• Contents for this Newsletter

About This Newsletter
Meeting Announcement
Upcoming Meeting Schedule
Meeting Minutes
Dane County Local EAS Update
Public Hearing On Ownership Rules
Amateur Radio News
Old WHAD Tower Decommissioned
Notice Of Elections
SBE Short Circuits
FCC Rulemakings
SBE Resume Service
Special Guest At March Meeting
Chapter Sustaining Members
Return to 2003 Newsletter Archives

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The Chapter 24 Newsletter is published monthly by Chapter 24 of the Society of Broadcast Engineers; Madison, Wisconsin. Original hard copy edited by Mike Norton on Pagemaker 5.0. Submissions of interest to the broadcast technical community are welcome. You can make your submissions by e-mail to:

© 2003 by SBE Chapter 24. Views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the Society, its officers, or its members. SBE Chapter 24 regrets, but is not liable for, any omissions or errors. The Chapter 24 Newsletter is published twelve times per year. Other SBE Chapters are permitted to use excerpts if attributed to the original author, sources, and SBE Chapter 24.

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A variety of DTV set-top boxes, old and new, will be tuned to the Madison DTV stations. We'll examine the features of the set-top boxes and learn how PSIP information can affect their operation. Join us and compare the results of their side-by-side operation.

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Chapter 24 of the Society of Broadcast Engineers met on Thursday, February 20, 2003 at the Madison Media Institute in Madison, Wisconsin for the chapter’s monthly meeting. There were 15 members in attendance, 10 of whom were certified and 3 guests.

The meeting was called to order at 7:04 PM by Chapter Chair Tom Smith. Minutes of the previous meeting were approved as published in the February issue of the newsletter. Newsletter editor Mike Norton announced the deadline for articles for the March issue will be midnight, Friday, February 28th. The folding party will be held Wednesday, March 5th at 5:30 PM at WKOW-TV.

Chair Tom Smith stated that Treasurer Stan Scharch reported the chapter currently has a balance of $2,438.43. Next month’s program will be the DTV receiver PSIP comparison shoot-out. The chapter membership was reported to be 65 members of whom 42 are certified.

There was no report from the Certification committee. Exam sessions dates were announced.

National Liaison Leonard Charles reported that the Ennes Workshop at NAB will cover DAB, centralization, and operational efficiency. The workshop will be held in Las Vegas on Saturday, April 5th from 9 AM to 6 PM in Room N111. SBE members are eligible for a discount on pre-orders of the Radio Operators Handbook through March 31st. Membership renewal statements have been sent in the mail. This year’s dues have increased to $60.

Frequency Coordinator Tom Smith reported that a 162 link license has been issued to the ECB for the AMBER system. National Frequency Coordinator Dave Otey will be having a meeting at NAB.

There was no old business.

New business: elections. Steve Paugh as volunteered to serve as head of the election committee. Bylaws limit officers to 2 consecutive terms, Tom Smith has served as Chapter Chair for 2 terms and Vicki Kipp has served as Chapter Vice-Chair for 2 terms. A call for nominations was been made.

The Planning Committee for the broadcasters clinic and WBA workshop will be meeting March 11th. The WBA workshop will be held in Spring Green.

Chair Tom Smith reported that comments to the FCC can now be filed via email.

The meeting adjourned at 7:22 PM. The program this month was a tour of the Madison Media Institute and was conducted by the school’s director Chris Hutchings.

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Dane County’s local Emergency Alert System (EAS) plan has been updated. The plan describes how local officials can gain access to the system and how local broadcasters will receive information if they choose to participate.

The plan was originally published in July 2001. From the broadcast perspective, the 2003 update is not significantly different from the original plan. The basic structure of EAS origination is unchanged. Dane County will continue to use the CEM event code for local messages, while the National Weather Service Madison NOAA Weather Radio station will continue to serve as the primary origination point of these messages. The plan update revises the message handling procedures between the County activation point and the National Weather Service (NWS) and automates the process for dissemination of text (see figure 1).

