Society of Broadcast Engineers

Chapter 16, Seattle, WA

From the Chair
Jim Dalke

After months of making sure all the Arbitron PPM encoders and monitors were operating properly, the results of the first PPM survey are in.  Surprise! Star 101.5 makes it to the top.  The little cell phone size “Portable People Meters” are carried around all day and record the “inaudible” signal identifying the station, replacing memory recall and diaries. The battle still goes on in court and with the FCC about PPM fairness in the minority community.

The big DTV transition is here and it appears that the Seattle market is on the list of least prepared markets.  A recent Neilson survey showed over 4% of the TV households in the Seattle Metro market totally unprepared for the transition.  That means there may be 78,000 homes with analog TV receivers in the Seattle market that cannot receive the new digital television signals.

The FCC encouraged TV stations nationwide to conduct “soft tests” mid-May replacing live video programming on the analog channel with a warning message about the upcoming transition.  KOMO’s Chief Engineer John Barrett said his station received more than a hundred calls from analog viewers.

The FCC has arranged with Best Buy’s Geek Squad to provide in-home help for the June 12, DTV switch.  Free of charge to the household, Geek Squad Home Theatre Installers will connect up to two of a household’s DTV converter boxes to existing broadcast antennas and analog TVs.   With 78,000 homes without DTV, it will be interesting to see if the Geek Squad can keep up.

The National Weather service in Seattle has been longing for a weather radar site along the Washington Coast to see storms approaching from the Eastern Pacific.  The Central Washington Coast is in the shadow of the Olympic Mountains from the existing NWS radar on Camano Island.  It is hoped the new $7 million Doppler radar installation will soon receive federal funds and could

be operating by 2012.  Maybe we will be able to plan for those winter storms that have dumped vast amounts of snow on our transmitter sites on South and Tiger Mountains.Speaking of mountains, South Mountain’s 97.7 has new call letters and programming.  KFMY, “The Eagle,”  is now KOMO-FM Newsradio, simulcasting KOMO-AM, radio 1000. Group Program Director Dennis Kelly said: “This is the dawn of a new age for KOMO Newsradio.  FM Listeners have been clamoring for a simulcast of the news, traffic, weather, sports, business, etc. heard on KOMO Newsradio for years.  We are proud to offer them exactly what they want and to keep our AM audience satisfied with a simulcast.  It’s the best of both worlds for our listeners.”

Thursday June 11, Noon
Digital Signal Processing
Have you ever wondered how the Sage Endec EAS equipment can monitor six receivers at once, sort and prioritize incoming
alerts, pick the right one and then get the correct message to your transmitter? 
Have you heard about the “software defined  radio” like the Elecraft K3 transceiver and wondered: how can computer chips provide
sophisticated functions like IF filters, balanced modulators and audio processing?

Our guest speaker, Lyle Johnson,
KK7P, will explain it all at our
Monthly Luncheon, Thursday,
June 11,noon, at the el Eclipse
Restaurant on the Eastside.

The number of Internet radio listeners continues to increase.  I get regular notice of stations available on my Iphone.  Retail electronics stores like Fry’s have several table radios with IP access.  Stations like Classic KING-FM have several streams in addition to their main program channel on the Internet, some of them with PPM encoders.  It will be interesting to see them show up on the Arbitron ratings.

Microsoft has announced its new Zune, which will not only be able to receive steaming IP broadcasts, but will include an HD FM receiver.  Microsoft says the Zune will also be able to link to the Xbox video game with the ability to download videos and podcasts, and dock with HD televisions.

It was interesting to see KCSY-FM, Twisp, duck a potentially significant fine from the FCC for not maintaining the stations required Public File.  The station did not have all the required Issues-Program lists on file.  According to an FCC report, the Station’s general manager “fell behind” in file maintenance.  The result was a $4,000 fine. The station pleaded poverty and showed the FCC recent IRS Tax statements, and was able to have the fine forgiven.

Mark your calendars!  The annual SBE Chapter 16 picnic will return to Vashon Island with a tour of the Island’s five big transmitter sites on July 25.  More details will be available on the chapter website www.sbe16.org .

SBE Chapter 16 Secretary Report

Wednesday May 13, 2009
Executive Board Meeting at Hatfield and Dawson

Chapter Chairman Jim Dalke called the meeting to order at 6:30PM.  Present were Vice Chairman Steve Lockwood, Treasurer Terry Spring, interim Secretary John Price and Directors Clay Freinwald and Tom McGinley.

