Ellis Terry visited Chapter 36 this month to update us on new technology at Nautel. Their Analog NVLT FM transmitter series now includes models from 3.5kW to 40kW, and they introduced a Nautel NT series of low power TV transmitters with the Nautel AUI and built-in test instruments.
Many thanks to Nautel for the lunch and to KGTV for hosting the meeting at its facility.
San Diego SBE Chapter 36 member Tox Cox came away from the 2013 NAB Show with an award for the best technical session. His paper title, “Using Public Domain and Open Source Software to Derive Base Drive Voltages for AM Method of Moments Models, “described his presentation about an inexpensive means of deriving these calculations. Tom was given the award at the annual Technology Luncheon at the show.
Tom serves as Senior Vice President Engineering for Clear Channel Media + Entertainment overseeing technical and regulatory operations for over 150 radio stations in 28 markets in the Southwestern U.S. Tom has been employed in the broadcasting industry for over 35 years, including KFMB AM/FM and Clear Channel in San Diego. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electronics degree from Chapman College and is a Registered Professional Electrical Engineer.
Francisco Laurent Martinez, who served as engineer and Chief Engineer of the Transmission Department at XETV in Tijuana from 1959 till this month, passed away March 24, 2013 in Tijuana. He saw the facility progress from a single English-language ABC affiliate for San Diego to a cluster of eight Televisa-operated TV stations, all now with solid-state transmitters and antennas on two self-supporting 500 foot towers.
He mentored engineer Humberto Borzani, who told us Francisco was born December 7th, 1930 in Tijuana. He graduated in 1956 as an Engineer with a major in Electronics and Communications in Mexico City. He served as Chief Engineer of the Radio Monitoring Station of SCT (the Mexican equivalent of the FCC) from 1972 to 1987. The SCT sent him to Washington to coordinate cross-border frequency allocation studies in 1979.
Francisco served as professor at the Instituto Tecnológico de Tijuana from 1971 till 1987, and was founder of the associated cultural FM station Radio Tecnológico 88.7 MHz FM from 1987 till 2005.
On a personal note, I worked at XETV’s U.S. operations from 2004 till 2010, but was always warmly welcomed at the Mexican master control and transmission site. I have never seen a transmitter site like the one Francisco led, from the marble floor at the entrance and master control rooms to the spotless transmitter rooms to the twice-filtered air and shiny copper transmission lines. The 1955 GE transmitter was ready for air until just a few years ago. Their UPS and generator backups kept the transmitters going without interruption for years at a time. Francisco was justifiably proud of that facility, and he will be missed.
Just when you thought your H.264 codecs were about as efficient as possible for transmitting your media files, along comes H.265. This new HEVC is likely to change everything. But how much more efficient is it? What exactly is different about it? How are vendors gearing up for the new codec? When will it be ready for prime time?
Chapter 36 is fortunate enough to bring highly regarded speaker Joel Wilhite from Harmonic to our March meeting.
Be sure to mark your calendar for 6:30 PM, March 28th at the KGTV studios, 4600 Air Way, near where the I-805 and CA-94 freeways meet. Note this special evening time and day. Harmonic will provide dinner at 6:30, followed by a brief business meeting and the presentation.
Joel Wilhite has been a Broadcast Solutions Manager for Harmonic for 18 years, designing media compression and storage systems for news and programming originators. He’s frequently called on to update groups like SBE with technology presentations.
James Culligan of El Cajon recently became an SBE Certified Radio Operator.
Ken Tondreau joined Avid Technology as Enterprise Account Manager for the Los Angeles region in January this year. Ken had been a Sales Representative with Grass Valley since 1986. Ken recently renewed as Certified Broadcast Technologist.
Matt Lunati joined a technical team installing and servicing mobile cellular sites for CellularOne in Show Low, Arizona. Matt says they serve a large network in northeast Arizona.