The Battle for the C-Band Heats Up
By Chris Imlay, SBE Legal Council
On April 19, 2018, the FCC issued a public notice of a temporary freeze on applications for new or modified fixed-satellite service earth stations and fixed microwave stations operating in the 3.7-4.2 GHz band. This is the C-Band downlink.
Continue reading Register Your C-Band Receive-Only Earth Station Now
The “Importance of Proper Grounding” SBE webinar will be presented on Thursday, July 23 at 2 p.m. ET. The one-hour program will review the elements of a building’s wiring and grounding systems (including lightning protection) that pertain to power quality at communications facilities and improve up-time. Proper wiring and grounding, beyond those minimal requirements of the NEC, can greatly alleviate power quality problems in broadcast and public service communications facilities. These improvements can be very cost-effective, usually simple in description, and help prevent costly downtime and equipment damage. The presentation concentrates on actual experiences at broadcast facilities where grounding and lightning protection were of paramount importance in maintaining system availability.
On October 24, 2014, there was an unauthorized playing of the national emergency alert notification (EAN) tones during a syndicated radio broadcast. These tones were a retransmission from the original EAN test conducted on Nov 9, 2011. There is a possibility that Digital Alerting Systems’ DASDEC units may have stored the recent unauthorized EAN and will retransmit on November 9 when the date/time stamp becomes valid. Digital Alerting Systems has published a Field Service Bulletin on this matter, http://www.
(It’s very unlikely the recent national error event propagated to San Diego, and checking a client DASDEC unit, I found no stored national EAN’s. However, it’s a good time to check your configuration to turn on Strict Time if available on your device’s configuration. –ed)
The Society of Broadcast Engineers announced October 8 it will work to attract and serve those who work in technical broadcast and media related positions, in addition to its traditional broadcast engineering membership base. SBE president, Joe Snelson, CPBE, 8-VSB, made the announcement in his address during the Society’s 50th anniversary Annual Membership Meeting held at the Turning Stone Resort, in Central New York State. Continue reading SBE to Expand Membership Scope, Support
February 5, 2013 -The FCC today released a public notice announcing the April 1 effective date of the requirement to register 7 and 13 GHz TV Pickup stationary receive sites in ULS. The public notice also announces the grant of a fee exemption to TV Pickup licensees in the 7 and 13 GHz bands who modify their licenses between now and April 1 for the sole purpose of adding their receive sites. The public notice also provides detailed filing instructions.