Chairman Dalke first asked if there was any old business.  As there was none, he introduced the first order of business.  Jim asked if we still wanted to do another Vashon Island Transmitter Tour and Picnic this year.  Those present said yes.  The date will be Saturday, July 25.  Jim said he’d work on a tentative schedule. 

It was decided to ask Mike Troje at Continental if he would like to act again this year as the Tour sponsor.  Clay said he’d contact Mike to see if there was interest.  Other possible sponsors were mentioned, including BSW and Nautel.  Steve said he’d get in touch with the engineers associated with the stations, and Tom Pierson would be contacted to see if we could hold the picnic again at the KIRO 710 AM facility.

The second order of business was upcoming meetings, including tomorrows’ program, the NAB recap.  Clay said he’d arrange for the June 11 meeting.  There will be no meeting In August, unless we are approached by anyone interested in doing a presentation.  A presentation by Logitec is tentatively scheduled for September and Larry Bloomfields’ Taste of NAB Show was mentioned as a possibility for October.

The last order of business was a brief Treasurers’ report by Terry Spring.  Terry said he needed an updated version of Quicken to keep the Chapter books in order.  It was approved by the board that he should purchase it.  Terry also mentioned that two Waveguide advertisers, Shively Labs and North Mechanical were not current with their bills.  Clay said he’d contact both companies to see about getting payment.

The meeting was adjourned at 8PM.  

Thursday May14, 2009
Chapter Meeting

The El Eclipse Mexican Restaurant was the site of the Thursday lunch and meeting.  Thirteen Chapter 16 members and visitors were on hand. 

Chairman Jim Dalke called the meeting to order shortly after 12 noon.  Jim asked Terry Spring for a brief Treasurers report.  Terry said the Chapter remains solvent.  This was followed by a brief Secretaries report of the Board meeting held the night before.  

After lunch was served and mostly consumed, and a brief round of introductions were made, it was time for the program, a joint effort put on by three of our members who attended the NAB Spring

Show in Las Vegas: Steve Lockwood, Clay Freinwald and JimDalke.  Steve showed slides and summarized a presentation given at NAB by Clear Channel’s John Warner.  The presentation detailed the recently completed AM triplex facility in Newton (near Boston) MA.  Clay discussed his nearly 10 year involvement with SBE National, the new SBE Government Relations Committee, SBE University and his ongoing efforts involving EAS, which took up a lot of his time behind the scenes in Las Vegas.  Jim commented about NAB award winner Jack Sellmeyer and offered some other observations related to the show. 

The meeting adjourned at 1:30PM.

Respectfully submitted,
John Price
Interim Chapter 16 Secretary    

Analog is dead? Long live Digital? Or something like that… Well as we all know not everything is as it seems. The much trumpeted ‘transition’ has happened and it was really a non-event to most of us. Remember the ‘Millennium’ event? There is however, something that transcends all of this – and that’s SBE certification at the “Senior” level.

Certified Senior Broadcast Radio Engineer (CSRE)

Certified Senior Broadcast Television Engineer (CSTE)

The candidate for Certified Senior Broadcast Radio Engineer or Certified Senior Broadcast Television Engineer must have 10 years of responsible broadcast engineering or related technology experience and must achieve a passing grade on the proficiency examination.
Substitution of broadcast engineering, or education in related technologies, for experience may be made in the qualifications as follows:

• A state registered Professional Engineer's license will count as four (4) years experience for all levels of certification.
• A Bachelor Degree will count as four (4) years experience.
• An Associate Degree will count as two (2) years experience.
• Years of related accredited education, i.e., military, correspondence, etc. can be substituted, year for year, up to four (4) years.
• Applicant will not receive dual credit for years of experience and education which are concurrent.

The Certified Senior Broadcast Engineer Exam: Exams consist of 50 multiple-choice questions relating to either AM/FM or TV, covering the equivalent of 10 years experience at a responsible level. Each exam is computer-selected from a pool of questions, and every exam is unique. Each question is worth two (2) points. One essay-type question will be selected for each designation. Each essay question is worth 20 points. The Senior Broadcast Engineer multiple-choice examination will consist of questions on:

• operating practices
• safety
• theory
• problems
• supervision and management

NOTE: The Certified Senior Broadcast Engineer certificate will carry space for a special designation in either AM/FM or TV. The candidate may take the Senior Broadcast Engineer examination by meeting the experience requirement either in AM/FM or TV or in both fields of specialization. Satisfactory passing of one or more of these classes will permit the person to attach the respective designation(s) to the certificate. Designations will be by examination only.

