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A note from KAB
tells us that the KAB meeting in October at Wichita has been canceled, but there are virtual programs for engineers that can be scheduled. Brad Moses, KAB Chair, writes: "The KAB Board has decided to cancel the 2020 Convention, scheduled for October in Wichita, due to COVID-19 and replace it with an engaging and valuable online experience. After conducting our survey of members, talking with other state associations and in consultation with the hotel, it became obvious that holding an in-person conference was truly not feasible under the current conditions. The good news is we will still provide excellent speakers and presentations – but in a virtual setting so you can safely participate from your home or office. We are working on all those details, including an exciting station awards event to still honor the outstanding work by individuals over the past year." However, KAB needs to know your interests for those virtual programs. E-mail your preference of engineering topics to Allison@KAB.net, or to Kent@KAB, so the most pertinent programs can be obtained. Loss of the KAB Convention could be a big hit to them financially, so it is a generous offer they are making to us.
John Langer writes:
"I thought this might be of some interest to (those) members that are still maintaining and operating C-Band receive only antennas. I received a call from Wesco yesterday and I did verify that this is legit. I believe only those that registered their Earth Station with the FCC are eligible for the planned upgrades. Most likely TI or notch filters and maybe an LNB change out (but unlikely) as they restrict the band to its upper frequency range (4.0- 4.2 GHz). Good or bad is yet to be determined but it does make me wonder if we truly need these services. Time will tell." See John's letter from Wesco.
I have used Terrestrial Notch Filters on satellite receivers before and they were quite effective. Programs were rescued from nearby AT&T
tower sites that were still using the 4GHz band. Mostly they had to be used on sites that could not be cleared by Frequency Coordinators, so the sites could not be licensed. The 950-1450 notch filters did cause some
loss of resolution or sometimes had other artifacts showing in the video, but for the most part they were effective. I never had to change out an LNB, but if one were available with better interference rejection or
overload characteristics, it would have been cheaper than a C Band notch filter. Often, it was found easier and less expensive to move the antenna to a different site altogether to obtain a better satellite to
terrestrial signal ratio and a consistently better overall picture. Hopefully, you all took time to register your C-Band sites with the FCC when you could do so. That way you won't be scrambling to find the cheapest
way to get a fix, or have to explain to your G.M. why you need all this remedial stuff that wasn't budgeted. If you don't already have access to a spectrum analyzer, good luck!! I would suggest leasing one if you
can't arrange for one from your corporate owners. It will pay off in time saved, allowing you to tune the rejection filter for optimum recovered signal.
I think most of you saw the notice
from Allison at KAB about the IPAWS test for this year, but just in case you missed it, it will be repeated here There will be no national IPAWS test this year in the United States. FEMA said the next national test will be pushed to 2021 because of the impact that the COVID-19 emergency has had on broadcasters and cable TV. So, ………Radio stations won't have to fill out those ETRS forms this year. FEMA is required to test the system at least once every three years. If you need more information on this item, check an article in Radio World for more details on the matter, but this is the gist of it.
Officer nominees for SBE-3 Officers for 2021 are as follows:
Chair: John Langer, KSU
Vice Chair: Robert Nelson, KSU
Sec.Treas: Bob Locke, KPTS-Retired
The election will be in October, and would have been at KAB, but since that physical meeting is canceled, we will have to work something else
out. Be watching!
Isn't digital TV marvelous?
I just saw a commercial in which they used a flashback to some previous time by showing a TV scene with snow and electrical noise in the picture. I had forgotten how much time and effort was spent trying to find and eliminate the source of bands of electrical noise that would crawl up the picture, and if severe enough, would cause the TV to lose vertical lock when the noise band went through the vertical sync pulse. This was especially true on channels two and three. It was also in a time when station sync was established off of their own sync generator, which had some difficulty locking to a network or other signal. Ah yes, back in the days when their was no GPS which has become the universal sync reference. I had to wonder at that fact as well, when I saw studio pictures of cell phones playing a remote video clip of an incoming storm. Everything locked and played well together. One has to appreciate the present in the perspective of the "good old days"; but then that is called progress, isn't it?. 30
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