The measurement and evaluation of the achievable notch depth by PLC devices in the narrowband frequencies is the topic of this paper. This is motivated by the interest of using the FCC above CENELEC band for smart grid applications where other systems and transmitters operate in an identical frequency range. A risk analysis of using the FCC band in Austria has shown that in some areas close to airports, interferences with non-directional beacons for aeronautical navigation cannot be excluded without notching [1]. We worked based on the ETSI TS 103 909 v1.1.1 standard when implementing the notch measurement test setup. The notch depth measurement has been applied to several PLC equipment from the same manufacturer or different manufacturers. This measurement setup has allowed the analysis of the reached notch depth by PLC devices within the FCC frequency band. We have found that the defined notch requirement by the current narrowband PLC standards with a minimum attenuation of 20 dB and 25 dB cannot be reached. Most tested and measured PLC devices can achieve a notch with a minimum of 13 dB attenuation and no device can achieve more than 17 dB. As a consequence, the proposed notch requirement by the narrowband PLC standards cannot be implemented on the existing equipment.
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