Dates to Remember in 2009
Certification Application Deadlines:

September 18, 2009    @Local Chapters        Test Date: November 6-16, 2009
December 31,2009      @Local Chapters        Test Date: February 5-15, 2010
March 26, 2010           @NAB                        Test Date: April 13, 2010
April 16, 2010             @Local Chapters        Test Date: June 4-14, 2010
June 4, 2010                @Local Chapters        Test Date: August 6-16,2010
September 17,2010     @Local Chapters        Test Date: November 5-15,2010

     CERTIFICATION OBJECTIVES
   To raise the professional status of broadcast engineers by providing standards of professional competence in the practice of broadcasting engineering. To recognize those individuals who, by fulfilling the requirements of knowledge, experience, responsibility, and conduct, meet those standards of professional competence. To encourage broadcast engineers to continue their professional development.

For more information and/or application forms please feel free to contact Michael Scott, CPBE.
E-Mail okscott@halcyon.com ; Voice (253) 680-7756 ; FAX (253) 845-5882

It happens every year about this time, the realization that this year is half gone…Already.   The good news is that summer has finally arrived here in the PNW, for those of you that are not familiar, this is our shortest but best season.    

Be sure and mark your calendar – July 25th has been set as the date for the Chapter 16 picnic.   This year we will repeat the very popular AM transmitter site tour on Vashon (for those that want to see this big-iron again or missed it last time) ending up with a picnic in the back-yard of KIRO-AM.   Much more to come on this item.

 As I sit here at the ole computer, I can’t help but think about my up-coming trip to Seaside, Oregon,  for the annual Ham Radio doing’s.   In years past, I’d see a lot of broadcasters there…but times have changed and those broadcast engineers that were Hams have retired or otherwise moved on….I’ll let you know who I see this year.   On that topic - The Radio Club of Tacoma will be holding their Hamfest this year on August 8th at Bethel Junior High School in Spanaway.

The big news for this coming month is the (we hope) the end of analog NTSC TV.  To test the transition, on May 12th there was a coordinated shut down of certain analog stations in what the FCC called a ‘soft-test’.  The Commish announced that they recorded a single-day record of 55,000 calls to its DTV transition call center help line.  I still believe that there will be a rather large number of folks that will be pounding on their sets or calling stations asking what happened on June 13.

The transition to DTV will also trigger the posting on the WSAB Web Site a list of the EAS Monitoring Assignments for the entire state.  Work on updating this important part of EAS has been on-going for the past couple of months.

The second big news item is the change at KOMO Radio.  After many many years, KOMO is back on FM.  Recently Fisher entered into a LMA to operate South Sound Broadcastings KFMY on 97.7 and began simulcasting 1000AM.   One must think that this was in reaction to KIRO moving their news-talk operations from 710 AM to 97.3 and the fact that during the period when Bonneville simulcast the two stations, they were at the top of the radio ratings.    The choice of 97.7 is interesting because it places KOMO right next to KIRO on the dial.   The major difference is that KIRO’s FM transmitter is on West Tiger Mt 18 Miles east of downtown Seattle, while KOMO’s FM transmits from South Mountain some 50 miles SW of downtown.  This means that there are locations where one station may work well, while the other does not, all due to the shadowing from the many hills that challenge  FM coverage in this topography.    Here’s another thought….Did you notice that KIRO/97.3, KOMO/97.7 and KING/98.1 are all lined up on the FM dial…AND….This just happens to be the same sequence as the towers on Queen Ann Hill (Looking West to East) What are the odds?   By the way, both of these stations have turned off their stereo generators…Seems like it was not that long ago that FM broadcasters were begging the FCC to let them run stereo?  They apparently figure that there is no point with a no-music format.   Meanwhile, unlike KOMO-FM, KIRO-FM operates in HD.  Many are saying that we will hear more talk on FM.  Wonder if AM will survive in the long run?

 As a sign of the times, an SBE Member recently posted on the SBE chat remailer a list of good-old-analog TV gear for sale.

Something that you don’t like to report is a tower coming down.  That’s what happened recently in Joplin, Mo when the tower for KSNF-TV fell.    The reports I have read say that no one was killed, however, it did strike a nearby home.  This is certain to be use by those that oppose towers as an argument for, if nothing else, greater set-backs.

