[RFI] Another Solar Panel RFI System

[Hare, Ed, W1RFI]

Oh, the pointing out was not the game over, but even without hostile actors, it would not bode well for amateur radio if fixed or mobile transmitters in common use could cause smart-grid malfunctions.

When ARRL entered that arena, there was hostility from industry, which thought it wanted minimal restrictions.  But when the positions the League was bringing forward were demonstrated with modeling and a better description, and the IEEE EMC Society also weighed in, the industry appreciated the input that had the effect of improving product.

Within the EMC Society there is a technical group focused very much on intentional EMI, so the scenario you describe is very much a possibility.
________________________________
From: Wes Stewart <n7ws at yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2022 9:28 PM
To: n2ms at arrl.net <mstangelo at comcast.net>; rfi at contesting.com <rfi at contesting.com>; Hare, Ed, W1RFI <w1rfi at arrl.org>
Subject: Re: [RFI] Another Solar Panel RFI System

If a ham took the grid down, imagine what a hostile actor could do.  Pointing out a vulnerability shouldn't be a game over, but a wake-up call.

Wes  N7WS

On Friday, December 23, 2022 at 04:13:09 PM MST, Hare, Ed, W1RFI <w1rfi at arrl.org> wrote:
....

There is one other major standards effort that I didn't mention, and that is the standards work in the immunity of the developing smart grid.  ARRL funded a consultant to do years of work on the working groups, and he and I drafted studies that showed how much immunity was needed to keep the grid from failing from the presence of field strength that would be encountered from fixed amateur stations and from VHF and UHF mobiles of all types. If the smart grid were deployed and amateur radio took it down, it would be game over, so this was critical work.