Category Archives: Meetings

Meetings

September 2019 Meeting – Single Frequency Networks for Radio

You should be able to drive around our terrain-challenged media market and receive excellent FM broadcast reception everywhere. Till now you haven’t been able to because of signal shadows and multipath. GEO Broadcast Solutions has been working on this throughout the nation and this year has been helping Entercom’s KWFN (FM) locally extend their 97.3 MHz signal through a series of boosters extending their coverage into northern San Diego County. The science of this is more complex than you might imagine; boosters have to be in-phase to the digital bit to work effectively. How do they do that?

Bert Goldman, advisor to GEO Broadcast Solutions, discussed at our September chapter meeting the science and implementation of what they call “Maxxcasting™,” SFN’s for FM broadcast transmission. They’re also working on a related technology, “ZoneCasting™” that could allow geographic targeting of ads within Maxxcasting™ regions.

Many thanks to GEO Broadcasting Solutions and the attendees who made this meeting a great success.

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Meetings

June 2019 Meeting: Dielectric and Local TV Repack Projects


Now that the dust has settled on the TV channel repack projects in Southern California, how did it go? What were the challenges and how were they met? Steve Moreen will discuss the current status of the TV repack with updates on the TV markets of Los Angeles and San Diego.  The second part of the presentation will review the technical specifications and assembly drawings of the new KPBS-TV antenna, illustrating the inner workings of a slot style UHF TV antenna.  The final segment will include a short visual tour of the Dielectric factories.

Join us Wednesday, June 19 at 12 noon at iHeartMedia, 9660 Granite Ridge Drive in San Diego. Lunch will be provided by Dielectric. You’re always welcome to attend whether a member or not.

About Steve Moreen and Dielectric

Steve Moreen is a member of the Los Angeles SBE Chapter 47 with a background in radio and television broadcasting and satellite communications dating to the 1960s.  Prior to his position as the Western Region Sales Manager of Dielectric, Steve was the owner and General Manager of RF Specialties of California and a member and officer in the San Diego chapter of SBE.

Based in Raymond, Maine, Dielectric LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group. Dielectric is a leading provider of innovative broadcast products. Having celebrated its 75th year of operation, the company builds and delivers antennas and RF systems optimized for every TV and FM radio broadcast need since 1942. Dielectric is an innovative, customer-centric organization with a long history of engineering excellence in designing and manufacturing high-quality broadcast solutions. As a trusted partner of broadcasters worldwide, Dielectric maintains its legacy of advanced, precision RF solutions while building in features that prepare broadcasters for the future. More information can be accessed at www.dielectric.com.

Meetings

May 15 Chapter Meeting – AM Audio Processing & Visual Radio

BSW Director of Business Development John Lynch will feature two products for display and demonstration. The first is the new AM Processor from Orban, six years in development. The XPN-AM-ND is an entirely new concept from the legendary Bob Orban. Longtime broadcast engineer and Vice President of Orban Labs, Mike Pappas, will make the presentation.

Participating via SKYPE will be Alex Bonello, also a veteran broadcast engineer and President of INSOFT LLC. His company created the BSW exclusive Visual Radio System known as HDV-Mixer.

Join us Wednesday, May 15th at 12 noon at iHeartMedia, 9660 Granite Ridge Drive in San Diego. Lunch will be provided by BSW. You’re always welcome whether a member or not.

Meetings, National

No Chapter Meeting in April— See you at the NAB Show!

If you find yourself at the NAB Show in Las Vegas this year, make yourself an appointment to join us at the SBE national meeting, Tuesday, April 9 at 5:00 PM in Room N234, upstairs in the North Hall. These meetings move fast, and there are nice door prizes given at the end of the hour. A Membership Reception starts immediately thereafter and across the hall. This is a great opportunity to network with industry leaders and fellow engineers.

Yours truly will receive an award at the national meeting for having served for ten years as the Chapter 36 Certification Chair.

Also consider stopping by the SBE booth, LN4, meet your officers and administrators; buy a T-shirt, book, or cap; and enter the daily drawings for a giveaway prize.

On Saturday, April 6, just a few blocks away at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel, the SBE is presenting a full-day tutorial on ATSC 3.0 organized by SBE Fellow Fred Baumgartner. Fred, past manager at Qualcomm MediaFLO, is now director of the Next Gen Broadcast Implementation at One Media – Sinclair Broadcast. This comprehensive, all-day learning opportunity is open to all and costs $95 for SBE members and PBS member station employees and includes lunch. Register here.

Local News, Meetings

Bonus March Chapter Meeting: SAS and Recent Digital Audio Protocols

While AES-67 Audio over IP and now AES-70 (GPIO and Control over IP) are popular in the radio broadcast world, a little known standard called IEEE-802.1 (also called AVB), is continuing to grow in the TV/Film, Production, Automotive and Consumer Industries. AVB (“Audio Video Bridging”) is an Audio over Ethernet (AoE) mechanism with auto QoS. With its growing popularity many other industries, the IEEE is positioning this technology to replace HDMI in entertainment systems, gaming consoles and TV Displays. AVB provides a mechanism for intuitive control and discovery. AES-67 is an Audio over IP (AoIP) topology, and while development is ongoing for “control and discovery”, (as is AES70), it’s poised to become the industry standard for radio broadcasting. We’ll outline key differences and typical applications for each protocol.

Al Salci of Sierra Automated Systems and Engineering Corp. visits us Wednesday, March 27 at 12 noon at iHeartMedia, 9660 Granite Ridge Drive, San Diego. He provides lunch, then will give the presentation. Members and guests are all welcome.

About our Guest Speaker

Al Salci is a veteran analog and digital designer, and software engineer with over 35 years experience in broadcast communications. Originally from Toronto Ontario, Al holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Toronto College of Electrical Engineering & Technology. Al started his career in Television Broadcast designing time code products for Telcom Research, Evertz Systems and Leitch Video. Al moved into radio in 1983 as Director of Engineering for McCurdy Radio Industries where he developed audio consoles, switchers, intercoms, and other audio products.

Later, Al joined RTS systems in Burbank as Senior Digital Design Engineer and developed 4-wire intercom systems to enhance their 2-wire TV camera communications networks. Al Salci teamed up with Ed Fritz, another veteran design engineer in Burbank and started Sierra Automated Systems & Engineering Corp. that specializes in high-density digital audio distribution and management systems, audio control console surfaces, large-scale AoIP systems, and fully integrated intercom systems. SAS is celebrating over 34 years.