FCC Presses Two Utilities to Resolve Power Line Noise Complaints:

The FCC has asked utilities in Oklahoma and Illinois to try harder to resolve longstanding power line noise complaints from Amateur Radio licensees. Special Counsel in the FCC Spectrum Enforcement Division Riley Hollingsworth recently contacted Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E) Company and Exelon Corporation (ComEd) in Chicago to follow up on the unrelated cases.

"In your response on behalf of Oklahoma Gas and Electric, dated January 30, 2006, you indicated that you were responding to [the radio amateur's] complaints," Hollingsworth wrote Oklahoma Gas and Electric's Senior Attorney Patrick D. Shore. "However, [the complainant] states that the power line hardware noise continues."

Hollingsworth customarily does not identify RFI complainants in public correspondence, but the Oklahoma radio amateur involved -- ARRL Member Hal Dietz, W5GHZ, of Bethany -- agreed to let the League make his name public. Dietz has sought the ARRL's assistance in resolving the problem. The League has been working with the FCC for several years to address power line noise complaints from Amateur Radio licensees.

Dietz says the power line noise he's experiencing on occasion has approached 20 dB over S9 on some bands, but it's typically between S5 to S9. "I experience line noise interference on frequencies as high as 444.100 MHz -- a local repeater that I monitor -- and on all TV channels through 14," he reports. "The interference is not present on all bands at all times, but it is present on one or more bands all of the time, except when it's raining."

An OG&E has representative visited Dietz but was unable to pin down the interference source. "I have also offered to go with them when they are trying to locate the interference, but they have declined my help," Dietz added.

On December 8, Hollingsworth wrote John W. Rowe, chairman and CEO of Exelon Corporation, the parent company of utility ComEd.

"We have reviewed your letter dated July 10, 2006, in which you state that you have not been able to locate the source of radio interference because the noise as reported by [the complainant] is intermittent. [The complainant] disputes that claim, however, stating that the noise is constant and that the only time that it is not present is during a heavy rain."

The Amateur Radio licensee experiencing the interference has told the ARRL that the noise from ComEd's equipment is nearly always present and 60 dB over S9 on 160 meters, wet weather excepted. Adding to the mix, the ham recounted last fall, is new noise from a neighbor's Part 15 electronic device. ARRL Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineer Mike Gruber, W1MG, says the complainant for several months has been reporting persistent noise from 160 to 6 meters from ComEd's system and can even hear it on his car's broadcast radio.

Hollingsworth advised both utilities to review the radio amateurs' complaints and advise his office regarding steps being taken to locate and remediate the RFI.

Source:

The ARRL Letter Vol. 26, No. 02 January 12, 2007

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