Cleveland/Akron Sbe 70
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SBE CHAPTER 70 - CLEVELAND/AKRON SBE 70 88.9/WSTB Radio Gather at 7pm Next Meeting February 2008 Streetsboro High Meeting at 7:30pm March 11th Vol. XVI Number 2 MEETING DETAILS CHAIRMAN’S CHAT by Ron Bartlebaugh Transmitter Implications of Elevated Digital Carrier Levels for FM HD Radio Review of Our January 8th Meeting Presenter: Gary Liebisch of Naute A good January meeting was held at WKSU on the campus of Kent State To improve digital signal penetration, some ex- University with plenty of folks at- tending to make up for those who periments have been conducted with analog to digi- chose not to make the migration tal signal ratios at an elevated -10 dB. While it is from the Cleveland area. We thank still too early to predict when or whether the digital Ron Caird from VCI Solutions who gave an excellent presentation enti- standard may be modified to accommodate such tled “A Checklist for Improving operation, stations implementing HD Radio today Automation Efficiency”. The paper was extremely beneficial to are curious as to what the upgrade path options meeting attendees as it offered good information for existing automation system operators plus a vision for improving automa- might be, and how they might best protect their cur- tion efficiencies. Thanks to Bill Elkin from Bird Electronics for rent equipment investments. This paper first re- bringing along plenty of their nice slide rule calculators, full line views how power output is determined in a digital catalogs, and slick to use pens. More of the VSWR slide rule transmitter, and how that would change with an calculators and catalogs will be available at our February meet- ing. elevated ratio. Then we re-examine the most com- monly used digital combining methods to illustrate About Our February 12th Meeting how the optimum solution could shift depending on Our Program Chairman Blake Thompson and his assistants Bob station power and current constraints. Leskovec and Ed Miller are doing a great job for our Chapter. The February meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening February WSTB is located at Streetsboro High School 1900 12th at WSTB in Streetsboro where Gary Leibish from Nautel will be presenting a paper on changing the digital injection levels Annalane Drive, Streetsboro 44241. If you get lost on HD radio transmission for better reception. This should be an call General Manager Bob Long at 330-352-3071 . (continued on page 2) Society of Broadcast Engineers Northeast Ohio chapter 70 SBE CHAPTER 70 - CLEVELAND/AKRON Chairman’s Chat (continued from page 1) Check ‘em out! interesting meeting – especially for all of us who are facing HD radio installations in the near future. More details about the meeting can be found in the meeting announcement sec- Were you there? tion of this newsletter. Please direct any suggestion for fu- ture meeting topics and locations to Blake. Please remem- ber - if you have an equipment demo or training session Photos of last month’s scheduled for your facility please keep our local Chapter in mind as we are always looking for additional learning op- meeting are on page 3 portunities Business News from Our Region We are hearing that Patlin Electronics has chosen to close business after serving our region so well since its inception in 1974. The challenges of operating any large business in our increasingly challenging economic times can be ex- tremely difficult and frustrating at best. We will all miss Patlin’s wonderful services and certainly wish Earl all the best in his future endeavors. If you missed it, check out page 10 of the January 2nd edi- tion of Radio World. There you will find a nice article about the antenna replacement for radio station WJZL in Lansing, MI – a job well done by Al Warmus and his team from Warmus and Associates located in Bath. The project re- quired helicopter antenna lifts on two different days. A note goes along to remind folks that Thom Mandell who also owns and operates the Rubber City Radio Group of stations in Akron (WQMX, WONE, and WAKR) also owns WJZL. Can You Believe This Stuff? Finally yet importantly is the news of the WJW-TV8 in- process sale and a holding company coming up with billions and billions of dollars to purchase Clear Channel. I also read where The Weather Channel (a cable channel) may be sold for as much as five-hundred billion dollars. And, How Many Readers Know This? From the bet you didn’t know this category - WJW weath- erman Andre Bernier and WKYC’s Bruce Kalinowski (Ed- wards) were the very first on-camera meteorology team when The Weather Channel started broadcasting on Sunday, May 2, 1982 at 8:00 P.M. The Weather