The FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology has just issued ET Docket No. 16-191. The document announces an investigation into a perceived problem with increased RF noise levels and requests input from interested parties. Who is more interested in this issue than hams?
The document starts out:
The FCC’s Technological Advisory Council (TAC), an advisory group to the FCC operating under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, is investigating changes and trends to the radio spectrum noise floor to determine if there is an increasing noise problem, and if so, the scope and quantitative evidence of such problem(s), and how a noise study should be performed. In this public notice, the Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) announces the TAC’s public inquiry, seeking comments and answers to questions below for the TAC about radio spectrum noise.
The TAC is requesting input to help answer questions about the study of changes to the spectrum noise floor over the past 20 years. Noise in this context denotes unwanted radio frequency (RF) energy from man-made sources. Like many spectrum users, TAC members expect that the noise floor in the radio spectrum is rising as the number of devices in use that emit radio energy grows. However, in search for concrete evidence of increased noise floors, we have found limited available quantitative data to support this presumption. We are looking to find ways to add to the available data in order to answer important questions for the FCC regarding this topic.
A list of questions follows. These include:
- Is there a noise problem?
- Where doees the problem exist?
- Is there quantitative evidence of the overall increase in the total integrated noise floor across various segments of the radio frequency spectrum?
- How should a noise study be performed?
Each of these questions has a number of sub-questions. The deadline for comments is August 11, 2016.
Walter Underwood K6WRU says
1. Yes.
2. Pretty much everywhere, though a few manufacturers are serious about RFI.
3. I seriously hope so. Radio telescopes, maybe?
4. Measure the noise in a neighborhood. Shut off the power and measure again. :-)
Dave New, N8SBE says
The most difficult aspect of what is being asked is 20-yr (then and now) quantitative comparisons.
Anybody have any 20-yr old spectrum plots that they can use to quantitatively compare to modern-day plots (i.e. scientific evidence, instead of just general belly-aching)?
Anyone? Bueller?
I thought not.