KANSASChapter Three Summer 2021

LAST Meeting NEXT Meeting Nine members met June 8, 630 PM at Robert Nelson’s Will be in Wichita on Septem- home northeast of Emporia for our annual picnic and clay ber 14 at 7:00 PM. at Stroud’s pigeon shoot. Restaurant, 3661 N Hillside Ave, Our business meeting was called to order at 08:20 PM Wichita, KS 67219 Our program by Chairman John Langer. and the evening meal will be pro- Secretary/Treasurer Bob Locke gave the Treasurer’s vided by LumenServe, speciali- report, and told of our SBE Chapter rebate check of zlng in tower lighting and $349.25 being received. monitoring. LumenServe will pro- It was moved by Robert Nelson, seconded by Dick vide information on tower lighting Abraham to return the rebate check to SBE for use in the products, FAA changes to the Scholarship Programs. The motion passed on vote of rules of compliance, cost, and those present. ways to deal with them. Major The Secretary/Treasurer Report and the minutes of changes include documented in- the last meeting as published in the chapter newsletter spection of lenses biennially. were accepted on motion of Robert Nelson, seconded by This program will be of interest Marty Heffner and passed by vote of those present. to anyone responsible for tower Marty Heffner will check again with S&Y Industries on lighting, inspection, & compliance. the possibility of a tour of their Winfield plant for a future program. We are constantly looking for programs, so if Chapter Officers Chair: John Langer, CBTE you have an idea for one, contact our Program Chair, Bdcst Engr, Vid. Prod. Svcs, KSU Comm & Mktg, 128 Dole Hall Robert Nelson (contact info in box at right). No August Manhattan, KS 66506-5800 [email protected] meeting is planned at present, and future meetings (785) 532-3147 include KAB in Wichita in October. Vice Chair: Robert Nelson, CPBE. CBNT KSU Dir Vid/Engr Svcs, Comm & Mktg, It was moved by Dick Abraham, seconded by Ron 128 Dole Hall, Manhattan, KS 660506 [email protected] Jones, to reimburse Robert Nelson $50 for groceries 785-532-3141 (office) 620-341-1808 (mobile) purchased for the SBE-3 picnic. The motion passed. Sec/Treasurer: Bob Locke, CPBE, CBNT Tracy Gibson moved, seconded by John Langer to SBE Fellow; KPTS C. E. Ret. Wichita [email protected] adjourn the meeting. We stood adjourned at 08:43 PM by (316) 722-7528 vote of those present. Certif. Chair.: Bob Locke, CPBE, CBNT SBE Fellow; KPTS Ch Engr, Ret. Wichita [email protected] Following the meeting, Duane Loyd placed a cell call (316) 722-7528 Freq. Coordinator: Robert Nelson, CPBE CBNT on speaker phone to Ernie Hedges, retired broadcast KSU Dir Vid/Engr Svcs, Comm & Mktg 128 Dole Hall, Manhattan, KS 660506 engineer, now located in Sedalia, MO. Several of those [email protected] present had either worked for, or knew Ernie when he (785) 532-3141 Web Site Maint: John Langer, CBTE was employed in the Topeka area. He is now 90 years old KSU Div Comm & Mktg Manhattan, [email protected] and lives alone in a retirement home. The home still has (785) 532-3147 not opened to visitors since the CoVid-19 pandemic, so Newsletter: Richard Abraham, CPBE, CBNT the call gave him a much needed social interaction with Cox Regl Engr, Retired. Wichita [email protected] those he knew when he was working. (316) 685-2587

