October 2006 "Water Cooled" Newsletter Society of Broadcast Engineers - Oregon - E-mail Edition - To change your e-mailing list options, go to http://www.broadcast.net/mailman/listinfo/sbe-pdx From: Kent Randles K7YXZ watercooled at sbe124.org Chapter 124 - Portland/Salem/Vancouver SBE Chapter 124 PO Box 1727 Portland, OR 97207-1727 http://www.sbe124.org Other SBE chapters and newsletters may use excerpts if attributed to the original source and "Water Cooled Newsletter" SBE Chapter 124, Portland, OR. Eugene has SBE Chapter #76. See their website at http://www.sbe76.org Medford has SBE Chapter #141. See their web site at http://www.sbe141.org Note: to avoid "e-mail address mining" by "Spam Bots" followed by spam to those addresses (100 a day, in my case), no e-mail addresses contain an "@." $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ NEWSLETTER ADVERTISERS (links to their sites are on http://www.sbe124.org) Tom Abbott - Belden/CDT Electronics Division Michael Bach - WB6FFC Kathrein Scala Division Sandy Berenics - Wheatstone Corp. Larry Bloomfield KA6UTC - Larcan & LightningMaster Mike Brown N7AXC - Brown Broadcast Services, Inc. Edward Forke - Shively Labs Tom Franklin - Norcom Matt Granard - Westlake Electronic Supply Gray Haertig - Gray Frierson Haertig & Associates Joe Harrington - Harrington Tower Services Jerry Hill K2JH -Shively Labs Al Jason -Dielectric Walt Lowery - Nautel & Continental Chris Pannell - Harris Broadcast-Radio Larry Sayer -Rohde & Schwarz Debbie Storz - Econco Ellis Terry - Broadcast Electronics Bob Trimble N7IYI - RF Specialties of WA Michael Troje - Continental Electronics Brian Walker - Professional Video & Tape, Inc. These fine folks make the three versions of our newsletter possible. ************************************************************************* PORTLAND CHAPTER 124 MEETING WHEN: Tuesday October 10th, Noon. WHERE: Buffalo Gap Saloon & Eatery 6835 SW Macadam (at California) Portland 503-244-7111 WHAT: Evertz on their fiber optic products for video, audio, control, datacom, RF, and telecom. EUGENE CHAPTER 76 MEETING WHEN: Wednesday October 11th, 11:30 AM WHERE: Sizzler Restaurant 1010 Postal Way Springfield 541-726-9933 WHAT: Evertz on their fiber optic products for video, audio, control, datacom, RF, and telecom. MEDFORD CHAPTER 141 MEETING WHEN: Thursday October 12th, 12 noon. WHERE: Redrock Italian Eatery 17 W 4th St Medford 541-773-6840 WHAT: Evertz on their fiber optic products for video, audio, control, datacom, RF, and telecom. THIS MONTH'S PROGRAM PRESENTATIONS IN PORTLAND, EUGENE AND MEDFORD Evertz has a huge line of fiber optic products for video, audio, control, datacom, RF, and telecom. See http://www.evertz.com/tools/fiber-selector PORTLAND INFO The Portland meetings are on the second Tuesday of every month. Everyone is welcome to attend the meetings. For more information on Chapter 124 in Portland/Vancouver/Salem, contact Chapter Chair Ev Helm, e-mail chairman at sbe124.org, or call him at 503-977-7752. See www.sbe124.org . EUGENE INFO The Eugene meetings are on the Wednesday after the second Tuesday of the month. You do not have to be a member of the SBE or of the local broadcast engineering community to attend these meetings. Anyone with an interest in the subject matter is welcome. For more information e-mail Dennis Hunt dhunt at cmc.net. See www.sbe76.org . MEDFORD INFO The Medford meetings are on the Thursday after the second Tuesday of every month. For information, call Mike Gary at 541-772-2600 ext 209 or e-mail mgary at kmvu-tv.com. See www.sbe141.org . LAST MONTH'S MEETINGS In Portland and Eugene it was the Taste of NAB Roadshow: Products from over 24 vendors, a free lunch, and a bunch of nice door prizes. For highlights, see http://www.tech-notes.tv/2006/51-Portland.htm or http://www.tech-notes.tv/2006/52-Eugene.htm . In Medford, it was Pro Video and Tape on the new Panasonic AK-HC1500 camera, featuring the ability to switch between 720p and 1080i. THE YXZ REPORT by Kent Randles K7YXZ CBRE Senior Engineer, Entercom-Portland Co-Chair, Portland/Vancouver ECC Chapter 124 Secretary watercooled at sbe124.org LIFE WITH HD RADIO Holding at 12 FM HD signals (nine with HD2) and one AM HD signal on the air in the Portland market. 