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March Last revision Mar 5, 2019

Next Meeting: We meet in Manhattan on KSU campus at Dole Hall March 12, at 7:30 PM, hosted by Robert Nelson and John Langer. Our program will be given by Ron Jones, who will tell us the processes by which he converted his existing home to a Net Zero energy status. This will be an interesting program, so come join the group and learn something new. There is no organized meal for this meeting, but several of us might be found at the Pizza Ranch at 511 McCall Rd. before the meeting begins.

Last Meeting: Eighteen members and guests met in Topeka at KTWU studios hosted by Gary Krohe, Director of Engineering
and Technology on Tuesday, February 12, at 6:30 PM. Our program was arranged by Heartland Video Services, who brought in Vitek Productions Solutions. Our thanks to Vitek, who provided pizza, and to Heartland who provided drinks and dessert for our supper.

Chairman Bob Locke brought the meeting to order at 7:07 PM, and requested approval of the minutes of the last meeting, as published in the Chapter 3 Newsletter. The minutes were approved on motion of John Langer, seconded by Gary Krohe, and vote of those present at the meeting. Robert Nelson, Secretary/Treasurer reported attendance reports and meeting records had been filed and accepted by the SBE National Office. He also reported on Chapter 3 finances. Vice Chair/Program Chair John Langer gave a report on future meetings. • March will be held at KSU, with Ron Jones giving the program on Net Zero energy conversion of his home. • April: no meeting in deference to NAB. • May will be in Wichita at KWCH Studios, hosted by Steve Reiter, Director of Engineering, with program provided by Rohde and Schwarz. • June will be in Manhattan with Raun Hamilton of Southwest Audio/Video telling about a recent installation in a local church. • July will be the annual Chapter 3 Picnic Northeast of Emporia at the Nelson home. Dick Abraham reported on Don Hogg's progress from a recent illness following a clean PET Scan of his cancer. Don is hopeful he will be released to travel in time for the March SBE-3 meeting. Bob Locke reported on recent personnel changes announced at KPTS in Wichita. Richard Ochoa has accepted the Chief Engineer position there, beginning late in February. Director of Operations and Engineering Dave McClintock plans to retire at the end of April. We stood adjourned from the business meeting at 7:15 PM on motion of Gary Krohe, seconded by Duane Loyd.

Our program was given by Vitek Production Solutions. Vitek offers products in Supports; Camera Accessories; Mobile Power; Video Transmission Systems; Prompters;Mo nitors; Lighting and Controls; Camera Robotics; Bags; Audio Capture; and Motion Control. Aaron Brady, Richard Law and Mark Kereszturi, were with us from Vitek. Aaron showed Auto- Script's Intelligent Prompting, which uses IP to transmit ASCII program text to the prompting node controllers. This is done in advance of live programming, which reduces latency to less than ping time. The prompter is light and compact, easily mounting on the tripod with only one ethernet cable from the node controller, in most cases. The unit works with ASCII, Hex Code, and can use composite video as well. Tally signals can be fed in via IP too. These methods enhance troubleshooting, allowing quick isolation of problems. By sending the data out on IP, one node can go down without affecting others, providing flexibility for easy changes in the program presentation and maintaining better continuity of the live program production. The equipment software has been developed using a variation of Red Hat Linux.

You furnish the camera.

The AutoScript Prompter quickly unfolds, and snaps in place on the camera mount plate. Side flaps swing out to shield the prompter display from sun or reflections. Connect the single ethernet cable from the node controller to the prompter backplate, and you are ready to go. With Wifi node connect, to be announced at NAB, the process will be even faster for live breaking news.

They will announce a wireless or WiFi version at NAB this year, and Vitek is working on an I-Pad App to control the unit. They also have a very small Bluetooth device for talent to use. It can be concealed in the palm of the hand, allowing the speaker to control the rate at which the prompter displays or scrolls the text. They have other rugged foot operated controllers to fit under news desks for the same purpose. Mark Kereszturi, Vitek Regional Manager, showed the new Vinten Carbon Fiber Tripod. There are two versions available, which can be fitted with various sized ball heads to handle different loads, but are only six pounds in weight !! The tripods created considerable interest by those attending our meeting. Our thanks to Mark T, Aaron, and Richard of Vitek for the program and supper, to HVS for arranging the evening, drinks and dessert, to Gary Krohe and KTWU for hosting our monthly Chapter 3 meeting. It was a good evening with lots of info.

Aaron Braden shows the finer features of the AutoScript Intelligent Prompter to the group.

