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June Last revision June 01, 2020

Next Meeting We meet Tuesday June 9, 6:00 PM - Sunset + 30 minutes, for the SBE-3 annual picnic at the home of Robert Nelson, Northeast of Emporia (see map on last page). The chapter will furnish meat and drinks for the picnic, and attendees are encouraged to bring a side dish or dessert to complete the meal. Be sure and RSVP to Robert Nelson so he has a headcount for the food purchase, then clean your shotgun or other firearms and be ready for the annual clay pigeon shootout and target practice. See you there!

. • July no meeting. • August: will be with Utah Scientific with John Schilberg @ Topeka (Location is Subject to Change!). • September: Nautel at KTWU.• October: KAB at Wichita with election of Chapter officers. • November: Could be an HVS sponsored event. Location TBD • December No Meeting.!

Last Meeting: Chairman Robert Nelson opened the Virtual meeting on Zoom at 7:30 PM. Eight members attended. • Marty Heffner moved to accept the minutes of the last meeting as published in the SBE-3 newsletter. The motion was seconded by Rod Rogers, and with a show of hands, easily visible to all on the Zoom connection, Chairman Nelson declared the motion passed.

Dick Abraham relayed the current bank balance of the chapter, obtained from Bob Locke, Chapter Treasurer. The report was accepted.

Chairman Nelson started a round robin of activities each attendee had been involved in during the CoVid-19 social distancing. Many of the guys were involved helping their churches with streaming of the Sunday services, or broadcasting via low power radio to a parking lot full of cars, or both methods.

Ron Jones, who runs an A/V sales and service company has been busy helping many different churches with this problem. He does the audio and brings Raun Hamilton in with Tri-Caster for those facilities who are further along with broadcasting of their services. One of the programs he uses for those just starting out. Is vMix, which ranges from a free version, to a full four camera switching operation. They also offer a 60 day free trial of all their products. Ron also mentioned El Gato software as another streaming possibility. Search for El Gato Streaming Deck. James Copeland, who was connected from somewhere in the Arizona desert, gave us a virtual tour of his Winnebago Studio. He explained the WLHA logo on one studio mike showing on Zoom. It was originally a carrier current radio for KSU campus that went dark a good number of years ago, and got revived later on the Internet. James contributes about thirteen hours a week to its programming. Robert Nelson has been working from home, finishing up projects there, and only driving to Manhattan to check sump pumps and other items that require periodic attention at KSU's Dole Hall. He rotates this duty with John Langer, Tracy Gibson or other employees so no one has to be there everyday. Robert is also trying to find time to get a couple of bee hives going at his place outside Emporia.

Rod Rogers hasn't had too much change in the workload of his Radio Engineering Company. He says he has had to go to double time charges for emergency repair work on FM transmitters since most owners don't want to enter into an ongoing maintenance contract. Rod did contribute to discussion on how to deal with a parking lot full of cars listening to a Sunday sermon. He remembered slotted or "leaky" coax as a distribution method rather than multiple antennas. He told of its use in highway tunnels, and along roadways where an FM transmitter could be picked up to deliver the desired message.

Don Hogg checked in finally with audio only, since his IP connection would not handle A/V simultaneously. Don has had a series of medical issues lately, including gall bladder surgery, heart valve replacement, a stent or two, and has now received a diagnosis of spreading cancer, and blockage in neck blood vessels. Our well wishes and prayers go our to him and Loretta. A treatment plan is pending. Don did ask about the progress Robert was making on transferring audio from tape to a Doc Brinkley Power Point presentation. The source material had been in the custody of Rod Hogg, Don's brother. Robert says some progress is being made, but there is a way to go yet. It should make a good program for the Chapter when finished. For those of you who do not know, Doc Brinkley was an early radio pioneer in Kansas.

Discussion was held on the proposed picnic at Nelson's for our June program. It was brought up that food was a necessary item for that program, and that the Chapter usually furnished hamburger, brats, buns, and soft drinks for the event, Therefore, Robert Nelson did not need a motion passed authorizing him to purchase the food, if he presented an itemized receipt or bill for such items at the next business meeting. Consensus was positive on this item. My wife, who was also in the room, laughed as she visualized a virtual picnic, if that became necessary. In her mind, she imagined seeing several guys in different locations, grilling their meal as they visited with one another. I told her I didn't think the neighbors were going to take kindly to me shooting clay pigeons in our back yard. I had to laugh with her too, but some things are better left as they were originally intended.