The revision process was actually begun in May of 2002. At this time, it was hoped that Dane County could take advantage of the newly authorized local event codes. Unfortunately, this was not to be. The NWS will not integrate the new codes into their equipment until the end of 2003. After numerous discussions between Emergency Management and the NWS Milwaukee/Sullivan Office, the following arrangements were made:

1. The text of the warning message will be sent by FTP from the County activation point directly to the NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) broadcast console at Milwaukee/Sullivan.

2. Receipt of the FTP will trigger an alarm on the console. NWS staff will review the message and add the proper coding for an EAS/SAME and tone alert message. SAME stands for Specific Area Message Encoding and is essentially equivalent to the EAS protocol. Tone alert is the 1050 Hz tone that activates the older variety of weather alert radios.

3. NWS staff will also add the proper coding to disseminate the message text via the NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS).

4. NWS will then send the message; EAS and voice over NWR, and text over NWWS.

The NWS has also agreed to repeat the alert at timed intervals and to disseminate follow-up messages and updates over the same network. This is very important from the emergency management perspective. Repeated messages and follow-ups will be transmitted as voice and text only, not as EAS/SAME or tone alert messages.

What does this mean to participating broadcast stations and cable systems?

Participation in the Dane County local EAS requires that Madison NWR be monitored as an EAS source. If the station is already monitoring NWR, then only a minor reprogramming of EAS gear is necessary. Filters should be set up to retransmit messages that meet the following criteria:

It also means that the primary source of a hard copy text of the original alert and follow-up messages will be disseminated via the NWWS. The AP and UPI news wire services will carry these messages, however, they will still appear as a Civil Emergency Message originated by the NWS. As a result, depending on filtering at the station, these messages may appear in the weather office as opposed to the newsroom. Participating stations should review their filtering process to ensure that when the text of a CEM does arrive, it can be quickly retrieved and acted on as appropriate. Follow-up messages will also be disseminated as CEM’s, but they will contain a lower priority coding. A detailed description of the text coding can be found in the plan.

The County activation point will continue to fax the text of the initial alert and subsequent messages to all local broadcast stations and groups. The method of dissemination is not as rapid as the wire service and should be considered a secondary source.

The details of these arrangements can be found in the revised plan. It has been posted on the Chapter’s website, URL http://www.sbe24.org/eas/dane0203.pdf. You can also contact David Janda at Dane County Emergency Management if you have questions or concerns regarding the plan.

The souce document can be viewed at http://www.sbe24.org/eas/dane0203.pdf.

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On Thursday, February 27th, the FCC held a public hearing on the ownership rules concerning mass media, which includes radio, TV, cable, and newspapers. The hearing was held in Richmond, Virginia. The hearing consisted of opening statements by Chairman Michael Powell and Commissioners Kathleen Abernathy, Michael Copps, Kevin Martin, and Jonathan Adelstein.

After a Summary of the ownership rules concerning broadcasting, three panel discussions were presented. The first panel was on diversity issues with the following panelists invited to speak: L. Brent Bozell III, Parents Television Council; Robert Corn-Revere, Hogan and Hartson; Jay Ireland, NBC Television Stations; Alfred C. Liggins, Radio One; Victoria Riskin, Writers Guild Of America, West; Andrew Jay Schwartzman, Media Access Project; Wendy Thompson, Telemundo DC.

The second panel's subject was on Competition Issues and consisted of: David Croteau, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Virginia Commonwealth University; Linda Foley, The Newspaper Guild-CWA; Victor Miller, Bear Streans and Co. Inc.; Ed Munson, WAVY(TV)/WVBT(TV), Norfolk, VA; Bruce Owen, Economists Incorporated; Jonathan Rintels, Center for the Creative Community; James L. Winston, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Inc.

