FCC DEMANDS AMBIENT DEMONSTRATE COMPLIANCE WITH BPL LICENSE CONDITIONS

[Andre Kesteloot]

==>FCC DEMANDS AMBIENT DEMONSTRATE COMPLIANCE WITH BPL LICENSE CONDITIONS

The FCC has called on BPL equipment manufacturer Ambient Corporation to
demonstrate that it's complying with all terms of its Part 5 Experimental
license or face possible enforcement action. Ambient operates the Briarcliff
Manor, New York, BPL pilot program under Experimental license WD2XEQ. In a
May 21 letter to Ambient Chief Engineer Yehuda Cern, FCC Spectrum
Enforcement Division Chief Kathryn S. Berthot noted that the FCC is
investigating ARRL complaints dating back to 2006 that Ambient's Briarcliff
Manor BPL system has caused and continues to cause harmful interference to
Amateur Radio stations. She said Ambient's most recent six-month report
failed to address one condition of its Part 5 license relating to emission
measurements to prove compliance.

"Access BPL systems are generally required to meet the pertinent radiated
emission requirements specified in Section 15.611(b) of the Commission's
rules," Berthot wrote. "However, Ambient's facility, operating under an
experimental license, is subject to the operating conditions contained on
its license."

Condition 4, Berthot pointed out, requires a progress report six months from
the date of grant, which was last August. Condition 5 provides that the
progress report "should include, but is not limited to, a description of
measurements and results demonstrating compliance" with the radiated
emission limits of §15.109.

Ambient's most recent six-month report indicated that the company had
notched out BPL signals on Amateur Radio bands, "demonstrating significant
advancements," the FCC noted. Still lacking, the Commission contends, is
information to satisfy Condition 5.

Berthot gave Ambient 20 days from the date of this month's letter to submit
the results of any measurements it conducted before its most recent progress
report to demonstrate compliance with §15.109. "Any measurements made in the
areas addressed in the ARRL complaint should be highlighted," she continued.
"If any area included in the ARRL complaint was not previously subject to
measurements, measurements must now be taken in that area to test for
compliance with §15.109."

Further, Berthot said, Ambient must note any measurements that reveal any
non-compliance with §15.109, and, in that case, it must include a
description of its plans to bring the system into compliance with the
conditions of its Experimental license.

"Furthermore," Berthot concluded, "Ambient must submit to the Commission a
follow-up report confirming compliance, once it has completed the necessary
system modifications. We caution you that failure to respond to this letter
may result in enforcement action."

Ambient operates the BPL system on power lines owned and operated by
Consolidated Edison, under an experimental FCC authorization. In January
2006, in the wake of continued FCC inaction in response to several previous
complaints, the ARRL filed a renewal of its complaint against Ambient's BPL
system in Briarcliff Manor.

Without adjudicating ARRL's repeated complaints about interference
throughout the amateur 20 meter band, the FCC renewed Ambient's experimental
license for an additional term, from August 1, 2005 to August 1, 2007.