Thanks to all for attending. 20 local radio group engineering executive and friends ate a fine lunch and heard a few words from Al Jason of Dielectric on their RF Scout and tower LED beacon products. Craig Caston of Salem Communications won the Sangean HD-Radio provided by SCMS. Thanks to Doug Tharp for the lunch and radio!

In a presentation of interest to both TV and Radio engineers, Jamie
Dunn, Studer’s Western Regional Sales Manager will introduce two of
Studer latest technologies with the opportunity to see Studer’s
complete digital console product range installed in their 53 foot
mobile demonstration truck.

Studer is one of the oldest and best known worldwide audio companies. Formed in 1948 by Dr. Willi Studer in Zurich Switzerland, Studer Professional Audio became famous throughout the world for its high quality and robust tape machines. Even today, a Studer tape machine can still be found in practically every studio or broadcast facility. Studer, however, was also a major manufacturer of mixing consoles for both production and on-air applications. For the past 15 years, Studer has been at the forefront of digital technology and now has a product portfolio dedicated primarily to digital mixing consoles focussed towards Radio and TV applications.

Vistonics is Studer’s patented technology of mounting rotary encoders and switches onto a TFT Screen. It forms the basis of the revolutionary and award winning user interface of both the Studer Vista 8 and new Vista 5 Live Broadcast consoles. The presentation will give a brief insight into the philosophies that make Vistonics the Return of the Human Interface.

The OnAir 3000 is Studer’s 3rd generation of digital on-air console and is based on a modern router based architecture and flexible hardware concept. Jamie will introduce the underlying concepts and philosophies behind the product.

Jamie relocated to Los Angeles in July of 2005 with his wife and 2 year old daughter to take on his present role of Studer’s Western US Regional Sales Manager. Previously living and working in Zurich, Switzerland at the Studer Headquarters, he had been working for Studer for 6 years as Product Specialist and Sales Director for North and South America. Originally from the UK, Jamie is a “Tonmeister” (Sound Master) graduate and prior to working for Studer, worked as a classical recording engineer and editor for an independent production company based in London.

Members and guests, please join us Monday, October 23, at 6 PM for snacks and a social hour, and 7 PM for the demonstration. It all takes place at TV Magic, 8112 Engineer Road in Kearny Mesa, San Diego.

Last month’s meeting at MediaFLO headquarters not only introduced the concepts involved in a graceful degradation of digital mobile TV signals, but of new ways of integrating hardware, including monitored rack outlets and personal laptop docks in the giant Network Operations Center. Their impressive graphic realtime U.S. map of operating metropolitan transmitter sites calmly glowing green was driven by this month’s presenter, Statmon Technologies.

Statmon introduced a couple of years ago the next generation of transmission site remote control hardware and software–highly scaleable, readily networked, web accessible, and customizeable. Ken Dillard visits us on June 21 at TV Magic and will give a presentation on their technology. He’ll inform us about both the EIF-32 embedded control product line and its large scale environment known as the Axxess control and facilities management system.

Join us Wednesday, June 21, at TV Magic, 8112 Engineer Road, at 6 PM for a social hour and snacks, then the 7 PM meeting and presentation. Guests welcome.

TV Magic hosts an open house June 28th from 9 AM till 3 PM with Grass Valley products, including Turbo, Kayak, K2 server, Canopus, and RevPro drives for the Infinity news gathering system. The open introduces TV Magic’s new role as integrator and dealer of GV products.

Snacks, soft drinks, and coffee will be served. Please notify TV Magic of your plans to attend to sales@tvmagic.tv. TV Magic is located at 8112 Engineer Road in San Diego.

Come see the birth of a revolution this month. May 17, Qualcomm’s MediaFLO hosts SBE Chapter 36 for a presentation and demonstration of their new mobile TV system. Find out how and and where it’s done. Meet Fred Baumgartner, project  Chief Engineer and nationally known SBE education advocate. If your station generates local content, this presentation may represent a future revenue stream.

One of the reasons we put up with the oppressive ankle and knee fatigue we all seem to get at the NAB Convention is that we get to catch up with old friends and acquaintances. We gray, swap jobs, put children through school, have tragedies–these little dramas connect our past to our present and life seems more interesting.

This year I came across an ex-coworker who had just joined Qualcomm’s MediaFLO project. His experience and computer programming skills make this job swap look like a particularly good fit. And for the first time, I got to see part of our future. He dialed in CNBC on his cell phone and showed it to me. Yeah, the cable channel. I couldn’t really read the ticker, but otherwise, this was a perfectly usable TV signal. You have to view the quarter VGA (QVGA) monitor, 320 x 240 pixels, sideways. Here, deep within the Las Vegas Convention Center’s Central Hall, was mobile TV without ghosting or dropouts. The relatively low power transmitter was far away on a mountaintop near Las Vegas. You probably wouldn’t want to watch Lawrence of Arabia on such a screen, but it might be a great way to catch up with sports highlights or breaking news.

MediaFLO engineers in Sorrento Mesa are busy designing metropolitan transmission sites across the U.S. And in San Diego, they are installing a Network Operations Center here, where they will do commercial and local content insertion.

Qualcomm has invited SBE Chapter 36 to the heart of the revolution. Come to our May 17 meeting and find out what all the fuss is about. We’ll meet, share a snack, then get a presentation on MediaFLO at a technical level broadcast engineers should be able to understand. This will be essentially the same presentation Tom Mikkelsen made at the NAB Convention. Then you can take the facility tour.

SBE members and guests are invited Wednesday, May 17 at 6:00 PM for the usual social hour with snacks, then our regular 7:00 PM meeting and presentation, then a tour of Building E. We’ll meet at Qualcomm Building G located at 4755 Eastgate Mall. From I-805, take La Jolla Village west to Towne Center Drive. Turn right and go north to Eastgate Mall Drive. Proceed to 4755. If you get to the bridge, Fred reminds us, you’ve gone too far. Note that there are card entry points—you will need to buzz security to get in.