American ham radio operators and at least one federal
agency contend that broadband over power lines interferes with
their radio signals and, if the radio operators have their way, the
emerging technology might not get off the ground in the
US.
The Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL), a national ham radio
association, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are among
the organisations that have raised concerns with the US Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) over possible short-wave radio
interference caused by broadband over power lines, often called
BPL.
Companies experimenting with BPL, which uses traditional power
lines to transmit data over the internet, have promoted it as an
cheaper alternative to cable modem or digital subscriber line
services.
Some BPL supporters champion it as a way for broadband to reach
rural and other areas with limited broadband service because the
power lines are already there.
The two sides are miles apart on the interference issue, which
the FCC is examining in a request for public comments, which has
been taking place since last April. The ham radio association says
it has found radio interference in every place it has tested
short-wave BPL systems, while representatives of the BPL industry
insist that they cannot find interference caused by their
systems.
The FCC's rules already prohibit unlicensed electronic devices,
including BPL transmitters, from interfering with licensed devices,
such as ham radios. If the FCC were to find interference and
enforce its existing rules, most of the BPL industry could be shut
down.
Most BPL suppliers use devices called repeaters to amplify and
clean up the data signal carried on power lines, and those devices,
as well as BPL modems, emit frequencies in the same range as radios
used by ham radio operators and some emergency responders,
according to the ARRL. Some BPL suppliers are experimenting with
devices that use microwave signals, and the ARRL says those devices
would not interfere with ham radios.
But Current Technologies, which offers BPL service in the
Cincinnati and Rockville, Maryland, areas, cannot find interference
caused by its system, said Jay Birnbaum, the company's vice
president and general counsel. Current Technologies uses a
technology standard called HomePlug, designed to not interfere with
other radio signals.
"Interference just doesn't exist," Birnbaum said. "They based a
lot of their assumptions on outdated noise flow analysis."
Birnbaum accused the ARRL of being overprotective of its turf.
"The decision-maker here is not the ham radio community - the
decision-maker is the FCC," he said. "It's been ARRL's policy to
oppose any new technology that causes emissions, whether they be
harmful or not." ARRL does maintain a web page, at
http://www.arrl.org/news/bandthreat/,
listing nine technologies it calls "threats to our amateur
bands".
It doesn't make sense for BPL companies like Current
Technologies to move forward with their business plans and
financing if they're causing interference, because the FCC could
immediately shut them down if they did, Birnbaum added. Any
interference the ARRL is measuring might be coming from other
licensed radio devices, he said.
"If it turns out I'm trying to make a device or sell a device
that would cause interference anytime it's used, it kind of belies
logic that I could raise money to do that," Birnbaum said.
The FCC has received about 5,000 comments on BPL, and a possible
next step would be to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking later
this year, if the commission determines new rules are needed for
BPL, an FCC spokesman said. In December, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) filed comments saying BPL could "severely
impair FEMA's mission-essential HF (high frequency) radio
operations".
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration
at the US Department of Commerce is conducting its own study, and
phase one is due out in the first half of 2004. The agency is
attempting to address the balance between accommodation of BPL and
protection of vital federal and private services.
The FEMA objections simply repeat the concerns of the ARRL, said
Brett Kilbourne, director of regulatory services and associate
counsel at the United PowerLine Council. The FCC should allow BPL
to continue operating after it has finished researching the issue,
he said.
"Our experience in the field contradicts what [the ARRL is]
alleging," Kilbourne said. "We're entirely satisfied that there
won't be any interference."
Grant Gross writes for IDG News Service