• Contents for this Newsletter

About This Newsletter
Meeting Announcement
Upcoming Meeting Schedule
Meeting Minutes
New Telcom Act Proposed
Random Radio Shack Thoughts
Upcoming Events
Amateur Radio News
WBA/SBE Summer Engineering Workshop Adgenda
Chapter 24 Web Site Features
SBE's Short Circuits
FCC Rulemakings
Chapter 24 Seeking Newsletter Editor
Employment Opportunity
Chapter Sustaining Members
Return to 2006 Newsletter Archives Page

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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:

© 2006 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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The Chapter will supply burgers and brats, condiments, buns, plates, cups and utensils. The grill will be started at 5:30 PM. Bring a dish to pass, an alternate entrée if desired and your preferred beverage (we have an alcohol permit).

Please sign-up on the chapter web site (http://www.sbe24.org)

There is a playground for the kids and we have an amplified music permit for the evenings entertainment provided by the "Two Kevin's" of Trailing Edge Entertainment. Come for the food and company, stay for the entertainment!

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Chapter 24 of the Society of Broadcast Engineers met on May 28, 2006 at Chamberlain Hall on the University of Wisconsin campus. There were 11 members present of whom 7 were certified. There were two guests.

Chair Jim Magee called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. A motion was requested that the April minutes be approved as published in the May Newsletter. Leonard Charles made the motion and Kevin Ruppert seconded it.

Newsletter editor Mike Norton announced that the deadline for newsletter articles was June 2nd at Midnight and that the folding party would be June 7th at 5:30 p.m. at WKOW-TV.

Treasurer Leslie Franzen was not present but submitted a report on the current balance, which was read by Chair Jim Magee.

Program Chair Steve Paugh announced that the June meeting would be the annual Picnic, which would be at Badger Park in Verona on June 22nd, and that the grill would start at 5:30 p.m. Also announced was the July meeting, which would be held on July 18th.

Frequency Coordinator Tom Smith reported that he had received Prior Coordination Notifications from the Milwaukee and La Crosse areas, which would not affect anyone in our area. He also received a PCN for a change in the WMGN STL. The change was for digital modulation and the path and frequency were remaining the same.

National Liaison Leonard Charles reported that Linda Baun had resigned from the national SBE office to become the vice-president of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association. He also reported that John Battison was to receive the SBE Lifetime Achievement Award, and Raymond Benedict, Gary Hartman, and Troy Pennington were elected to the membership grade of Fellows of the SBE.

Also announced was that the national meeting will be September 27th in Verona, NY in conjunction with Chapter 24’s Broadcast and Technology Expo. And it was noted that National Elections were coming up for the four national officers and six board seats. Ballots will be sent in July and will be due by August 24th.

In old business, election Chair Steve Paugh announced that Cliff Groth was the Chapters new Chair and current officers Dennis Baldridge remained Vice-chair, Tom Smith remained Secretary, and Leslie Franzen remained Treasurer

In other business, Leonard Charles gave a rundown of the program for the WBA Summer Engineering Workshop on June 14th at the Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake. He noted that Don Borchert would be inducted into the WBA Hall of Fame at a dinner on June 15th.

It was also noted that on May 23rd, the program committee for Broadcasters Clinic was going to meet and to contact a committee member if anyone had any program ideas.

Chair Jim Magee than turned the Chapter Chairmanship over to Cliff Groth.

The meeting was adjourned and Pete Weix of the U.W Physics Department than gave a tour of the Plasma Lab.

The schedule of EAS Required Weekly Tests (RWT) and Required Monthly Tests (RMT) times to be sent on Wisconsin Public Radio is listed on the web. It can be found at: http://www.wpr.org/eas

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On May 2nd, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) introduced the Communications Act of 2006, which is titled The Communications, Consumers Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006. The Act is 135 pages long and covers a number of current communication issues.

There are 9 pages dedicated to the War on Terrorism, which include rules on improving interoperability on public safety communications and rules to reduce phone rates for the members of the military serving overseas. There are 25 pages covering changes of the existing laws concerning universal service for phone service and the extension of universal service fees for broadband services.

While it indirectly affects broadcasters, there are 42 pages covering cable franchising. With the entry of the phone companies, cable service is now called video service providers. This part of the act would allow phone companies blanket franchises, but will allow local communities to collect local franchise fees, will require phone companies to carry local access channels and retains local control of right-of-way management.