The third panel spoke on Localism Issues and consisted of the following: Frank A. Blethen, The Seattle Times; Thomas R. Herwitz, Fox Television Stations, Inc.; Mark P. Mays, Clear Channel Worldwide; Deborah McDermott, Young Broadcasting Inc.;

Chris Powell, Journal Inquirer; John F. Sturm, Newspaper Association of America; Jenny Toomey, Future of Music Coalition.

Each Panel was to be followed by a half hour period for public comments. The day of hearings was to last from 10AM to 4PM with a one hour lunch break and a 10 minute break in the afternoon. The opening including the Commissioners comments and each of the panels was scheduled to last 50 minutes, leaving 90 minute total for public comments.

The six broadcast ownership rules to be discussed are; Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership (1975), Local Radio Ownership (1941), National TV Ownership (1941), Local TV Multiple Ownership (1964), Radio/TV Cross-Ownership Restrictions (1970), and Dual Television Rule (1946). The date behind each rule was when the rule was enacted. The Local TV Multiple Ownership rule, also called the duolopy rule, and the National TV Ownership rules have been remanded back to the FCC for further consideration by the courts.

The hearing will be included in the record on the current rulemaking action on broadcast ownership by the FCC. This action has already drawn 15,000 comments, with the majority from the general public. The hearing was audiocast live on the FCC’s website and the transcript will be available on the website 14 business days after the hearing. The Commissioners opening statements have already been posted.

From FCC Releases (www.fcc.gov)

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• Amateur radio operators continued their involvement with efforts to locate space shuttle Columbia debris, as NASA’s search shifted focus in late February to include points west of Texas. According to NASA, the search for parts is running along the shuttle’s re-entry path—roughly 60 miles north or south of a line from San Francisco, California, to Lafayette, Louisiana.

New Mexico hams were among those helping to check in the Albuquerque area. "Based on a number of sources and analysis, NASA had reason to believe that debris from the shuttle Columbia may have impacted in Embudito Canyon," read a statement on the New Mexico Search and Rescue Support Team Web site. The team includes a number of hams in its ranks. The search for shuttle debris continues in Texas and Louisiana, where amateur radio operators provided communication and other support during the first couple of weeks after the mishap.

• Former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD, has narrated an informational video called "Amateur Radio Today." The video is available for free downloading from the American Radio Relay League Web site <http://www.arrl.org/ARToday/>. The MPEG-format file is 70 Mbytes.

"Amateur Radio Today" showcases the public service contributions made by hams throughout the country. Highlights include ham radio’s response on September 11, 2001, its part in helping various agencies respond to last year’s wildfires in the Western US, and ham radio-in-space educational initiatives. The six-minute video is meant to be shown to clubs, government meetings, civic organizations and other venues to illustrate what amateur radio has to offer the public.

• The FCC has canceled the license of a Michigan amateur radio operator and told him he may not apply for another ham ticket until 2007. The Commission took the action against Thomas A. Brothers, ex-KI8BE, of Berkley, because he’d been the operator of an unlicensed FM "pirate" radio station.

FCC sources say the Commission’s Detroit Field Office became aware as early as 1998 that Brothers was operating an FM pirate radio station on 88.3 MHz from his home. In January 2002, the FCC issued Brothers a Notice of Apparent Liability for $10,000 for repeatedly violating Section 301 of the Communications Act by operating an FM station without a license. The FCC said that, in his Petition for Reconsideration, Brothers did not dispute that he willfully and repeatedly has violated Section 301, but he asked the FCC to cancel the fine because—among other factors—his inability to pay. With the fine rescinded, the Detroit Field Office turned the case over to Hollingsworth late last year to consider sanctions against Brothers’ amateur radio license.

(Excerpts from the American Radio Relay League’s "The ARRL Letter" and the www.arrl.org web site)

HamNet meets the second Sunday of each month at 0000 GMT on 14.205 MHz. Hal Hostetler WA7BGX is the Control Station. Any amateur operator is welcome and encouraged to participate.

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The day that the WHAD/Delafield tower at the Lapham Peak Unit of Kettle Moraine State Forest would be dismantled dawned sunny and bitter cold. Only the lack of wind and falling snow on Monday morning, March 3, made outdoor work tolerable. As the morning progressed, the sky clouded up and snowflakes would soon fall.

