ComTek doesn’t expect a shutdown of BPL service in Manassas, Va.,...
ComTek doesn’t expect a shutdown of BPL service in Manassas, Va., as a result of a pending FCC interference proceeding, a spokesman said: “We don’t anticipate that happening. ComTek is confident that it can address the concerns outlined” in…
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the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s communique concerning complaints from ham radio operators and emissions in excess of Commission limits. In a June 16 letter, the FCC asked Manassas and ComTek to let it know within 20 days what steps it would take to notify customers of a possible shutdown if the city-owned BPL system isn’t able to resolve a pending interference complaint of a ham radio operator. ComTek already has started the process of replacing overhead Main.net BPL equipment in the city with 2nd-generation apparatus, the spokesman said, and it would be “accelerated to the extent that it can.” The change in equipment goes “substantially beyond what’s called for” by the FCC, he added. Accusing the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) of seeking to “shut down BPL in Manassas and anywhere it can shut it down,” the spokesman said ComTek is “focused on doing whatever mitigation is necessary” to address concerns raised by the FCC. The events in Manassas won’t affect the BPL industry outside Manassas, said Brett Kilbourne, regulatory dir. of the United Power Line Council: “It’s clearly just the case of one technology and one deployment. It’s not clear anything has happened yet.” There aren’t any “ongoing” interference complaints outside Manassas, he added. Asked if he saw the FCC getting more aggressive in enforcing its rules, Kilbourne said the agency has been acting on interference complaints in the past. As for whether it would help the ARRL’s lobbying for a new FCC BPL study on Capitol Hill, he said the FCC’s actions showed the rules are being enforced and are effective in mitigating interference.