All posts by admin

SBE Leader Barry Thomas Passes

(From SBE National Headquarters) We are deeply saddened by the passing of Barry Thomas, CPBE, DRB, CBNE, who died on Dec. 6, 2018. Barry devoted a great deal of his time and talents to the Society of Broadcast Engineers. He joined the SBE in 1986 and served the SBE with involvement in several local SBE chapters and on the national level. His national involvement included two terms on the SBE Board of Directors from 2002 to 2005, and two terms as treasurer from 2005 to 2007. He served as the society’s 25th president from 2007 to 2009 and immediate past president from 2009 to 2011. In 2017 he was elected to serve on the board again but decided to step down early in his term. In 2011, Barry was elevated to the membership grade of Fellow.

Barry Thomas, past SBE President

On Barry’s passing, SBE President Jim Leifer, CPBE, said, “Barry served the SBE in many capacities and has been a voice for many engineers in our industry for decades. After hearing this news, I remembered so many occasions where Barry spent time developing younger engineers and being that mentor so many of us talk about. He was a devoted father, son, brother and fellow engineer who will be sorely missed by all.”

Local note: Barry was Corporate Director of Engineering for Lincoln Financial Broadcasting when that company owned San Diego broadcasters KIFM 98.1, KBZT 94.9, and KSON 97.3 FM. Eric Schecter, local market DOE in the mid-2000s, remembers Barry. “I have a fond memory of driving the KSON signal with Barry and getting sushi. Barry loved good sushi. He gave us the resources to do our jobs and build out great studios, as well as permission to purchase new transmitters for Mt. Soledad.”

ARRL Adds Dick Warren Scholarship

(Adapted from ARRL.ORG) The ARRL Foundation has announced that the Dick Warren, K6OBS, Memorial Scholarship will join the growing list of scholarships administered by the ARRL Foundation. The scholarship is funded through the generosity of the family of San Diego longtime broadcast engineer, announcer, and ham radio operator Dick Warren, K6OBS, who passed away earlier this year. Intended exclusively for educational use, this scholarship will provide assistance with the costs of tuition, room, board, books, and other fees essential to the recipient’s higher education. The scholarship award will be $500 annually, with the first scholarship expected to be awarded in 2019.

An applicant must be a US citizen, but without regard to gender, race, national origin, or disability. The applicant must be performing at a high academic level or be an at-risk youth with at least two counselor or teacher recommendations describing why the applicant is deserving. All applicants must hold a valid FCC-issued Amateur Radio license and be attending, either part-time or full-time, a regionally accredited technical school, community college, college, or university in a program leading to an undergraduate degree education, science, math, engineering, technology, or a health care-related field.

Applicants must demonstrate activity and interest in radio service or some technical proficiency by participating in some form of radio-related activities such as emergency communication, equipment construction, community radio service, or scouting. Award preference will go to applicants residing in San Diego or Imperial County.

Replace Your Expiring DASDEC IPAWS Certificate

Digital Alert Systems and Monroe Electronics announced the availability of an important update of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) digital certificates used to authenticate messaging from the IPAWS system. The companies have released updated IPAWS Certificate Authority (CA) credentials for the One-Net™ and DASDEC™ series of Emergency Alert System/Common Alerting Protocol (EAS/CAP) encoder/decoders to replace a certificate in the current certification chain that will expire on Sept. 24. One-Net and DASDEC users in the U.S. are advised to replace the soon-to-expire certificate to assure that devices configured to require message authentication will continue to operate properly. T

“DASDEC and One-Net users are urged to take the simple step of updating their certificate files before Sept. 24 to allow continued authentication of IPAWS CAP alert messaging,” said Ed Czarnecki, senior director of strategy and government affairs for Monroe Electronics and Digital Alert Systems. “This is the second such certificate replacement this year, so we are actively working with FEMA IPAWS to look at methods for automating this update process and hope to have such a process in place before the next certificate update occurs in 2019.”

Continue reading Replace Your Expiring DASDEC IPAWS Certificate

Chapter 36 Adds Members, Certifications

Zeb Navarro joined as Associate Member. He’s the General Manager at  KKSM San Marcos, the AM radio station operated by Palomar College. He’s also an adjunct professor of Digital Broadcast Arts there.

Kurt Kohnen joined as Member. He’s a radio and TV production manager at KPBS and adjunct music professor for the San Diego Community College District. He also freelances with AMFM Music, a company that sells production music, and with the record label Tidepool Music.

Angel Ramos passed his exam in early August to become a Certified Broadcast Technician. Angel has been Chief Engineer at Univision Radio (KLQV 102.9 and KLNV 106.5 FM) since 1998.

Gary Stigall renewed as Certified Professional Broadcast Engineer and remains a Senior Member.