January 2004 "Tuning in" edition published on the Web with permission!

Tuning In (An Editorial) by Harold Ort N2RLL, SSB-596

Monkeys See Money, Monkeys Do Stupid Tricks!
It’s an unfortunate fact that when the political bigs (that includes the wheeler-dealers at the FCC) in Washington want to move their collective tails into high gear, they can.

Oh, come on get serious - you know I don’t mean it happens when it comes to money and programs that would help everyday folks like you and your family get adequate no-BS healthcare and medications, or improve our education system, or take care of our own before the rest of the world (today’s case in point is Iraq; in a few years it’ll be somewhere else, of course), but it does happen for the Big Monkeys and companies that nod their heads in a trance-like approval as they hallucinate as visions of those big dollar signs light up their tiny brains. These are the guys in the Big Bureaucracy wearing the blinders that write the rules, selectively leak what they want the public to know (while carefully massaging the rest with slick PR-speak) so by the time we’re hit with the final blow on the evening news we feel like we were hit with a baseball bat by an oversize gorilla. Let’s take away some of their slick.

The general public and mainstream media isn’t yet in on the latest Big Monkey Business from Washington, but many of you are already aware of BPL, short for Broadband Over Power Lines. It sounds harmless enough and like something we could all use. Unlike the FCC that immediately hugged and kissed BPL, I decided to think about it first, asking questions, listening to the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and others, and yes- in keeping with former American tradition- I even listened to our foreign allies who have seen BPL up close and personal. Folks, this is one Big Monkey you don’t want to cuddle up with.

BPL would use power lines to deliver high-speed broadband Internet services into America’s homes and businesses using frequencies between 2 and 80 MHz. Current Part 15 rules would allow BPL, but the potential for interference to licensed services is, as they say today, over the top.

What’s amazing is how the FCC fell in love with BPL without much forethought, and how the Commission even wants to relax Part 15 rules for the industry. It really makes one wonder if the FCC is working for the industry or the taxpayer.

Let’s look at BPL from a common sense perspective for a moment. For years hams and other radio enthusiasts have been zapped by powerline noise. (See there, we didn’t need to convene a meeting or look through tomes of League or Commission files to recognize that fact; it’s like saying it’ll get cold in the winter. Everybody knows it- except the illustrious bureaucrat who apparently thrives on stupid pills). Seems to me if the industry pumps ANY amount of RF into what radio enthusiasts already recognize as a noise and hash radiator that the end result would be chaos for hundreds of thousands of amateurs.

Let’s face it, even without BPL, the power industry’s record of solving powerline interference problems resulting from faulty equipment, ancient insulators, lightning arrestors, connectors and a myriad of other 1940’s technology lurking above our streets, is less than stellar. Think about it: This is the very carrier they’ll be using for high-speed broadband transmission. Once again my BS meter is pegged and something smells funny. The ARRL says, "BPL is a pandora’s box of unprecedented proportions." This is such a serious threat to amateur radio that the League has begun a Spectrum Defense Fund campaign to aid their efforts in educating bureaucrats (good luck!) on the threat. For more information, go to http://www.arrl.org/

What has the FCC done? Can you say, "end run"? In a news release from the Marketing Communications Manager, Mr. Mark Gedris of the United PowerLine Council (Phone 202-833-6809 or e-mail mark.removemegedris@utc.org) titled "FCC Supports Promotion of Broadband Over Power Line Systems, UPLC Applauds The Commission’s Leadership" the UPLC says,

"The UPLC is pleased by the support of the FCC to promote broadband over powerline through its Notice of Inquiry [Docket No. 03-104]...agrees with the commissioners’ sense that the Notice of Inquiry will mark an historic moment, unveiling broadband over powerline as the elusive third wire to the home or business that Congress, the FCC and the states have sought since the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Their news release goes on to say,

"Broadband over powerlines is huge for both communications electric customers...consumers get plug and play access that also networks the entire home or business...it also...by positioning utilities as the third major competitor (in addition to telecommunications and cable TV) in the retail communications market.

But wait, there’s more...

"Encouraging utilities to deploy this nascent technology will stimulate investment in facilities-based competition, drive economic growth, and help to remedy the digital divide...the UPLC applauds the Commission’s leadership towards these goals in initiating its Notice of Inquiry."

Pretty good PR wouldn’t you say? After reading that who couldn’t stand behind BPL? It’s a lot like listening to the PR talk about securing $87 billion dollars (not for a five- or 10-year period, but immediate desire) when thinking folks know there’ll only be three-fold increases in three or four years’ time).

So I called Mr. Gedris and asked him if he was aware of the interference potential to licensed amateur operators. Apparently he only writes the release, so I was transferred to Mr. Bret Kilbourne a UPLC attorney who said,

... "there’s both a technical and legal component, so I’ll defer to the engineers on the tech issues... on the legal component, we’re legally prohibited from causing interference...I can’t really in my mind [figure] the issue what folks are getting worked up about. [It’s]... based on speculation; hams say one thing and it’s picked up and repeated by others. There’ll be a lot of flexibility [with BPL] utilities can notch the signals."

