FCC Commissioner's Office Clarifies 'Broadband Nirvana' Remarks:
from
The ARRL Letter, Vol 22, No 45
on
November 15, 2003
Website:
http://www.arrl.org/
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FCC Commissioner's Office Clarifies 'Broadband Nirvana' Remarks:
The office of FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy
http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/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 to the United Powerline Council's
http://www.uplc.utc.org/
annual conference September 22, 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 challenged her stance (see
"ARRL Rebukes FCC Commissioner's BPL-Related 'Broadband Nirvana' Remarks"
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/09/25/100/).
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."
ARRL's extensive comments, reply comments and technical exhibits are
available on the ARRL Web site
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/.
There are additional information and video clips on the ARRL "Power Line
Communications (PLC) and Amateur Radio" page
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/.
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.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/.
Source:
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 22, No. 45
November 14, 2003
This article has expired. No more comments may be added.
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FCC Commissioner's Office Clarifies 'Broadband Nir
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by KA4KOE on November 15, 2003
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Mail this to a friend!
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I guess the deluge of emails crashing their server was too much and they cried "UNCLE!"
You've gotta write your elected representatives and senators in Congress gang, or this banana is going to go brown and spoil.
I just bough a used 756PRO and I ain't gonna be happy if I canna hear anything!
PAN
KA4KOE
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RE: FCC Commissioner's Office Clarifies 'Broadband
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by LNXAUTHOR on November 15, 2003
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- there's so much junk on the bands (HF and VHF) here in the DC Metro Area, i'm not sure i'd know if BPL was implemented or not... (and yes, BPL has arrived about 20 miles away in Manassass City, Va.)...
- spent a week in the mountains in early Oct... it was 'hash-free Nirvana'... getting on the air at home upon return, the difference was astounding!
- i guess there's only one better place to set up a shack:
The National Radio Quiet Zone
(http://www.gb.nrao.edu/nrqz/nrqz.html)
:-)
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RE: FCC Commissioner's Office Clarifies 'Broadband
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by CURMUDGEON on November 16, 2003
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Its quite obvious that this woman is back pedaling. No doubt pressure has come to bear on her and the FCC. Its a shame that the FCC which was once run primarily by or at least with respect for engineers, has now turned into politics. We should be writing every representative in Washington, en mass.
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RE: FCC Commissioner's Office Clarifies 'Broadband
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by AG4RQ on November 16, 2003
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"Its quite obvious that this woman is back pedaling. No doubt pressure has come to bear on her and the FCC. Its a shame that the FCC which was once run primarily by or at least with respect for engineers, has now turned into politics. We should be writing every representative in Washington, en mass."
Abernathy is obviously a politician. She seemed to make a 180-degree turnaround. Don't you just love it when public figures (a.k.a. politicians) "clarify" their statements? It's one of those classic "I never said that" kind of things. The biggest question is:
Is she sincere in her current "clarified" statement? Can she be trusted? Or is this just a ploy? Or is she feeling tremendous heat not only from the ARRL and us hams, but NTIA and other entities that are very alarmed about BPL's consequences? Other entities include Dept. of Defense (although DOD ahs been silent, I don’t exactly think they take BPL’s RF spectrum pollution lightly), National Association of Broadcasters and all the wireless providers, with Cingular making the strongest statements.
The Commission's latest statement re BPL, if sincere is a major victory against the menacing RF spectrum pollution that threatens us. Time will tell. I don't think the war is won yet. I don't think we should allow ourselves to let our guard down. When I say we, I mean all of us hams, the ARRL, and all other entities that are threatened by RF spectrum pollution from BPL.
Although I've been saying that BPL would never pass in its raw form, we can't relax. We must continue to be diligent, and continue our fight.
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RE: FCC Commissioner's Office Clarifies 'Broadband
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by WA4MJF on November 16, 2003
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DOD has not been silent, their "frequency
boss" NTIA has been quite vocal!
NTIA in DOC is the Federal Government
voice on these matters, not each individual
department and agency.
73 de Ronnie
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RE: FCC Commissioner's Office Clarifies 'Broadband
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by CURMUDGEON on November 16, 2003
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We must assume that BPL and Abernathy and the whole apparatus behind it is dead serious for it anyway. An enemy of this magnitude must not be taken lightly. I'm going to appeal to all House and Senate members in the country personally. I urge all of you to do likewise. Please.
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FCC Commissioner's Office Clarifies 'Broadband Nir
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by HAMDUDE on November 17, 2003
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Just another FCC politician spewing forth more lies as all politicins do. I just wonder how much Abernathy stands to make off this BPL dung? Id bet her bank account is fat with lobbyist money from the ISP`s and anyone else pushing this garbage down our throats. Her idea of "broadband nirvana" spells RFI nightmare for HF and other radio spectrum while the special interest groups pushing this trash laugh all the way to the bank. As long as lobbying is still legal in this country, lying, bullsh**ing politicians and scummy lawyers will be able to rake in tons of money at all of our expense. Sad thing that this countrys system is to buy off whatever scumbags to accomplish things or get laws passed. Whatever happened to elected officials serving the people instead of serving their wallets?
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RE: FCC Commissioner's Office Clarifies 'Broadband
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by URBANGORILLA on November 18, 2003
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HAMDUDE,
Our government is not lilly-white. It has never been. That is why this country enslaved blacks, killed most of the Indians and forced the rest onto reservations, and sent a boatload of German Jews back to Hitler to face death in the camps. Our government exploited and discriminated against every ethnic group. Since this country's beginning, if you weren't a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant male, you were nothing. I was born in the USA. I love our country, but I hate our corrupt government.
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RE: FCC Commissioner's Office Clarifies 'Broadband
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by HAMDUDE on November 18, 2003
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You sir are exactly correct. Its rather sad that money is the deciding factor for every single law that gets passed in this country. If you dont slip some crooked politician an envelope full of money under a table somewhere,you dont get what you want from them period. Sad part of it is, they made it legal and call it lobbying, but for the little guy its called bribery and you get tossed in the slammer if you try to pay an official. Typical do as I say dont do as I do attitude. Hmmmmmmm wasnt that the law of the land in nazi germany at one time?
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RE: FCC Commissioner's Office Clarifies 'Broadband
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by W9WHE on November 18, 2003
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Can you say......."backstroke"?
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RE: FCC Commissioner's Office Clarifies 'Broadband
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by W9WHE on November 18, 2003
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Urbangorilla should immigrate to Iran.
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