MARA W1/GaZette
October 2003
Montachusett Amateur Radio Association
Vol 46 No. 2
In This Issue...
Next Meeting 1
BPL Threat to Amateur Bands 1
Watt's Happening 2
LEMA Training 4
VE Team Report 4
MassJam'03 5
ARES Assistance in Isabel 6
Space Station Contacts 7
Contributors To This Issue: N1UZ, AA2T, KD1YH
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Next Meeting
Wednesday, 8 October
7:30PM
Fitchburg Central Fire Station
2nd Floor Meeting Room
For the remainder of this year, we will be meeting in the second floor
meeting room rather than in the Community Room in the basement. From
the lobby, go up the stairs. At top of stairs turn left and left again
just before the Chief's door.
The October meeting will include a tour of Fitchburg's new tower
truck. If the tower truck is not available we will get a look at the
equipment that is available at Fitchburg's OEM.
The Fitchburg Central Fire Station is located directly behind Dunkin
Donuts on lower Main Street. Turn up North Street next to Dunkin
Donuts and proceed past the fire station to the visitor's parking area
at the rear of the station. Please do not use the visitor spots near
the entrance except to unload gear for a presentation.
From the parking area, walk back down North Street to the front
entrance on North Street at the flag pole and Fire Station sign.
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BPL an Unprecedented Threat to Amateur Radio
Citing the potential for interference to and from Amateur Radio, the
ARRL has called on the FCC to "take no steps" to permit Broadband over
Power Line (BPL)-a form of power line carrier (PLC) technology. The
League has filed a 120-page response- including studies-in
response to the FCC's BPL Notice of Inquiry (NOI) in ET Docket 03-104,
published May 23.
The ARRL has strongly objected to FCC Commissioner Kathleen
Q. Abernathy's suggestion that Broadband over Power Line (BPL)
technology will contribute to what she described as "broadband
Nirvana." Addressing the United Powerline Council's annual conference
September 22 in Arlington, Virginia, Abernathy expressed unabashed
enthusiasm for BPL and recommended a combination of regulatory
restraint and the elimination or substantial modification of existing
rules as steps along the "path to Enlightenment," as she put it. In a
terse response faxed September 25 on behalf of the League's 155,000
members, ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, asserted
that Abernathy overlooked some significant issues in her Nirvana
analogy.
"Nightmare is more like it," Sumner declared. "The technical showings
submitted by the ARRL and others in response to the Commission's
Notice of Inquiry (NOI) in ET Docket No. 03-104 clearly establish that
BPL is a significant source of radio spectrum pollution. It cannot be
implemented without causing harmful interference to over-the-air radio
services."
Sumner told Abernathy that while BPL industry groups, such as the one
she addressed this week, prefer to deny the evidence, the FCC is
obliged to work to a higher standard.
In its comments in response to the FCC NOI, the League characterized
BPL as "a Pandora's Box of unprecedented proportions" and said the
Commission's Part 15 rules "should be modified so as to prevent
interference to users of the HF and low VHF spectrum" from the outset.
Abernathy's speech, "Reaching Broadband Nirvana," never broached the
topic of BPL's potential to interfere with other radio
services. Recently, the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) <