Society of Broadcast Engineers

Chapter 16, Seattle, WA

From the relatively open show floors, it was obvious that NAB attendance was down this year.  Even with cheap hotels and low airline fares, limited budgets (or in some cases employment,) the show attendance was the lowest in years.  The official count was 83,842, far below last year’s 105,259.  On the bright side, many exhibitors said they had more time for the serious buyers.

There were no significant new technical advancements at this year’s show, but there was a lot talk and equipment for mobile DTV which may provide new digital broadcast opportunities as analog soon goes away forever.  There were some high quality 3D television displays, and even one demonstration of a holographic 3D TV display that did not require special viewing glasses.  There were a couple of FM enabled cell phones demonstrated.  FM broadcasters are hoping the development will open a new market for listeners.

One of my primary missions at the show this year was to get support for development of my fiber optic antenna monitor.  The response I got exceeded expectations and field tests will get underway soon.

Highlight of the engineering conference was the presentation Wednesday morning on the new FCC AM directional antenna rules.  Computer modeling of the AM directional array allows licensing without the costly and time consuming field measurements of the past.  The presenters included Consultants Ben Dawson and Ron Rackley and John Warner, VP of AM engineering for Clear Channel.  John made a presentation on the first antenna array to be developed under the new rules for WKOX in Newton,

Massachusetts.  The site has 5 towers shared with three stations.  The site is located in a very environmentally sensitive area surrounded by an upscale community.  John said it would have been impossible to do a traditional field proof for the facility.

Wednesday was also the occasion for the annual NAB Technology Luncheon and the presentation of the prestigious NAB Engineering Achievement Awards.  This year’s winners were Jack Sellmeyer (Radio) and Sterling Davis (Television.) 

Jack Sellmeyer is well known in the broadcast engineering community as one of the great broadcast engineers and innovators.  Among the innovations that Jack designed was the famous Collins 828E “Power Rock” pulse modulated tube transmitter.  Jack and I have had discussions about using the power rock as a CW transmitter for my KLB project.

Wednesday afternoon I happened by the Kintronic booth where a prestigious group was having an informal “round table” discussion.  I have included this picture as part of my report this month for posterity.

Tom King, Kintronic President, made a presentation on the first KinStar low profile “Green” antenna.  The antenna was installed with 50 foot wood poles at KCST-AM in Florence, Oregon in a wooded area near the Oregon Coast.  The antenna’s performance is comparable to a quarter wave antenna and is now approved by the FCC.  The installation blends well with the surrounding coastal pines.

From the left, Ben Dawson, Ron Rackley, Jim Moser, Jack Sellmeyer, and John Warner

Clay Freinwald chaired a session on Disaster Preparedness and Public Alerting.  Participants for Clay’s session included WSAB President Mark Allen.  Clay has more to report in this Waveguide issue.

Meanwhile the “ether” world continues to evolve outside Las Vegas.  Arbitron and Edison Research report that some 42 million Americans had listened to Web radio in a recent week period.  Weekly Internet radio listeners have increased by 100% since 2005.  There are many radio broadcasts on my Iphone.

The birds are back!  Environmentalists have long complained about tower lights and guy wires killing birds.  Now the FCC is looking for comments on a petition for expedited rulemaking from the American Bird Conservancy, Defenders of Wildlife and National Audubon Society. Comments to the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau are due May 29 on FCC Dockets WT 08-61 and WT 03-187.

In the world of data technology, General Electric has announced new digital storage technology that will allow standard compact discs to hold the equivalent of 100 DVDs using holographic imaging.  GE says the new discs could hold 500 gigabytes of data, compared to the 50 gigabyte Blu-ray disc and the 5 gigabyte DVD.  The original music and data CD’s hold less than 1 gigabyte of digital data.

See you at the May 14 luncheon for wrap-up presentation of NAB 2009.

Wednesday April 8, 2009
There was no Executive Board meeting.

Thursday April 9, 2009
Chapter Meeting

Twenty one Chapter 16 members and visitors were on hand at the Red Robin Restaurant in Bellevue for the regular Chapter meeting.  This will likely be the last time for a regular meeting at this location as a new restaurant has opened in the former location of the Black Bear.  Look for an announcement later about our new venue, the El Eclipse Mexican Restaurant.

Chairman Jim Dalke called the meeting to order shortly after 12 noon.  Jim gave a brief report on behalf of Treasurer Terry Spring who was not present.  He noted that the Chapter continues to remain solvent.   Steve Lockwood advised that the Chapters Email server which is maintained by Hatfield and Dawson is now working after being briefly locked up.  A round of introductions followed and then lunch was served. 

