Taken from the D2 List:

From: AMA District 2 Discussion [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dave Mathewson
Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2004 8:06 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: BPL - Broadband Over Powerlines

At all the club functions I have attended over the last nine months or so I
have made a point of mentioning BPL (Broadband Over Powerlines), and the
potential negative impact it may have on radio control modeling. When this
was first proposed to the FCC, AMA prepared a document outlining our
opposition to BPL, as did several other organizations. It appears as though
these objections didn't have the impact we were hoping for.

On Thursday, February 12, 2004 the FCC indicated they are issuing a NPRM
(Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) regarding BPL. This is generally a step
toward FCC approval. The AMA President, Technical Director, Frequency
Committee Coordinator, and AMA's legal counsel spent much of yesterday
working together to determine how best to proceed. A notice should appear
soon on AMA's Website.

FCC NPRMs include a period for public comment. It may come to the point
where we may suggest to our members that they take advantage of that
opportunity.

We will post updates here, as well as on our District 2 Forum, as we get
them. In the meantime you can visit the AMA Website at
http://www.modelaircraft.org to read our initial response filed a couple of
months ago. For more information on BPL and the FCC's position you can visit
http://www.fcc.gov.

If you have any specific questions fire away. District 2's Frequency
Coordinator, Dan Williams, who is also a member of the AMA Frequency
Committee participates in the discussion forum on our website and will be
happy to answer questions of a technical nature (since that's out of my
league!). You can post a question for him over there at
http://www.amadistrictii.org/d2forum/ in the "Frequency/Interference
Issues" section.

Dave


Dave Mathewson
AMA Vice President, District 2
7271 State Fair Blvd.
Baldwinsville, NY 13027
315.727.4275
315.635.1039 (Fax)