FCC, Hams Spar Over Powerline Broadband – Groups clash in court as technology flounders….

In: broadbandreports.com|Site Feeds|VoIP

23 Oct 2007

Amateur ham operators and the FCC aren’t particularly good friends when it comes to broadband over powerline (BPL) technology. The FCC continually insists the niche technology is the next great broadband hope, while hams and engineers note that there’s incredible potential for interference with ham and emergency radio.

Ham group the ARRL has taken the FCC to court over FCC rules instituted back in 2004 aimed at spurring growth of the technology. The ARRL, who’ve accused the FCC of cuddling up to BPL vendors and cherry picking data in the past, argues the rules aren’t strict enough to manage the technology’s interference potential.

CNET notes that the two sides are clashing in court this week, with ARRL lawyers crying foul over the FCC’s suddenly lax rules when it comes to interference:

Specifically, for the first time in decades, the FCC decided against requiring that operations found to cause “harmful interference” be shut down immediately–a stance that ignores the “right of the license holder to be free from interference,” . . . The FCC has also withheld portions studies that would “potentially” show BPL does cause harmful interference to other devices–and ignored reports of tests the ARRL argues offer “substantial” evidence of interference problems, ARRL attorneys said.

FCC attorneys, meanwhile, are arguing that they didn’t find ample evidence that BPL posed real potential for “harmful” interference. That probably amuses RF engineers around the world who’ve well documented the results of BPL interference first hand.
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