FCC'S POWERLINE-BROADBAND PLAN SEEN IMPERILING SHORTWAVE BAND
Ruinous interference with shortwave reception and other communications in the 2-to-80 MHz radio band would result from the transmission of broadband Internet signals over electrical powerlines -- the so-called broadband-over-powerline (BPL) initiative under study by the FCC -- its detractors charge. As such, BPL emissions radiating over-the-air would imperil the large installed base of consumer shortwave radios and continued growing sales estimated at 2 million receivers yearly, CE executives said. Potential BPL interference also would affect aviation, maritime, land mobile and radioastronomy frequencies, thereby raising homeland security issues, the NAB and other broadcast associations said. There’s acute awareness of the issue in Europe as well, with the U.K.’s BBC in the forefront of research on BPL-related interference.
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BPL, also called Power Line Communications (PLC), was the subject of an FCC Notice of Inquiry (ET Docket 03-104) to study possible changes in the Commission’s Part 15 regulations that govern radio frequency interference. BPL would be permitted under Part 15 so long as harmful it didn’t cause interference to licensed radio services, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and NAB said in scheduling a Nov. 7 meeting on the subject. That’s a matter of debate among the parties, with BPL/PLC proponents saying there’s no threat to services in the 2-80 MHz band while broadcast and CE researchers contend quite the opposite. The NAB went so far as to chide some FCC commissioners, including Chmn. Powell and Comr. Abernathy, as “cheerleaders” for BPL. Abernathy called BPL “broadband Nirvana” in an address to the United Powerline Council Sept. 22. “Their public statements have not paid sufficient notice to its [BPL’s] potential for interference,” the groups said. The FCC now is reviewing nearly 5,000 comments in response to its inquiry. Most point to the interference potential and come from associations and amateur radio operators -- the “ham” radio sector -- but short wave listeners and other radio users also are represented, the ARRL and NAB said.
“Broadband is all well and good, but at what cost? I'm sure it’s not intentional, but she [Abernathy] might have assumed that shortwave is dead,” said Esmail Hozour, founder and CEO of Eton/Grundig, which sells Grundig-branded shortwave receivers under license in the U.S. and has the top market share in the category domestically. The consumer shortwave market is far from moribund in the U.S., Hozour told us. He said it picked up after the 1991 Gulf War and had seen a resurgence over the last 9 years, most recently abetted by the post-9/11 terrorist threats, current hostilities in Iraq and this summer’s power failures in the Northeast.
Consumer shortwave sales now exceed 2 million receivers yearly in the U.S., where Eton’s revenue surged 78% in 2002 and 51% this year in the 6 months ended Sept. 30, Hozour told us. The company offers a range of 11 radios from $30 to $500, including a $40 emergency model that can be hand-cranked for power and sold 400 at each Target store during this summer’s blackouts, and 8,000 through RadioShack over 3 days. The Grundig brand is carried exclusively at RadioShack, which offers 4 models. As recently as 1999, the chain had 5 SKUs under its own brand. Other heavyweights in the U.S. market include Sony, with 8 models from $50 to $580, and Sangean with 7 models. Panasonic now offers a single $70 analog-tuned wave radio considerably down from the large selection offered in the 1990s.
With the exception of Eton, which raised the alarm about potential BPL interference, executives of the other shortwave vendors appeared surprised by the interference issue and said they would look into it before issuing a company response. The CEA also seemed to be taking a wait-and-see posture -- a spokesman told us Mon. it had not filed comments with the FCC. “Some CEA members are concerned with potential interference. Others support BPL -- another broadband source and provider,” the spokesman said.