications Commission to shut down the two-year-old broadband over power line (BPL) system in Washington, D.C., suburb Manassas, Va. The ARRL action comes barely a week after the Manassas system was declared fully operational and touted as the first citywide commercial deployment as contrasted to a field trial in the United States.

Communication Technologies Inc. (ComTek) operates the BPL system over the municipally owned electric power grid. The ARRL says the network has been the target of unresolved interference complaints dating back at least to early 2004, none of which has resulted 'in any action or even interest' on the part of the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology staff, the group says.

'The Manassas system currently causes harmful interference, and it is not compliant with applicable FCC Part 15 regulations, including Section 15.5,' the ARRL said in a 16-page filing yesterday to the OET and to the FCC's Enforcement Bureau. 'Whatever actions either Manassas Power or Communication Technologies Inc. might have taken to relieve the problem have not been successful, and it persists to the present time. This is precisely the situation in which the system must be shut down, pending successful resolution of the severe interference.' "


73 fer nw,
Bob N5IET

10X# 37210, FP#-1141, SMIRK#-5177
http://www.n5iet.com/
Code may be taking a back seat for now,
but the pioneering spirit that put the code
there in the first place is out front of it all.