As the LBA Antenna Turns

VOA Greenville – Fifty Years of Shortwave to the World

Chris Horne CTO W4CKH — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:20:02 +0000

Tranquility Base, here. The Eagle has landed. The Voice of America had the world’s largest audience ever when it reported in 46 languages man landing on the Moon. It earned trust when it reported on Watergate and the anti-Vietnam protests. In 1968, Czechs battled Soviet tanks in the streets. When Soviet troops forced a Czech dissident broadcaster to sign off, he told his audience to listen to the VOA. Czech broadcasting was never trusted again.

The phrase Voice of America (VOA) has always stood for a strong, powerful American broadcasting entity. The United States government intended the Voice of America to provide hope to people around the world and to counteract the propaganda espoused by America’s enemies in war conflicts. In the mid 1990s the federal government began closing or consolidating some large VOA broadcasting facilities. The federal government would like to close VOA site B in Greenville, NC. I hope they choose not to for some several reasons.

Recently, I toured VOA Site B and observed first hand both the magnitude of the transmitting equipment and the value its broadcasting can add to the international community. The day I arrived at VOA-B, the hundreds of acres of tall expansive antennas made you feel you were entering another planet. The father of wireless, Guglielmo Marconi, would be proud to see such a place full of great engineering and information for the world. Many wire antennas meshed together to form a tall wide curtain were supported by tall 300 feet towers. Each tower is fed by elevated transmission line (1 inch conducting pipes) 15 feet off the ground. Once inside the transmitting facility, the same degree of largeness is apparent by several “truck size” transmitters.

Open wire transmission lines to a multitude of antennas.

VOA B operates in the so called shortwave frequency band where signals radiated by the antenna reflect off the earth’s ionosphere and reach their destination hundreds or thousands of miles away – cell phones do not come close to that range! The VOA may be old by some standards but it is new to those who cherish the iron clad tube technology and massive antennas as well as those who rely on shortwave for critical and sometimes life-saving information. Let us not forget, telephone, cell towers and the related internet infrastructure is vulnerable during emergencies and disasters and the VOA’s former cold war technology is always reliable. Like an old 57 Chevy or 66 Mustang, VOA and shortwave may be antiquated but to some it is new and a look back into passion and handcraft, a breath of fresh air for those who grew up on old time radio. There are very few electrical engineers who understand how to operate and maintain a large shortwave station like the VOA and keeping the station active is part of the educational process.

Similar to the radio announcer inside a control room, were the many knobs and switches present that allow selection of the various transmitters to broadcast news and information to an estimated 125 million people. VOA broadcasts approximately 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to a worldwide audience, the specific country receives the signal from a specific antenna, one of many at the facility.

Inside the compound, “RF,” or radio-frequency transmitters lined the walls making up a room the size of a basketball court. Two 1950’s vintage Continental 500 KW transmitters, four 250 kilowatt shortwave transmitters and lower power units of various ages and makes; plus a dozen or more directional shortwave antennas sent programming, ultimately in many languages, skipping off the ionosphere to overcome the earth’s curvature to precisely pinpointed target areas abroad. As we peered into several transmitter rooms, the phrase “real radios glow in the dark” was mindful of large vacuum tubes with glowing filaments.

250 KW transmitter warming up

Outside, at the end of the transmitter building the transmitters feed elevated rows of parallel conductors that seem to extend out into the hundreds of acres to the neverland of wires and poles. Rest assured when a specific antenna is selected, there is an announcement to the facility and in the outside “switch matrix room”, and hydraulic shafts move conductors from one transmission line to another.

VOA Site B transmitter hall, offices, and switch complex (to right).

Transmission line switch, the antenna nerve center

Arrays of “curtain antennas,” strung among gigantic steel support towers, were built at VOA site B sometime around 1960. These arrays are oriented at different angles facing South America and Europe and parts of Africa. Before, the automation of the switch matrix, crews had to hustle outside in all types of weather and flip a series of handles by hand in order to change the antenna. Switches would freeze so solidly in the dead of winter that engineers had to attach lit propane torches to poles, reach up and melt the ice in order to throw them. Sudden shifts in frequency came often, too, to outfox Soviet engineers who were adroit at jamming shortwave signals.

VOA Site B from the Google view – 2 miles across!