Remember the calls that towers are killing birds a while back?   Well the argument has again surfaced, this time with the FCC wanting to know what is really happening.  There are those that want the commission quickly to adopt new rules — rules they say are
necessary to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.  Frankly I have been around towers of various heights and cross-sections and I have yet to find bird-remains littering the area.  What about you?   The FAA is involved with this issue also…they are going to be conducting visibility studies to determine if pilots can see towers better with steady while lights compared to red strobes and how much lights need to flash.  No word on whether they will survey various members of migrating bird families.

Here’s something else that you don’t like to report – Someone stole some very expensive microphones and other parts recently from KPLU.   Removed were some Neumanns,  RE-27’s, JBL monitor speakers, adaptors and patch cables etc.   It appears that the thief may have had inside help or keys that permitted entry.  If you have any info, contact Lowell Kiesow at KPLU – 253-535-8758 or lkiesow@kplu.org.

Abitron, who recently started up their PPM system here in the Seattle market is now the focus of a Notice of Inquiry by the FCC.    Apparently those that have been displeased with the results of the change from diary to PPM have gained an ear at the FCC.   A lot of eyes watching this item.

HD Radio continues to grow, here and there.  One of the most recent additions is the WSU transmitter on Striped Peak, West of Port Angeles where new Nautel equipment is now on the air.   Elsewhere, Panama has recently approved the Ibiquity system for use in that country.

Wonder if there are some folks that think a theodolite is someone that resides in Seattle?

Over in Granger, in Eastern Washington, a local radio station was silenced due to a labor dispute.  KDNA apparently went dark as part of a protest for the termination of a couple of their employees…Yikes!

I ran across a story the other day about Heathkit.  If you are like me, you probably built a number of their kits and were excited to receive their new catalog just to see what they had come up with.    Back in 91 or 92 Heathkit stopped making kits when they

determined that their costs were just too high.   But Heath did not go away, I recently learned, they continued as Heathkit Educational Systems.  Today you can still buy kits from outfits like Ramsey, Jameco, elecraft, elenco and Kelvin.  Granted, none of these match the neat stuff that came from Heathkit.  Just thinking back at the items I built, I recall several – SB 401 Transmitter, SB 303 Receiver, Color TV, Phone Patch, Wattmeter, Remote coax switch, Scope…The list goes on.

If you are ever out in the country without a compass …Just look for some cows.  Research has shown that these critters will (generally) align themselves north-south…That is unless they are near big power lines where, apparently, the magnetic fields confuse them.   I can’t help but wonder if this happens with other creatures !

Perhaps here’s an example of a station that could have used some location finding tools.
KVEZ, an FM Station in Parker, Arizona, found it’s license cancelled for not broadcasting from it’s legal/licensed location.   They lost an appeal at the DC Circuit.  I did an FCC search and found no records for the station.

Remember the audio cartridge tape machine?  Apparently some folks are trying to organize a re-union of sorts of old manufacturers and users.   Many of us remember when they came in and went out…and many now working in the industry never used them.   How many remember a real – live – booth announcer?

Well….Lets again look at the impact of the economy  -

As you know cars are not selling, and auto dealers were traditional bit spenders on broadcast stations.   I got to thinking that perhaps our business has been hurt because we are not advertising those businesses that are doing well in this economy….Yes consumers have cut- back on big-ticket items…but, at the same time, have increased their spending on other things….For example, they are buying things like – Seeds, fishing equipment, lipstick, wine, gold, hotdogs etc. in record numbers.   In some categories sales are up by rather large percentages – Candy is up 20%.  Guns up almost 28%, Home gardens up 40%.

Here are some of the latest economic related news items from the past 30 days --

> Equity Media Holdings recent sold 60 TV stations in an auction.  One of the buyers operates a station here, Daystar purchased 7 full power and 9 low power stations for 7.4 Million.   This included KQUP in Spokane.

>  The RAB is reporting that Radio sales dropped by 25% in Q-1 this year.   On the bright side, the digital segment of Radio is growing, despite the results from conventional advertising.

> Could it be a sign of the times?  3 TV stations in WDC have started pool coverage of news conferences and other events.   One has to wonder if this could spread to our town.  I can imagine the money that would be saved if KOMO, KING and KIRO elected to pool-it in some cases.   Perhaps each station could have their own reporter, but the rest of the event could be pooled.   Perhaps using unmarked live trucks etc.   This brings up a topic that I have often wondered about…The pooling of overhead shots.   Likely the depth and length of this recession will dictate where this will go.

