II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1629 

To request a study by the Federal Communications Commission on the 

interference caused by broadband Internet transmission over power lines. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 14, 2007 

Mr. PRYOR introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To request a study by the Federal Communications Commission on the interference caused by broadband Internet 

transmission over power lines. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Amateur 

5 Radio Interference Protection Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) More than 650,000 radio amateurs in the 

9 United States are licensed by the Federal Commu10 nications Commission. 

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1 (2) Among the basic purposes of the Amateur 

2 Radio and Amateur Satellite Services are to provide 

3 voluntary, noncommercial radio service, particularly 

4 emergency communications. 

5 (3) Emergency communications services by vol6 unteer amateur radio operators have consistently 

7 and reliably been provided before, during, and after 

8 floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, earth9 quakes, blizzards, train accidents, chemical spills, 

10 terrorist attacks, and other disasters. 

11 (4) There is a compelling Federal Government 

12 interest to promote the deployment of Broadband 

13 over Power Line (BPL) systems that deliver energy 

14 efficient, secure, and reliable services to underserved 

15 areas of the United States. 

16 (5) It is the policy of the United States to seek 

17 mutually beneficial standards established by the 

18 Federal Communications Commission that promote 

19 the deployment of competitive BPL systems that do 

20 not cause harmful interference to public safety serv21 ices and other licensed radio services. 

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1 SEC. 3. COMPREHENSIVE BPL SERVICE STUDY LEADING TO 

2 IMPROVED RULES TO PREVENT INTER3 FERENCE. 

4 (a) AUTHORITY.—Not later than 90 days after the 

5 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Communica6 tions Commission shall conduct, and submit to the Com7 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

8 Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 

9 the House of Representatives, a report on a study of the 

10 interference potential of systems for the transmission of 

11 broadband Internet services over power lines (in this Act 

12 referred to as ‘‘BPL service’’). 

13 (b) REQUIRED SUBJECTS OF STUDY.—The study re14 quired by this section shall examine the following: 

15 (1) The variation of field strength of BPL serv16 ice signals with distance from overhead power lines, 

17 and a technical justification for the use of any par18 ticular distance extrapolation factor. 

19 (2) The depth of adaptive, or ‘‘notch’’, filtering 

20 for attenuating normally permitted BPL service ra21 diated emission levels that would be necessary and 

22 sufficient to protect the reliability of mobile radio 

23 communications. 

24 (3) A technical justification for the permitted, 

25 radiated emission levels of BPL signals relative to 

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1 ambient levels of man-made noise from other 

2 sources. 

3 (4) Options for new or improved rules related 

4 to the transmission of BPL service that, if imple5 mented, may prevent harmful interference to public 

6 safety and other radio communications systems. 

Æ 

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