The progression of large scale integration has made it possible for minority broadcasters to find audiences while making their on-air product barely distinguishable from what the traditional “big four” network affiliates put out. Entravision has taken advantage of this trend better than just about anyone–their local outlet programs six streams with some in HD to seven transmitters in the US and Mexico.

Management at Entravision invites SBE Chapter 36 for a complete tour and lunch at their Kearny Mesa facility. How do they handle so many signals in a cost-effective way and how do they distribute their signals?

Please join us September 18 at 12 PM at 5770 Ruffin Road, between state highway 52 and Clairemont Mesa Boulevard. Take the Kearny Villa Road exit from SR-52 and drive one block straight south.

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.