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Page 1 Prior to the program, our picnic meal was They showed no concern for the previous cooked by Robert Nelson, and was enjoyed noise from the shotguns, nor were they by all present. Members brought side dishes bothered by us watching them on the deck. and the chapter furnished meat and drinks. They walked with their tails down across Robert bought the meat, baked beans and a behind his barn toward the timber at the rear couple of pasta salads in town, and the grill of his property. was heating up as we arrived about 6:25 PM. Among various subjects discussed were There was plenty of food and we all ate our times remembered of those responsible for fill, then polished it off with cookies and cake signing the transmitter on in the morning who for dessert. had overslept, and the consequences of such Following the meal, we moved outside for actions. The lucky ones got a second chance. the clay pigeon shoot. The subject of Internet service also came up. Robert Robert has Robert is a whiz on the grill obtains his IP acquired a at left. Brats and hamburger service from a new remote patties are soon ready. rural provider controlled clay located on one thrower. It is of two towers operated by in close either a proximity, to handheld the southeast remote control of his home. or a wired foot Right: Robert’s new clay His download pedal, which thrower. It is powered by speed is about we used for 12V DC, so he tapped into 10 MB/s. our clay shoot. the truck’s battery. Someone The device The orange hoop asked him if he was quite around the outside is flim- had seen any consistent as sy, but serves to warn so of the Starlink it launched the you don’t get part of your LEO’s orbiting clays and was shin removed. in the sky. He easy to use. replied he had Robert hasn’t not, but Bob yet figured out how to throw doubles, but it Locke said he had seen them from his home will throw several in a row if you keep the foot just at twilight on a couple of occasions. pedal down. We found this out when Dick Starlink is a Low Earth Orbit satellite IP Abraham missed a shot. Tracy Gibson picked service just now opening its service to mid- that one off as backup, but Dick kept his foot America, as the LEO’s orbit East to West. on the pedal without realizing it, and he got It was a most pleasant summer evening, the next clay launched in the same round of with light breezes, making for easy banter as shooting. we recalled different experiences from our past, while relaxing on Robert’s back Following the clay pigeon shoot, we porch/deck. gathered on the Robert’s rear deck for visiting Our thanks to Robert Nelson for hosting and the business meeting. As we were our annual chapter picnic at his home, talking, two deer walked slowly across his shopping for groceries for our meal, and back lawn followed by another a bit later. providing chef services.

