Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FCC Commish- Kathleen Q. Abernathy Sucks It Up- Apologizes To ARRL & HAMS Over "BPL" Comments.

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 07:21:24 -0500

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Thanks goes out for catching this one to:
Alan Dixon, Contributing Editor
Popular Communications
"The Washington Iconoclast"
"Flying Under The Radar, But Still On Target"
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FCC Commish- Kathleen Q. Abernathy Sucks It Up- Apologizes To ARRL & HAMS Over
"BPL" Comments.
FCC Commissioner's Office Clarifies "Broadband Nirvana" Remarks

NEWINGTON, CT, Nov 13, 2003--The
office of FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q.
Abernathy has expressed regrets that her
remarks in a September speech may have
failed to make Abernathy's concerns
sufficiently clear about potential interference
from Broadband over Power Line (BPL).

"We regret that the Commissioner's remarks may have been interpreted as
suggesting an absence of concern over harmful interference," said Abernathy
Senior Legal Adviser Matthew A. Brill, responding to complaints from the ARRL
and individual amateurs. From a policy perspective, Brill said, Abernathy is
"keenly interested" in seeing multiple broadband platforms develop, but that she
didn't intend to suggest that BPL "necessarily will emerge as a viable platform
or that it does not present interference issues."
In her speech, Abernathy expressed unabashed enthusiasm for BPL and suggested it
was a step along the pathway to "Broadband Nirvana." Brill noted, however, that
near the end of her remarks, Abernathy--referring to the FCC's approach to PCS
regulation--said the Commission was "right to adopt strict interference rules to
prevent competitors from externalizing their costs. The same principle will
apply to BPL."

Brill assured the ARRL that "ensuring that BPL and all new technologies avoid
causing harmful interference to licensed RF users is a bedrock position for
Commissioner Abernathy." He issued similar responses on Abernathy's behalf to
several amateurs who had complained following her address to the United
Powerline Council's annual conference September 22 (see "ARRL Rebukes FCC
Commissioner's BPL-Related "Broadband Nirvana" Remarks").

ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, expressed delight at
Abernathy's recent clarification. "Commissioner Abernathy's affirmation of this
important principle as a 'bedrock position' is most welcome and reassuring
news," he said. From the outset of the FCC's BPL Notice of Inquiry in ET Docket
No. 03-104 last April, Sumner said, the League's goal has been to hold the FCC
to its statement in the NOI that "each of these authorized services in the
spectrum [including the Amateur and Amateur-Satellite services] must be
protected from harmful interference."

"Since that time the presence of harmful interference at BPL test sites has been
thoroughly documented," Sumner noted, "confirming that our original concerns
were well founded."

Following her "Broadband Nirvana" remarks, Sumner had faxed Abernathy on the
League's behalf to point out that technical showings submitted by the ARRL and
others in response to the NOI "clearly establish that BPL is a significant
source of radio spectrum pollution" and that BPL "cannot be implemented without
causing harmful interference to over-the-air radio services."
ARRL's extensive comments, reply comments and technical exhibits are available
on the ARRL web site. There are additional information and video clips on the
ARRL "Power Line Communications (PLC) and Amateur Radio" page.

More than 5000 comments--many from the Amateur Radio community--have been filed
in response to the FCC's BPL NOI and are available for viewing via the FCC's
Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS).

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/11/13/1/

The Commish's comments that go her in hot, water:
 http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/09/25/100/