WHAD-FM 90.7, a Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) member station, broadcasts "The Ideas Network" to the Milwaukee area. WHAD Chief Engineer John Frank recounted the site’s history. The old WHAD tower (Figure 1) had stood strong since 1962. It was actually a combination of two separate towers that were grafted together at the 340-foot level. Decades ago, a broadcast engineer named Jack Steele built the Wisconsin Public Radio network with World War II surplus materials. Reportedly, Jack Steele got a bargain on some used tower sections. A Madison TV station had left their disassembled old tower sections lying in the mud after building a new taller tower. Those sections had a second life as the WHAD tower. Prior to the 1962 tower, WHAD-FM used an older tower that dated back to around 1948.

In these days of difficult zoning and expensive tower construction, it might seem surprising that a standing tower would be intentionally brought down. When WHAD-FM learned that they had to relocate their tower site, it was determined that the 1962 combination tower needed to be replaced. The old WHAD tower did not meet the TIA/EIA RS-222F standard currently in effect. The steel structure would be collapsed and cut up for scrap metal.

Bringing down a tower located in a state park required the coordination of several different groups including the power company, the DNR, the tower company, a construction company, and WHAD’s licensee, the Educational Communications Board (ECB). The ECB’s involvement in this project was coordinated by ECB Technical Services Manager Peter Ives.

A new tower site was constructed for WHAD on nearby Department of Corrections land. WHAD had been broadcasting from their new location for a few months before the old site was dismantled. Most of the antennas and hardware had been removed from the old WHAD tower, but part of the old WHAD antenna, a weather antenna, a couple two-way antennas, and one microwave dish remained on the tower. The cost of removing the antennas was greater than their actual value.

The falling object danger zone around the tower was cordoned off with yellow tape warning, "Caution Hard Hat Area." Ford Construction Co, Inc of Waukesha had already dismantled the WHAD transmitter building and concrete base. They were ready to remove the concrete tower foundation and guy anchors as soon as the tower was collapsed.

DNR Ranger Edward Muzik and his colleagues temporarily closed the Lapham Peak Unit by locking the front gate. DNR staff was positioned around the base of the tower to ensure that hikers entering from neighboring subdivisions didn’t go into the danger zone.

Technicians from WE Energies killed the power lines, causing a localized power outage for the DNR’s Lapham Peak facilities. The power technicians awaited the tower fall anxiously. If the tower fell as planned, it would miss nearby power lines and wooden poles. If not, WE Energies would have to repair or replace damaged poles and lines.

Blackhawk Tower Communications, Inc. of Deerfield, Wisconsin was hired to take down the old WHAD tower. In business since 1996, Blackhawk Tower (Figure 2) is owned by John Stoller, IV and is a member of the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE.)

A tower technician from Blackhawk Tower climbed to the mid-height of the tower where he removed the bolts from the flange on the opposite side of where the tower was intended to collapse. The tower technician quickly repelled down the tower after removing the flange bolts. Then, a ground crew used a gasoline powered chop saw to cut off the turnbuckle bolts for the guy wire supporting the side of the tower where the flange bolts had been removed.

The fall occurred quickly, quietly, and efficiently. The tower did not hit any power lines or poles during its drop. ECB engineer Phil Mikalofsky observed, "I expected that the descent of the tower would have been louder than it actually was." After the turnbuckle bolts were cut off, the tower began to lean toward the west (Figure 3). The guy wires on the east were hanging slack. Bolts could be heard popping off the tower followed by a brief "creaking" sound. Then, the tower bent where the flange had been unbolted for lack of support (Figure 4). With the tower bent in half, the top section hit the ground. The tower sections compressed on themselves (Figure 5), and the collapsed tower came to rest with sections strewn horizontally.

There were no cries of "Timber!" as the tower fell, but once it landed the crowd let out cheers and applause. We walked several hundred yards to the fall site to take in the debris (Figures 6, 7, and 8).

