Technical Topics, August 2004
BPL Update
Not in my backyard! That was the central theme of most of the entities that filed comments with the FCC opposing the deployment of BPL on HF and VHF frequencies in the USA.
In a process that began over a year ago, thousands of users of the HF and low VHF spectrum weighed in on BPL. Most of those making comments were amateur radio operators, but all users of HF including SWLs were represented.
The formal FCC comment process has now ended and it is up to the commissioners to decide what to do next. Do they charge ahead knowing it will be impossible to stuff BPL back into Pandora’s box? Do they regroup and tighten Part 15 regulations? Do they protect one service while dumping BPL interference on frequencies used by services perceived as being less important or less vulnerable? The answer should soon be known.
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Technical Topics, June 2004
NASWA Files BPL NPRM Comments
By the time you read this column, the FCC will likely have closed the reply comment-filing window on the BPL NPRM. Barring an extension by the FCC, reply comments were due to the FCC by June 1.
For the historical record here are comments as filed by NASWA on May 3, 2004:
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Technical Topics, May 2004
NASWA To File BPL NPRM Comments
As this issue of the NASWA Journal goes to press, NASWA is getting ready to submit its comments to the FCC on the BPL NPRM, ET docket 04-37. Comments are due by May 3. If you have not yet filed, there are three requests for time extension currently being considered by the FCC so you may still have time. BPL is currently being deployed under existing Part 15 rules. Hopefully the points in the draft NASWA response will help you formulate your own response. There is strength in numbers. The FCC thinks only hams are worried. Be a squeaky wheel and maybe you can help us get some grease.
International Agreements
The FCC is required to observe the rights of other nations to broadcast directly, without interference, to listeners in the United States on frequencies allocated by the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) exclusively for this purpose. The United States is a member of the ITU, an international organization within the United Nations system and a signator to its most recent radio regulation convention.
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Technical Topics, March 2004
FCC To Issue Proposed BPL Rules
On February 12 the FCC voted unanimously to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to eventually allow full-scale deployment of BPL in the United States. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the FCC has apparently heard the outcry of users of the short-wave spectrum and has proposed procedures to mitigate interference.
In spite of warnings expressed by entities like FEMA, NTIA, ARRL, NASWA and thousands of individuals, the FCC cheerleaders for BPL technology have decided to charge ahead. Instead of proposing a reduction in Part 15 limits as NASWA requested in its comments, the FCC is proposing to leave the unintentional radiation restrictions as they currently are. The FCC instead proposes placing the burden on licensed services to take action when they experience interference. The good news is that they did not propose to raise the limits at this time as some BPL advocates desired.
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Technical Topics, January 2004
FEMA Supports Shortwave Listeners
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has filed comments with the FCC, supporting the position of NASWA. FEMA is opposed to deployment of broadband Internet access via power lines (BPL). FEMA’s ability to use the HF spectrum is regulated by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
Like NASWA, FEMA recommends that Part 15 signal level limits be tightened instead of being relaxed, “FEMA believes and recommends that Part 15 of the FCC rules and regulations should be strengthened to ensure that there will be no increase in interference levels to existing communications systems which are licensed by the FCC or authorized by the NTIA.”
FEMA is an organizational element of the Department of Homeland Security. Because FEMA’s mission concerns public safety, their opposition to BPL should carry plenty of weight with the FCC and provide powerful grounds for an appeal to the Congress if the FCC chooses to ignore FEMA’s and NASWA’s concerns.
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Technical Topics, December 2003
Anti-BPL Forces Muster For Battle
On November 7, 2003 the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsored a meeting of various organizations that had previously expressed at least a cautionary posture to BPL regarding the FCC’s Notice Of Inquiry 03-104. The National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, DC hosted the meeting. I represented NASWA and the interests of the entire shortwave listener community. The ARRL has published their summary of the meeting in the ARRL Letter, Vol. 22, No. 45, November 14, 2003. Quoted statements in this article are from that letter. You can access that letter via the ARRL web site at: http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/.
Here are some observations from my personal notes.
