Our Speaker this month is Roger Shaw of Intraplex. He will cover the use of T1 and ISDN in the broadcast Industry. He will talk about signal delivery and interfaces required; different kinds of coding and their applications and features along with disadvantages of each. The differences between dial-up and leased service will be discussed.
Intraplex has 10 years of experience with audio coding equipment and has recently introduced an ISDN codec which will be featured in the presentation.
Sinbad's is just south of the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero near the foot of Mission Street. Please RSVP to Karen Prasez at Zack's: 408-324-0551 x126 as we've been running a full house recently. We meet at 11:30 and are seated at 12:30.
WHAT'S YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS?
SBE member Warren Reese of KPH in Bolinas is the keeper of the list and quite a few of our members have signed up already. Email him at RADIONS@AOL.COM. And if you have a packet address, Warren would like that too. His packet address is WB6TMY@N0ARY.#NOCAL.CA.USA.NOAM. (Note: The 0 after the @ is a zero. I can't convince MS WORD to do zeros with slashes.)
TWO MEETINGS IN FEBRUARY
In February we will have our regular luncheon meeting on the 28th plus an evening meeting on the 29th. Orban in San Leandro will host a meeting at which Harris Broadcast will present a technical paper on the design and application of their new DIGIT digital FM exciter. Richard Fry, FM Applications Engineer for the FM product line at Harris, Quincy, IL. will give us an overview of their design philosophy and discuss specific circuit elements and the reasons for choosing them. Again, that will be Thursday, Feb. 29th, 7pm at Orban, 1525 Alvarado St., San Leandro.
MARCH MEETING
Our March 27th meeting will feature Sean Bowers of Virtex Communications. He will discuss Musicam USA's involvement in the USA Digital Radio ("USA DR") system for Digital Audio Broadcast; the joint venture between Virtex and Infinity called Musicam Express providing 3500 radio stations with a store and forward music system. Also the Virtex "Field Fone" analog phone line codec and their "Prima" ISDN codec.
DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR TOWER IS?
From Jan 1, 1997 to Feb. 28th, 1997 is the filing window for California tower owners to register their towers with the FCC using form 854. That done, they will be obligated to supply their tenants with a copy of 854-R , which is the registration number. But if your tower owner can't certify that he isn't doing drugs, you may have to file for him. (I'm not making that up.)
If the surveyor was doing drugs when he specified the tower position and elevation, you'll have a no-fault chance to correct that information.
The FAA will require new aeronautical studies for towers with a change of more than one second in latitude or longitude or a correction in height of one foot or more. Tenants notified of such a change on form 854-R will need to file new site data with the FCC but no fee will be required.
For AM, FM and TV stations, if the HAAT (height above average terrain) differs by more than 2 meters
or if the latitude and longitude differ, FCC form 301 or FCC form 340 must be filed. Further if the height of an AM radiator is found to increase or decrease by more than 2 meters, the AM station will have to file form 301 or form 340. Applicants may also simultaneously file FCC form 302 (application for license). Such filings must be made within 30 days of receiving form 854-R.
FM Translators and boosters must file forms 349 and 350, construction permit and license application, respectively to correct the discrepancies of antenna tower coordinates where the distance exceeds a change of greater than 152.4 meters (500 feet).
In the case of a translator having greater than a 10% increase in the previously authorized contours, a form 349 application will have to be made as a major change and posted on the Public Notice "cut-off" list for 30 days. Subsequently, a modified construction permit will be issued which will require the filing of a follow-up FCC form 350. No filing fee is required. Filings must be made within 30 days of the receipt of FCC form 854-R
Low Power TV with site coordinate errors in excess of 152.4 meters (500 ft) must file FCC form 346 (application for construction permit). Errors from 152.4 meters to 200 meters may simply file a "minor change" with FCC form 347 (application for station authorization). Errors of greater than 200 meters may be reported in this manor provided the error doesn't result in an increase of the station's protected signal contour in any horizontal direction. Some errors may trigger a major change application. Again...30 days from the 854-R.
You should obtain a copy of the Report and Order of WT Docket No. 95-5 issued Nov. 28, 1995 and released Nov. 30, 1995.