ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, has appealed to President and fellow
Texan George W. Bush to withdraw his support for broadband over power line
(BPL) technology and focus on "more suitable technologies" such as
wireless broadband. The League this week also issued a call for members to
support Haynie's request. In an April 26 speech at the Minneapolis
convention of the American Association of Community Colleges, Bush
advocated changing technical standards to encourage BPL deployment in the
US. Haynie told Bush that while the League supports universal and
affordable broadband access, BPL is the wrong direction to take.

"Power lines were designed to transmit energy," not broadband signals,
Haynie said in a fax. "The broadband signals radiate from power lines and
cause severe interference to radio reception."

Haynie said test sites throughout the US and elsewhere have amply
demonstrated BPL's potential to interfere. "You may have been told
otherwise; if so, you were misinformed," he said, directing the
president's attention to the BPL page on the ARRL Web site
<http://www.arrl.org/bpl>.

Bush this week told the community colleges gathering that there need to be
technical standards to enable new broadband technologies such as
high-speed communication over power lines. "Power lines were for
electricity; power lines can be used for broadband technology," Bush said.
"So the technical standards need to be changed to encourage that."

"Once deployed," the president declared, "BPL has the potential to turn
every electrical outlet into a broadband pipeline." Bush also suggested
that BPL could supply broadband services to rural dwellers, a prospect
that the League and others claim is not economically feasible.

"BPL is sometimes touted as a solution for rural areas," said ARRL CEO
David Sumner, K1ZZ. "It is not." Sumner explained that BPL signals carry
only a few thousand feet down a power line and then must be repeated.
"This requires a lot of hardware and will not be economical in areas with
low population densities."

Bush also praised FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell and "his decision to
eliminate burdensome regulations on new broadband networks' availability
to homes." He also called for opening up more spectrum to make wireless
broadband "more accessible, reliable and affordable" and for no taxes on
broadband access.

In its BPL Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in ET Docket 04-37, the
FCC has proposed amending its Part 15 rules to adopt new requirements and
measurement guidelines for so-called "Access BPL" systems. The comment
deadline is Monday, May 3; reply comments are due by June 1.

In direct response to the Bush speech, the ARRL is asking its members to
support Haynie's request for the White House to withdraw its support for
BPL technology. "Using power lines to distribute broadband services is a
bad idea that should not be encouraged," said Sumner. "It is important for
radio amateurs to get the facts across to the White House as well as to
our Congressional representatives and senators."

The ARRL Web site provides an information package
<http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/cta/>. It explains how members can
contact the White House and members of Congress to express their views on
BPL deployment.

"Do it now!" Sumner urged. "We need thousands of responses from all parts
of the country, right away, if we are to make an impression."

For additional information, visit the ARRL's "Broadband Over Power Line
(BPL) and Amateur Radio" page <http://www.arrl.org/bpl/>. 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/>.

==>NTIA STUDY DOCUMENTS RADIO INTERFERENCE FROM BPL

The first phase of a long-awaited broadband over power line (BPL) study
the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
released this week suggests it's possible to accommodate BPL technology
while managing the interference risk. In a cover letter to FCC Chairman
Michael K. Powell, Acting NTIA Administrator Michael D. Gallagher pledged
that the NTIA would "work with the Commission to establish a firm
technical foundation for responsible deployment of BPL to protect critical
federal communications systems." But, Gallagher added, "technical rules
governing their deployment must address potential harmful interference to
critical systems." Released April 27, NTIA Report 04-413
<http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fccfilings/2004/bpl/index.html> analyzes
10 million BPL system measurements.

"Most studies have been oriented to determine whether interference will
occur at the variously proposed limits," NTIA says in describing its
study's approach. "In contrast, NTIA has oriented its study to find a
solution that accommodates BPL systems while appropriately managing the
risk of interference to radio systems." The NTIA acknowledges that BPL
signals "unintentionally radiate" from power lines. But, the agency said,
"there is substantial disagreement as to the strength of the emissions and
their potential for causing interference to licensed radio systems." The
NTIA also said current FCC Part 15 measurement techniques may
"significantly underestimate" peak BPL field strength.

The hefty, two-volume NTIA Phase 1 study looks at BPL systems using the HF
and low-VHF spectrum from 1.7 to 80 MHz and "defines risks of interference
from BPL systems to local radio reception" while assuming the systems
comply with existing Part 15 rules. That spectrum, NTIA said, is home to
some 59,000 federal frequency assignments. The study proposes protecting
41 frequencies of the "most sensitive and likely most severely affected
federal systems."

ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, said the NTIA study clearly demonstrates that
BPL systems pollute the radio spectrum. "How can any responsible public
official encourage the deployment of such systems," he asked, "and how can
any investor seriously consider pouring money into such an obviously
flawed technology?"

Among interference mitigation techniques, the NTIA study recommends
reducing BPL device output power--which it called "the single most
effective method" of reducing interference potential--and "shifting or
notching" BPL frequencies. Others included differential-mode signal
injection, absorbing filters, adopting a "one active device per frequency
and area" rule and using a single point of control for each BPL service
area.

Interference calculations by the NTIA engineers indicated that a BPL
transmitter operating within Part 15 limits would significantly increase
the noise floor for land-mobile receivers on frequencies below 30 MHz. The
agency said it could be inferred from its calculations that "a
vehicle-mounted HF receiver" operating in a residential neighborhood next
to a BPL-energized line "may experience harmful interference" depending on
the frequency, distance along the line from the BPL transmitter, the BPL
transmitter's duty cycle and the number of BPL devices on the power line.

The NTIA study calculated that interference "is likely" to mobile stations
in areas extending to 30 meters and to fixed stations in areas extending
to 55 meters from a single BPL device and the power lines to which it's
connected. With "low to moderate desired signal levels," the NTIA study
continued, interference is likely at these receivers within areas
extending to 75 meters for mobiles and 460 meters for fixed stations.

The NTIA says its Phase 2 study will "evaluate the effectiveness" of its
Phase 1 recommendations and address potential interference via ionospheric
propagation of BPL "from mature, large-scale" deployed BPL networks.