91.5 KOPB-FM got their HD2 going. It's just random rock music at the moment, but I hear they'll be creating their own local format. And they plan to put their radio reading service, Golden Hours, on as HD3 eventually. John White K7RUN, Chief Engineer of the Crawford and Disney stations in Portland is working hard to get the diplexed 1330 KKPZ and 1640 KDZR HD Radio signals on the air. He reports that the phasor didn't need much modification (1330 is a 5 kW three-tower DA-1), but the right network to make the transmitter completely happy with the common point will take more work. 1640 has a CP to go 10 kW into 3 towers at night, which I think will make them the ONLY expanded band station like that. That will come after they get HD going during the day. They might be only the fourth expanded band station to add HD. SCOTT FYBUSH COMES TO PORTLAND When you enter "tower site" into an internet search engine, the second URL after the Official Site of the Eiffel Tower, is http://www.fybush.com. On Scott Fybush's website, his Tower Site of the Week index was lacking Idaho, Oregon and Washington, but not for much longer! Scott and his friends Garret & Mike, traveled through the previously missing states last month taking pictures of every site they could get to. On Sunday and Monday September 24th & 25th I got to serve as their tour guide through Stonehenge, Skyline, and the 910 KKSN, and 1080 KFXX sites. Be sure to check out the 2007 Tower Site Calendar at http://www.fybush.com/calendar.html , featuring Minneapolis' legendary WCCO (on the front cover), Boston's WBZ, San Francisco's KGO, Philadelphia's legendary Roxborough tower farm, the remote Mount Potosi FM site above Las Vegas, and many more! FREQUENCY COORDINATION & OTHER STUFF by Everett E. Helm W7EEH CPBE Chapter Chair Director of RF Engineering, OPB Frequency Coordinator, Oregon & SW WA chairman at sbe124.org TASTE OF NAB ROAD SHOW REPORT Our thanks to Eugene SBE Chapter 76 member Larry Bloomfield KA6UTC, for bringing a fantastic sample of technology to Portland! This is a huge commitment that Larry makes each year. He had a full array of very interesting products spanning most areas of Broadcasting. We figured the attendance at the Portland stop to be around 30. Thanks too for the fine hosting provided by Eric Dausman KD7DNM, and the crew at KGW! If you enjoyed your attendance and appreciate what Larry is doing to help bring the new technology to the local stations, please e-mail him and let him know. Larry at tech-notes.tv. SCTE NW TECH DAYS REPORT The regional Society of Cable Television Engineers Chapters once again put on a great vendor show out at the Airport Embassy Suites. When I visited, it looked like there was a good crowd. I was able to investigate some new MPEG-2 & MPEG-4 encoders, and video over IP encoders/multiplexers. FCC TAKES CLOSER LOOK AT WHITE SPACES ISSUE TV broadcasters protested hard against impending Federal legislation that would allow for unlicensed consumer devices to be operated in "White Spaces" spectrum. It may be called a victory as the Federal Communications Commission released a Public Notice stating that it needs additional technical information concerning unlicensed devices in the TV band. The move by the FCC effectively tables any plans to pass laws that would allow unlicensed devices into White Spaces spectrum. The FCC says that after reviewing comments from broadcasters, other TV spectrum users, and manufacturers and users of unlicensed devices, it did not have enough information to adopt final technical rules. It did, however, publish a rather optimistic timetable for the implementation of the new service The FCC's timetable is as follows: October 2006: Commission adopts a First Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making. March 2007: FCC Laboratory reports the results of measurements of the interference rejection capabilities of DTV receivers. July 2007: FCC Laboratory reports the results of tests evaluating potential interference from unlicensed devices to TV and other radio services. October 2007: Commission adopts a Second Report and Order specifying final technical requirements for unlicensed devices that operate in the TV bands. December 2007: FCC Laboratory begins accepting applications for certification of unlicensed devices operating in the TV bands; certification will be granted at such time as the application has been reviewed and found to comply with the rules; certification will permit manufacture and shipment of products to distribution points. February 2009: Products will be available for sale at retail (also the date for shutoff of the NTSC analog transmission system). So, under this time line, just as the public is trying to finalize their ability to receive new digital TV signals, a whole new round of interference sources may appear in between the TV channels in use in any given area. What else can