SBE CHAPTER 40
NEWSLETTER
JANUARY 1999
SAN FRANCISCO
Roy Trumbull - Editor roy547@netcom.com
Bill Dempster -
Artist
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BABES/SBE LUNCHEON ON WEDNESDAY
Jan 27TH
Our speaker will be Aldolfo Rodriquez from Snell and
Wilcox concerning format converters for DTV.
As usual our luncheon will be at Sinbad's. Sinbad's is just south of the
Ferry Building on the Embarcadero near the foot of Mission Street. Please
RSVP to Karen Prasek at Zack's: 408-324-0551 x126 as we've been running out of
tables and chairs. We meet at 11:30 and are seated at 12:30.
Future Meetings
- February - Sony - The DTV transition
- March - NDS encoders for DTV
- April - Dessert after desert (NAB spoken here)
- May - Using GPS as precision reference
EAS Game Over and We Lost Actually
I'm not talking about the demand for EAS receiver royalty payments some of us
have received. I'm talking about the December 23rd decision by the FCC that
cable companies do not have to install equipment to accommodate local
broadcasters. During an EAS Alert, they are free to block local stations even if
those stations are carrying information pertinent to the emergency in the EAS
message. The FCC felt that the needs of each local community, as expressed in
the requirements of their cable franchise agreement, outweighed the needs of the
public to view uninterrupted news coverage. It was obvious the commission felt
that the cable company would be more responsive to a local emergency than would
the broadcaster. A broadcaster wishing to establish an agreement to avoid
blockage will also have to run the gauntlet of making a presentation to each
effected community government in the system.
DTV HIATUS AT SUTRO. Initially
Dielectric delivered 4 filters for channels 24, 29, 56, and 57. But the overall
system is designed to accommodate 10 channels into 4 antennas. The channel
filters installed on the roof are to be removed so that frames and components
for four combiners and additional channel filters can be installed. The existing
channel filters will then be reinstalled. It's expected that if the work is
started on schedule that the DTV transmission system will be down until after
February 15th. KBHK expects to be up and running soon on Ch 45. Their
transmitter is in place and being tested. KQED is planning to light up on Ch30
in October.
DTV Brown Boxes on Shelves The
various lines of DTV related products are going over like snowcones in bear
country. (Think about it. Drink some coffee. It will come to you.) Thus far the
response has been zip as broadcasters lack a business plan. Some of the set
makers appear ready to slash prices to move product; that may be a start. The
early adopters are going for such equipment as is. We know them all by name.
They call up weekly. Isn’t it nice to know the entire audience?
DISNEY/NABET SETTLE Going in the
Sutro gate I've been watching one of the KGO guys switch off between practicing
the banjo and the violin. Nice to see that there has been a settlement but, from
experience, I know how the effects tend to lag on. Good that the paychecks will
resume.
8VSB at KICU The importance of
email and the website were hammered home once again when KICU issued an
invitation for a one day program on 8VSB presented by Gary Scrignoli of Zenith
and Dennis Wallace. Gary has been a major figure in the development of the 8VSB
system and has hauled Zenith prototypes around the country to permit stations to
conduct DTV demonstrations. Dennis has done a lot of the field measurements on
the systems and can characterize how it works in practice. We sent a copy of the
announcement to everyone on our chapter email list and also posted it on the Web
Site.
EMAIL ADDRESS If you have an email
address, please contact Warren Reese at radions@jps.net. Warren is in charge of our
email list, which we use when we need to notify members when something has
happened between newsletters.
WEB PAGE Webmeister Tim Pozar has
the current newsletter plus newsletters all the way back to 1996 at: http://www.lns.com/sbe