Kilbourne, in addressing the actual BPL issue said, "The whole issue is sort of polarized - rational debate is difficult, trials from utility companies have been fairly limited for the most part [yet] widespread enough to discuss potential issues to interference."

Since the UPLC’s Mr. Kilbourne seems to think folks are making a mountain out of a molehill when it comes to BPL we dug a little further and obtained a copy of a letter from the US Department of Commerce’s Office of Engineering and Technology at the FCC that responded to the now infamous ET Docket 03-104. It says, in part,

"The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Office of Spectrum Management reviewed the subject request for a permanent waiver of the field strength limit specified for Class B emissions in Part 15 of the Commission’s rules...NTIA believe that a permanent waiver should not be granted at this time because of the present lack of measurements and analyses showing that any resulting interference to allocated services would be at acceptable levels. One concern is that the proposed pole-mounted interface devices and outdoor power lines used for BPL could be located close to public safety and mobile band base station receivers operating in the 30-50 MHz frequency range and consequently many of the intervening signal paths would be unobstructed. The unobstructed and ubiquitous nature of this BPL application and perhaps other aspects of BPL, differs considerably from the situations presently found in typical unintentional radiators authorized under the Commission’s Part 15 rules. We also have concerns regarding compliance measurement techniques for BPL systems and the characterization of emissions from a BPL system for use in compatibility studies.

Later in our conversation I laughed and asked him about the Commission kissing BPL on the first date and he said, "I’ll admit it’s unusual for an agency to make encouraging remarks... while conducting an inquiry." That’s an understatement, Mr. Kilbourne! (Of course in this time of strange things, it’s not the first time, either). He continued, "There’s really not anyone to take on DSL and cable...[and] the utilities are assuming all the risks here - it might go somewhere, it might not, but it’s not [about] the bottom line."

So the utilities are embracing BPL and plan on offering it as a free service to consumers and businesses? Right. And Don Rumsfeld’s staff doesn’t work weekends and holidays.

How Unethical Can The FCC Get?

I just can’t shake away the thought that BPL isn’t about money. FCC Commissioner, Kathleen Q. Abernathy, lauded BPL as "broadband nirvana" in a speech on September 22, 2003 given to the UPLC. I got a copy of that speech and here’s part of what she said, "I am very excited about broadband over powerline technology... and believe it has a very bright future." She added,"...continuing development of BPL technology is a major step forward..." She also said, "When the Commission completes this rulemaking I expect that we will eliminate many existing rules and substantially modify others; the central question is the degree of regulation that will remain during the transition to a more robustly competitive market."

Anyone who’s been on the planet Earth more than a week and listened to politicians’ double-speak realizes what Abernathy meant to say was, "We’re going to rewrite Part 15 so BPL is a shoe-in. This is a big bucks opportunity and our mind is made up. The Notice of Inquiry is merely a requirement."

Talk about cuddling up with BPL and the power industry! Given her on-the-record comments, we’ll also go on the record calling for Commissioner Abernathy to remove herself from future BPL proceedings. If she can’t - or won’t - Chairman Powell should request her resignation.

The ARRL’s President, Jim Haynie, said recently, "BPL is the most crucial issue facing Amateur Radio and the one that has the most devastating potential..."Regarding the interference potential he said, "nothing is on the same scale as BPL."

To illustrate the point, ARRL’s Lab Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI visited several BPL trial areas in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and New York, taking measurements and making observations. His vehicle was chock full of radios and measurement devices. The ARRL reported, "Hare didn’t need to look long to find BPL interference...the signals were all over...and ranged from moderate to extremely strong."

What’s most disturbing is that the ARRL’s measurements of the FCC Part 15 BPL systems showed they "...all were within FCC Part 15 limits for power line carrier (PLC) devices." For licensed users, including public safety and government entities this simply means that if BPL is implemented, the FCC will be walking a very thin line. The Big Monkeys will soon have to decide who has the priority - in reality. Will they tip the scales of responsibility in favor of Part 15 users, resulting in an unprecedented shift in favoring the bottom line over public safety?

Imagine this scenario: You’re a licensed amateur and have determined that BPL signals on the overhead powerlines near your home are the cause of interference to your reception. The emissions are found to be within the limits of Part 15 and conform to the rules. It’s certainly not beyond the realm of possibility that if the Big Monkeys don’t move quickly enough to reinforce and put teeth into Part 15, and move cautiously on BPL itself licensed services, including public safety and the several thousand federal government users of the spectrum, we’ll be facing interference at levels only known in nightmares.

What can you do? Talk to your legislators about BPL, write letters and contact your local media, directing them to the ARRL’s website, http://www.arrl.org/. If you think this is a battle that must be won for everyone’s sake, you’re one step ahead of Washington politicians who don’t care because they see themselves as living in a different world, operating by different rules than the rest of America. Fact is, if BPL is implemented on the wide scale that’s envisioned and a Part 15 harmonic from near 80 MHz prevents a public safety dispatcher or cop in the field from hearing a transmission, it could affect them or their families. Time will tell if the FCC’s circus monkeys are willing to play Russian roulette with the radio spectrum and public safety, and manipulate the rules for money. Regardless of the outcome, it’s time for the FCC to reexamine its legitimate role as protectors of the radio spectrum, not Big Monkeys turning tricks for industry.

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