ARRL CALLS ON FCC TO SHUT DOWN VIRGINIA BPL SYSTEM
In support of Amateur Radio complaints of interference, the ARRL this week
formally asked the FCC to instruct the City of Manassas, Virginia, to shut
down its broadband over power line (BPL) system. Communication Technologies
(COMTek) operates the BPL system over the municipally owned electric power
grid. The League says the facility has been the target of interference
complaints, none of which has resulted "in any action or even interest" on
the part of the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) staff. In
the meantime, the ARRL says, interference to local Amateur Radio stations
continues.
"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 to the OET and 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."
Two years ago, the ARRL put Manassas officials on notice that the League
would act on behalf of its members to ensure full compliance with FCC
regulations once the city's BPL system, then in the trial stage, started up.
The ARRL and the complaining Manassas radio amateurs--George Tarnovsky,
K4GVT, Donald Blasdell, W4HJL, and William South, N3OH--cite interference so
severe that "no communications can be conducted in the amateur allocations
subject to interference," said the ARRL, which accused the city of
"stonewalling in the face of repeated complaints."
"The parties cannot be said to be working this out cooperatively, since the
City of Manassas and its BPL operator are currently in full denial," the
League said.
Correspondence and reports from Tarnovsky, Blasdell and South outlining
repeated contacts with the BPL operator and a lack of effective
resolution--and even public denial--of the interference, accompanied the
League's filing. All three hams suggested city officials and COMTek have not
acted in good faith in addressing the interference. Efforts by the BPL
operator to "notch" band segments have proven ineffective. "Our continued
monitoring of the Manassas BPL system has shown they continuously open the
notches and/or increase signal levels, subsequently interfering with
licensed services again," Tarnovsky asserted. "This can only lead to one
conclusion--they are not taking the interference issue seriously."
Field tests conducted not only by Manassas radio amateurs but by the US
Department of the Navy established that the city's BPL system "was an
interference generator at distances of hundreds of feet from the modems on
overhead power lines," the ARRL wrote.
The FCC adopted new Part 15 rules to govern BPL deployment a year ago this
week. Manassas earlier this month formally inaugurated its citywide
deployment of the high-speed Internet BPL system, which it touts as "the
first large-scale commercial BPL deployment in North America." The city
receives a portion of BPL subscriber revenues to offset its costs of
installing and maintaining the system.
A copy of the League's filing to the FCC is available on the ARRL Web site
.
Additional information about BPL and Amateur Radio is on the ARRL Web site
.
To support the League's efforts in this area, visit the ARRL's secure BPL
Web site https://www.arrl.org/forms/development/donations/bpl/.
