SB QST @ ARL $ARLB073
ARLB073 League asks FCC to hold the line on conducted emissions

ZCZC AG73
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ARRL Bulletin 73  ARLB073
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  September 17, 1998
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB073
ARLB073 League asks FCC to hold the line on conducted emissions

The ARRL has asked the FCC to hold the line on current conducted
emission limits below 30 MHz from unlicensed consumer electronic and
industrial, scientific, and medical devices operating under Parts 15
and 18 of the Commission's rules. Interfering devices include such
common household appliances as computers, TV sets, and microwave
ovens. Conducted emissions result from RF voltages imposed on the
a.c. power line, which can, in turn, act as an antenna. In general,
the current conducted emission limit is 250 uV.

In comments filed in response to a Notice of Inquiry on conducted
emission limits below 30 MHz in ET Docket 98-80, the League said the
proliferation of Part 15 and 18 devices over the past decade as
resulted in what it called ''a marked increase in RF noise from
conducted emissions generally.'' The ARRL said it ''wholeheartedly
agrees'' with a tentative FCC conclusion that some limitations
continue to be necessary to control interference to licensed radio
services in the HF range.

The League said that current Part 15 and 18 limitations are ''not
sufficient'' to prevent interference to hams from conducted
emissions. The League said it would be ''most inappropriate'' to
consider relaxing the limits ''unless and until the consumer
electronics industry is provably able to properly respond to the
interference problems.''

The League concluded that because most interference from Part 15 and
18 devices to licensed HF services results from conducted emissions,
''it is especially important that the Commission retain what minimal
protection exists from the present regulations.''

The League has already called on the FCC to not relax line-conducted
emission limitations at 2.4 GHz and has recommended a 300-meter
distance limitation from residential areas if the FCC adopts the
relaxed conducted and radiated emission limits it proposed in a
separate proceeding (WT Docket 98-42). That proceeding focused on
updating regulations for Part 18 RF lighting devices.
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