Page 2 Static Line: Noise from all Over re: my ride down the ladder It happened sooner than I thought it might, 38 mentioned in the previous newsletter: My but recently on the 10 O’clock News, several wife's cousin had fallen from a ladder that people had phoned the news department asking went sideways on him a few months ago. He what that string of lights was in the sky. It turned was installing a security camera on the corner out to be Internet LEO”s recently deployed en- of his house. He lit in the middle of the fallen masse to launch StarLink service farther south ladder and ended up with a compound fracture than that enabled in the Dakotas and along the of his left leg and ankle - the snapped bone US-Canada border. actually sticking in the mud! The sighting occurred just after sunset here, I didn't want any complications like that, so I and again at sunrise when the sun lit up the thought I was in more control by staying on top satellites, but did not provide light where the of the ladder on the way down, so I knew where observations happened, and so washing out the it was. Besides cut- sight of them. I have ting my ear, I did yet to be at the right smack my knee place or time to see it enough it was quite myself, but I will keep stiff for several days. trying. That got better slowly, I later happened on but I was determined, an article about Star- having had the Link, where astro- thought one morning physicists complained as I was having diffi- to StarLink about the culty getting my jeans LEO’s causing light on: "Old buddy, you pollution in the skies. better figure how to StarLink has now in- get this done, be- stalled sunvisors on Courtesy of Robert Nelson cause when you can't the latest satellites re- get yourself dressed, Far to near, Ron Jones, Dick Abraham, Tracy Gibson leased into orbit. They then they send you to have reduced the the old folks facility." amount of light reflect- Although I'm walking without a cane now, ed to 31% of they previous released LEO’s. I've been putting off going to the doctor to see Maybe that explains my difficulty in seeing them. about a knee replacement, but this may hasten that occurrence. I've been bone on bone mostly John Langer happened on an article about for about twenty years. I think it's time. using to feed into a for power. John Schillberg tells me he has been bone on The problem with hydrogen is that its molecule bone for some time as well, and suggested a is so small it worms its way into metal tubing, type of knee repair where they design new destroying its integrity and causing failure. It is titanium upper with plastic cartilage replace- also extremely volatile. ment on the bottom, all determined and de- Franhofer, a company in Germany, has de- signed from a CT scan. This method sounds veloped a way to keep the transport distance better than complete knee removal. I found a between making H2 and the fuel cell to a mini- place in Wichita that handles that product, and mum, minimizing the above disadvantages of plan to visit them soon to see what they think using H2. They call their product POWER- about my situation. PASTE. It has a huge , storing continued, p.4 Page 3 Static Line Continued hydrogen in a chemical form at atmospheric As one thinks about future uses of the fuel pressure, and it is activated simply by adding cell, the price point should come down as they water. The paste is stable up to 250ºC. are mass produced, such that they might be- The formulation of the new paste is based on come useful for off grid power sources for sec- magnesium hydride, easy to transport and re- ondary or even main home sites. plenish. It can be pumped in bulk or stored in a If that practice became wide spread, it may cartridge. This eliminates the need for an expen- well be an answer to the problems presented to sive network of filling stations. The paste is our present electric grid posed by EMP’s. In made by combining magnesium powder with addition, the fuel cell has way fewer moving parts hydrogen to form magnesium hydride in a pro- than a motor/generator, so that should make it cess conducted at 350º C and five to six times much more reliable for a main or alternate power atmospheric pressure. An ester and a metal salt source for a home. are added in order to form the finished product. And, speaking of alternate power sources, Installed on a vehicle, the cartridge releases Ron Jones says he has added a 15KWH Lithium the POWERPASTE by means of a plunger. Wa- battery stack to his home’s solar voltaic panel ter is added power sys- from an on- tem. board tank, “The new and the re- Lithiums action gen- are com- erates pletely sep- hydrogen arate from gas in a the lead-ac- quantity dy- id batteries. namically Each bat- adjusted to tery bank the actual has its own require- The food is served, so don’t get in the road of hungry broadcast inverter. ments of engineers - tasty to the last morsel, too. I have the fuel cell. separate Interesting- Robert also smokes meat on a Treager pellet grill, and says one of charge con- ly, only half these times he will smoke some pig and we will have pulled pork trollers for of the hy- sandwiches (maybe smoked with apple wood pellets). each (bat- drogen orig- tery pack), inates from as they re- the magnesium paste; the rest comes from the quire different settings. That said, the charge added water. controllers that I use can be set to charge lead- The paste has a huge density, acid, Lithium, or a host of other battery composi- even greater than gasoline, and 10 times the tions. energy storage density of batteries. Typically, flooded lead-acid cells are dis- The article did not address the issue of what charged to 50% of capacity, and occasionally as happens with the spent cartridges, whether they low as 80% to maintain their specified service life are toxic, or whether the spent paste can be (20+ years). Lithium cells can routinely be dis- recycled to another purpose. charged to 80% to maintain their specified ser- This will be a product that will bear watching vice life (15-20 years). as it is developed and put into use. The flooded lead-acid bank that I have in- Thanks for the tip, John! cludes 24, 2.2 VDC cells, with a nominal voltage Page 4 of 48 volts. Total weight is 3000 lbs. It's capacity •Charge and discharge cycles with solar charging is rated at 60 KWH full discharge - 30 KWH at at the same time at differing times during the day. 50% discharge @ 25 degrees C. •Varying angles of the solar panels (both vertical The Lithium Iron Phosphate (LIFEPO4) bank I and horizontal) and observing their performance. have consists of three 5.1 KWH units, with a •Evaluating solar panel efficiency regarding hav- nominal voltage of 52.2 volts. Total capacity is ing them all facing south, vs. split them SE/SW. 15.3 KWH @ 25 degrees C. Total weight is 390 •Charging efficiency difference between lead-acid lbs.” and Lithium systems. 80% of 15.3 KWH is 12.24 KWH, so he now •The effects of heat on battery capacities. could have up to 42.24 KWH of usable energy •Battery voltage drop during the discharge cycle storage on site that could be used at his home - between the two systems.” not bad at all. That should give him at least 3 Ron is quite serious about this and his studies days of heavy sum- should net him a mer use when the wealth of valuable sun doesn’t shine- experience! more if he conserves I think perhaps we usage. have a sequel pro- Ron said he want- gram on Ron’s ed some experience knowledge of solar with thfe Lithium bat- energy in the making! teries, so he bought the set and additional It is time once controller-inverter to again to select a slate learn about them. At of officers for the present the lithium As dusk falls, we relax on the deck, visiting and SBE-3 election to be system is experimen- enjoying the evening breeze. held on Engineering tal and not powering Day (Monday Oct 4) the house, which Ron Jones, Dick Abraham, and John Langer are at the KAB Conven- leaves it available for out of the picture, but close by. L to R shown are: tion. KAB will be in all sorts of experi- Tim Annett, Bob Locke, Tracy Gibson, Robert Nel- Wichita this year, at ments. son, Duane Loyd and Marty Heffner. the Marriot northwest I asked Ron what of Kellogg and Webb he was using for a - out near Beechcraft. load on it. He replied: “ A space heater (700 - Nominations will be taken from the floor of the 1200 w), refrigerator (90 - 300 w), charging my meeting, with the election following, but the slate Honda Clarity Plug-in Hybrid (1300 w), etc.” that will appear on the ballot is as follows: He continued: “I have 2200 w of solar panels Chair: Robert Nelson, KSU dedicated to this project that I'm using to work Vice Chair: TBA with the Lithium system. Sec/Treas: TBA. The Lithium system is powering an Outback Radian inverter that's rated at 4 KW 120/240. Our thanks to John Langer 2021 Chair, Robert (https://outbackpower.com/downloads/document Nelson, 2021 Vice Chair, and Bob Locke, 2021 s/inverter_chargers/radian_8048a_4048a/radian Secretary/Treasurer. Bob has served two consec- series_8048a_4048a_specsheet.pdf). utive terms in that position and must sit out a term. Officers are the ones who guide the chapter in Part of my experimenting is ascertaining per- the proper direction to accomplish its goals and formance of the following: purposes, and we owe them a special word of • Charge and discharge cycles with various loads. thanks. Let them know of your appreciation. Page 5 KAB Engineering Day Schedule Monday October 4