The presenter was Matt Leland of Dielectric of Raymond, ME. Matt’s presentation was entitled “Considerations for Digital Radio Broadcast Antenna Design”.  Matt showed some of the products being developed by Dielectric including their line of interleaved FM antennas that give the broadcaster another option for implementing HD transmissions.
 
The meeting adjourned at 1:45PM.

Respectfully submitted,
John Price
Interim Chapter 16 Secretary    

Matt Leland - April Luncheon Speaker

Greetings All,
I can’t say the Spring has “come & gone” because I’m not sure it was ever here. Some of you have returned from NAB with new visions of ‘transcodeing & workflow schemes’ dancing through your heads. Most importantly – some of you have been considering SBE Certification. I would like to detail certification that ‘high lights’ the skills and achievements of very important specialties within our industry… Audio and/or Video Engineering that may happen outside the Broadcasting Environment…. Studios & production houses.. etc.

Certified Audio Engineer (CEA)
and Certified Video Engineer (CEV)

The candidate for Certified Audio Engineer or Certified Video Engineer must have five (5) years of suitable experience in audio/video engineering or related technology and must achieve a passing grade on the proficiency examination.
Substitution of broadcast engineering, or education in related technologies, for experience may be made 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 concurrent years of experience and education.

The Certified Audio or Certified Video Engineer Exam: Exams consist of 50 multiple-choice questions relating to either audio or video, covering the equivalent of five (5) years experience. Each exam is computer-selected from a pool of questions, and every exam is unique. Each correct answer will be worth two (2) points. The Audio/Video Engineer multiple choice examination will consist of questions on:

• operating practices
• problems
• theory
• safety

 

Dates to Remember in 2009
Certification Application Deadlines:

April 17, 2009             @Local Chapters        Test Date: June 5-15, 2009
June 5, 2009                @Local Chapters        Test Date: August 7-17, 2009
September 18, 2009    @Local Chapters        Test Date November 6-16, 2009

     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

Just returned from the NAB Convention in Las Vegas.   Here are some random thoughts….

• Attendance was, for sure, down.  I understand to about 83,000 this year or about 20%...not bad considering.
• A lot of mentions of the economy and how it was a big factor
• A lot of international attendees, reportedly about 25%
• Vendors I spoke with said they were pleased, noted more interest from smaller market broadcasters (perhaps they were attracted to the lower hotel costs.
• From Seattle I saw…Jim Dalke, Tom McGinley, Terry Denbrook, Greg Ristau and a large number of the Hatfield and Dawson crew.
• Jim Dalke (Mr Lucky) won a prize at the Amateur Radio reception (I’ll let him tell you about it)
• Lots of new information came forth about the new EAS.
• There is, finally, an HD Radio portable.  Ex-Seattle-guy, John Schnieder was showing it off.
• Harris introduced a new FM radio transmitter, it’s back to tubes for them.
• The big buzz was all about TV’s in cell phones.
• Not to be out done, NAB is pushing FM Radios in cell phones.

At our up-coming meeting, we will all be reporting on a what we saw and learned at NAB, my contribution will be to explain the latest scoop on changes coming to EAS.   We were very fortunate to have Wade Witmer from FEMA speak to the SBE-EAS Session and we learned a bunch.  Bring your questions!  Jim Dalke informed me today that we will be back across the street at our old haunt, formally known as the Black Bear – New menu and owners, great location.

One thing you notice about going to Las Vegas is how fast they can build buildings.  Not only are there a lot of workers, but they work on these projects – all hours.  An example of this is the new Fontainebleau.   Located across the street and to the north of the Riviera on the Strip….This place is huge.  To start with is the blue glass tower, some 63 stories high.   Vegas has a lot of tall buildings, this one is a standout.  Reportedly the project will cost 3 Billion.

The good news is that the ‘melt’ is well underway.   The ski areas are now closed and I don’t have to snow-shoe to the Entercom facility on West Tiger anymore this year.   What a winter!

On the topic of winter – Have you been following what’s happening with our closest star?  One has to wonder what’s going on.  We were supposed to be well under way with cycle 24 and another increase in sun-spots and with that improved propagation on HF.   For Hams, it’s been a long dry spell and it just keeps going.   Those that track the number of sunspots are telling us that this is much like a situation back in 1913.  20 to 30 days with out sunspots is very unusual.  If you go back further to 1661-1671 the sun went about without spots for a long time… this period, called the Maunder Minimum, has been linked to what they call the little ice-age.   For everyone presently on this planet, what we are experiencing now is a first.

