BTS Distinguished Lecturer Program Continues to Grow with New
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ISSN 1067-490X IEEE Volume 21, Number 1, Spring 2013 The technologies to deliver information and entertainment to audiences worldwide, at home and on the go. Inside President’s Column. 2 From the Editor . 3 ATSC Activity Update . 5 BTS AdCom Selects Five New Members . 7 Guy Bouchard Tim Carroll Pat Waddell Channel Surfing Redux . 8 BTS Distinguished Events Calendar . 14 Lecturer Program Book Review . 15 Chapter Reports . 17 Continues to Grow RCA Radio/Television Pioneer With New Presenters Wendell Morrison Dead at 97 . 21 By Rich Chernock topic areas, with three new lecturers being added to program. They are Guy 2012 was a successful year for the Bouchard, Tim Carroll and Pat Waddell, BTS Distinguished Lecturer (DL) pro- who bring expertise in the practical gram, with eight lectures conducted over aspects of broadcast technology, audio Newsletter Deadlines a wide portion of the world. Lecture ven- processing, and audio/video encoding The BTS Newsletter welcomes contribu- ues included St. Petersburg, Russia, Princ- and transport. With these additions, tions from every member. Please forward eton, N.J.; San Diego, Calif.; Seoul Korea; the DL program offers BTS Chapters materials you would like included to the Bilbao, Spain; Beijing, China; Montevideo, high-quality lectures on a wide array of editor at [email protected]. Here are Uruguay; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. A broadcast related topics ranging from our deadlines for upcoming issues: number of lecture topics have been pre- research oriented to highly practical. Issue Due Date sented, ranging from digital radio, signal Summer April 26, 2013 embedding techniques, multiprogram vid- DL Program Overview Fall July 22, 2013 eo coding, connected television and DTV The DL program has been in place Winter October 28, 2013 technology. Evaluations by attendees since mid-2009, and was created for Spring January 23, 2014 continue to be overwhelmingly positive. the purpose of providing BTS chapters with a list of quality lecturers who can New Lecturers Added give talks at local chapter meetings, and The BTS DL program continues also making funding available to cover to grow by adding new lecturers and the travel expenses incurred by the continued on page 4 2 President’s Column William Meintel, BTS President Newsletter editor James O’Neal has written in his column about his recent participation in an amateur radio Once again this issue of the Newslet- network operation. That network, “The Greater Cincinnati ter is very small. As you may recall from Amateur Radio Association 1936 Net,” was originally orga- the last issue, I went into a lengthy discus- nized to help coordinate emergency relief operations dur- sion concerning the need for our mem- ing a serious flood that occurred in 1936 and which affected bership to step up and provide more con- several states and devastated both small towns and major tent; otherwise, we may need to consider cities. The gist of James’ column is that this Net performed whether or not to continue the News- a great service while relying on some very old technology— letter. I expect that my words have not AM modulation. yet had a chance to produce the desired With all the talk about broadcasting being “old” technol- result, but I would hope by the next issue to have a flood of ogy and that the UHF television spectrum would be better new material for the Newsletter. I am counting on you, so utilized for wireless broadband, it is interesting to note that don’t let me down. this “old” technology always seem to shine where there is a While the lack of Newsletter content continues to be natural disaster. a problem, our other BTS publication is doing quite well. In recent years there have been numerous cases where Thanks to the hard work of editor Yiyan Wu and his dedi- broadcasting has provided an essential link to people in vital cated associate editors, the BTS Transactions continues need of information. At the same time, the wireless broad- to be one of the top journals and always seems to have more band networks failed due to congestion with their one-to- than sufficient content. one architecture not supporting (and likely never able to Beyond the Newsletter, our other problem area has support) the demand. This also assumes that the networks been small attendance at the Annual Broadcast Symposium are still operating, and we have seen many cases where such (ABS), even though there has been no lack of quality presen- networks that rely on a multitude of sites have failed due to tations. However, with the hard work of Eric Wandel and his lack of power, or lack of fuel availability when they did have committee, a number of new ideas have been put forward to backup power. fix this problem. As previously announced, the 2013 Sympo- On the other hand, the one-to-many broadcast technol- sium will break tradition and be held outside the Washing- ogy does not have a congestion problem and the reliance for ton, D.C. area. Next year’s event will take place in San Diego, the most part on single transmitter sites makes it far easier Calif., and in 2014 it will move to San Antonio, Texas. From to harden these facilities. Therefore, most broadcast stations the reports that I am hearing, this change in venue appears to continue to operate for the duration of the disaster. It is have sparked some significant interest in the San Diego and also noted that a number of different broadcast outlets in a Southern California area; therefore it seems at this point to market with multiple transmission sites further ensures that have been a good decision. some will be able to continue operation even if others fail. The ABS chairs for 2013, David Layer and Paul Shulins, Although this would reduce the number of sources, the one- are already hard at work implementing the move, as well as to-many architecture still can reach most of the people in the follow ing up on other ideas that came out of the review com- market with vital emergency information. mittee. As always we expect a great program, and with a re- The thing to be learned from this is that extreme cau- newed focus on delivering content more attuned to our target tion needs to be exercised when making a decision to reduce audience, the 2013 ABS should put the train back on the track. the number of broadcast facilities to accommodate additional Make your plans to attend. I am sure you will not regret it. wireless broadband. Sometimes the “old” technology sur- While on the subject of symposia, I am also told that our vives because it is the best tool for the job. IEEE International Symposium on Broadband Multimedia Sys- As society president, I always welcome your input about tems and Broadcasting (BMSB) is once again expected to do my column or any other issues affecting BTS. very well. It is being held this year at Brunel University in Uxbridge, West London June 4–7, 2013. Apart from the fact Bill Meintel that they invited me to speak it should be a great program, so President pop on in and maybe you will learn something. [email protected] Spring 2013 IEEE Broadcast Technology Society Newsletter 3 From the Editor James E. O’Neal, BTS Newsletter Editor munications gear for emergency relief workers. Even if there had been money available, two-radio emergency radio gear Just in case you didn’t notice, this issue was in its infancy—little was available and there few peo- of the Newsletter is very significant— ple trained to operate and maintain it. This is where ham we’re finally back on schedule. When I was operators stepped up to the plate and pitched in, providing appointed editor, the publication was two communications between relief centers and emergency per- issues behind schedule, with one of the sonnel when all other communications had failed. 2010 issues never making it to the printer. Times have changed a lot in the last 80 years in terms of This Spring issue is also the first anniver- hardening of communications infrastructures, but last fall’s sary of the magazine’s complete makeover Hurricane Sandy proved unquestionably that nothing is infal- and switch to four-color production. Get- lible. Just as with commercial broadcasting, providing assis- ting back on schedule has not been especially easy—actually, tance in times of emergencies is one of the reasons that ham it’s been a long, hard pull and I want to thank those who have radio exists. There are a number of “net” operations that helped me to make this possible and also to thank our mem- operate in concert with various state and local emergency bership for their patience and understanding when some is- relief organizations, with operator “check-ins” in some cases sues of the Newsletter came in late. Right now we are right done daily to assure readiness if assistance is needed. where we should be in terms of production schedules and Ham operators now take advantage of the latest develop- hopefully we can stay there. ments in radio, utilizing some very cutting-edge digital modu- Even though this is the Spring issue, as I write this—pro- lation technology. However, participation in the GCARA duction schedules being what they are—we are not really that 1936 Net AM Night is special, with all communications on far into the new year. Outside temperatures coupled with long that designated evening done with plain old amplitude modu- nights and short days serve as a constant reminder that it’s lation.