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CHAPTER 24, Inc., MADISON, WI
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Monthly eNews
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December 2018
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Our Next Chapter Meeting:
Wednesday, December 12th
Annual Holiday Dinner
If you're coming, please let us know.
Click Here to Register
Maple Tree Supper Club
6010 HiWay 51
McFarland, WI
Happy Hour at 6:00PM
Dinner at 7:00PM
Directions
Visitors and guests are welcome!
EAS Audio on Streaming Feeds
From Gary Timm
Broadcast Chair, Wisconsin EAS Committee
During my recent EAS session at Broadcasters Clinic, I posed the following to the audience:
With the advent of people "listening to the radio" on smart speakers, does your streaming feed contain EAS alert audio?
I was encouraged by the show of hands to this question: 75% indicated they do currently have EAS audio on their streaming feed. The remaining 25% indicated they could put EAS audio on their streaming feed. No one indicated that it is not possible for them to put EAS audio on their streaming feed.
More than likely a lot of us never really thought about whether we have EAS alert audio on our streaming feed, but now with 20% of Americans (43 million) owning smart speakers this may be something for those of you not currently doing this to consider rewiring things to get EAS audio onto your streaming feed.
Discussion on this is welcome on the Wisconsin SBE email lists, and thanx for considering this issue.
Broadcasters Clinic Files Available
Audio and Slide files from the 2018 Broadcasters Clinic are now available on the Chapter 24 Web Site. Be aware that only those files authorized for posting by the presenter appear for download. For direct access Click Here.
Last Meeting's Minutes
Submitted by Mike Norton, Secretary
November, 2018
Chapter 24 of the Society of Broadcast Engineers held its monthly meeting on Thursday, November 15, 2018, at WMTV in Madison. There were 13 members present, 10 with SBE certification, and 4 guests.
Chapter Chair Rich Wood called the meeting to order at 7:01pm, then asked everyone to quickly introduce themselves. No additions or corrections were made to the short summary of the October meeting at the Broadcasters Clinic, so they remained as listed on the Chapter 24 eNews page.
Leonard Charles mentioned that the deadline for Chapter 24 eNews items on the website is the first of the month. Information and stories should be sent to lcharles@sbe.org by close of business on the first. Rich Wood mentioned that a sustaining membership report was sent in showing 14 companies currently supporting the local chapter.
Rich gave a brief overview of the upcoming program schedule, noting the next meeting will be the annual holiday party to be held at the Maple Tree Supper Club in McFarland on Thursday, December 12 at 6pm. The January 24 program will be held at WKOW, and presented by Rohde and Schwarz on their RelayCaster IP product. Looking farther ahead, the February 20 program at ECB is scheduled to be by Videstra with a demonstration of their streaming live camera system.
Certification and Education chair Jim Hermanson stated there were two recent recertifications, as well as one exam given. The certification application deadline is December 31, for the next Feb 1 - 11 local exam window.
Leonard Charles gave the SBE National report, mentioning that the next SBE webinar on ATSC 3.0 will happen on November 29; get more details and register at the national website. The SBE Mentor Program will enter its third year, and is an opportunity to be a mentor and share your knowledge with a newer person in the industry. Likewise, if you are newer to the field you can sign up to be a mentee. Learn more about the mentor program at the SBE Website.
With the treasurers report, Roy Henn indicated a sustaining member check was received from Ross Video, and reimbursement for pizza at the September meeting would be paid from the Chapter account. The Chapter continues to have a stable account balance.
For frequency coordination, Tom Smith indicated there were no recent frequency requests received, with light coordination activity surrounding UW football game days. There were no old or new business items brought up for discussion.
In professional and general announcements, Rich Wood welcomed Will Schifflett to the market as the new chief engineer for WHA-TV. Will previously worked in Oklahoma, and said he was pleased to be close to an active SBE chapter. Rich noted that there is a position opening at ECB for a Southern Field Regional Manager, and more detail can be found at wisc.jobs, but the deadline to apply is November 25.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:14pm. Rich introduced Greg Levesque, Director of Local Relations for American Transmission Company, who presented an overview of the bulk electric power industry. He then answered questions about planned ATC power line construction, including the relatively new 345kV line that runs along the Madison West Beltline Highway and nearby the WMTV studio and tower. WMTV Chief Engineer Tom Weeden also shared some measurement data related to the tower guy wires before and after the ATC line was put in operation.
Amateur Radio News
compiled by Tom Weeden WJ9H
A California amateur radio operator who allegedly was operating an unlicensed FM broadcast station was issued a Notice of Unlicensed Operation (NoUO) by the FCC Enforcement Bureau. On November 7 the FCC issued the Notice to Technician licensee Daryl Thomas, KE6MWS, of Carmichael, California.
On October 10, 2018, an Enforcement Bureau agent from the FCC's San Francisco Office responded to a complaint of an unlicensed FM station operating on 95.7 MHz in Carmichael. The agent confirmed by direction-finding techniques that a signal on 95.7 MHz was emanating from a residence, and Thomas subsequently admitted that he was the operator of this station, the FCC said in the NoUO. The agent measured the field strength of the signal and found that it exceeded the maximum permitted level of 250 uV per meter at 3 meters, established under Part 15.
