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, 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.”
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
Mike Richards of Western Radio Electronics reports, “As of June 23, 2014 Western Radio Electronics has a new principal owner and relocated to 7374 Convoy Court, San Diego, CA 92111. Our primary phone and fax number will remain the same and for the immediate future you may contact me via email at mike@emailwre.com.”
Mike says the new owner has asked him to stay on as Store Manager. “This will be a new challenge for me, but having worked with many of the SBE members over the last 30 years, it can be successful implementing a focus on customer service and day to day inventory stock for the broadcasting industry here in San Diego. I look forward to talking with engineering staff and management over the next few weeks to get feedback on products we can provide at competitive pricing and good service.
“I will soon be looking for qualified sales persons to maintain contact with our client base. If any person may be interested in full or part time work, please feel free to email me your resume for consideration. I am especially interested in at least one person with recent military service to call on San Diego area installations.”
At our June meeting, Bart Schade, President and CTO of Path 1, discussed the technology behind the new Internet video streaming standard MPEG DASH, and how it contrasts to traditional real-time broadcast video transport. This was another presentation that could make you rethink your concept of codecs, since what you are sending with DASH technology are actual files–not just a stream of framed packets.
PiXiE is a contribution codec supporting SD/HD SDI and using MPEG-4 AVC video compression, HE-AAC/AAC-LC audio compression and pass-through audio. For those wanting advance information, see Bart’s recently released white paper “Real-Time Broadcast Video Services over the Internet using MPEG-DASH.”
Many thanks to KGTV for hosting the meeting.
KGTV named Bob Vaillancourt Director of Operations in late April after living and working in Honolulu for the previous seven years. He replaces Patrick Givans, who left recently to become Director of News Operations for KCBS/KCAL in Los Angeles.
You might remember that Bob was Director of Engineering at KNSD, but left in October 2007 to become DOE at KHON Fox 2 in Honolulu.
Bob says, “The move to Honolulu was a great experience as I was first tasked to upgrade the station’s automation and server playout system, replaced a very aged analog transmitter while at the same time relocate the DTV transmitter facility including antenna. When Lin Media took over the station from New Vision Television, a directive to move the station to full HD including the upgrade of infrastructure and news set was made and this allowed for me the opportunity to put KHON on the map with some of the best equipment and talent with the help of LIN corporate and cooperation. Finally, the remote satellite facility located approximately 16 miles from the studio was converted from an L-band, multi-channel fiber system to full IP interconnect with the cooperation of Hawaiian Telecom allowed for major cost savings over time with an immediate ROI compared to the older L-band interconnect.
“Although Honolulu and KHON was a fabulous experience which allowed us time to be with some of our family members who live on Oahu, San Diego was always considered ‘home’.
“Timing was perfect when KGTV offered the opportunity for me to join their excellent staff as Director of Operations. The bags were packed, the movers arrived, and we moved back to our home in San Diego.”
Bob’s known for his customer-service attitude and collaborative style learned in his early years with IBM. The staff at KGTV are enthused about his return to San Diego.