Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FEMA Appears to Backpedal in BPL "Clarification" Letter

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2004 02:38:56 -0400

FEMA Appears to Backpedal in BPL "Clarification" Letter
NEWINGTON, CT.

April 1, 2004

After expressing "grave concerns" to the FCC last fall about the
interference potential of Broadband over Power Line (BPL) systems,
the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) now appears
to be backing away from that strong stance. FEMA filed comments

(http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6515292045)

December 4 in response to the FCC's April 2003 Notice of Inquiry
in ET Docket 03-104. Many have cited those remarks in their own
comments opposing BPL deployment.

In a January 8 letter

(http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6516086099)

that's now part of the BPL Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM)

(http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6515783486)

in ET Docket 04-37, Michael D. Brown, the US Department of Homeland
Security's under secretary for emergency preparedness and response,
told FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell that FEMA wanted to "clarify the
record" to ensure that its filing was not "misunderstood or
misconstrued."

"We have become aware that certain distinct approaches to BPL may
have the potential to cause interference to FEMA's high frequency radio
communications system," Brown said in his January letter. "However, we
continue to study the BPL proceeding and have not concluded that there
is a material interference problem or that all of the distinct
technological
approaches to BPL pose a risk of interference."

The FEMA official said his agency expects that there may be ways to
provide BPL's benefits "without compromising the emergency
communications capabilities available to FEMA."

The January letter stands in stark contrast to FEMA's predictions last
December that "the introduction of unwanted interference from the
implementation of BPL technology into the high frequency radio spectrum
will result in significant detriment to the operation of FEMA radio
systems."

Saying such interference could "directly impair the safety of life and
property," the agency also had recommended the FCC beef up its Part 15
rules to ensure no increase in interference levels to existing FCC or
NTIA-licensed communication systems.

"The purported benefits of BPL in terms of expanded services in certain
communications sectors do not appear to outweigh the benefit to the
overall public of HF radio capability as presently used by government,
broadcasting and public safety users," FEMA asserted last December
in comments filed on the agency's behalf by Chief Information Officer
Barry C. West.

BPL also could render such "essential communications services" as
the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES), the Military
Affiliate Radio System (MARS) and the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) useless,
FEMA said. FEMA and ARRL are signatories to a Memorandum of
Understanding that focuses on how Amateur Radio personnel may
coordinate with the agency to support emergency communications
functions. FEMA's December comments also referenced ARRL's
"Interference to PLC systems from Amateur Radio Operation."

Brown's January letter conveys a much milder, conciliatory tone.
"We know that the FCC shares our appreciation for the importance
of reliable communications in the context of disaster recovery and
are confident that the Office of Engineering and Technology's technical
assessment, as well as the Commission's regulations implementing BPL,
will be sensitive to this issue," he concluded. "FEMA stands ready to
assist in any way the Commission might find helpful."

The deadline to file comments in response to the FCC BPL NPRM is
Monday, May 3. Reply comments are due Tuesday, June 1. Interested
individuals and organizations may file comments via the Internet using
the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS)
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/

The FCC asks that anyone filing comments on this NPRM do so
"only in the newly established ET Docket No 04-37," the FCC said.

Additional information about BPL and Amateur Radio is on the ARRL
Web site - http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/

  http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/04/01/101/?nc=1

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