Our online meeting was terminated at 08:27 PM on motion of Don Hogg, seconded by Martin Heffner, and a vote of members attending - again by a show of hands. Our thanks to Robert Nelson for setting up and administering this virtual meeting. It was a bit of short notice, but I hope some of you were able to watch the NAB Show Express Webinar, May 13 or 14 with free registration. Sessions were provided by SBE on ATSC 3.0 updates, and an SBE Ennes MultiPlatform Supersession. but all this wasn't posted until May 11. At out last SBE- 3 meeting, someone was asked if they had been watching any SBE Webinars. He replied that he had ceased that activity because each time he did, he was bombarded with spam for weeks following his registration. Just a thought, but it was a valid complaint. It is a common practice to sell or provide the registration list information to participating vendors, but the same problem occurs on Windows 10 and other browsers when advertising is "tailored to your interests". I was looking for a used truck online recently, and had been so pestered by ads from all over for similar products, that I have taken to "private browsing" where cookies are not issued. The practice of "Private Browsing" would have provided some relief from the flood of ads that followed a recent purchase of a UV insect trap online. I did not understand why I got so many offers for the same product from the same vendor from which we purchased the product, and it was only solved by clearing my browsing history and my cookie cache.

While I understand the desire of vendors for leads to sell their products, it is a problem that can develop into a genuine nuisance. With so little to do lately, I decided to upgrade my off air TV reception at home. I don't use it very often, unless Cox goes dark, but it is handy then. I used a pair of rabbit ears inverted behind the TV set, since we are in a metro area, and the lead was short. I extended the ears out enough to kind of lend support, and I managed 4 to 6 channels, but not always the ones I wanted when I had to depend on them. If Cox cable is down, it is usually stormy and I want to see a weather show, or see the NWS radar on Internet. Digging around, I managed to find enough RG-59 to make a jumper. Shortening the rabbit ears up to get better UHF and laying them out flat, I placed them on top of our patio window valance, connected the jumper, and rescanned the TV tuner. Channels received went up to 27 ! A little more digging in the sack of cable goodies yielded some cable clips which secured the RG-59 coax up tight to the patio window frame such that it barely shows. The wife is happy with the installation, and I have a bunch more channels that are stable and remain so even if I move about in the room. The old adage is still true, that height will gets you more increase in signal than almost any other means. I know, its a small thing, but this is one of several little jobs that were too small to warrant much attention, until the CoVid-19 stay at home order got me too looking for anything to do to break the boredom. My wife says of the boredom, "Wait for the next baby boom", which probably isn't going to happen at this house, but it is a good point. What are you doing to combat the new time on your hands?

Well, Spacex and NASA were successful in launching two astronauts on their way to meet up with the International Space Station the last part of May. It has been nearly a decade since the US has placed men in space, and it is good that they have brought that little task back under full control of US and US companies. The task was accomplished with cooperation of NASA and Spacex, a US company headed by Elon Musk. This is a much better arrangement than the previous practices of NASA contracting out various parts of the job, often to the lowest bidder. I know some of you are required to operate that way, but it seems to me to be a better system when the whole job is contracted out to a company who has a bigger need for the project to finish well than to assemble the job from many smaller contractors who have less to lose if their part doesn't do as well as it could have. It was interesting to watch the first phase rocket assembly land on a drone ship in the ocean, so it could be reused - a huge step in lowering costs of space travel. I believe such cutting edge projects are necessary to further new scientific research into applications that make everyday life better for all mankind. God speed to our astronauts. Our nation needed some new heroes! Perhaps this will give our competing news media something good to present for a few days, other than bickering politicians, CoVid-19 recovery, and the latest civil disobedience riot coverage. It is interesting to note how little time was given to this space launch, compared to years past. I don't think I saw but one replay of the launch before they closed live coverage and went back to more mundane topics in the news agenda. 30

Pandemic Resources available through KAB

• KAB COVD-19 Resource Center https://www.ksbroadcasterscovid19.com/

• Sales Ideas webinars from Derron Steenbergen and Speed Marriott

• Crisis Management Webinar with Mark Levy

• Legal webinar on the Payroll Protection Plan and SBA Loans

• Legal webinars on FCC action during COVID

• Advocacy alerts with our Kansas Congressional Delegation to seek funding for broadcasters

• Working with PBS/NPR stations and Department of Ed to present daily content from teachers for students
of all grade levels to watch and learn

We are greatly saddened at the passing of Don Hogg. For many in our group he was a good friend, colleague, boss, teacher, and mentor.  He was always striving for us to be the best at whatever we did and he instilled an attitude of quality.  We jokingly called it the broadcast mentality but really it was striving to produce a quality product in all areas of our work. It was   based on standards that would make it worthy of transmission, something you'd want to put your name on or be associated with. I had the pleasure of knowing Don for the last 30 years and working with him for 16 of those 30 years. 

There are many good stories and times that can be told about Don. I am just glad that I was able to share in the story that is Don Hogg. I hope you too share in those stories and that when you think of them they bring a smile not only to your face but to your heart. You will be missed my friend may you rest in peace.

John Langer  

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