Channel was a speculative start up at that time. Now its worth, apparently, hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars. How is that for blowing up a good old-fashioned Texas dust storm? Take good care and stay well! Ron Bartlebaugh Society of Broadcast Engineers Northeast Ohio chapter 70 SBE CHAPTER 70 - CLEVELAND/AKRON PHOTOS OF THE JANUARY MEETING AT WKSU Courtesy of Robert Leskovec Society of Broadcast Engineers Northeast Ohio chapter 70 SBE CHAPTER 70 - CLEVELAND/AKRON The NEXT PCARS MEETING will be held Monday, February 11, 2008 Hamfest Calendar 3 Feb 2008 Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society http://www.noars.net Talk-In: 146.70 (open repeater) Contact: John Schaaf, K8JWS - PO Box 35 - Avon Lake, OH 44012 - Phone: 216-696-5709 Email: [email protected] 10 Feb 2008 Mansfield Mid-Winter Hamfest InterCity Amateur Radio Club http://www.iarc.ws Talk-In: 146.94 (PL 71.9) Contact: Dean Wrasse, KB8MG 1094 Beal Road - Mansfield, OH 44905 - Phone: 419-589-2415 - Fax: 419-884-6177 Email: [email protected] 20 Apr 2008 54th Annual Hamfest, Electronics, and Computer Show Cuyahoga Falls Amateur Radio Club http://www.cfarc.org/hamfest2008.htm Talk-In: 147.27 Contact: Ted Sarah, W8TTS - 239 Bermont Ave. - Munroe Falls, OH 44262 - Phone: 330-688-2013 Email: [email protected] Society of Broadcast Engineers Northeast Ohio chapter 70 SBE CHAPTER 70 - CLEVELAND/AKRON SBE CERTIFICATION EXAM DATES 2008 Exam Dates Location Application Deadline February 8-18 Local Chapters Closed April 15 NAB-Las Vegas Feb 29, 2008 June 6-16 Local Chapters Apr 18, 2008 August 8-18 Local Chapters Jun 6, 2008 November 7-17 Local Chapters Sep 19, 2008 Society of Broadcast Engineers Northeast Ohio chapter 70 SBE CHAPTER 70 - CLEVELAND/AKRON GOOD ENOUGH affordable, but they cut the next tether, but they were "good enough." Con- the one between the base unit and the venience over quality. By - David Roden, Assistant Program Direc- wall. Air time was tremendously ex- tor and Music Director, WKSU Stations pensive, but that paid for improved In the late 1960s and early 1970s, A lot of us older folks still think of a coverage. However, even with more Shure, Stanton, and others did miracu- telephone as a receiver and a box wired cellular towers, the sound quality never lous things with those tiny gadgets on to the wall. Thirty-five years ago, got very good. It remained well below the ends of tonearms. Phono cartridges phones actually RANG. And when even the cordless home phone's. traced vinyl grooves at a fraction of a they did, you didn't fish around in your gram, extracting sound that should pocket ("One missed call"), you have been impossible with such a walked across the room and picked up “Cell phones shrank, went crude mechanical system. the receiver. digital...but they never Then, in 1972, Denon's PCM arrived If you were near the phone, that is. If sounded as clear as good old on the scene, followed by Tom Stock- ham's Soundstream system in 1977. you were in a restaurant, concert, Western Electric.” meeting, or class, or walking or driving That same year, Stockham predicted the car, you didn't talk on the phone. that someday records would be pocket- By the same token, you could stand in sized and digital. The gestation period line at the bank without listening to Time went by. Competition drove wasn't long. Five years later, Sony and two or three disembodied down the cost of air time. Cell phones Philips gave birth to the compact disc. conversations. shrank, went digital, and shrank some The CD never quite lived up to the more until they fit neatly into a shirt Soundstream example, nor did it ever Phones stayed put. Not any more; pocket. But they never sounded as sound quite as good as the very best that's almost an alien concept for peo- clear as the good old Western Electric. direct-to-disc LPs played on the very ple under 40. But what have they lost? Digital service just meant that instead best analog playback systems. But, of a burst of noise and "Wait, I'm los- just as Stockham had predicted, it was By 1980, ing you," the other person's voice got small and easy to store. And it raised America sketchy, then vanished altogether. the average quality of consumer audio had a playback to its highest level ever. highly All around us are copper wires and developed fiber optic cables that deliver some of We've been backing down from that telephone the clearest, most consistent phone peak ever since. Almost every recent network. service in the world - and they're fal- audio development that's really caught You could ling into disuse, as an increasing num- on with the public hasn't improved fi- have a ber of people drop their landlines and delity significantly.