Once-taut guy wires curled into metal ringlets (Figure 9). A microwave dish groaned as it compacted on itself (Figure 10). Decades-old steel had been transformed from a precise straight structure to contorted metal segments.

Normally, a fallen tower would be a sorrowful sight, but in this case it marked a tower that had dropped successfully according to plan. The tower crew began removing steel and cleaning the site, and I headed for the warmth.

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In April we will hold elections for Chapter 24 offices of Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer for the 2003-2004 term. All interested members of Chapter 24 who are current in their dues are eligible to run for elected office. The nominations committee is now accepting nominations for all four offices. As of this date, the following members have been nominated for the following offices.

During the March 18th meeting, the nominations committee will solicit the members present for additional nominations. If you would like to run for an office, or know someone who wishes to run, please bring it to the attention of the nominations committee. All nominees are requested to submit a short biography for publishing with the ballot. The nominations committee consists of Steve Paugh (Chair), Jim Hermanson and Leonard Charles.

The appointed offices do not fall under the jurisdiction of the nominations committee and are appointed by the Chair of Chapter 24. Traditionally, the incoming Chair continues the existing appointed officers to another term. If you are a current appointed officer and would like to step down, please contact the current Chair Tom Smith. If you would like to serve as an appointed officer please make your desire known to the Chair.

To a large extent, the success of Chapter 24 is due to the tireless dedication of the appointed officers. Their hard work often goes unseen by the membership and we owe them a debt of gratitude for their service.

The appointed offices are Program Committee Chair- Denise Maney , Program Committee Members- Fred Sperry- Steve Zimmerman- Steve Paugh, Newsletter- Mike Norton, Membership- Paul Stoffel, Sustaining Membership- Fred Sperry, Special Events- Lonnie Cooks, Certification and Education- Jim Hermanson, Frequency Coordination- Tom Smith, and National Liaison- Leonard Charles.

The position of Program Committee Chair will become vacant shortly. Denise Maney has announced that she will be stepping down from that position. We congratulate her on the excellent job she has done for Chapter 24 as program chair. We will greatly miss her organizational skills. Each month, one way or another, she has managed to pull a program topic and dinner venue together. Some months that has been no easy task! We thank her for her service and dedication to Chapter 24.

The election ballot will be included in the April newsletter. The deadline for nominations and the submission of biographies will be 48 hours prior to the deadline for submissions to the April newsletter, as announced during the March 18th meeting.

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Ennes Workshop to Cover DAB, Centralization, Operational Efficiency

The Ennes Educational Foundation Trust, in cooperation with the Society of Broadcast Engineers, will present an Ennes Workshop during NAB 2003 in Las Vegas, April 5 from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in Room N111 of the Las Vegas Convention Center. This year’s workshop will cover today’s most compelling broadcast technology and operational issues. Sessions are focused on digital audio broadcasting, centralization and broadcast operational efficiency.

Organizing this year’s Ennes Workshop is Frederick M. Baumgartner, CPBE, Director of Engineering, Comcast Media Center in Littleton, Colorado. Baumgartner is a Trustee of the Ennes Trust and a past member of the national Board of Directors and Fellow of SBE. He currently works on VOD, Centralized Broadcasting and other projects for Comcast, following its acquisition of AT&T Broadband.

To attend the Ennes Workshop, you must be registered for the full NAB Convention. Go to www.nab.org to find information about convention registration. SBE members can register at the discounted "Partner" rate.

Moderating the morning sessions will be William T. Hayes, Director of Engineering and Technology, Iowa Public Television. Following lunch, sessions will be moderated by Fred Baumgartner, CPBE.

SBE will offer a discount to SBE members through March 31st, for those who order the new SBE Handbook for Radio Operators using the special pre-publication order form that will appear in the March issue of The SBE SIGNAL. Members will save $5 off the regular price of $42 for each book (plus $3 shipping). For orders of five or more copies, call the Certification Department at the SBE National Office for special pricing at (317) 846-9000.