The Notice cautioned Thomas that operation of radio transmitting equipment without a valid radio station authorization, or in violation of the Commission's RF radiation limits, constitutes a violation of the federal laws cited above and could subject the operator to severe penalties, including, but not limited to, substantial monetary fines, seizure of the offending radio equipment, and criminal sanctions including imprisonment. "Unlicensed operation of this radio station must be discontinued immediately and must not resume," the Notice warned.
SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) 2018 took place on Saturday, December 1. Developed in 1999 by the National Weather Service (NWS) and the American Radio Relay League, SRD celebrates the contributions that SKYWARN volunteers make to the NWS mission, the protection of life and property. During SKYWARN Recognition Day, special event stations were on the air from NWS offices, contacting radio amateurs around the world.
"Amateur Radio operators comprise a large percentage of the SKYWARN volunteers across the country," the NWS announcement said. "Amateur Radio operators also provide vital communication between the NWS and emergency management, if normal communications become inoperative."
The object of SRD is for all amateur stations to exchange contact information with as many National Weather Service stations as possible on 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, and 2 meters, plus 70 centimeters.
This year's amateur radio operations for Skywarn Recognition Day
at the National Weather Service office in Sullivan, WI
(NWS Milwaukee photo)
(Excerpts from the American Radio Relay League's arrl.org web site)
FCC NEWS
compiled by Tom Smith
CLINIC SECURITY SESSION SUMMERY AVAILABLE
One of the Wednesday morning sessions at this fall's Broadcasters Clinic was on station security. The session was a panel discussion moderated by Juli Buehler, WLUK-TV News Director and panelists Dan Shelley, RTNDA Executive Director, Tom Allen, Quincy Media, Regional Vice President, Dave Devereaux-Weber, WORT-FM Board President, David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP and Mike Koval, Madison Police Chief. The panel discussed station and personal security and presented examples of past security issues at stations with a vandalism incident at WLUK-TV and the shooting at WORT-FM. There is video of these incidents and the audio for the session on the SBE 24 website under the Broadcasters Clinic link. Now David Oxenford has posted a nice summary of the session on his blog site Broadcast Law Blog. The article can be found by scrolling down the webpage till the article appears. David Oxenford is the Washington attorney for the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association which organizes the Broadcasters Clinic.
Whether you attended the Clinic or not, the article is a good reminder of the importance of having a good security program for your station and your co-workers.
PHASE ONE COMPLETED
On November 30th, Phase One of the TV Repack was to be completed. The FCC did not note the fact on their website on November 30th, but an article on Broadcasting and Cable's website noted that 140 stations were to move to their new channels during phase one with four stations granted to move from phase one to a later phase. The next phase is due to be completed on April 12th of 2019. If any stations missed their phase one deadline, we should find out shortly after the first of December from either the FCC or in one of the broadcast trade websites.
Certification and Education
compiled by Jim Hermanson
The Open 2018 - 2019 Exam Schedule
| Exam Dates |
Location |
Application Deadline
(to SBE National Office) |
| February 1-11, 2019 |
Local Chapters (Madison Area) |
December 31, 2018 |
| April 9, 2019 |
NAB Show (Las Vegas) |
March 1, 2019 |
| Jun 7-17, 2019 |
Local Chapters (Madison Area) |
April 19, 2019 |
| August 2-12, 2019 |
Local Chapters (Madison Area) |
June 3, 2019 |
| November 1-11, 2019 |
Local Chapters (Madison Area) |
September 24, 2019 |
A reminder that each year, account balance permitting, Chapter 24 will reimburse half the application fee to any member of Chapter 24 in good standing who successfully obtains any SBE certification level not previously held by that member.
Specialist Certifications
The SBE National Certification Committee created the Specialist certifications in order to establish a benchmark of individual strengths.
To qualify and apply for a specialist certification, you must currently hold a certification on the broadcast engineer, senior engineer or professional broadcast engineer level.
The specialist certification exams are three hours and consist of 50 multiple-choice questions. One essay-type question will be selected for each exam. The multiple-choice portion is open book and the essay portion is closed book.
There are currently three Specialist Certifications available. The ATSC 3.0 Specialist will be available in 2019.
•8-VSB Specialist (8-VSB)
•AM Directional Specialist (AMD)
•Digital Radio Broadcast Specialist (DRB)
When you are ready to take an SBE exam, please fill out the appropriate application and send it into the SBE National office (see address below). You will be notified once your application has been approved. Approximately 3 weeks before the exam time, your local certification chairman will receive a list of applicants in his/her area. He/she will then contact those applicants to schedule a date, time and place for the exams. The exams will be mailed back to the National office for grading. The pass/fail grades will then be mailed directly to the applicants.
You may mail, email or fax your applications to:
Megan E. Clappe
Certification Director
9102 N. Meridian St.
Suite 150
Indianapolis, IN 46260
317-846-9120 Fax
mclappe@sbe.org
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Views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), its officers, or its members. SBE Chapter 24, Inc. regrets, but is not liable for, any omissions or errors.
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