Yesterday morning Dave, Chris and I met with representatives of the FCC's Office of Engineering & Technology. ARRL requested this meeting in order to determine what the FCC's intentions are to address the Court's remand and to also provide some input as to what would be acceptable to ARRL in order to resolve this matter. Dave and I traveled from Hartford to BWI, took the train into D.C. and met Chris at FCC at 10:40 AM, just prior to our 11 AM scheduled meeting. After a quick refresher briefing on what we would present we proceeded to the 7th floor offices of OET. We were met by Julius Knapp, Chief of OET, and then went into their conference room. Also present from OET were Bruce Romano, Anh Wride, Geraldine Matise and Ira Keltz in addition to three additional representatives via video conference. The meeting was cordial and in a friendly environment, unlike some of our previous meetings at FCC regarding this topic. Chris began by thanking OET for meeting with us to discuss what we considered to be a win-win proposal for all parties in this matter. It is ARRL's position that since the 2004 rulemaking in Docket 04-37 was commenced, BPL technology has evolved. Second generation (2G) BPL modems are typically capable of -35 dB "notching" which is more than 10 dB better than the first generation but currently the Commission's rules do not require that Amateur Radio allocations be "notched" even though the 2G modems now deployed almost universally can do so and DS2, Homeplug and Panasonic have indicated that their 2G modems are capable of such. It is our position that rule modifications can be adopted to incorporate these two parameters the modems are now capable of, which is mandatory notching of all Amateur Radio allocations by BPL systems with notch depths of 35 dB. We told them these two factors would be sufficient together to reduce the number of potential interference problems to a small enough number that it would be practical to address them on a case-by-case basis and it is achievable by present BPL technology without significant limitation on BPL deployment. As to the 40 dB/decade extrapolation factor, the Commission must revisit this matter per the Court's Opinion. We advised them that since a reasoned justification for a 40 dB/decade extrapolation factor cannot be sustained in the face of the existing contrary evidence, the Commission should adopt another extrapolation factor this is consistent with the evidence. Julie thanked us for coming in for a meeting and assured us they are taking the Court's decision seriously. He told us he does not know what the Commission will do regarding this matter as it is not entirely his decision to make. He appreciated our proposal and effort to offer a compromise and stated they would review and consider it in their deliberations of what their appropriate next step will be. I found it interesting that Julie asked our opinion of why the BPL market had not grown, whether it was a result of regulatory uncertainty or a failing market place. We simply offered that we felt the utility industry was never interested in providing broadband consumer service but rather desires the system to utilize smart grid technology and monitoring for their benefit. Dave also added that many of the BPL deployments that the Commission likes to reference are simply that and don't offer broadband consumer service and that is why notching of the Amateur Radio allocations shouldn't be a problem as they don't need the bandwidth. Our meeting concluded after approximately 25 minutes. Dave, Chris and I left the building and had a quick debriefing following which Chris returned to his office while Dave and I had lunch to discuss a couple of other ARRL related matters. In accordance with FCC rules, we were required to submit an ex-parte filing on today's meeting. A copy is attached that also includes our paper we circulated at the meeting. So, the next step is the FCC's to make as the ball is clearly in their court (no pun intended) and we have taken the initiative of proposing a path with which they can move forward. As always, Dave and Chris are free to provide their perspective of the meeting and any additional comments they feel appropriate. 73 Joel W5ZN