 This morning, I am looking at two larger displays, one with five traces all with different data, and another devoted to respiration. There are six or seven other pieces of electronic gear controlling and tracking IV drips and leg cuffs that prevent blood clots. In this case it is my brother-in-law to which all these devices are attached via cords, tubes & hoses. It's not a pretty sight, but the information that is gathered, is recorded for both instant use and evaluation of trends by doctors and nurses, all without manually transferring the data to a paper log. My wife asks what I am doing and I respond I am writing what I am seeing for the newsletter. She: "So what are you seeing?" Me: "Electronics." She: "So is the organ at home." Me: "But it doesn't work." She: "Exactly!"

Of course, that's another story. It's her mothers old Hammond organ. You know how proprietary they are with schematics and service information. I think likely it has a power supply down. The lights are on, but nobody is home, you know? Were I to fix it, it wouldn't sell for enough to cover cost of parts. Or, I will have to load it up and haul it to one of our daughters that wants it eventually because it was Gramma's. But her point can not be denied. It sits in the dining room - a lump of walnut with little function. Back to the ICU. All of the described gear has to be calibrated, certified, sterilized and safe to use without shocking the patient or affecting the readings. I only knew of one shop in Wichita that ever provided that service. That was Dennis Main, and that has been a number of decades ago.

Such people quietly negotiate with those in the medical profession for their services, and we in broadcast rarely hear about it. It's a day later and my brother-in-law has stabilized some. His breathing tube and CPAP machine are gone. The femoral arterial catheter has also been removed, along with a gob of wires, cables and tubes. It makes for a much tidier room. One 21 inch screen remains with most of the pertinent information, although perhaps not in such an instantaneous fashion. One thing I do know, I wish he had previously gotten a will done, along with a durable and general power of attorney. It makes things so much easier. I do think seeing him lay there full of tubes and wires has scared the bejabbers out of his kids, and they are at least talking about getting their DPOA/GPOA's in place, so their wishes are known if they find themselves in such a situation. Then their kids don't have to make those decisions under pressure. We carry a copy for myself and my wife in the glove box of the car.

Good news! Flight Safety corporation has announced they will open drone operator training in both Las Vegas, and at their facility in east Wichita! I am glad some business in the Air Capitol has expressed an interest in this field, and wish them well in the venture. This might make a program for our chapter later on when they get their classes up and running.

I saw an interesting subject in Wired magazine dealing with a mirrored world, in regard to data. They discussed the history and the future, as they see it, of major digital platforms. As they see it, the Web was the first major technical platform, Social Media was the second platform, running mainly on cell phones, and are forecasting the digitization of the rest of the world as the next major technical leap forward. They see Google Earth as only a glimpse or perhaps a hint such as Pokemon Go, of what the Mirrored World may bring. Wired explained how mirroring is used today in space technology. GE and other companies building gear for use in space, make and keep complete digital plans of anything they send into space. If there is a problem with it there, they are able to refer to this "digital doppelganger" to simulate the problem aiding them in a solution to cure it, or perhaps as a means to be able to send data to the ISS so a replacement part can be 3D printed there.

Another instance Wired gave to explain Mirrored World, is if you were walking in a garden and wished to leave a tag for a lady friend that would guide them to a delicate flower you saw which she would appreciate. Later, when she was walking in the area, a tag would pop up on her cell phone, guiding her to the exact spot of the flower, and give her your thoughts on it. I think we all appreciate the magnitude of data necessary for Google Earth. If the previous example were true, the necessary data would expand exponentially. Access to cloud servers would be an absolute necessity to accomplish such a feat, for we are not talking about simply leaving a tag defined by location alone, but rather the digitization and storing of every detail in the existing world in a massive database, readily available with little latency with billions of requests of that data as people and machines move about in the real world. Realization of this type of database cannot be accomplished without further inroads into personal privacy. In addition, position locators would have to be installed on everything that moves, not only people, but every vehicle or object capable of moving. Whether people locators would be done by everyone's cell phones, or fully implemented, chip every person, dog or other pet.

Big Brother would become a reality. Cell phones could not be relied on to locate a person, because many people don't want to be located twenty-four-seven. You would have no time you were not available to your employer. There is a good chance cell phones simply could not be relied upon anyway. That would require massive expansion of cellular networks. Cell phone service cannot be relied on today in the more rural parts of this state, let alone the mountainous regions of the United States or other parts of the world. Very likely, satellite service would be the only way to make it happen. It is certainly something to make one stop and think.

Are we on the brink of Big Brother, or the world as described in the Left Behind series of books, or in the Book of Revelation? 30

After the meeting, it was time for "up close and hands on" the gear being featured at our program, as questions were answered and other groups were able to visit with one another.

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