Here is a little good news for a change: ARRLWeb: New ARRL Petition Seeks to Resolve BPL Standoff.
Responsible manufacturers of access BPL equipment have been working with the ARRL to demonstrate equipment that can successfully coexist with amateur radio spectrum, and the League is asking the FCC to refine its rules to recognize that this is possible. Non-conformant systems (Main.net is a big example) would have to make some modifications to comply.
The big downer in all this is the ongoing total disinclination of the FCC to enforce even their liberalized Part 15 rules for BPL.
Look up GS-11, GS-12, and GS-13 salaries in the federal pay tables sometime. That is how much we are paying OET engineers to sit on their butts and ignore BPL interference complaints. GS-11 is the most likely journeyman engineer/technician level in OET; GS-12 is a staff lead/manager; GS-13 is a section chief. The $$ add up quick when you consider that they are apparently sitting behind a desk and reading comics all day instead of doing effective enforcement of BPL interference.
Effective? Hell, ANY enforcement would be a welcome change. Especially when you consider that an enforcement letter to the BPL operator would probably be all that would be required in most cases. These operators are ignoring interference complaints because they know the FCC is ignoring the complaints. If they get any sign that FCC is going to start enforcing the rules, they will clean up their act. But as things are, they don't have any incentive to do so.
FCC, do your damn jobs.
Posted in BPL by WA5ICA at October 20, 2005 04:33 PM