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June Last revision July 8, 2019

Next Meeting: We meet at the Robert and Robin Nelson home (northeast of Emporia) for our annual SBE-3 picnic and clay pigeon shoot. Mark your calendars for July 9, beginning at 6:00 PM. See the last page for map and road instructions. Robert will serve as host and chef for the brats and hamburgers, while those attending will bring a side dish or dessert. Bring you shotgun, target pistol, potato gun, or what ever interesting oddity you might have, and we will terrorize the mosquitos! Be sure to avoid Robert's Purple Martin's who serve that duty when we are not there.

Last Meeting: June 11, twelve members and guests met at 7:30 PM in Manhattan at the First United Methodist Church. Raun Hamilton of Southwest Audio/Video gave the program and provided a pizza supper for the group, prior to the business meeting. Ron Jones aided in the program, since he had a large part in the audio upgrade at the church. Raun handled the video portion.

Our meeting was hosted by Deanna Likes, Communication Coordinator for the church. Chairman Bob Locke called the meeting to order at 7:39 PM, and asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the May meeting as published in the Chapter Newsletter. It was so moved by Don Hogg, seconded by John Langer, and approved by a majority vote of those present. The Treasurer's Report was made by Robert Nelson who reported a bank balance of $2979.33. Robert also noted a request by Kent Cornish of KAB for discussion topics we might like to hear from FCC Commissioner Lark Hadley at the Management-Engineering session on Engineering Day at KAB this October. Bob Locke, Certification Chair for SBE-3 reported there had been no requests for certification testing in the past month. The next chance for testing at the local level is November, with a application deadline of September 24. If you are interested in testing, contact Bob, and be sure to check at www.sbe.org for specific information.

The next SBE-3 meeting will be at the home of Robert Nelson who is hosting the annual SBE-3 picnic and clay pigeon shoot on July 9, beginning at 6:00 PM. Dick Abraham moved, seconded by Don Hogg, to pre-authorize Robert to spend Chapter funds for meat, bread, and drinks for the picnic. The motion passed. Members who attend can bring side dishes or a dessert. There will be no August meeting. The September meeting will be given by Raun Hamilton, who will feature a Link Electronics Time and place TBD. October will find us at KAB Engineering Day on a Monday. November we will enjoy a tour of the vinyl record pressing plant in Salina, hosted by Rod Rogers. The meeting was adjourned to the program at 7:58 PM on motion of Dick Abraham, seconded by Ron Jones, and vote of those present.

Raun Hamilton of Southwest Audio/Video presented the program. He told of installing a new video system in the church in which we were meeting. The video and audio upgrade project had been in process for 3 years in various church committees, so it was a well vetted idea. Raun fixed them up with five remote controlled pan/tilt/zoom pro-sumer cameras plus one IP connected JVC GY-HM850 shoulder or tripod mount,camera. All of these are fed into a a NewTek Tri-caster video switcher with several Mix/Effects banks. The remote positioning controller was a new product made by SKAARHOJ (pix p.3), that can control a large number of cameras and store a good number of preset views for each of them. It seems to be ideal for any church or repetitive fixed stage production, be it newscast, standard church service, plays, weddings, funerals or the like. Keep your eye on this product line. I believe you may see more of it in the future applications. The Clear Com Encore was chosen and installed for the intercom system.

This upgrade was married to the church's existing Titling/Character Generator, allowing song lyrics and reference verses to be shown full screen or as subtitles during the service. The latest in virtual stage imagery equipment is also fed into the NewTek Tri-caster for expanded stage presence. Likewise, Ron Jones (Jones Audio) was able to upgrade the church sound system keeping the existing sound board, but adding new QSC PL3102 power amplifiers, which drive two new Ambisonic line array speakers w/ribbon tweeters set up on stage. Deanna Likes, Church Communications Coordinator, is anxious to try several different possibilities with the upgraded system, which may include recorded or live streaming of Sunday services, recording weddings, or other live broadcasts as well. Live broadcast is usually a costly proposition, although First UMC in Wichita has been broadcasting live for several years. It is helpful for campers, who can't do streaming. However that may be, First UMC of Manhattan is set for the future in getting their message out in any form of media! Our thanks to Raun Hamilton, SAV, Ron Jones, Deanna Likes, and First United Methodist of Manhattan for our supper and a informative and fun evening.predictive captioning device.

(Top) Five cameras? Where? (Left) Do you see it here? (Right) Oh, there it is! Two left, two right, and a center balcony position, plus a JVC shoulder mount camera linked in wirelessly, give more than adequate video coverage of any event in the sanctuary. ….also note the Altec towers circled on stage in the top picture.