9:00-10:30 AM Engineering Session – “Hosting a Cloud Based Station” with Nathan Mumford, RCS. Join us as we discuss Remote Hybrid Configurations with Zetta Cloud Based Disaster Recovery. We’ll be breaking down the evolution from the traditional radio cluster, incorporating multiple market shared workflows, working remotely, moving to virtual machines and the future of radio with Zetta Cloud Based Disaster Recovery.

“EAS Update” – Roy Baum, Sponsored by RCS

10:30-10:45 AM Refreshment Break – Sponsored by Kansas Radio Networks

10:45-11:45 AM EEO Session (Joint with Management) – The What & Why of Diversity and Inclusion with LaShonda Garnes, Sponsored by the Kansas Association of Broadcasters Foundation

This workshop will focus on the importance of understanding what diversity and inclusion means and why it is important for the individual and organization to lean into the work.

1) Beginning the Diversity and Inclusion Journey – Discover the importance of looking inward and beginning the journey with self. Recognizing that the first person you have the ability to influence is you, so why not begin there.

2) Being an Inclusive Leader – What is the role and characteristics of an inclusive leader? Participants will learn about the 6 C’s of inclusive leadership and how to connect them to diversity and inclusion strategies.

Noon-1:15 PM Luncheon Program – (Not included w/o fee for engineers.) The Future of Media In a Post-Pandemic World with Paul Jacobs, Jacobs Media, Sponsored by Jayhawk Sports Network. What is the future of media revenue growth in a post-pandemic world? As traditional advertising revenue growth has slowed down, how can companies unlock the true value of their audiences? This presentation will provide insight into ideas in how listeners and viewers are changing their habits and provide recommendations and examples of how broadcasters can transform their business, through re-imagining the business model, re-defining staff responsibilities, and setting a new, expansive definition of success.

1:30-2:45 PM Engineering Session – “Protecting Your Station from a Cyber Security Attack” with Wayne Pecena, SBE President, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD,ATSC3, DRB, CBNE. Cybersecurity is not an option as exploit attempts continue to target broadcast facilities. The broadcast engineer must have the foundation knowledge and skills necessary to maintain a secure network. This session will provide an understanding of practical implementable cybersecurity precautions based upon the NIST Framework for the broadcast station. Specific topics will include an overall understanding of cybersecurity principals and a step-by-step infrastructure implementation guide for the broadcast facility whether large or small.

2:45-3:00 PM Refreshment Break – Sponsored by Nautel

3:00-4:00 PM Engineering Session – Visit our Great Sponsors

4:00-4:45 PM Engineering Session – SBE-3 Meeting & Election of Officers.

There is no charge for Engineers and Retired KAB members for the above engineering sessions, but you must register at kab.net/events/convention/

Page 6 Joe Cvetnich , Retired Kansas System Engineer

785-776-1499 [email protected] 3626 Rocky Ford Ave Manhattan, KS 66502

Karl Kuhn, PMP, SMPTE Fellow Principal Solutions Architect | Tektronix Video Division | Telestream 703-282-5745 | [email protected]

Page 7 SBE News Editor 8121 Grail Wichita KS 67207-3307

Order @ 6:30 PM Eat at 7:00 PM Mtg/Pgm 7:30 - 8:40

KMUW KWCH X