Shortwave radio remains by far the most effective means of reaching audiences around the world, particularly in the developing countries. It is far from an outdated technology, as is sometimes alleged. Case in point is earthquake-stricken Haiti, the poorest and most underdeveloped country in the Americas. When the Haiti earthquake struck, the VOA broadcast messages in French Creole from Greenville Site B allowing desperate people to hear words of encouragement. Many people had no other means of communications.

What the original engineers and planners did at VOA B was to use the inventions that evolved from Marconi and create state-of-the-art technology that enabled professional media people to tell the truth about this great country. It’s a story they believed in – still believe in – and one that resonates with the people. The Voice of America is alive and well today. We hope the VOA Site B will stay on air for many years to come.

And, a footnote to the story:

The original Greenville VOA complex consisted of Sites “A”, “B”, and “C” which formed a triangle around Greenville. The “Edward R. Murrow” receiver and administrative Site C was decommissioned some 10 years ago and is now utilized by East Carolina University for archeology and other programs. Site A is a twin to Site B and remains intact, but little used, about 30 miles north of site B. All three sites were once connected by a major microwave link that extended to Washington, D.C. for programming and administrative traffic.

LBA Technology provides support to the Greenville VOA in the restoration of now unobtainable transmitter spare parts to keep the old systems transmitting. Read more about LBA Technology capabilities here.

Copper Thieves Target Frontier Communications’ Network in West Virginia

LBA — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:02:42 +0000

Copper Strap

Three men have been arrested for vandalizing a section of Frontier Communications’ network in Logan County, West Virginia. Four more arrest warrants have been issued.

The men disrupted phone and internet service and created a public safety risk for Frontier Communication customers by stealing copper and selling to to scrap dealers. Bail was set for the three men for between $140,000 – $150,000 each while they await trial. They will be charged with a felony at minimum but could also face federal charges because the vandalism violates Homeland Security, interstate commerce and environmental protection laws.

Lynne Monaco, Frontier’s Corporate Director of Security stated “Frontier has zero tolerance for vandalism or sabotage against our network, and we are aggressive about finding those who disrupt service and endanger the public.”

Frontier because of their zero tolerance policy is committing significant resources to identify and locate anyone who vandalizes their property or disrupts their service. In addition, Frontier has notified recyclers and scrap dealers who deal in telecommunications materials that they could be subject to arrest and conviction for receiving stolen property, as well as aiding and abetting network vandalism.

LBA’s new CTO Chris Horne has had recent experience with copper thefts. Twice in the past year, thieves in his area have targeted cell site grounding systems such as copper straps at remote locations. On average, the cost for the cell site replacements was $1,000 while the scrap value of the copper stolen was roughly $50. With the potential charges these thieves face, this is a huge risk compared to the reward.

LBA can provide replacement copper strap, wire, and other copper products. It also provides state of the art lightning protection for towers and copper lightning grounding systems.

Christopher K. Horne returns to LBA Group as new chief technical officer

LBA — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:05:31 +0000

Chris Horne with a refurbished commercial broadcast transmitter made to work on ham bands

After 15 years of burnishing his career in wireless communications, Christopher K. Horne has “come home” to LBA Group Inc. as the corporation’s new chief technical officer. He officially rejoined the Greenville firm today (Aug. 2).

Horne, a registered professional engineer, was a project engineer in LBA’s radio frequency safety program in the 1980s shortly after earning his bachelor of mathematics degree from N.C. State University. Horne went on to earn a master of electrical engineering degree from N.C. State and to become RF senior engineer at AT&T Wireless in Greensboro.

He later was senior applications engineer at another Greensboro company, RF Micro Devices, a position that required frequent travel to the Far East for consultation with clients and industry specialists. He comes to LBA after 5 years as wireless communications manager at North State Communications in his native High Point, N.C. At North State, Horne managed a multi-million-dollar advanced cellular network, including supervising site construction and overseeing subsequent technical work at new installations.

In May, the 43-year-old engineer completed his doctorate in electrical engineering from N.C. A&T State University, publishing two papers on fiber optic devices and completing a dissertation on nonlinear fiber optics.

“We are extremely pleased to have Chris rejoin us at LBA,” says Jerry Brown, LBA Group president. “His experience and talent will give LBA Group yet another dimension of expertise as we strive to meet the demands of a vibrant, technically evolving wireless industry.”

Horne looks forward to his return to Greenville. “I gained a lot of knowledge at LBA the first time,” he says. “I worked with some very knowledgeable people and learned a lot in a short amount of time. I think this is a great opportunity for me to learn some more and to advance my career.”

