IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 850 
To express the sense of the House that the Federal Communications Commis-
sion should not enact rules authorizing Broadband Over Power Line 
Systems without a more comprehensive evaluation of the interference 
potential to Public Safety services and other licensed radio services. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 8, 2004 
Mr. ROSS submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
RESOLUTION 
To express the sense of the House that the Federal Commu-
nications Commission should not enact rules authorizing 
Broadband Over Power Line Systems without a more 
comprehensive evaluation of the interference potential to 
Public Safety services and other licensed radio services. 
Whereas the Federal Communications Commission (herein-
after in this resolution referred to as ‘‘the FCC’’) has in-
dicated that it will, in the Fall of 2004, vote on proposed 
rules establishing operating parameters for BPL Sys-
tems, ET Docket No. 04–37; 
Whereas comprehensive studies and actual measurements to 
date undertaken by the National Telecommunications In-
formation Administration (NTIA) have determined that 
BPL creates a ‘‘high risk’’ of radio wave interference,
HRES 850 IH 
and that harmful interference to public safety mobile 
radio receivers can be expected at distances of 75 meters 
from the power line where BPL is in operation, and at 
distances of up to 460 meters from fixed stations, such 
as VHF police or fire dispatch communications facilities; 
Whereas that same NTIA study determined that BPL inter-
ference to aeronautical and airline travel communications 
could be expected at distances up to 40 kilometers from 
the center of the BPL system, and that interference to 
outer marker beacons for airline instrument landing sys-
tems could be expected at great distances as well; 
Whereas in the collective view of the Association of Public 
Safety Officials, Inc. and the National Public Safety 
Telecommunications Council, the VHF low band (30–50 
MHz) is used by many public safety agencies, including 
EMS, fire and law enforcement as well as public safety 
support services, and in thirteen states, for state police 
operations [of which, nine (California, Connecticut, Flor-
ida, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Vir-
ginia and Wyoming) utilize that band as their primary 
radio band], and as a result urge that action in the BPL 
docket at FCC be withheld for at least twelve months, 
pending a conclusive determination of the radio waves in-
terference potential of BPL to public safety and radio 
systems below 80 MHz; 
Whereas comments filed in the FCC proceeding by the Mis-
souri State Highway Patrol, which uses a statewide radio 
system with over 1400 users in the VHF low band, state 
that the overall effect of BPL implementation will be a 
potentially significant increase in interference to the mis-
sion of critical public safety communications; and
HRES 850 IH 
Whereas the FCC has struggled for years to resolve wide-
spread instances of harmful interference to the 800 MHz 
communications of our heroic first responders, and 
should not proceed with introduction of a technology 
which could cause destructive interference to police, fire, 
EMS and other public safety radio systems, operating 
below 80 MHZ, VHF low band: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House that— 
(1) the FCC should not take any action in the 
BPL proceeding that could disrupt public safety 
radio systems, or adopt only reactive measures for 
resolving cases of harmful interference to public 
safety systems; 
(2) the FCC should withhold action in ET 
Docket No. 04–37 pending a full and complete radio 
wave interference analysis involving field studies and 
BPL test demonstration systems, to determine the 
actual, measured effect of BPL on public safety sys-
tems, and a comprehensive interference analysis, 
with the participation of public safety agencies and 
organizations; and 
(3) the FCC should allow extensive public re-
view and comment on this study, and the results of 
the study, and a summary of the public comment 
thereon should be published before any rules are fi-
nally adopted in ET Docket No. 04–37. 
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