we do to make the transition harder on the public? WHEN IS HDTV NOT HIGH DEFINITION? Peter Cohen, a subscriber to DirecTV's HD satellite service, has filed a class action lawsuit against DirecTV for reducing the quality of its HDTV signal by lowering the bit rate. When Cohen initially signed up for DirecTV's HD package in 2003, the operator promised "astonishing picture quality." Within a year, Cohen charged, DirecTV broke it promise by reducing the quality of its HD satellite channels. Cohen's lawsuit, drawing a wave of supporters from various Web sites, got its first public hearing last week when a judge ruled against DirecTV on its motion to compel arbitration in the case. The complaint, apparently shared by other vocal DirecTV critics, has resulted in DirecTV's service being tagged "HD Lite" because of the low bit rate the service uses to transmit HD channels. "We believe the plaintiff's underlying claims are completely without merit because DirecTV's high-definition service is high quality, true HD service under accepted definitions for satellite TV," DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer told the Web site TVPredictions.com. Subscribers have claimed that DirecTV highly compresses HD images to create more channel space. This compression, to save bandwidth, reduces image quality. Since information about the lawsuit surfaced, TVPredictions.com has reported that it received approximately 100 negative e-mails from DirecTV subscribers, complaining that the service's nine-channel national HD lineup fares poorly compared to rival EchoStar, which airs 30 national HD channels. Earlier, DirecTV announced plans to change to MPEG-4 compression technology for HDTV. That change is expected to occur next year. This is just the sort of DTV "bit grooming" that we broadcasters are dreading from the satellite and cable providers. OPB INITIATES HD2 PROGRAM TRANSMISSION On Tuesday September 26th, 91.5 KOPB-FM began the HD2 radio multi-program stream in Portland. It was not without its troubles. We had intended to locate the audio processing and program multiplexing at the Macadam studio location, but we ran into a couple of serious problems that did not seem easily remedied. The delayed AES audio for the main analog transmitter would not go through the Harris NetVX STL system for some reason and the IP/Ethernet connectivity over the network could not be made to communicate. In the Broadcast Electronics system the digital audio is transported over Ethernet on the STL. Under the urgency to get it up and running, we finally just picked up the whole package and took it up to the Skyline Tower transmitter site. Both the analog and HD1/HD2 program feeds are making the trip between the studio and transmitter as good old-fashioned linear analog audio on our fiber system. We also have the capability to add a third audio program stream which is expected to be used for the Golden Hours radio service for the hearing impaired, but since we don't have any spare audio channels on the STL, that will have to wait. The ultimate goal is to do all the processing and encoding for the entire OPB state radio network in Portland and distribute it "transmitter ready," to the other main transmitter sites. Very similar with what we are now doing with the DTV programs. Congrats to Gary Link and David Switzer for their hard work on this one! All for now. Thanks, CUL, & 73, Ev. PDX RADIO WAVES by Michael D. Brown N7AXC CSRE Brown Broadcast Services, Inc., Portland mike at brownbroadcast.com It's been a long absence from these pages. Much of this Summer and Fall has found us out of town on "assignment" or out of the country on "holiday"- in Scotland, England, Ireland, and France. A few random observations from these wanderings: 1. For analog FM radio, 50 µs pre-emphasis really does make a difference in high frequency clarity. Our 75 µs pre-emphasis standard on this side of the Atlantic, combined with today's brighter recordings, really wreaks havoc on the highs. It's also the first thing that's apparent when A/B'ing between analog and HD. Like with NTSC vs. PAL, Americans paid the cost for being early - we've been saddled with the inferior standards vs. our European brethren all these years. 2. Europeans are almost on a different planet when it comes to the so-called "obscenity" debate. With a small disclaimer, for example, prime-time broadcast TV programs can contain repeated and gratuitous F-words. Topless scenes have been on British broadcast TV for many years. The SuperBowl "wardrobe malfunction" brouhaha raised nary a ripple for our friends to the east. 3. FM translator or satellite stations are generally grouped around the same range of frequencies. You can usually drive around Britain, for example, and just hit the scan button a notch up or down, and hear the same program. Gee - how logical! 