Paul Redfield resigned his position as Director of Technology at XETV Channel 6’s US operations center in August. Next week, he begins a new career as Senior Systems Administrator at the corporate headquarters for Road Runner Sports in Kearny Mesa.

Paul was a news photographer at XETV Fox 6 until 2005, when he moved to IT management. He was instrumental in the station’s upgrading to a binational data fiber link and HD commercial and syndication playout. He took over as Director of Technology in 2010 and moved the station to HD studio news origination.

As of this writing, the station was advertising for a replacement, but Mark Goodman is currently acting as department manager.

Karl Voss knows “white space.” He’s not only a recognized engineer from PBS affiliate KAET in Phoenix, but a busy technical advisor to the NFL Game Day Coordination team. Recently, he filled in as presenter for a no-show at a Phoenix chapter meeting and did so well, we’ve ask him to give us an encore in San Diego.

We’ll learn about the new FCC rules regarding wireless microphone devices that use UHF TV channels. The smart ones supposedly know if a channel is occupied by looking it up in a database. Cool. How does that work? And how does it in fact work on the border with Mexico?

Join us Wednesday, August 21, at noon at Clear Channel Communications, 9660 Granite Ridge Drive, off Aero Drive at I-15. Doug Tharp of SCMS is sponsoring lunch and will have some wireless microphone products to look over. Members and guests welcome. Expect the meeting to last till 1:30 PM.

The FCC this week issued a Public Notice announcing that they had cleared a large number of proposed translator applications filed in 2003 for construction permit filing. The hold-up was apparently due to processing of associated Auction 83 processing, which has been completed. Included in those filings were a number of San Diego County apps:

Interesting applications by Educational Media Foundation have them rebroadcasting adjacent channel Clear Channel station KMYI from Sweetwater Village, and locating a translator on a residential street in Pacific Beach.

Applicants have until August 30th to file.

KPBS-FM 89.5 in San Diego can now fire up its legacy site on Mt. San Miguel in the event of some failure or maintenance needs at Mt. Soledad. The FCC issued the license this week. You might remember that the San Diego State University NPR affiliate moved to La Jolla last year, increasing power and overall increasing service to its strong donor base to the north and west. It only made sense to maintain the equipment at Miguel for backup purposes since the TV transmitter remains there anyway, and that’s what they’ve done.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers has had a long history of recognizing engineers for their professional and personal accomplishments.  Earlier this year, the SBE announced the creation of the Chapter Engineer of the Year award as a way for each local chapter to “recognize the efforts of a specific individual who best furthers the goals and objectives of their SBE Chapter, and provides an outstanding example of local/regional leadership and ethics.”

With this new charter, the San Diego chapter officers decided to solicit members to nominate a fellow engineer deserving of this award.  An announcement was made in the monthly newsletter along with an email request to all San Diego SBE members to send nominations directly to the chairman.  Nominations were then evaluated by a committee of well-respected engineers from the local television and radio broadcast community that were currently not serving as chapter officers.  After the votes were tallied, the award nomination was sent to SBE national office for final approval.

Speaking candidly about the award program and the importance of recognition, I had a bit of trepidation going into this process.  Mainly because the San Diego SBE chapter has a quite large cross-section of outstanding engineers and leaders to consider as potential award recipients.  My other concern was whether or not there would be any nominations at all.  Let’s face it; most of us have day jobs.  Although recognition programs are important, they frequently take the backseat to whatever is paying the bills.  Having said that, I can say I am proud that the San Diego SBE chapter was one of 12 local chapters out of 146 that nominated a Chapter Engineer of the Year.

Drum roll!  Please join me in congratulating Gary Stigall as the 2013 Chapter Engineer of the Year!

When you consider the criteria for this year’s award, it is no wonder why the members of the San Diego SBE chapter unanimously voted for Gary.  Quoting a fellow member, “Gary is the glue that keeps the chapter together.”  Although Gary presently holds “appointed” positions for the chapter (Certification Chair and Webmaster), he has served in virtually every position of leadership for the chapter during the past fifteen years.  Throughout his tenure with the San Diego chapter, Gary has coordinated over 100 meetings, seminars and functions.  He is also an elected member of the SBE National Board of Directors (2011-2013) – a first for our chapter!

Gary’s background includes working as an engineer, manager, consultant, and executive in the radio and television broadcast industry for over 35 years.  In 2012, Gary launched his own broadcast engineering/technical services business.  He also presently works for the National Football League as the Game-Day Frequency Coordinator for local San Diego Chargers’ games.

There is much more to say about Gary contributions and accomplishments, but I will close with offering my personal thanks for his outstanding leadership towards improving and promoting our local chapter.