Introducing Matt Anderson, Next Generation Broadcast Engineer

In July, John Rigg of Clear Channel’s San Diego cluster hired for his engineer opening a kid who would likely have been overlooked by just about any HR department. He has virtually no broadcast engineering experience and he’s never worked with NexGen automation or broadcast transmitters. He has no degree in engineering.

Get to know Matt, though, and you start to see the diamond-in-the-rough package of self-initiative and positive attitude with a base of electronic knowledge he brings to work that makes him a potentially huge win for Rigg’s team. You can train how to maintain software package in couple of months, transmitters are increasingly black boxes with a data port in one end and and RF port out the other. Teaching energy and a customer-service attitude are a lot harder. Continue reading Introducing Matt Anderson, Next Generation Broadcast Engineer

August 13, 2014 Meeting: Davicom Remote Control

Remote transmitter control has actually come a long way from old days of dial-up phone line command and response with stepper relays. Maybe you started when stations used Davicom VT-100 serial terminals with FSK transmission.

Paul Easter of Davicom will tell us about the latest in SNMP control and monitoring technology and how it fits in with today’s group multicast facilities.

Join us Wednesday, August 13, at 12 noon at Clear Channel Communications, 9660 Granite Ridge Drive in San Diego. Davicom picks up the tab for lunch. Expect to be out on your way back to work by 1:30PM.

About Paul Easter

Paul is an SBE Certified Professional Broadcast Engineer with over 35 years of broadcast engineering experience. He grew up in Lubbock, Texas where he learned electronics and was involved with KOHM at Texas Tech. Paul has built over 25 broadcast facilities, and currently serves as Technical Director of Houston Christian Broadcasters, a network of over 30 radio stations and translators throughout the southwestern United States.

A Move for the Love of Big Iron

We humans love our machines. We polish and parade our cars. We line up hours ahead to buy a new smartphone, tablet computer, or video game processor.

Scottie Rice KOGO Basement
Scottie Rice in the KOGO basement with Civil Defense water.

Scottie Rice, staff engineer at KFMB AM and FM, gives homes to elderly AM radio transmitters.

His latest project was moving the RCA BTA-5F 5kW transmitter from KOGO, and I’ll let him pick up the story from here. Note that like a captain describing his ship at sea, Scottie refers to his inheritance as “she.”

Continue reading A Move for the Love of Big Iron

July 2014 Meeting: QPC Fiber

It’s quite possible you don’t know as much about fiber optic transmission of data as you think you do. Like every other technology, fiber is a moving target and there have been several advances in the past decade.

As luck would have it, we have experts in the neighborhood. QPC fiber from San Clemente will appear at our next SBE meeting Wednesday, July 9, at 12 noon at KGTV, 4600 Air Way, San Diego. QPC will buy lunch there in the cafeteria, then we’ll meet in a studio. Members and non-members are welcome.

Steve Wilkes of QPC will go over some current fiber terms and common industry fiber connector types. He’ll discuss expanded beam vs. physical contact pro’s & con’s, then give a live demonstration of the practical limits of different types of fiber optic assemblies. Continue reading July 2014 Meeting: QPC Fiber

Society of Broadcast Engineers