SBE Chapter 36

Society of Broadcast Engineers, San Diego

SBE Chapter 36 - Society of Broadcast Engineers, San Diego

Yearly Archives: 2010

Cox Media Techs Prove They’re Certifiable

Three engineers at Cox Media Channel 4 passed their SBE certification exams in November. According to Chief Engineer Kevin Schrader, Matt Hall is now a Certified Broadcast Technician (CBT), Andrei Taratusky a Certified Broadcast Network Technician (CBNT), and Shane Fortin a CBT and CBNT.

Consider becoming certified or upgrading your certifications in 2011. Certification study materials were updated in 2010, so preparation should now be considerably more straightforward and less time-consuming. Apply online for your next exam. If you apply after December 31, your next opportunity to take the exam will be at the NAB Convention April 11.

Holiday Banquet 2010

Time again to get together to just talk shop, eat, and walk away fatter and happier. No presenter or program. This year let’s meet at the Kearny Mesa Filippi’s Italian Restaurant at 5353 Kearny Villa Road, San Diego, on Wednesday, December 15, at 12 noon. Please bring $15 cash.

UPDATE: Door prizes have been added!

  • Vislink, known for years here as Western Technical Services and Microwave Radio Corporation, has donated an Apple 8GB iPod Nano.
  • Harris Corporation is donating a number of tote bags, thermal coffee mugs, multitool, and leather zippered notebook.
  • Omnia is donating a copy of Omnia A/XE audio processing/streaming software.

RSVP today so that we can plan to have enough room for you.

See you there!

Road King Larry Bloomfield Dies

Larry Bloomfield, traveling host of the “Taste of the NAB” road show, died November 8th of a massive heart attack in Florence, Oregon, where he had most lately called home. His son Thomas posted a remembrance on Larry’s website, www.tech-notes.com. An obituary is posted on The Broadcaster’s Desktop Resource.

Larry, 72, had served in the Navy as an electronics technician. He had been a broadcast engineer at various western TV stations from KNBC and KNXT (now KCBS) Los Angeles to KCNS San Francisco to KTVZ Bend, Oregon. He helped found now-defunct radio station KBET in Santa Clarita. His “Taste of the NAB” show demonstrated numerous products to SBE chapters around the country, often leaving him on the road for five months straight.

SBE Files to Extend EAS Rules 180-day Countdown

The Society of Broadcast Engineers participated in a coalition of major broadcast industry groups that filed comments on October 21 with the FCC to EB Docket 04-296, petitioning for an extension to the 180-day clock to become compliant with the recently announced changes to the EAS. The filing requested a six month extension to the 180 day clock.

The SBE, NAB, MSTV, PBS, NPR, 46 state broadcaster associations and other major broadcast organizations were all co-signers to the filing.

The group stated that the extension is necessary so that:

a)    equipment certification related to CAP can be accomplished
b)    allow time for a rule-making to modify FCC Part 11 rules that incorporate the use of CAP

Without an extension, the 180 day clock is set to expire March 29, 2011. At that time, stations would need to have purchased and installed CAP-compliant equipment, capable of receiving CAP messages.

A copy of the complete EAS filing is available on the SBE website.

SBE also has an FAQ on this subject on the SBE website.

San Diego Ennes Workshop a Success

San Diego’s first Ennes Workshop October 16th brought famous broadcast engineering speakers from all over the country, and engineers from throughout southern California. With at least 37 attendees and the number of inspirational, educational talks given, the event seemed to be a success. Notable speeches included Steve Lampen of Belden giving a talk on convergence of media, Skip Erickson wowed the crowd with his disaster recovery presentation, and Dave Davies of ERI brought us tales of woe from tower failures around the country.

Many thanks to organizers Kimberly Kissel from SBE headquarters and Gail Pineda from Chapter 36 who made sure everything worked well behind the scenes. Fred Baumgartner, formerly with Qualcomm in San Diego and now working for Harris in Denver, was instrumental in getting the program put together.

September 2010 Meeting: Boxx Communications

Join us for the SBE San Diego Chapter 36 September meeting. On Wednesday September 15, Mark Walker with Boxx Communications will be talking about wireless HD microwave transmission. The meeting will run from 12 noon – 1:30 PM at TV Magic, 8112 Engineer Road, San Diego 92121. Lunch will be provided by Boxx Communications.

Mark Walker is a film and broadcast video veteran with more than 20 years industry experience. Mark is an Emmy nominee and the recipient of the 2006 Academy of Television Arts & Science award for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development.

July 2010 Meeting – Fujitsu on Compression

Join us for the SBE San Diego Chapter 36 July meeting. On Wednesday July 21, Rich Harvey with Fujitsu Frontech North America will be talking about Transporting HD/SD Content over a Public IP Link. The meeting will run from 12 noon – 1:30 PM at TV Magic, 8112 Engineer Road, San Diego. Lunch will be provided by Fujitsu.

