SBE CHAPTER 40 NEWSLETTER
JANUARY 1999
SAN FRANCISCO
Roy Trumbull - Editor roy547@netcom.com
Bill Dempster - Artist
Advertisers for this month's newsletter are:
Zack Electronics - (800) 998-3947
Advanced Marketing - Frank A. Santucci - (650) 365-3944
Riggins Electronics Sales - George Riggins - (662) 598-7007
Orban - Rick Sawyer - (360) 715-1913
MARCOM - Martin Jackson - (408) 768-8668
William F. Ruck, Jr. Broadcast Engineer - (415) 995-6969
Communications Law Center - Philip M. Kane - (650) 369-7373
RF Specialties of California - Bill Newbrough - (888) 737-7321
Hammett & Edison, Inc. - Dane E. Ericksen, P.E. - (707) 996-5200
LeBLANC - David A. Hill - (650) 574-4600
Pacific Research & Engineering Corp. - William Hopkins - (760) 438-3911
Keith Davidson & Company - Keith Davidson, CSBE - (707) 648-0412
Improbable Missions Fource - Mike Schweizer - (888) 4-ISDN4U
Svetlana Electron Devices - George Badger - (800) 578-3852
TFT Inc. - Jesse J. Piatte, Jr. - (408) 727-7272 x504
Audio Accessories - Rosie Alexander - (510) 787-3335
Brill Electronics - Marcie Mearns / Field Sales - (510) 308-1248
Brill Electronics - Larry Shore / Inside Sales - (510) 834-5888
Scala - Michael Wm. Bach - (541) 779-6500
Scala - Everett E. Helm, CPBE - (541) 779-6500
Harris - Ed Longcrier - (800) 315-7285
Anixter - Judy Conner - (510) 489-7430
 

BABES/SBE LUNCHEON ON WEDNESDAY Jan 27TH
Our speaker will be Aldolfo Rodriquez from Snell and Wilcox concerning format converters for DTV.

As usual our luncheon will be at Sinbad's. Sinbad's is just south of the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero near the foot of Mission Street. Please RSVP to Karen Prasek at Zack's: 408-324-0551 x126 as we've been running out of tables and chairs. We meet at 11:30 and are seated at 12:30.

Future Meetings
EAS Game Over and We Lost
Actually I'm not talking about the demand for EAS receiver royalty payments some of us have received. I'm talking about the December 23rd decision by the FCC that cable companies do not have to install equipment to accommodate local broadcasters. During an EAS Alert, they are free to block local stations even if those stations are carrying information pertinent to the emergency in the EAS message. The FCC felt that the needs of each local community, as expressed in the requirements of their cable franchise agreement, outweighed the needs of the public to view uninterrupted news coverage. It was obvious the commission felt that the cable company would be more responsive to a local emergency than would the broadcaster. A broadcaster wishing to establish an agreement to avoid blockage will also have to run the gauntlet of making a presentation to each effected community government in the system.
DTV HIATUS AT SUTRO.
Initially Dielectric delivered 4 filters for channels 24, 29, 56, and 57. But the overall system is designed to accommodate 10 channels into 4 antennas. The channel filters installed on the roof are to be removed so that frames and components for four combiners and additional channel filters can be installed. The existing channel filters will then be reinstalled. It's expected that if the work is started on schedule that the DTV transmission system will be down until after February 15th. KBHK expects to be up and running soon on Ch 45. Their transmitter is in place and being tested. KQED is planning to light up on Ch30 in October.
DTV Brown Boxes on Shelves
The various lines of DTV related products are going over like snowcones in bear country. (Think about it. Drink some coffee. It will come to you.) Thus far the response has been zip as broadcasters lack a business plan. Some of the set makers appear ready to slash prices to move product; that may be a start. The early adopters are going for such equipment as is. We know them all by name. They call up weekly. Isn’t it nice to know the entire audience?
DISNEY/NABET SETTLE
Going in the Sutro gate I've been watching one of the KGO guys switch off between practicing the banjo and the violin. Nice to see that there has been a settlement but, from experience, I know how the effects tend to lag on. Good that the paychecks will resume.
8VSB at KICU
The importance of email and the website were hammered home once again when KICU issued an invitation for a one day program on 8VSB presented by Gary Scrignoli of Zenith and Dennis Wallace. Gary has been a major figure in the development of the 8VSB system and has hauled Zenith prototypes around the country to permit stations to conduct DTV demonstrations. Dennis has done a lot of the field measurements on the systems and can characterize how it works in practice. We sent a copy of the announcement to everyone on our chapter email list and also posted it on the Web Site.
EMAIL ADDRESS
If you have an email address, please contact Warren Reese at radions@jps.net. Warren is in charge of our email list, which we use when we need to notify members when something has happened between newsletters.

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