One would think, that with the future of shortwave broadcasting in North America at stake, companies whose sales depend in large measure on shortwave radio would have been well represented. Only Yaesu, of all the receiver manufacturers and retailers, was present and ably represented by Chip Margelli. He is with the Engineering/R&D Department of Vertex Standard’s Amateur Division and traveled from California to make important contributions to the discussion. However, Icom, MFJ, Sangean, Kenwood, Eton Corp. (Grundig North America), Grove Enterprises, and Passport To World Band Radio were invited to attend but for one reason or another did not show.
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Technical Topics, October 2003
Reply To NASWA BPL Comments
A reply comment was submitted to the FCC that addressed the NASWA comments filed with the FCC on June 30. The reply makes some good points, but in my opinion overestimates the utility of the 30-47 MHz range for over-the-horizon communications. I am presenting the author’s comments here verbatim in order to provide an independent perspective which will help you better understand the interference issues associated with the BPL technology.
The following is a set of reply comments from Nickolaus E. Leggett, an amateur radio operator (Extra Class licensee – call sign N3NL), inventor (U.S. Patents # 3,280,929 and 3,280,930 and one electronics invention patent application pending), and a certified electronics technician (ISCET and NARTE). I also have a Master of Arts degree in Political Science from the Johns Hopkins University (May 1970).
These comments are reply comments to the comments submitted by the North American Shortwave Association (NASWA).
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Technical Topics, September 2003
NASWA Files Reply Comments to FCC BPL Inquiry
On August 20 NASWA filed reply comments to the FCC in response to comments that were made by BPL proponents during the initial phase of the inquiry. Here is the substance of that submission. If you have not yet read the July and August editions of this column, I suggest you do so before continuing with this one. It will make much more sense if you have the background information explained in those other columns.
NASWA represents the interests of people who choose to get their news and information about other cultures via shortwave radio broadcasts on frequencies internationally allocated by the ITU and the FCC for this purpose.
There are several common threads that have been expressed by multiple BPL proponents that deserve further comment. Many of the proponents of using HF frequencies for BPL transmissions have made the point that their systems work at currently authorized Part 15 signal levels and should, therefore, be immediately authorized for commercial deployment. They assert that interference, if it occurs, can be mitigated by providing notches in the spectral mask for frequencies that are used for amateur radio. Many proudly proclaim that no complaints of interference from their technology have resulted from their test demonstrations. NASWA addresses each of these assertions in this response.
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Technical Topics, August 2003
NASWA Alerts FCC To BPL Danger
For the first time in its long history, NASWA has publicly defended the interests of shortwave broadcast listeners in the USA. On June 30, 2003 NASWA submitted an 18-page filing to the FCC in response to Notice of Inquiry 03-104 concerning Broadband Power Line (BPL) communications. The Journal does not have the room to print the entire submission, but this month I will attempt to summarize many of the points made in that submission. Comments by AMRAD and the NAB also mentioned the impact to shortwave listeners and I have included part of their comments too.
As you probably already know from the Musings in the June NASWA Journal, there are well-funded interests who want to use the commercial power lines as a way to conduct high-speed data communications. Many of the proponents of this technology have chosen to design systems using frequencies that are between 2 and 30 MHz.
The number of shortwave listeners in the USA is hard to estimate accurately since Arbitron does not survey such listeners. The CIA Factbook says there are 575 million radios here. If only one percent of these radios have shortwave capability, that would be almost 6 million shortwave receivers. A reasonable estimate would be that hundreds of thousands of listeners tune in to shortwave broadcasts weekly.
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Technical Topics, June 2003
The Next Threat To SW Listeners
(And What You Can Do To Help)
It seems like every few years I feel obligated to warn NASWA members of a new threat to our ability to listen to shortwave radio. I remember my first Tech Topics column over a decade ago concerned the interference potential of RF excited light bulbs that GE was getting ready to market. As President Ronald Reagan said, "Well, there you go again."
The latest communications fad is a way of transmitting high data rate internet traffic over your house electrical wiring and the wires that connect your house to a nearby pole. There is a standard, developed by an industry consortium called the HomePlug Alliance, that plans to use the HF spectrum between 2 and 30 MHz for this connection. You plug your modem into a convenient power outlet. A similar modem near your service transformer picks the signals off the power line and converts them to a series of light pulses which travel via fiber optic cable to the internet interface. Because the power wiring in residential settings is unshielded, these signals will radiate and may cause interference to SW reception.
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