SBE CHAPTER 40 NEWSLETTER
NOVEMBER 2004
San Francisco
Roy Trumbull - Editor roy547@comcast.net
Bill Dempster - Artist
Advertisers for this month's newsletter are:
Santucci Video Systems - Sandra Santucci - (818) 704-6324
Belden - Steve Lampen - (415) 440-8393
Media Technical Consulting - Paul T. Black - (925) 827-9511
MARCOM - Martin Jackson - (831) 768-8668
William F. Ruck, Jr. Broadcast Engineer - (415) 564-1450
Ross Marketing Associates - Kevin Frost - (408) 988-8111
Kathrein (Scala Division) - Michael Wm. Bach - (541) 779-6500
Hammett & Edison, Inc. - Dane E. Ericksen, P.E. - (707) 996-5200
Howell Communications - Mike Howell - (559) 674-8989
Econco - George Badger - 650-327-7599
Improbable Missions Fource - Mike Schweizer - (888) 4-ISDN4U
Digi-Gear / Cancomm - Eric Lane - (818) 980-9188
West Penn Wire/CDT - Michael J. La Porte - (650) 652-9080
Microwave Radio Communications - Clark Rhoads - (909) 246-1602

Babes/SBE Luncheon on Wednesday Nov 24th.

Our speaker will be the only person to cook his turkey in Beldfoil, Steve Lampen. Steve will entertain us with his unreel tales of the history of wire.

As usual, our luncheon will be at Sinbad's just south of the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero near the foot of Mission St. We meet at 11:30 and are seated at 12:30. To make reservations call Paul Black at 925-827-9511 and leave a message on his machine.

Immekus Memorial Fund

BABES was started in the early 1960s by Howie Immekus, who then worked for KABL. He was one of the founding members of SBE and served on the national board. When Howie died in 1985, a memorial scholarship fund was started at the College of San Mateo. As other members have passed on, we've added to that fund. To make a donation, make your check payable to:

DTV Seminar March 23, 2005

We are working with SMPTE on setting up an all day DTV seminar next March 23 (Wednesday) with Gary Sgrignoli. Gary has done these seminars all over the country and we've had him here twice. There is still considerable interest as we enter the DTV home stretch, especially about what you should be doing to maintain a signal that will reach your maximum potential audience. There is also the matter of how to choose a keeper channel from the two you are presently using.

All those attending will receive a thick set of class notes. The fee will be at least $35 to cover the cost of the notes and a box lunch.

The real cost of putting on this seminar is borne by sponsors who cover a portion of the costs and in return are allowed to exhibit products or publications during the seminar breaks. If your company would be interested please contact me at roy547@msn.com.

We are also looking for companies willing to sponsor the coffee and goodies for the morning and afternoon break.

CBNT Set For February

I'm trying to firm up a date for the CBNT seminar. The tentative date is Saturday February 12th at KTVU in Oakland. As soon as I'm certain of the date I'll send a note with details to everyone who is on the newsletter list. While we will be able to do some on-site registration it would be preferable if as many people as possible registered directly with SBE headquarters in Indianapolis. The form can be downloaded from www.sbe.org

What's Your Dielectric?

I read a recent article about medical devices implanted in the body. These devices can be monitored or have their parameters modified by wireless gear operating on an unlicensed basis in the 402 - 403 MHz band. If the device is implanted in muscle, fat, or a blood vessel, each environment has a different dielectric constant and as a result the wavelength for a given frequency is different. Certain metals are a no-no. And multiple electrodes on the same device that might develop a potential difference are also problematic.

Kaiser Wins Again

While many medical providers are dithering about enhancements to their computer systems that would lead to a paperless scheme, Kaiser Permanente is already there. In a recent article in the New York Times (11/22/04) the example was given of Kaiser looking at the benefits of on-license statin drugs versus one that was already generic. By analyzing studies that had been done plus the treatment records of their 8.3 million members they found that a slightly higher dose of the old drug was just as effective as the new drugs. The savings amounted to $80 million dollars a year.

Subscribe to the online version of the newsletter

The electronic copy version of this newsletter is now availible via a mailling list. You can subscribe by going to http://www.lns.com/mailman/listinfo/sbe-announce and filling out the form there.

Web Page

Webmeister Tim Pozar has the current newsletter plus newsletters all the way back to 1996 at: http://www.lns.com/sbe

Roy also posts the current newsletter at http://home.earthlink.net/~rhtrumbull but the posting is without links.