Eric Sivertsen attended our SBE-3 meeting as a guest June 11. He is a Ham operatorand is involved in Digital relay (repeater network) especially dedicated to storm spotters,although other Hams may use it as well.Eric is looking for tower space in the Wichita area for an antenna and space for several rack units of gear. - donated space would be great! The purpose is to expand the network statewide, and at present, they have pretty good fill along major highways in Kansas, but there is a pretty good hole in the Wichita area. They operate a few MHz below 450 MHz. You can find a bit more about the organization at http://ks-dmr.net/; or contact Eric directly via e-mail at easy@ksu.edu.

We have been experiencing the heat and humidity of late. Coming home from being out of town for 3-4 days, after the truck was emptied out, I flicked the air conditioner from the hold on 82ºF setting back to the 73ºF we usually run at, and noticed it seemed to take a long time to bring temps back to normal. The next day, I noticed it seemed a bit warm, so I checked the thermostat. Inside ambient was running about 2º warmer than the set temperature, and that is out of character for this system. I checked outside at the condenser unit, and found full air flow, but a not very hot exhaust. Checking the sight glass, I noted a few bubbles in the viewing window. When I got the gauges hooked up, the charge pressures were confirmed low. That was the first time this system had been opened since the A/C unit was newly installed. I had specified the new system have a scroll compressor, an expansion valve rather than a capillary tube at the inside A coil, and an inline sight glass on the output of the condenser coils. When adding some gas to the system, I noticed a small plume of condensing moisture spurting from the sight glass. The very item I had insisted to be installed to improve efficiency in maintaining proper charge was the weak point in the system when its gasket failed - soap confirmed. Not having a torch set, nor an evacuation pump, I called a professional I trust to change the guilty part out and check the rest of the system over. Not wanting him to find my equipment "dirty", and because the neighborhood cottonwood tree is nearly done with its annual dose of seeding, I hooked up the hose and backwashed the condenser coils, but when I peeked inside the shroud, I could still see stringy lint dangling. I removed the entire shroud and discovered my backwash had only blown a blanket of cottonwood seed away from the coils. Had I started the system back up, it would have just sucked the blanket back up against the coils, and I would not have had the efficiency improvement I expected after my cleaning efforts. Although I try to backwash the coils annually, I think the last time I removed the entire shroud for cleaning was about ten years ago! It's definitely worth doing more often! In the meantime, following a 3.2" rain yesterday afternoon, we were very thankful for the cooler temperatures last night. It's been a long time since we slept with windows open and ceiling fans going full blast in our house.

Bob Locke has been volunteering time with KPTS since his retirement from the station, especially necessary since the entire Engineering Department is new there. Richard Ochoa, SBE-3 member, is now the Chief Engineer, replacing Bob, and David Baes, replaced Dave McClintock when he retired from his position as Director of Engineering and Operations. David came from a radio management background. Anyway, Bob Locke has been showing Richard around the transmitter site, acquainting him with where different gear is there and how if fits together to get the signal out. KPTS also has a translator near Valley Center for better Wichita coverage. KPTS had been receiving complaints of no coverage in south Wichita on channel 17, the translator outputs.

Bob writes: … I and Richard Ochoa took my "Wavetek SAM 3030 field strength meter out to see what was happening signal-wise (to the south). I had good signal in Maize and it was being received ok in El Dorado also, but not to the south. Set up the antenna at McAdams Park, near the Canal Route. There was absolutely no signal there on channel 17, 488 – 494 mHz. We went back to the Park City tower site and all the metering looked OK, but yet no signal being received to the south. I started my 'feel check' of all of the 4 PA amps in the combiner. The combiner outputs to a 1-¾ inch flex coax, which in turn feeds the RF patch panel and thus to the antenna coax up the tower to the antenna. I found the coax "screw-on" connector on the combiner output was loose and quite hot to touch. It took about a full turn to tighten it up and it cooled off immediately at that point. (I did get a VSWR overload while screwing it back on). We returned to the park test location and the signal was there again on the Wavetek antenna test setup." Problem resolved. The normal antenna pattern is a modified cardiod. I would bet the length of that 1- 3/4" flex coax jumper is near an odd ¼ wavelength multiple at channel 17, providing a ¼ wave trap when not connected properly. Good work guys! This would not be a solution you would want to report to your GM, had he flown in a paid professional. I would save those test results, and maybe add some extra monitoring points to them as well, before I filed it away - maybe enough to make a recognizable shape of a cardiod. You also might want to remove and retighten the connectors on each end of that flex at regular intervals during maintenance when you are powered off - especially if they are connecting dissimilar metals. It is amazing how good engineering often involves such common sense things as "does it look or feel like it should?"

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