Charles Gawlik of San Diego passed his Certified Broadcast Network Technologist (CBNT) exam at the NAB Show in Las Vegas in April and has become a member of Chapter 36. He’s a systems engineer for Vigor Systems in La Jolla by day and a photographer by night. Congratulations Chuk!
Category Archives: Local News
KNSJ Getting Ready for Air
According to their website, new non-comm KNSJ installed their antenna at Monument Peak and expect to hit the air on 89.1 MHz as soon as they install their transmitter. The FCC lists the station as having an ERP of 330 watts and city of license as Descanso, but the elevation will give the station a decent signal to line-of-sight locations throughout San Diego County. The organization behind the new station says in their mission statement:
Activist San Diego is a social justice organization that promotes and facilitates the development of an active, inter-related, progressive community in San Diego through networking, culture and electronic technology.
For the time being, listeners in the Pacific Beach, La Jolla, and University City areas shouldn’t expect much reception due to co-channel 4-watt K206AC in La Jolla that rebroadcasts KPBS-FM.
Tijuana Analog TV Stations Sign-off
UPDATE 7/22/2013 – Analog stations along the border are now off the air, apparently permanently after elections.
UPDATE 5/13/2013- Analog stations along the border are back on the air today after electoral candidates complained about lack of exposure ahead of July 7 elections.
Eight Tijuana TV stations went dark May 28, 2013 as the first broadcast market in Mexico to go all-digital, delayed a month from the previous target date of April 16. Those stations included:
- XHTJB channel 3, affiliated with Once TV, public/educational
- XETV channel 6, Televisa O&O, affiliated with Canal 5
- XEWT channel 12, Televisa O&O, affiliated with multiple networks
- XHTIT channel 21, TV Azteca O&O, affiliated with Azteca 7
- XHJK channel 27, TV Azteca O&O, affiliated with Azteca 13
- XHAS channel 33, Entravision operated, affiliated with Telemundo
- XHBJ channel 45, Cadena owned and Televisa operated, affiliated with Galavision
- XHUAA channel 57, Televisa O&O, affiliated with Canal de Estrellas
Notably, XETV had just celebrated 60 years of broadcasting, having signed on with English language broadcasting in 1953 and continuing to do so until last year, when it switched to Televisa’s Spanish-language broadcasts of Canal Cinco. XETV-DT was the first digital TV station to broadcast in Mexico in 2000, and likely the inspiration for having Tijuana selected as the first market to shutdown its analog TV.
Mexico’s EFE indicates that over 192,000 free digital TV converters were passed out to Tijuana area residents as part of the transition. Unconfirmed statistics have 48% of Tijuana residents receiving their TV via free over-the-air broadcasts.
Interestingly, Entravision-operated XHDTV on Cerro Bola near Tecate remains on the air on channel 49. The next shutdown date, November 26, 2013 is supposed to include Mexicali, but it is not known whether XHDTV will shutdown at that time.
What is not yet known is how the empty channels will affect FCC-mandated repacking of TV channels along the border. There’s likely to be a scramble on both sides of the border to occupy the empty lower UHF channels.
Tom Cox Wins NAB Show ‘Best Paper’ Award
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.
Nigel Worrall Moves to Germany
We learned last month that Chapter 36 member Nigel Worrall accepted the position as Plant Manager at Broadcast Microwave Systems’ Kemel, Germany facility. Nigel most recently served as Applications Engineering Manager, and has been with BMS since 2010.
BMS has manufactured ENG microwave transmission systems for decades, but since being purchased by Cohu they produce systems primarily for law enforcement, and often now for unmanned aerial vehicles.