About Our Presenter

Rich Harvey has over 15 years of experience in the broadcast, satellite and video distribution industry, including the management of a Navy Broadcast Service (NBS) S.I.T.E system, as Sales Manager of the Asia Pacific Rim for a leading digital TV equipment manufacturer and as the Video Product Manager for another industry leader. Rich is a member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) and the Society of Motion Picture Television Engineers (SMPTE).

KPBS-FM Gets CP to Move to Soledad

After a three year wait, the FCC granted KPBS-FM a Construction Permit to move to Mt. Soledad in La Jolla. The proposed CP would have the station broadcasting omnidirectionally with 26 kW ERP from the KFMB-DT/FM transmission site.

The advantage in coverage of communities where wealthy KPBS patrons live is obvious. Residents of Rancho Santa Fe should receive a much stronger signal from Mt. Soledad than what was provided by the 2.7 kW signal from Mt. San Miguel far to the south.

Station Director of Engineering Leon Messenie says he has work to do. First, he would have to file a grant with the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) for the improvement project estimated to cost nearly a million dollars. If he gets that grant money, the station would have to replace the KFMB “Quadzilla” multiuser FM antenna that won’t currently handle KPBS’s input signal at 89.5 MHz.

Messenie considered the UCSD tower on the north edge of Mt. Soledad, but that tower is not built for multiple heavy FM antenna arrays and would likely run into problems with community acceptance should the tower need additional metal or replacement.

KPBS had sought to improve their signal in the past and was always hampered by their non-comm band proximity to XETV channel 6 in Tijuana. In 2007, the FCC changed its policy that previously had protected XETV, saying that the US had no treaty that required a US FM station to protect against interference to a Mexican TV signal penetrating into the US. This gave KSDS 88.3 MHz the green light to increase their power from 800 watts to 22 kW at their Mesa College campus in Linda Vista, though the FCC specified that the signal should be vertically polarized only. (XETV returned to horizontal polarization in 2009 after years as a CP station.) KPBS then felt empowered to increase their signal as well.

May 2010 Meeting – Worldcast Systems

“Worldcast Systems delivers an innovative and highly efficient approach to remote control which brings true intelligence to the broadcast site by way of graphic scripting with ScriptEasy and RELIO.

“Learn the benefits of an enhanced broadcast operation through comprehensive and advanced monitoring and control of broadcast equipment,  HVAC, security, elevator control, servers, firewalls, electronic entry, snap-shots of authorized and unauthorized visitors and more!

“ScriptEasy and RELIO use advanced communication techniques such as IP networking, SNMP protocols, logic gates, ping command, timers, counters, schedulers and a remarkable voice DTMF interface, while maintaining legacy communications protocols such as serial connections and high-capacity of conventional I/O connections.

“Tony Peterle will outline the advantages of taking complete command and control of your upgraded broadcast facility with ScriptEasy and RELIO to significantly decrease downtime and maintenance cost while optimizing productivity”

Join us for our monthly meeting Wednesday, May 12 at noon at Western Radio Electronics, 7558 Trade Street, in the Miramar area of San Diego. Steve Moreen of RF Specialties provides lunch for you. We should be finished at about 1:30 PM.

About Our Presenter

Tony Peterle grew up in Central Ohio and began taking things apart at an early age to find out how they worked. Fortunately for his parents’ sanity, he quickly learned how to put things back together, and graduated from the College of Wooster in 1981. He has been involved in radio broadcasting continuously since high school. Tony has held Chief Engineer positions in Honolulu, Kansas City, and Wichita. After attaining his commercial pilot’s license, Tony spent several years as a traffic reporter before receiving CSRE certification from the SBE in 2005. Shortly thereafter, he came to work for Audemat/Worldcast Systems, and enjoys helping customers solve problems, traveling, contributing to the design of new products, and seeing familiar faces at NAB and SBE events.

KSIQ-1 Powers Up on Miguel

The KSIQ booster FM signed on in mid-March from Mt. San Miguel, putting a decent 700 W signal on 96.1 MHz into San Diego and its community of license, Santee. The station has a Top-40 format similar to that of Channel 933 FM. You might remember that the originating transmitter moved from its Imperial desert location in Brawley in late January to Campo.

KSIQ’s owners, Cherry Creek Radio, also closed the sister AM station in Brawley. According to the Imperial Valley Press, the station went silent and is now for sale.

KZSD Construction Permit Granted

The FCC granted an application to give KZSD-LP a permanent home. McGraw-Hill, licensee for KZSD-LP and KGTV, seeks to move the station from channel 41 to 39, make it digital, and leave it at 15kW on Mt. San Miguel. According to station Chief Engineer Andrew Lombard, the station would continue as Azteca-America Spanish language affiliate. KNSD abandoned channel 39 in June last year when their analog service shutdown.