SB QST @ ARL $ARLB010   
   ARLB010 ARRL Urges FCC Not to Impose Overbroad Notification Requirement to   
   Operate on 2200 and 630 Meters   
      
   ZCZC AG10   
   QST de W1AW   
   ARRL Bulletin 10  ARLB010   
   > From ARRL Headquarters   
   Newington CT  March 11, 2016   
   To all radio amateurs   
      
   SB QST ARL ARLB010   
   ARLB010 ARRL Urges FCC Not to Impose Overbroad Notification Requirement to   
   Operate on 2200 and 630 Meters   
      
   In an ex parte statement, available at http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/   
   omment/view?id=60001498728 , filed March 10 with the FCC, the ARRL has asked   
   the Commission not to adopt "an overbroad" requirement for notification of   
   utilities in advance of intended Amateur Radio operation on the pending 2200   
   and 630 meter bands. The statement in ET Dockets 12-338 and 15-99 supplemented   
   the League's earlier comments in the proceeding. The FCC is expected to   
   provide Amateur Radio with access to both bands and to spell out service rules   
   and operational requirements, sometime within the first quarter of 2016.   
   Regulatory provisions under consideration have included a possible   
   notification requirement by some radio amateurs to utilities that operate PLC   
   systems in that region of the spectrum, prior to their starting operation on   
   either new band. Utilities use unlicensed PLC systems to control parts of the   
   electrical power grid.   
      
   "ARRL does not object to such a notification requirement, provided that it is   
   appropriately circumscribed, not overbroad in its applicability, and not   
   overly burdensome for radio amateurs to comply with," the League's statement   
   asserted.   
      
   The ARRL noted that comments filed by the Utilities Telecom Council (UTC)   
   called for a system of "quasi-coordination" by radio amateurs before   
   commencing operation on 2200 meters (135.7-137.8 kHz). In its remarks to the   
   FCC, the ARRL pointed out, however, that the UTC has not volunteered any   
   information with respect to how a notification process might work nor offered   
   any PLC database information to the ARRL or to the amateur community so   
   prospective users of the band could determine if their operation might be   
   problematic.   
      
   The ARRL expressed concern that "this vague reference" to a notification   
   procedure by UTC might lead the FCC to adopt an overbroad notification   
   requirement for radio amateurs intending to operate in either the 2200 or 630   
   meter band. The League further pointed out that PLC systems operating between   
   9 and 490 kHz are not subject to protection from licensed services.   
      
   The League reiterated its willingness to accept distance-separation criteria   
   between amateur stations operating on either band and PLC-carrying   
   transmission lines making use of frequencies in either band, and a   
   notification process in the few instances in which an amateur station intends   
   to operate on either band within close proximity to a transmission line with a   
   PLC using the same frequencies. The League said interference potential to PLC   
   systems from Amateur Radio operation on 2200 or 630 meters is very low, with   
   the possible exception of amateur operation within 1 kilometer of an existing   
   transmission line carrying co-channel PLC signals - a very unlikely   
   circumstance.   
      
   "It would be an unreasonable regulatory burden to require more than this, and   
   there is no record justification for a requirement that all radio amateurs who   
   wish to operate in these bands to have to participate in a notification   
   process," the ARRL said in its ex parte statement. In any event, the League   
   added, notification should not be required for any PLC system that comes on   
   line after the effective date of the Report and Order granting Amateur Radio   
   access to 135.7-137.8 kHz or to 472-479 kHz.   
      
   Radio amateurs are sufficiently technically sophisticated to identify a   
   transmission line that might be carrying PLC and to determine whether their   
   station is closer than 1 kilometer to that line, the League asserted, adding   
   that it would be able to assist hams in making such determinations.   
      
   Once notification has been made, the ARRL continued, the burden should be on   
   the utility to demonstrate quantitatively within a reasonable time that the   
   proposed operation would cause harmful interference to PLC operations that   
   existed before the effective date of any Report and Order in the proceeding.   
      
   Any sort of blanket notification requirement prior to transmitting on 2200 or   
   630 meters "would be clear regulatory overkill," the ARRL concluded. Neither   
   would it be reasonable to require across-the-board notification even by   
   amateur stations located within 1 kilometer of a transmission line, because   
   the chances that a particular transmission line is carrying PLC, and makes use   
   of   
   either band are "extremely small."   
      
   NNNN   
   /EX   
      
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   Always Mount a Scratch Monkey   
      
   ... Two wrongs.... are only the beginning!   
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    * Origin:  (1:3634/12.73)