4. Both the even and odd FM frequencies are used. Stateside, we've been putting most of our attention on non-comm radio, and the long-awaited FCC filing window that is expected next Spring. We're also working heavily with the Indian Tribes. With so many of the reservation lands far away from population centers, and with the religious satcasters having limited interest in the reservations, we're finding plenty of NCE (non-commercial educational) FM channels in many of these areas. Overall, with 7+ years of the pent-up demand, this filing window could be a repeat of the 2003 "Great Translator Invasion". Meanwhile, the Commission is expected to FINALLY issue their first batch of "old" FM NCE MX (mutually exclusive) decisions, shortly. Many of these applicants have been waiting over 10 years! Speaking of translators, the persistent (yet unconfirmed) rumor is that the Commission will dismiss all of the MX applications and start over, but that nothing will happen soon. Hopefully, some strong anti-trafficking restrictions will precede the next such filing window. With non-comm radio remaining very strong, particularly in markets such as Portland, Seattle, and Boston, Arbitron has announced that non-comm stations will be eligible for reporting in the Book, as of this fall's rating period which just got underway. The upcoming Commercial FM Auction has no Washington stations, and only one in Oregon. Want a new shiny-new Class-A licensed to the bustling metropolis of Diamond Lake, OR? Bidding starts at just $1500. JOBS IN OREGON Job Title: Staff Engineer Location: Southern Oregon Post Date: 9/14/2006 Job #: 967 Job Description: Ability to take initiative, work unsupervised, quickly analyze and repair issues, learn quickly and document all work required. This is a fast paced high pressure environment, must be able to think and act professionally in emergency situations. Job Title: RF Engineer Location: Anywhere in USA - Washington/Oregon preferred Post Date: 8/16/2006 Job #: 894 Job Description: Startup company seeks RF Engineer to assist in developing proof-of-concept location technology. Specific tasks are: Designing/developing radio transmitter(s) to transmit synchronized pulse signal with specific information embedded in the signal. Designing/developing radio receiver(s) to receive synchronized pulse signal, heterodyne input signal to higher frequency input, A/D converter, and buffer input to FIFO. FPGA possible. Other tasks as deemed necessary. Compensation is negotiable, but depends on completion and sale/licensing of the technology. Washington/Oregon location preferred, but will consider other U.S. locations, especially western U.S. IN THE SEATTLE AREA Job Title: TV Chief Engineer Location: Bellingham, WA Post Date: 9/12/2006 Job #: 966 Job Description: Responsibility for overseeing transmitter/antenna, master control, studio and managing staff. Maintenance of station equipment, remediation of equipment failures and installation of new station equipment including but not limited to broadcast equipment, IT and telephone systems and other related mechanical functions in a timely and professional manner. Assists the Station Manager in planning, preparing and monitoring, operational and engineering budgets. Work on improving systems, products, devices, components, processes etc. Work requires frequent interpretation of data, goals and objectives and discussion of problems with various individuals or groups to resolve problem situations. Requires Bachelor's degree in Communications/Electronics (or comparable experience) with a minimum of 7 years experience in Broadcast Television Engineering, Master Control, Satellite, Microwave, Transmitter, & Production engineering preferred. Knowledge of all areas of production and maintenance of a broadcast television plant. Society of Broadcast Engineers Certification preferred. Knowledge of maintenance of television equipment to component level, UHF/Satellite Transmission systems & PSIP preferred. Microsoft Word & Excel required. Microsoft Access helpful. Ability to use waveform, vectorscope, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, NON-Ionizing radiation meters, Satellite/UHF Transmitters required. Strong working knowledge of FCC rules and regulations related to broadcast engineering. Able to communicate