An early interest in telecommunications was sparked when Horne became a ham radio enthusiast at age 12. He steadily cultivated his knowledge of radio communications and in 2007 was issued the Federal Communication Commission’s top amateur license – Extra Class. (Horne’s call letters are W4CKH.)

Taste of NAB Road Show August 2010

LBA — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:40:43 +0000

Engineers, grab your Blackberries. Scroll down to an open summer date on your calendar and plug in The Taste of NAB Road Show. It’s back!

Co-sponsored by LBA Technology, the Taste of NAB Road Show is returning for a 9^th year, bringing to broadcast engineers and technicians where they live the latest electronic equipment and ideas showcased in Las Vegas at the National Association of Broadcasters convention.

In the month of August, host Larry Bloomfield and his fellow roadshow presenters have one of their busiest schedules yet, traversing Maryland, DC, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Montana.

Fifty-three one-day programs are scheduled for the Taste of NAB Road Show at stops in about 30 states. It is an ambitious undertaking, which Bloomfield justifies as necessary “so that some of the new technology from the NAB convention will get out to the grassroots engineers that didn’t make it to the big one in the desert.”

Organizers stress that the roadshow is not a sales event. Rather, it is an informational platform. The team of presenters will introduce such breakthrough technology as the Kathrein-Schomandl ADAM3000 analog / digital TV Analyzer and MSK-200 DTV Signal Analyzer and health-protecting SafeOne Personal RF Monitor, as well as the new Taref3 high-precision master clock by German manufacturer R.A.M. Gmbh. Because these pieces of equipment are exclusively distributed by LBA Technology, an LBA consultant will be on hand at many of the presentations.

The programs often are coordinated with local chapters of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers. Some chapters have been known to turn the event into a barbecue social. Yet food is not why thousands of engineers have turned the Taste of NAB Road Show into a main attraction; they show up each year to see the newest equipment, hear technical presentations, compare notes with their peers – and only then maybe eat a little.

Attendees also will have a chance to win door prizes. LBA Technology is sponsoring two $50 Amazon gift cards.

The calendar of local presentations is at http://tech-notes.tv/Taste_of_NAB.html. Check the itinerary for contact details and specific addresses.

Bloomfield is a broadcast industry consultant and for 10 years has been host of an online industry forum site – www.Tech-Notes.TV – from which the annual Taste of NAB Road Show sprang.

August 4th, 2010 – Washington – Baltimore – Ft. Meade

August 6th, 2010 – Philadelphia, PA

August 9th, 2010 – CT Valley, CT

August 11th, 2010 – Northeastern, PA

August 12th, 2010 – Binghamton, NY

August 17th, 2010 – Youngstown, OH

August 18th, 2010 – Detroit, MI

August 20th, 2010 – Louisville, KY

August 23rd, 2010 – St. Louis, MO

August 24th, 2010 – Columbia, MO

August 25th, 2010 – Chicago, IL

August 26th, 2010 – South Bend, IN

August 27th, 2010 – Fox Valley, WI

August 31st, 2010 – Bozeman, MT

Sprint Nextel had plenty of helpers in successful BAS transition project

LBA — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:12:41 +0000

It took five years and $750 million, but Sprint Nextel has successfully bumped the broadcast auxiliary services (BAS) of more than 1,000 TV stations out of the 2GHz band coveted by Sprint. The wireless company now will take over that part of the spectrum with the blessing of the Federal Communications Commission.

Everyone involved seems quite happy with the outcome. We certainly doff our hats to all the technicians and engineers who made it happen.

“The National Association of Broadcasters congratulates Sprint on completing the Herculean task of transitioning the broadcast auxiliary services to a new, more efficient spectrum plan in the 2GHz frequency band,” NAB chief Gordon Smith is quoted in Sprint’s July 21 announcement.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers played a key technical role in the transition. The Society’s Vinny Lopez expressed the unanimous view that cooperation among broadcast industry segments was critical to the success of the undertaking. “The Society’s partnership with Sprint in this effort is a great example of how all broadcast engineers serve and support our industry and make technology work for business, government and broadcasting.”

That’s absolutely true and something of a feather in the cap for the industry. In an era of political partisanship and turf battles, the general public in this case is the beneficiary of an arcane spectrum shuffle it didn’t even know was happening. Such cooperative and successful merging of private sector capital and a federal regulatory agency is something of an exception these days.

