All posts by Gary Stigall

Local News

Hendrik Jaehn Retires from Petco Park

The Holiday Bowl on December 27, 2023, was Hendrik Jaehn’s final production as Engineer-in-Charge at Petco Park. The San Diego Padres hired him 23 years ago to head the scoreboard video and audio control room at Qualcomm Stadium before the team moved to the new stadium downtown in 2004. He said of his duties at Petco Park, “This has been fun. It’s supposed to be work, but it’s just fun to me.”

Hendrik said Wednesday that he will be driving cross-country to a new residence in Florida over the weekend. He said he plans to travel in Europe and “maybe I’ll buy a boat and sail around for a while.”

Hendrik said he gained much of his technical knowledge while working with Fred Swift at KUSI. “Fred is another level,” he said.

He said he enjoyed teaching some of the younger technicians, but lamented the lack of basic knowledge many come into the field with. “When they don’t even have a few audio principles down, how are they supposed to even start? What can I do?”

His successor has not been announced.

Meetings

SBE Chapter 36 Holiday Luncheon at Mimi’s – Be There!

Before the dark days of the pandemic, we all met at Mimi’s Cafe for a December holiday luncheon and had a joyous good time. We’re doing it again this year.

Mark your calendar for Wednesday, December 13, at 12 noon at Mimi’s Cafe, 5180 Mission Center Rd, San Diego, CA 92108. Members and guests are welcome! No host—you pay for your lunch. Let’s toast to the new year and show our care and respect to each other.

National

FCC Grants Extension for Sage Endec EAS Firmware Compliance

The FCC this week issued a waiver for Sage Endec EAS Devices granting them a 90-day extension for implementing new rules that favor IPAWS CAP alerts. The extension applies only to broadcast stations using the Sage devices and not to those using other brands.

The FCC Report and Order for PS Docket No. 15-94 establishing new Emergency Alert System (EAS) rules went into effect earlier this year with a compliance due date of December 12, 2023. This R&O mandates that alerts received via over-the-air “legacy” EAS data tones be held while awaiting a preferred IPAWS CAP alert. Other rules require changes in how the text for national alerts is constructed. A firmware update will be required to keep your station’s EAS devices compliant with the Part 11 rules.

Sage ENDEC says on its website, “We continue to work on the Rev96 update. We have made the FCC aware that the update has taken us longer to produce than we had anticipated, and that there will be insufficient time for many of our users to install the update by the December 12, 2023 deadline. This is especially true for users maintaining a large number of ENDECs. We apologize for the delay. We will update this page and keep the FCC informed on the release status as we get closer to a release date.

“When Rev96 is released, Email will be sent to those who are signed up for our support email list. If you are not on that list, you can sign up on the support page.” The upcoming firmware update costs $159 and is sold through U.S. hardware distributors.

Digital Alert Systems released an update earlier this year that you must apply to your Monroe and DASDEC devices for continued FCC compliance.

Trilithic/Viavi released their update for EASyCAP software in March 2023.

Local News

Bill Thompson Remembered

Bill Thompson. Photo by Scottie Rice

iHeart Regional Lead Engineer John Rigg sent us a note on Monday, November 27, 2023: “It is with tremendous sorrow that I announce the passing of William B. Thompson. 

“Bill was a fixture in the broadcast engineering community for 40+ years.   Bill began his broadcast career in Columbus, Georgia, stopping at CNN Radio in Atlanta and then making his way to San Diego in 1988. 

“Initially working for the upstart powerhouse Q106 and Edens Broadcasting, Bill’s 35 years in San Diego have been spent entirely with iHeart Media and their predecessors.  

“Bill will be greatly missed.”

Bill had specialized in transmitter maintenance for the iHeartMedia group in San Diego. He served as LECC Vice-Chair for local EAS administration since he was the Chief Engineer of LP1 station KOGO for years.

Meetings

Bringing 5G Broadcasting to the Masses

November 14 Chapter Meeting

Maybe you’ve heard that a Boston LPTV station, WWOO-LD, received an experimental license and is now broadcasting 5G technology from an antenna in downtown Boston. XGN Network is providing the technical horsepower and CEO Frank Copsidas says they chose 5G both for its economics for LPTV station owners and its potential for compatibility with existing mobile phones.

Qualcomm tried something similar to this with the MediaFLO project in the late 2000s and they discontinued the system. What makes Copsidas and their partners Bitstern and Qualcomm think they can make it work this time? What content would we watch? What does the FCC say about this? Do handsets have apps that allow access? What’s happening at WWOO-LD now?

For the answers to these and more questions, join our presenters from XGN, Bitstem, and Qualcomm as Chapters 36 and 47 host a Zoom online presentation on Tuesday, November 14 at 11:30 AM PT. Sign-up for the meeting here.

You can find videos of the 5G launches and more information at 5GBroadcasting.org.

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