David Sumner, CEO, American Radio Relay League (ARRL)

David Sumner is the CEO of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL).

As such, he's responsible for spearheading that organization of amateur radio operators' efforts to maintain the integrity of the radio transmissions and receptions that constitute their amateur radio operations.

Mr. Sumner appeared previously on Broadband over Power Line World (BPLW) on December 14, 2004, in an article entitled "ARRL CEO David Sumner defends amateur radio operators against RF interference from broadband over power line."

Dave Sumner spoke again today with BPLW and provided some updated comments regarding the regulatory process and technical issues involved in his efforts to ensure that amateur radio operators can continue to pursue their on-the-air activities free from annoying radio frequency interference (RFI).

He spoke about how the ARRL has submitted a petition for the reconsideration of the Report and Order issued on October 14, 2004 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that paved the way for the current possible upsurge of interest in broadband over power line (BPL) deployment and how the FCC was now receiving comments on the ARRL's and others' such petitions for reconsideration.

In its petition, the ARRL asked the FCC to "''reconsider, rescind and restudy'' its October 14, 2004, adoption of new Part 15 rules spelling out how BPL providers may deploy the technology on HF and low-VHF frequencies."

In this interview, Mr. Sumner talked about a recurring pattern of events in which amateur radio operators complain to power company/BLP deployers about interference, get no response, and then complain to the FCC, after which the FCC may send engineers to check out the system, but usually without any direct consultation with the amateur radio operators who originally filed the complaint, a sequence which he believes does not satisfactory resolve the RFI issue in these cases.

He mentioned that the particular type of BPL system implemented by Corridor Systems seems to be able to avoid the RFI problems associated with other BPL technologies.

He concluded the interview by saying that "realistically, do we expect dramatic changes in the Commission's rules as result of the reconsideration petitions? Probably not. So we're probably looking to the Court of Appeals before all the dust settles."

You can listen to this conversation with Dave Sumner, ARRL CEO, in its entirety, by clicking here.

For a complementary interview with Brett Kilbourne, UPLC Associate Counsel, click here.