XETV US Chief Leaves for Sneaker Net

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.

August 21 Meeting – White Space Voodoo

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.

Translator Apps Finally Get the Nod

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:

City Location MHz Watts Pri Sta Licensee File Number
Carlsbad Deer Springs 104.9 200 KPRZ Gold Coast 20030317MUE
Fallbrook Red Mtn 106.7 1 KSDW Penfold Comm 20030311ARX
Oceanside Benet Hill 96.1 5 KWVE-FM Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa 20030314AVT
San Diego I-805 at I-8 106.9 10 KSDW Penfold Comm 20030311ARS
San Marcos Hwy 78 @ Barham Dr 104.5 50 KGB Clear Channel 20030317AQW
San Marcos San Elijo Hills 107.9 41 KHTS Clear Channel 20030314BOV
Spring Valley Sweetwater Village 94.3 13 KMYI Educational Media Foundation 20030317LML
West San Diego 925 Loring St. 92.9 55 KLVJ Educational Media Foundation 20030314ABW

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 Licenses Old Site as Aux

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.

IEEE Hosts Broadcast Symposium in San Diego

Murat Karsi of IEEE has extended an invitation to SBE members to attend and volunteer at this year’s Broadcast Symposium at the Westgate Hotel in downtown San Diego October 9th to 11th.

The symposium provides volunteer opportunities to local university students and professionals as a part of its tradition.  Volunteers will be given complimentary registrations to the symposium.

The following assignments are available for volunteers:

  • Camera operators
  • Audio equipment operators.
  • Streaming media Q and A facilitators (people watching the web to relay live questions from online viewers to the session chairs).

Help for a part of the symposium duration is welcome as well. Volunteers can work part time and participate as a listener the rest of the time.

To professionals, volunteering in this event can provide exposure to the most recent technical developments in broadcasting and networking opportunities.
The IEEE also welcomes students as volunteers.  For students this event is an opportunity to experience a world class technical symposium, learn about state -of-the-art broadcast technologies, network with broadcast engineers and executives, and establish their volunteer portfolio.

Check out the IEEE BTS Symposium website to learn more.

Society of Broadcast Engineers