ideas and concepts concisely and clearly in writing and verbally. Fluent in English. Job Title: TV Maintenance Technician III Location: Seattle, WA Post Date: 7/26/2006 Job #: 824 Job Description: We seek a Maintenance Technician to design, install, maintain, and repair broadcast recording and transmission equipment. Five years television maintenance experience with advanced working knowledge of audio, video, broadcast electronics computer systems, and low level RF required. ALL U.S. Job Title: Radio Chief Engineer Location: USA Post Date: 9/14/2006 Job #: 973 Job Description: We are now accepting resumes for potential future openings. Knowledge of RF, IT and audio required. AM DA experience desired. SEARCH TIPS Anyone can see the generic list of job openings on the national SBE site at http://www.sbe.org/cgi-bin/sbe_job_listing.pl?%20type=mem&goto=jl&access= . SBE Members can go to http://www.sbe.org/user_login/?RETURN_URL=http://www.sbe.org/cgi-bin/sbe_job_listing.pl?goto=jl and get all the details. Or, contact the SBE office at 317 846-9000. Please refer to the position you are interested in by Job Number. Don't forget to check the Oregon Association of Broadcasters (OAB) Employment pages at http://www.theoab.org/jobs_radio.htm and http://www.theoab.org/jobs_tv.htm , as well as http://newradiostar.com/jobs.htm which lists the top 100 best places to look for jobs on the net. ON THE CALENDAR October 8 (Sunday) SBE Chapter of the Air, Hamnet, 0000 GMT, second Sunday of the month. Hal Hostetler WA7BGX in Tucson, AZ is Net Control. The published frequency is 14.205 MHz. Occasionally, that frequency is busy and you may need to move up (no more than 10 kHz) to find the SBE meeting. October 10 (Tuesday) Monthly Portland SBE Chapter 124 meeting, noon. See http://www.sbe124.org . October 11 (Wednesday) Monthly Eugene SBE Chapter 76 meeting, 11:30 AM. See http://www.sbe76.org . October 12 (Thursday) Monthly Medford SBE Chapter 141 meeting, noon. See http://www.sbe141.org . October 16 (Monday) Bi-weekly SBE Chapter of the Air, Hamnet, via the Internet Repeater Linking Project. In Portland: 440.450 MHz, 11 AM. October 21 (Saturday) Mid-Valley ARES Swap-Toberfest, Polk County Fairgrounds, Rickreall, where highways 99W and 22 cross. Doors open 9 AM. $7. See http://www.swaptoberfest.net . SBE NATIONAL 9102 North Meridian Street, Suite 150 Indianapolis, IN 46260 Phone: 317-846-9000 Fax: 317-846-9120 http://www.sbe.org FREQUENCY COORDINATION For southwestern Washington and ALL of Oregon: >1 GHz call Everett "Ed" Helm W7EEH at 503-977-7752, fax 503 293-4877, or e-mail microwave at sbe124.org; <1 GHz call Mike Steiner KD6LVP at 503-235-8517, fax 503-231-4624, or e-mail under1gig at sbe124.org. You can browse the database at www.sbe124.org. If you are not IN the database, you are NOT coordinated. MONTHLY SBE 124 LUNCH IN PORTLAND At noon, usually on the second Tuesday of every month, broadcast engineers in Portland meet at The Buffalo Gap Saloon & Eatery, 6835 SW Macadam (at California), 503-244-7111. Go in the SW California-side door, take a left, and go upstairs where we have the "attic" all to ourselves. After their lot fills up, however, a nearby parking space will be hard to find, so get there early. For more information and their map see http://www.thebuffalogap.com. For information call Everett "Ed" Helm at 503-977-7752, or e-mail chairman at sbe124.org. As usual, everyone, member or not, is welcome to attend. SBE 124 OFFICERS. ETC. Chapter Chair/ Frequency Coordination for Oregon and SW WA >1 GHz Everett Helm W7EEH CPBE chairman at sbe124.org Oregon Public Broadcasting 503-977-7752 Portland Chapter Vice-Chair Phil Kane K2ASP P.E. vicechair at sbe124.org CSI Telecommunications 503-292-2350 Beaverton Treasurer Eric Dausman KD7DNM CBNT treasurer at sbe124.org KGW 8 503-226-5000 Portland Secretary/Portland-Vancouver EAS/Newsletter Editor & Circulation/Webmaster: Kent Randles K7YXZ CBRE watercooled at sbe124.org Entercom-Portland 503-535-0482 Certification: Eric Margeson W7OSN CPBE certification at sbe124.org KOIN 6 Portland 503-464-0860 Oregon EAS: Chris "Ichabod" Murray ichabod at kknu.fm McKenzie Broadcasting 541-484-9400 Eugene Frequency Coordination <1 GHz Mike Steiner KD6LVP under1gig at sbe124.org KATU 2 Portland 503-235-8517 Newsletter Redactor: Patti Randles redactor at sbe124.org National SBE Liaison/National EAS: Clay Freinwald K7CR CPBE k7cr at blarg.net Entercom-Seattle 206-343-9700 Newsletter Contributor: Michael Brown N7AXC CSRE mike at brownbroadcast.com Brown Broadcast Services 503-245-6065 Portland