> What broadcasters don’t need, especially at this time, is an increase in what is called the Performance Tax…and Radio broadcasters are battling back.  Recently Amador Bustos, owner of KDDS and KTBK here, testified in WDC how this would hurt small broadcasters.

> With the Feds coming to the rescue of many, a congressman has proposed the Government come to the rescue of minority owned radio companies.

> Ion Media, owners of TV operations here in Seattle, is filing Chapter 11.  They list debts of over 1 Billion and assets of about 10 Million.  (Ouch)

We all use adaptors from time to time, some to change connector
type, some to change gender.....Here are a couple that can best
be described as 'Generation Adaptors'

> The management of KJRH-TV in Tulsa, Ok have, reportedly, cut one weeks pay from their employees.

> Non English radio broadcasters are being hit hard also - Spanish Broadcasting System revenues are off 27% while Univision Radio is down 26%.

> Jeff Smulyan, Mr. Big at Emmis, said recently that things are slowly improving.

>  Understand that KGY might not have to move to a new location on the Olympia waterfront as soon as they thought.   The economic slowdown has delayed those plans for a while.

> Entercom Q-1 revenues were down 21%.

> Many TV stations, including those in major markets, are dropping Sunday morning news broadcasts.

> Belo, owner of KING and KONG in Seattle, the company announced that on top of cost-cutting measures enacted in 2008, it was suspending its 401k matching contribution for all employees; reducing by 5 percent salaries for employees who are part of
management compensation programs; and cutting 150 jobs.

>  With revenues sagging, Clear Channel has about $16 billion in bank debt and $6 billion more in junior debt to deal with. Pointing to a "highly challenging" environment, they have also suspended employee 401(k) match

Last month I reported that the Clover Park radio broadcast program might be moth-balled.   Apparently this is the case. The following was sent to members of the programs advisory committee.

Dear Advisors:

The financial crisis has taken a toll on programs at Clover Park Technical College. Due to shortfalls in the State’s budget directly affecting community and technical colleges, the College has had to make difficult decisions regarding its current programming. Effective June 18th, 2009, our Radio Broadcasting program will discontinue enrollment of new students.  This program will be placed on inactive status thus allowing us to review its viability in conjunction with the College’s financial position at a later date or once the crisis has abated.  Because of this change we will be disbanding the Radio Broadcasting advisory committee and canceling future advisory meetings.

Time magazine is out with their top-10 list of technical failures of the last decade…Our local software outfit, Microsoft, managed to be named for two of them,  Vista and the Zune MP3 player.    They named Satellite Radio provider Sirius and XM citing their massive debt and the fact they have never made money….Word is they lost a huge number of  subscribers in Q-1 this year.    Others on the list include – Gateway computers, The HD DVD, Vonage the VoIP provider,

Sure to not win many friends in our business, acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps said “It's time to say goodbye to postcard renewal every eight years and hello to license renewals every three years with some public interest teeth."   Looks like we are in for some changes in the way folks in Washington deal with our industry.
In a recent meeting Stephan Lockwood of Hatfield and Dawson explained how they were able to design and construct a complicated multi-tower triplex system near Boston, much of this helped by the recent changes in FCC rules governing design and performance measurements for AM directional arrays.  Earlier Ben Dawson explained the history of this change at a chapter meeting.   We now learn that the FCC is, indeed, approving the use of the ‘method’.  The FCC has granted the first AM MoM licenses to WKOX and WRCA. This ends a 30 year project to have the FCC change the rules to allow computer modeling.  AM stations are encouraged to file 302 license applications to convert licenses to take advantage of the new rules.
Lots of speculation as to what happened to cause David Rehr at NAB.  One of the reasons being floated about is that running NAB was like trying to herd cats.   Guess that explains alot.

Paul Allen is selling his two radio stations in Portland (KXL-AM and KXTG-FM) to Larry Wilson formally with Citadel.   

Andy Skotdal of KRKO recently posted the 1922 license for the station on their web site.  Not many perhaps realize the historic nature of this station.  
  http://www.krko.com/stationinfo/historicalmemorabilia/1920s

Whereas it appears that knowledge of my appreciation of things humorous has leaked out…I have been receiving some gems…some of which I can share with you.   Last month I dealt with tools, this month – English.  Everyone knows that Engineers are experts…With that – the following item that underscores why our language is so very hard.

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce. 

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture. 

5) He could  lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present .. 

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13) They were too close to the door to close it. 

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail. 

18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. 

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend? 

Til next month –

73,

Clay Freinwald, K7CR, CPBE