I have been writing about the economy of late for the simple reason that it’s a very popular topic these days.   While in L.V. I heard it referred to in a new way…The ‘great’ recession.   I recall the use of the term ‘great’ to describe the depression of the 30’s.  Seems like a contradiction in terms….How can something bad be great?   Per previous columns, here are some economic tidbits –

Broadcasters are hurting due to advertisers pulling back, but yet a recent survey shows that about 45% report they are not going to movies as much, 36% report they are spending less on newspapers (and we know what happened to newspapers in our town) meanwhile 43% report they are watching more TV news.   Looks like an opportunity to me.

Then there is Sam Zell, when asked about his purchase of the Tribune Company (owners of Ch 13 and 22 – Old analog numbers) here in this area.    His response – 'I made a mistake, I was too optimistic'…adding that he did not anticipate the huge decline in the print media business.  Seems to me that this has been in the news for a long time?

The bad news has reached the Clover Park Technical College and their radio station KVTI.   There are now a number of reasons to suspect that the station might not survive the cuts coming from Olympia.   At one time, Tacoma had two schools training tomorrows radio station operators…..tomorrow ??
 

Arbitron, the radio ratings outfit, has just announced they are cutting 10% of their staff.  Perhaps PPM requires less work than figuring out diaries?  

Charter Communications whose majority shareholder is non other than Paul Allen has entered into a prearranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding in Federal Bankruptcy Court in New York. 21.7 Billion in debt is a pretty big hole.

Recently I wrote about the big 3 media vehicles when I started in this business, almost 50 years ago – Radio, TV and Newspaper.   Now the choices for the advertiser are multiplied.  In this process, radio has been replaced in the #3 slot behind TV and print. Last year the Internets revenue was almost 4 billion more than Radio.

One news item underscoring the severity of this recession – for the first time since their IPO, Microsoft is reporting a quarter where revenues have fallen.

A funny wrinkle is the fact that General Motors is buying TV time with tax payers money via their bail-out funds.  GM, once the biggest company on the planet may, if they are lucky, end up being a small car maker owned by a partnership consisting of their labor unions and us tax payers.  .Who woulda thunk ?

Something we have heard a lot about in residential is foreclosure…we may well see more of it in commercial and that could include broadcast operations.

On the plus side – WBZ (Radio) managed to pull in almost 32 million bucks last year…despite being down almost 3 million from the year before.  That’s 2.6 million per month…..not too bad for a radio station!

And…There are those that are now predicting that the worse is over.
From the  - I stand corrected department.    Reader Donna Briggie straightened me out with the fact that there are – not – just two newspapers in this area, but rather THREE.
She made it clear that the Everett Herald is very much alive and well.   Thanks Donna.

Will there be a power boost for HD Radio ?  The folks at the Ibiquity booth at NAB think so and predicted that perhaps it will happen by this fall.   Meanwhile NPR is doing more work on the impact of the change.   Predictions are that the Commish will wait until the NPR results are in before making the announcement.   My crystal ball says that the FCC will indeed approve a boost, but not likely the 10db one that some have been pushing for.  Likely with something similar to AM where if there are problems, you get to turn the power down.

Looking for a job?  Just learned that Broadcast Electronics is looking for a bilingual tech to work out of their Quincy, Ill office   Interested?  Contact Breg Wheelan at BE.

Big congrats to the crew at our locally owned broadcast company, Fisher, as they recently collected some 9 Murrow’s !

The FCC has  proposed to allocate some space in the region of our Part 74 spectrum and the utilization of new implanted medical devices. The Notice seeks comment on the feasibility of allowing up to 20 megahertz of spectrum in the 413-457 MHz band to be used under the Medical Device Radiocommunication Service (MedRadio Service) in Part 95 of the Commission’s rules, and seeks comment on the allocation of four specific segments for this purpose: 413-419 MHz, 426-432 MHz, 438-444 MHz, and
451-457 MHz..   SBE  - is – responding.    This whole thing underscores the fact that no spectrum is sacred and immune from some new co-channel operation.

One of our states US Senators was recently in the news….Senator Maria Cantwell has introduced a bill that would remove third-adjacent signal protection allowing as many as 3,000 new LPFMs. Her bill would also put LPFMs on equal footing with translators, which have had preference in the past.  

Looks like the move of 104.5 from Radio Hill east of Enumclaw to Cougar Mt is back on with the news that there was some juggling of frequencies north of the border.   Reports are that the station is trying to get on the air at Cougar to better attract a buyer.

I am still wondering about the push to get TV into hand-held devices.   Right on the heels of everyone being pushed to buy a giant monster flat screen we are now being told that the future is small…..very small.  Some are predicting that many future wireless devices will have TV’s in them.   One thing helping with this effort is the spectrum, UHF stations have a better chance of being received on these little creatures than would a low-V.   No one has mentioned the issue of operating them in vehicles. 

