The American Radio Relay League (ARRL), which represents amateur radio operators, continued its campaign against the alleged interference by emerging broadband-over- power line (BPL) systems in a two-punch maneuver last week, objecting to what it calls limitations in license administration processes and attempting to shut down a new BPL installation in Manassas, Va. (TelecomWeb news break, Oct. 14).

ARRL has been fighting BPL for years - almost since the technology was born - but the intense battle essentially was lost when the Federal Communications Commission finally set rules for the technology last year (October 2004). Nevertheless, ARRL has continued to cause sparks at the commission and in Congress over loss of usable spectrum, interference concerns and federal rules on BPL licensing (TPR, April 20).

Last week, the group wrote to the FCC on two items: objecting to functional hassles with a BPL "interference resolution" Web site provided by BPL advocate the United Power Line Council (UPLC), and asking the regulator to shut down a two-year-old BPL system run by Communication Technologies Inc. (ComTek) in Northern Virginia.