There is a 15-page section on Sports Freedom, which is a proposed law that would prohibit a multi-channel provider from getting exclusive rights to sports channels or events. This rule would prevent a cable or satellite provider from getting an exclusive contract to carry sporting events. That would prevent something like the Brewers on cable only and not on a satellite carrier.

There are a couple of provisions that cover broadcasters. There are 8 pages of proposed rules that would require rules to allow broadcasts flags to limit the redistribution of digital Audio and Video programming. The Audio flag would be a new requirement and the proposed rules would require that a board be established of consumer and industry representatives to recommend the final rules.

Under the title of Wireless Innovation Networks, Sen. Stevens once again raised the issue of WI-MAX and WI-FI on the so-called white areas of the TV broadcast spectrum. It would require the FCC to create rules that would allow equipment to be sold 270 days after passage of the ACT.

There are proposed rules concerning the DTV transition. The proposed rules would require the FCC to develop additional consumer information to be made available to stores and online regarding the transition and its effects. It also establishes a DTV working group to develop a national plan that could be implemented on a local level to aid in the transition. TV manufactures would be required to label TVs without digital reception, stating that they would no longer receive broadcast TV signals after February 17, 2009. The labels would have to be in English and Spanish.

Of direct concern to broadcasters, a TV station would have to run two 30-second announcements a day from July 17, 2009 to February 17, 2009. The July 17, 2009 date is no doubt a typo and it should be July 17, 2008. If a station does not make the announcements, they could receive hefty fines.

The bill would also allow cable operators to transmit an analog signal of any TV station requesting carriage under section 614 or 615 of the Communications Act to ensure continued viewing of the over-the-air signals by cable subscribers. The bill would also reinstate rules requiring video description for the blind.

Finally, there are 6 pages of proposed rules concerning municipal broadband systems, a directive for the FCC to create rules regulating video service providers to prevent the distribution of child pornography, and to study and make recommendations for the free flow on information on the internet (network neutrality).

The Proposed Act, an outline and Senator Stevens’ comments are on his website which can be accessed from http://thomas.loc.gov.

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Many years ago, when I was a teenager, the first Radio Shack store in Amarillo, Texas opened not far from my house. It was a magnet for me because there were all kinds of cool things in there... Archer kits for everything you could think of, 100-in-one electronic kits, electronic parts, shortwave receivers and scanners. And they had this book that caught my eye. "From 5 Watts to 1,000 Watts" was the title, and at age 14 or so with a little of Tim the Tool Man in me (more power!), I couldn’t resist and bought it. A few months later I had my novice ham ticket. Within a couple of years I had passed the general, advanced and extra class exams. And then, not satisfied with the 811 amplifier connected to my Yaesu, I got into broadcast engineering, and the rest is history. But I digress.

The Radio Shack chain has changed a great deal in the last 30+ years. You’d be hard pressed to find any kits in the store these days, and I doubt many ham operators still get their starts there. Of late, the economic news has been less than rosy for the company with the announced closing of 700 or so stores.

But there is good news, too, and that is that Radio Shack is getting into HD Radio in a significant way. Starting this month, RS will begin stocking the Boston Acoustics Recepter Radio HD in its stores, and the word is that the company will begin offering its own HD Radio tuner by September or so.

The focus seems to be on staff education, which we know is key to the success of any new-technology product. I remember back in the AM Stereo days, Radio Shack had a home tuner and an automobile AM Stereo radio, but I never entered a store where anyone working there knew anything about AM Stereo (or that they even had products with that feature!). I wasn’t surprised when those products disappeared from the catalog in short order.

This time around, RS is really pushing staff education and has even enlisted broadcasters in several test markets (our company participated in Dallas), offering radio station employees a Recepter HD at a deep discount for their trouble. They wanted radio station employees to go to their stores and ask the staff about the product and then provide feedback to the corporate office. Good for them! This is a far cry from what we’ve seen from other retailers that carry HD Radio products.

Listen for Radio Shack spots on local stations featuring the Recepter HD. And as broadcasters, we should support Radio Shack in its marketing efforts for these products.

(Cris Alexander is an broadcast engineer for Crawford Broadcasting and the Certification Chair of SBE Chapter 48, Denver.)

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Technology-based fields change rapidly, so you need to keep up. There are some future broadcast conferences which offer educational opportunities for broadcast engineers. To find out more about the scheduled sessions, visit the listed web site.