David Rehr, NAB President said at the convention -   "By 2012, we expect 130 million phones and 25 million media players will be able to receive mobile television.  An NAB study concluded that TV broadcasters could see incremental revenue of more than $2 billion after 2012 with mobile DTV.  I believe the revenue upside is probably greater than we can even imagine."

You think that the jerk in front of you should hang-up and drive…what’s going to happen when they have live TV.  Not that women would watch a soap while driving ……………never.

Efforts to replace the radio and television systems lost in the World Trade disaster with antennas atop the proposed new Freedom Tower have been called off.   In my discussions with folks at the NAB Show, apparently broadcasters are going to stay with their site on the Empire State Building.   Recently the building did some shuffling to make more room.

From the department of really cool links comes this one – http://www.fcc.gov/mb/engineering/maps/   A really nifty way to check the ability of a location to receive over the air HD TV stations.   Poke in a zip code or lat/long and the map will zoom to that location. If you used a zip code, you can drag the push-pin to a more specific location. Using the mouse wheel will zoom the map in to the street level.
 Once you park the push-pin for a few seconds, the program computes signal coverage from all stations and lists them according to likelihood of reception. Clicking on a station in the list shows the predicted signal strength and bearing to the transmitter site and plots same on the map. Clicking on "Map of all DTV Stations" at the bottom of the page lists each market. Clicking on a market calls up a pdf (it may take awhile to load) with coverage maps for both analog and digital, ERPs, DTV channel, etc. for each station in that market.

Technically & literally it is Spring around here (I planted my tomatoes over a month ago).
Spring brings strong South winds. The winds cause the tides to rise 2-4 Ft above normal at our transmitter sites located outside the levee systems. Attached is a picture of the approved vehicle for accessing the WWL transmitter site. It’s a Pirogue, pronounced “pee-row”, AKA: Cajun Canoe. One word of caution; Never leave your fingers dangling over the sides. They look just like tasty Vienna Sausages to the gators!!!
JP-Jr. Joe Polet in New Orleans

Entercom, the outfit that I hang with, has recently rolled out their sustainability effort with a number of company-wide efforts aimed at energy conservation.   I did note that on the day of the roll-out ….I was the only one wearing a green shirt.   The company is very dedicated to this cause, from the top down.

The NAB Television Board has some new members….Including John Lawson from ION Media and Dunis Shive from Belo.  The NAB Radio Board welcomes David Field of Entercom…All these firms have Seattle connections.

Another familiar name in our industry, Irving R. Levine has passed away at 86.   If you have been around for a while, you will recall that name and his voice.   I recall listening to him on KING-AM with reports on NBC Radio from Moscow.

Also passing was Stimson Bullitt former president of KING Broadcasting.  He was 89.

Bill Tilton, K7OKC, long time engineer with KELA in Centralia signed off for the last time at 89.   I recall Bill traveling all the way to Seattle to attend an SBE meeting…and when driving through his town and whistling up Baw Faw (who remembers that) to chat with him on 2 meters.   Bill continued to work at KELA/KMNT for 50 years, until he was 80.  A great guy with a wonderful sense of humor….We miss ya Bill.

One of the few TV shows that had a radio beginning – The Guiding Light – came to an end recently as CBS pulled the plug on the series that dated back 72 years to 1937.  For a while it was aired on radio and TV.   In this day and age of ‘short-stays’  this must be some sort of a record.

Another transition is ABC Radio is gone, after 64 years… at least in name, it’s now Citadel Media.   It is interesting how long the term – radio- has been around….One wonders if the word is getting old?

For many years now Amateurs (Hams) have been communicating with each other by bouncing their signals off the moon, a process called EME, or Earth-Moon-Earth.  Recent German Hams have communicated via Venus.  Using some 6 Kw on 2.4 Gig EVE communication was made.   The transmission delay was about 5 minutes….but, hey, no one was concerned about IFB.

In a recent column I explained uses of common tools.   A reader contributed the following to the collection –
DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.
ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age.
SKILL SAW: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.
PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.
BELT SANDER: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.
HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.
VISE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.
OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects and setting off fire and smoke detectors that call the fire department who arrive to make you feel totally stupid.
TABLE SAW: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall integrity.
BAND SAW: A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut good aluminum sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge.
PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER:  As the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.
STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws and butchering your palms.
TUBE CUTTER: A tool used to make rigid coax too short.
HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit.
UTILITY KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts.  Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.
DANG-IT TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling 'DANG-IT' at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.
Well, my friends, I am out of bandwidth…..So time to ship this edition of the ‘Corner’ to those that are brave enough to actually attach their name to it.

Hope to see you at the next Chapter Meeting !

Clay, K7CR, CPBE