SB QST @ ARL $ARLB030   
   ARLB030 ARRL Encourages Comprehensive Noise Floor Study   
      
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   ARRL Bulletin 30  ARLB030   
   > From ARRL Headquarters   
   Newington CT  August 16, 2016   
   To all radio amateurs   
      
   SB QST ARL ARLB030   
   ARLB030 ARRL Encourages Comprehensive Noise Floor Study   
      
   In anticipation of an FCC Technological Advisory Council (TAC) investigation   
   into changes and trends to the radio spectrum noise floor to determine if   
   there is an increasing noise problem, ARRL asserted that such a study is long   
   overdue. The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) announced plans   
   for the TAC study in mid-June and invited comments and answers to questions   
   that the   
   TAC posed concerning the methodologies for such a study. The League's comments   
   also praised the TAC - an advisory group to the FCC - for tackling the issue   
   and expressed the hope that the noise study might, for the first time, provide   
   a useful, objective basis for spectrum overlays and other future allocation   
   decisions. ARRL allowed that while a noise floor problem exists, "The   
   magnitude of this problem and the extent of it in the 21st century is   
   virtually unknown."   
      
   "The TAC and the leadership in this study initiative are to be congratulated   
   for finally undertaking what has been universally determined to be necessary   
   for well more than 2 decades," the ARRL said. "The Commission should not have   
   made spectrum management decisions without this noise information, and it is   
   unfortunate that the initiative has been delayed this long."   
      
   The ARRL said that its members can be of use in gathering data for the TAC   
   noise study, but advised that any urgency in initiating the study "be tempered   
   by the prerequisite need to develop a standardized and valid methodology for   
   conducting the study," in order to "obtain quantitative data regarding the   
   noise floor in various environments and trends over time," ARRL said.   
      
   ARRL said the focus of the TAC noise "study should be an accurate   
   determination of what noise levels exist in as wide a range of indoor and   
   outdoor environments as possible. It should, to the extent possible, determine   
   what types of noise are being found: Broadband, non-specific noise; broad   
   noise spectral peaks; broadband digital noise; and noise occurring on discrete   
   frequencies."   
      
   "We also hope that these comments will serve as a stimulus for the Commission   
   to re-evaluate its 'hands-off' policy with respect to the most recalcitrant   
   and unhelpful operators of incidental and   
   unintentional radiators which are causing long-term interference problems,   
   such as electric utilities," ARRL concluded. "The unwillingness of the   
   Commission to issue meaningful sanctions has led to the virtual absence of any   
   incentive to comply with the Commission's Part 15 non-interference   
   obligations."   
      
   ARRL pointed out that the FCC had requested that the TAC study the noise floor   
   in 1999 and propose new approaches to spectrum management based on emerging   
   and future technologies. "The TAC concluded that it would be impossible for   
   the Commission to engage in effective spectrum management until it 'develop[s]   
   a more complete understanding of the current state of the radio noise   
   environment,"' ARRL recounted, noting that TAC urged the Commission to   
   immediately undertake a multi-part noise floor study and cautioned it against   
   implementing new spectrum management techniques   
   or initiatives without first concluding extensive studies.   
      
   "Yet, 16 years later, no such study has been conducted," ARRL said. "Now, and   
   for the past several decades, new noise sources are being developed and have   
   been developed and the proliferation of electronic devices continues as fast   
   as the technology and the regulatory processes will allow." While many   
   individual sources of RF noise may be consistent with FCC rules, in some cases   
   they may   
   negatively impact the overall electromagnetic noise environment, ARRL said.   
      
   "Because the Commission's resources are woefully inadequate to address RF   
   noise through widespread enforcement of Part 15 and Part 18 rules governing RF   
   emitters after the devices are deployed, the only reasonable means of dealing   
   with them is to enact and enforce, ex ante, appropriate rules for RF emitters   
   that are based on actual knowledge of the noise floor and trends over time,"   
   ARRL said. "The growing number of interference complaints indicates that any   
   increase in noise levels will result in harmful interference, so these rules   
   may need to require a decrease in the permitted limits for emission to balance   
   the aggregate noise potential of a growing number of noise emitting devices."   
      
   The League's comments include a bibliography, "Articles Relating to the   
   Description, Impact and Study of Man-Made Noise," compiled by ARRL Lab Manager   
   Ed Hare, W1RFI.   
      
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