FCC Turning Blind Eye in BPL Proceeding, ARRL Charges

NEWINGTON, CT, Jun 24, 2004--The ARRL says the FCC apparently has
already made up its mind about broadband over power line (BPL) and
"wants no bad news" about the technology. In reply comments filed June
22 on the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rule Making in ET Docket 03-47, the
League called on the Commission to take "a fresh look" at BPL before
enabling its deployment. Again asking the FCC to put the proceeding on
hold for a year, the League recommended that the Commission in the
meantime require BPL providers to conduct FCC-monitored interference
testing with all stakeholders. The ARRL charged that while an
overwhelming majority of comments oppose BPL due to interference
concerns, the FCC continues to rely on what the League called "vacuous
assurances that BPL would not cause harmful interference." Test data and
a growing record of unresolved complaints indicate otherwise, the ARRL said.

"ARRL is of the view that this proceeding has been prejudged and will,
in the end, be decided not on the technical issues that should control
the outcome of this proceeding, but on the politics of the matter," the
League commented. "Given the evidence on the Commission's table, it
cannot now authorize BPL at the radiated emission levels proposed, and
without substantial restrictions."

Among those restrictions, the League recommended keeping BPL altogether
away from all Amateur Radio allocations, should the FCC decide to
authorize BPL under its proposed rules. As an alternative, the FCC
should guarantee that an interfering BPL system can be shut down
immediately in the face of a valid complaint, "not after a BPL provider
has taken months to discover that the interference cannot be resolved."

Where There's Smoke . . .

To date, the ARRL contended, the FCC has seemingly ignored the League's
BPL technical studies as well as the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA) Phase 1 BPL study that clearly
demonstrate BPL's interference potential. Five additional technical
evaluations accompanied the ARRL's reply comments.

"The Commission is obligated by the Administrative Procedure Act to look
for fire where it is shown a good deal of smoke," the League said. "Here
there is far more than smoke in the record." Any decision in the BPL
proceeding "must be supported by substantial evidence," the ARRL asserted.

Go to the vines at http://www.frn.net - there's some retaliation brewing
;-)

--
Gregg
*It's probably useful, even if it can't be SPICE'd*
http://geek.scorpiorising.ca

On Thu, 01 Jul 2004 03:39:53 GMT, David Stinson
wrote:

FCC Turning Blind Eye in BPL Proceeding, ARRL Charges

NEWINGTON, CT, Jun 24, 2004--The ARRL says the FCC apparently has
already made up its mind about broadband over power line (BPL) and
"wants no bad news" about the technology. In reply comments filed June
22 on the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rule Making in ET Docket 03-47, the
League called on the Commission to take "a fresh look" at BPL before
enabling its deployment. Again asking the FCC to put the proceeding on
hold for a year, the League recommended that the Commission in the
meantime require BPL providers to conduct FCC-monitored interference
testing with all stakeholders. The ARRL charged that while an
overwhelming majority of comments oppose BPL due to interference
concerns, the FCC continues to rely on what the League called "vacuous
assurances that BPL would not cause harmful interference." Test data and
a growing record of unresolved complaints indicate otherwise, the ARRL said.

"ARRL is of the view that this proceeding has been prejudged and will,
in the end, be decided not on the technical issues that should control
the outcome of this proceeding, but on the politics of the matter," the
League commented. "Given the evidence on the Commission's table, it
cannot now authorize BPL at the radiated emission levels proposed, and
without substantial restrictions."

Among those restrictions, the League recommended keeping BPL altogether
away from all Amateur Radio allocations, should the FCC decide to
authorize BPL under its proposed rules. As an alternative, the FCC
should guarantee that an interfering BPL system can be shut down
immediately in the face of a valid complaint, "not after a BPL provider
has taken months to discover that the interference cannot be resolved."

Fat chance. That kind of power is reserved (by the DMCA) to
outfits like the RIAA/MPAA, who have only to assert there is material
infringing their copyrights on a website. The ISP is then required to
tear down the site while the site owner gets to try to convince
someone the material is not infringing. Or remove the material.

If it were allowed, the more likely scenario is that 300
subscribers who got cut off in the middle of their favorite T&A show
would immediately deluge the provider with complaints about being "cut
off because of some old fart across town who wants to talk to someone
he could just as easily call on the phone." The provider would likely
out the ham who complained of the interference that caused the
shutdown and sit back to watch the lynching on the 5 o'clock news.

Once again did anyone hear me the first time?

IN THE INTEREST OF FREE SPEACH THE FCC MUST BE SILENCED!!!!!!!!!

Mark wrote:

Once again did anyone hear me the first time?

IN THE INTEREST OF FREE SPEACH THE FCC MUST BE SILENCED!!!!!!!!!

The body count for failed BPL attempts seems to be rising. At the end
of the day the FCC will look very shiney in allowing these schmucks to
have their go. Just be patient and let technology take its course.
And work on that Spell-checker, bub. Its hard to whine and be taken
seriously on the internet when you cannot spell the key words like SPEECH.
-Bill

Shiney?

..Bill wrote:

And work on that Spell-checker, bub. Its hard to whine and be taken
seriously on the internet when you cannot spell the key words like SPEECH.
-Bill

..Bill wrote:
The body count for failed BPL attempts seems to be rising. At the end
of the day the FCC will look very shiney in allowing these schmucks to
have their go. Just be patient and let technology take its course.
And work on that Spell-checker, bub. Its hard to whine and be taken
seriously on the internet when you cannot spell the key words like SPEECH.

He wanted to be taken seriously? I thought it was a joke (silencing people
in the name of free speech).

--
John Miller

Never speak ill of yourself, your friends will always say enough on that
subject.
-- Charles-Maurice De Talleyrand

He wanted to be taken seriously? I thought it was a joke (silencing people
in the name of free speech).

Why would that be a joke? Silencing those who threaten free speech?
Do people really believe that they just pulled sw frequencies out of a
hat? Oh well, let's just see how the power companies will want to
stand behind & push BPL if there is another 9/11 or WHEN other natural
or man-made disasters strike & emergency communications becomes the
real joke.

Mark wrote:
Oh well, let's just see how the power companies will want to
stand behind & push BPL if there is another 9/11 or WHEN other natural
or man-made disasters strike & emergency communications becomes the
real joke.

You underestimate the stupidity of mankind.
I remember a SHARES emergency communications test of
government HF communications a few years ago.
We couldn't raise one "hub" station in California,
needed to pass some traffic. So I called him.

"How come ya'll aren't on the air?"
"What the h**l do we need that for?
We've all got cell phones...."

On 4 Jul 2004 19:12:06 -0700, (Mark) wrote:

He wanted to be taken seriously? I thought it was a joke (silencing people
in the name of free speech).

Why would that be a joke? Silencing those who threaten free speech?
Do people really believe that they just pulled sw frequencies out of a
hat? Oh well, let's just see how the power companies will want to
stand behind & push BPL if there is another 9/11 or WHEN other natural

You do realize they and the TSA are touting BPL in the name of
security don't you? That was in the papers a few weeks back.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com


or man-made disasters strike & emergency communications becomes the
real joke.