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• In the contentious Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) debate, the American Radio Relay League won a concession from the United Telecom Council (UTC), which has removed all restrictions on access to the BPL Interference Resolution Web site. In cooperation with the United Power Line Council (UPLC), UTC administers the database, which FCC Part 15 rules mandate be "publicly available." Ever since the database debuted last October, the ARRL has taken strong exception to access constraints UTC had imposed. These included limiting searches solely on the basis of ZIP code and rationing the number of allowable searches. In February, the League filed a formal complaint with the FCC, demanding the Commission order UTC to "cease its arbitrary limits" on access to the database. ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, said the League was happy to hear that UTC now has eliminated search limits and posted all BPL system information.

"We are pleased that UTC finally has seen the merit of our arguments in favor of making the database truly accessible," Sumner commented. "This can’t possibly hurt, and can only help everyone focus on the real issue: the avoidance and prompt correction of harmful interference to radio communications from BPL."

The UTC’s decision to modify its BPL database came two days after its representatives and a representative from Duke Power met May 17 with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) staff to address "changes to the database concerning the search limits." ARRL representatives recently further discussed the League’s perspective on the same subject with OET staff.

• FCC Special Counsel for Enforcement Riley Hollingsworth addressed a nearly full house at the FCC forum at the Dayton Hamvention on May 20th, and for the most part he praised the behavior of the majority of Amateur Radio operators, especially those who volunteered in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina last year. But, he noted, radio amateurs still could be more courteous and less inclined to fly off the handle at some perceived on-the-air offense. Hollingsworth said experience has shown him that at least 75 percent of the interference complained about is absolutely unintentional.

He praised the Volunteer Examiner program as "outstanding" and noted there had not been a single complaint in the past year stemming from an examination session.

"This country’s communications infrastructure needs Amateur Radio," Hollingsworth emphasized, praising Amateur Radio’s overall performance following Hurricane Katrina. "You have a tremendous amount to be proud of."

He also suggested that radio amateurs have an obligation to stay informed about what’s going on in Amateur Radio that might affect their activities. "You have to not only keep up, you have to lead the way, because it’s in your charter," he said, pointing to §97.1 of the Amateur Service rules.

Hollingsworth noted at the start of his talk that he could not address any questions dealing with the FCC’s long-awaited decision on the Morse code requirement (Element 1), because he works in the Commission’s Enforcement Bureau. "We don’t meddle in rule making," he explained, but added that he didn’t expect CW to decline if the FCC does drop the 5 WPM Morse requirement for all Amateur Radio license classes as it’s proposed to do.

(Excerpts from the American Radio Relay League’s <www.arrl.org> web site)

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The WBA has announced their Summer Conference Engineering Workshop agenda, which will be held on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 at The Osthoff Resort, Elkhart Lake, WI. The workshop registration fee is $35.00 for the day, which includes meals. Make your last minute room reservations by calling the Osthoff Resort at 800-876-3399 (mention you’re with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association).

For more information, visit the WBA web site at www.wi-broadcasters.org/events/engineers.htm. Registration is available either by accessing the WBA web site, or by phone by contacting the WBA at 608-255-2600 or 800-236-1922.

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Visit SBE Chapter 24's home on the web at www.sbe24.org. There you will find a wealth of information– from Chapter meeting information, sustaining members listings, the Wisconsin State EAS Plan, to a list of past and current officers. You can also check your meeting attendance, which can be useful in completing recertification forms. Check it out!

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The SBE Board of Directors, at its meeting on October 19 in Grapevine, Texas, approved the budget for the national organization for 2006. The budget includes a $3.00 increase in membership dues for Regular, Senior and Associate members. The new rate will go into affect on July 1, 2006 and bring the dues level for those membership categories to $63 per year. Dues for Student Members will also be increased on July 1, 2006. They will rise by $2.00 to $20.00 per year.

The increases come AFTER the 2006 membership renewal period so most members will not experience the increase until 2007. There will be no changes to the dues rates for youth and Sustaining Members.

The SBE Board of Directors accepted the invitation of Chapter 22 of Central New York to hold the SBE 2006 National Meeting in conjunction with that chapter’s 34th Annual Broadcast Engineering & Technology Expo. The events will be held on September 26-27 in Verona, N.Y. at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino. Turning Stone is located 30 miles east of Syracuse.

SBE president, Chriss Scherer, CPBE CBNT has announced a new benefit for members who would like to have a forum for discussing issues related to the broadcast engineering field or SBE. The Society has created the "SBE Roundtable," an e-mail discussion group open to SBE members only.