This new handbook is designed to help radio board operators learn more about the broadcasting business from both the technical and business side. The handbook covers such topics as FCC rules, technical layout of a typical station and the general responsibilities of a radio operator. An overview of station management and professional etiquette is included along with chapters on station logs, the Emergency Alert System, safety requirements, and operational procedures for trouble situations. It will be helpful to anyone–those brand new to radio or the seasoned veteran–who pulls a shift behind the console.

SBE has developed a new certification program and exam, which will be available when the book is released at the end of March. The handbook will include sample questions to help users prepare for the optional test.

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The FCC has repealed Sections 76.501 (a) and 76.501 (b) of the rules. This action was in response to a United States Court of Appeals ruling on a lawsuit by Fox Television Stations, Inc. against the FCC. The Court ruled that the FCC rules were arbitrary and capricious, and contrary to section 202 (h) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Section 76.501 deals with cross ownership of TV broadcast stations, Satellite Master Antenna systems and cable systems.

Section 76.501(a) states that: No cable television system (including all parties under common control) shall carry the signal of any television broadcast station if such system directly or indirectly owns, operates, controls, or has an interest in a TV broadcast station whose predicted Grade B contour, computed in accordance with Sec. 73.684 of part 73 of this chapter, overlaps in whole or in part the service area of such system (i.e., the area within which the system is serving subscribers).

Section 76.501 (c) sets some dates for enactment of the rules Concerning divestiture and is stated as follows: Effective date. The provisions of paragraph (a) of this section are not effective until November 8, 1987, as to ownership interests proscribed herein if such interests were in existence on or before July 1, 1970 (e.g., if franchise were in existence on or before July 1970), and will be applied to cause divestiture as to ownership interests proscribed herein only where the cable system is directly or indirectly, owned, operated, controlled by, or has an interest in a non-satellite television broadcast station which places a principal community contour encompassing the entire community and there is no other commercial non- satellite television broadcast station placing a principal community contour encompassing the entire community.

The repeal of the rules now allows for a TV broadcaster to own a cable system within the Grade B Contour of that station. Commissioner Michael Copps dissented in part and asked in his dissent why the FCC did not attempt to review the rules to find a way to make it meet the rules acceptable to the Court. He stated that he knew of no issue "that is more fraught with serious consequences for the American people than the media ownership Rules."

This action was adopted on January 31, 2003 and released on February 26, 2003.

From FCC Release (www.fcc.gov) and the FCC Rules Section 76

The FCC has ordered a freeze on any new applications that would increase the service area of any analog or digital TV stations on channels 60-69, in order to protect any new public safety or land mobile services that may start to operate on the band. These services have been authorized to start operation on the Channel 60-69 band as long as they do not cause interference to the existing TV operations.

The FCC has allowed for two exceptions to the freeze. One exception would allow for a change of service contour if a stations applies for a new transmitter location that would allow for the co-location of its transmitter with other TV stations. The other exception allows for the relocation of a transmitter site due to a zoning issue or the need to reconstruct a tower due to a disaster.

The FCC adopted and released this action on January 24, 2003 and published it in the FEDERAL REGISTER on February 11, 2003. The rule became effective immediately upon publication.

From the FEDERAL REGISTER (www.acess.gpo.gov)

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Want to get your resume out to employers? Participate in SBE’s new Resume Service, available to SBE members only, free of charge.

Call the SBE National Office at (317) 846-9000 or e-mail Scott Jones at kjones@sbe.org for a Resume Service participation form.

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SBE Executive Director John Poray will be joining us at the March Chapter 24 SBE Meeting. Poray is traveling to Madison to coordinate details of the 2003 SBE National Meeting and to visit with members of Chapter 24.

The SBE National Meeting will be held in conjunction with the Broadcasters Clinic on October 14-16, 2003. The National SBE Awards Banquet will be held on Wednesday night, October 15, in place of the Upper Midwest Regional SBE Meeting.

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