Members may wish to discuss equipment issues, the latest technology advances or regulatory issues. Participants can also discuss issues regarding their SBE chapter or the national organization. Scherer will serve as moderator for the list. Current members may Subscribe now.

If you know someone who deserves extra recognition, you can use the 2005 Awards form to make a Lifetime Achievement Award nomination. Nominations for this award can be made any time in accordance with the rules listed on the nomination form, but no more than one award will be presented in a given year.

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The FCC denied petitions for reconsideration and affirmed the Commission’s decision to allow relocated Department of Defense (DOD) facilities to share the 2025-2110 MHz band with Broadcast Auxiliary and other incumbent services. This action allows the Department of Defense to operate 11 sites, which support uplink services for tracking, telemetry and commanding of military space operations.

This band is currently used for Broadcast Auxiliary Services (BAS), Cable Television Relay Services (CARS), and Local Television Transmission Services (LTTS). The Association of Maximum Service Telecasters (MSTV), National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) had filed petitions for reconsideration.

The MSTV and NAB petition raised questions to coordination procedures stating that because of the high power used by the DOD, coordination of the DOD site and BAS users would have to occur over a large area, which would be difficult. The FCC responded that the procedures in place were sufficient and suggested that coordination may be better served if the broadcast coordinators serve larger areas using the model of the Los Angeles/Southern California Coordination Committee. The SBE requested that additional steps be taken by the DOD to reduce the potential for interference including shrouds around their antennas to reduce side-lobe suppression to 90 db and that all BAS users in the area use digital modulation. The FCC ruled that the use of earth berms and other existing practices were sufficient.

The reason for this spectrum sharing is that the FCC is moving the DOD sites from the 1710 to 1755 MHz band so they can auction this spectrum for new Advanced Wireless Services.

This action was adopted on April 5, 2006 and released on April 11, 2006. It was published in the FEDERAL REGISTER on May 24, 2006.

In this action the FCC established rules to relocate a number of services from existing bands to new bands in order to free spectrum for auction for new Advanced Wireless Services (AWS). They are relocating the Broadband Radio Service (BRS) from 2150-2160/62 MHz as well as the Fixed Microwave Service (FMS) from 2160-2175 MHz and modified existing relocation procedures for the 2110-2150 and 2175-2180 MHz bands.

The Broadband Radio Service is the new high-tech name for the old Multipoint Distribution System (MDS) and Multi-channel Multipoint Distribution System (MMDS) and the Instruction Television Fixed Service (ITFS). MDS operated on the 2150-2160/262 MHz band and was originally used to deliver one or two channels of Pay-TV, mostly Home Box Office to at first multi-family housing and then to single family homes. MMDS was a later multi-channel service that shared the ITFS band of 2496-2690 MHz band (2.5 GHZ band). Current users of the 2150-2160/62 MHz band are using it for digital services. They will be required to relocate into the 2.5 GHz Band that has been reorganized for a combination of data and digital TV services. The users of the other spectrum will be moved into existing fixed microwave bands.

Much of this rulemaking concerned the allocation of expenses for the relocation of these services by defining the costs to be picked up by the new AWS providers.

This notice was adopted on April 12, 2006 and released on April 21, 2006. It was published in the FEDERAL REGISTER on May 24th and is effective on June 23, 2006.

From FCC Releases (www.fcc.gov) and the Federal Register (www.gpo.gov)

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The Chapter 24 Newsletter is published monthly by SBE Chapter 24 Inc., Madison, WI.

Could you be the next newsletter editor? Chapter 24 is seeking a volunteer to become the next editor of the award- winning Chapter 24 newsletter. Good PC skills are helpful and experience with PageMaker for Windows a plus.

Please contact the Chapter Chair for more information.

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WBAY-TV is looking for an experienced television maintenance engineer. Duties include but are not limited to:

The individual should have an Associate Degree from an accredited technical school or equivalent military training, with a minimum of three years of television (or related) experience. SBE certified to Broadcast Engineer (Television) is preferred, or be able to obtain this certification level within one year of hire. Knowledge of RF systems and experience with maintenance of VHF and UHF television transmitters a plus.

The individual must be a self-starter and work with a minimum of supervision once a project is assigned. Must demonstrate good communications skills, written and verbal and work in a team environment. A valid Wisconsin drivers license and a clean driving record are required. Must be able to carry and lift heavy equipment.

WBAY-TV/Young Broadcasting of Green Bay, Inc., is an equal opportunity employer and encourages all qualified candidates to apply to:

Or email gtadyshak@wbay.com. No phone calls, please.

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