Sprint’s move was necessary because adjacent to its 800MHz slice of the broadcast spectrum, where 48 million wireless customers chat and text one another, is spectrum allocated for public-safety broadcasts. The spillover potential was deemed to be real.

So the FCC approved what in major league baseball is called a double switch. Sprint agreed to vacate the spectrum near the public-safety broadcasts and move to the spectrum blocks at 1910MHz-1915MHz and 1990MHz-1995MHz. Then, to avoid conflicts with TV mobile news gathering units also operating in the 2MHz range (specifically in the 1990MHz-2110MHz and 2025MHz-2110MHz part of the spectrum), Sprint agreed to facilitate moving of the TV stations’ BAS systems and to financially compensate them for their trouble.

(An aside: LBA Technology engineers know full well how maintaining a signal from a mobile news gathering unit can be tricky. A technical achievement that makes complete signal testing much easier is the Kathrein ADAM-3000 or MSK-200 TV Analyzer.)

The aforementioned $750 million spent by Sprint was largely expended replacing or retuning microwave and electronic news gathering equipment so it would function in the newly allocated bandwidth. Some 1,000 engineers, tower climbers and technicians were involved in the transition project and Sprint officials were pleased to report that not a single TV broadcast was disrupted during the five-year switchover.

Affected by Sprint’s switch were the mobile news gathering systems of 213 TV stations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico; the Anchorage, Alaska, TV market was the final one making the switch.

When the Alaska station’s transition was complete, Sprint executives must have expelled a huge sigh of relief. The undertaking had been so large that Sprint and FCC commissioners repeatedly underestimated how long it would take. The commissioners more than once had to extend the original completion date, which was 2007.

The breadth of LBA solutions can be seen on the Web in the LBA Technology Index.

The Taste of NAB Road Show on the East Coast!

LBA — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:48:11 +0000

In his trek around the country, host of the Taste of NAB Road Show, Larry Bloomfield has traveled down the west coast and across the southern coast. Now he is coming into our own home territory, the east coast!

LBA will be sending two of their best, Paulo Fernandes and John George out to answer your questions on equipment such as the Kathrein-Schomandl ADAM3000 analog / digital TV Analyzer and MSK-200 DTV Signal Analyzer and health-protecting SafeOne Personal RF Monitor, as well as the new Taref3 high-precision master clock by German manufacturer R.A.M. Gmbh.

John will be in Knoxville, TN on July 26th, Greenville, SC on the 27th, and Charlotte, NC on the 29th.

Paulo will be in Hampton Roads, VA area on August 2nd, and the DC / Baltimore, MD area on August 4th.

Seek out these guys and ask them questions! For the engineers in the area, this is a great opportunity to have any questions you may have about our products answered and see live demonstrations!

The calendar of local presentations is at http://tech-notes.tv/Taste_of_NAB.html. Check the itinerary for contact details and specific addresses.

LBA Supports National Broadband Summit

LBA — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 21:03:33 +0000

The explosion of interest in providing broadband connections throughout the US was evident at the FCC National Broadband Plan & WCAI Summer Summit. The Herndon, Virginia event was sponsored by the Wireless Communications Association International (WCAI), the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC), National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC), and DBC.

LBA Group CEO Lawrence Behr was a featured speaker. He spoke on the FCC renewal of Broadband Radio Service (BRS) licenses and the importance of providing substantial service to service areas through approved “safe harbors”. LBA provides a variety of technology services to broadband wireless applicants and operators.

Lawrence Behr visits with Bob Veltman, CEO of Octo-Wireless, a supplier of WiMax systems, during a program break.

Panelists contemplate an answer to a tough audience question during the WCAI Summit. Panel participants were (L to R) Kelley Dunne (DBC), moderator; William Wallace (DBC), discussing marketing best practices; Jeffrey Kohler (JAB Wireless), on financing and operations; and Lawrence Behr (Lawrence Behr Associates), who focused on Substantial Service and regulatory issues.

Free mobile digital TV hits the road in D.C.

LBA — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 17:16:01 +0000

Free mobile digital TV is coming to a device near you sooner than you might have expected. Free mobile digital TV test broadcasts in Washington, DC, this summer have respondents chirping enthusiastically about the ability to pick up local TV programming on the go. Most test responders are stipulating “high excitement” about having access.

It is another step in the race to total electronic connectivity for consumers. For those of us in the industry, it means potential new markets for broadcast and test equipment still being engineered.

The technology is being test marketed by an industry advocacy group called the Open Mobile Video Coalition. The group is a consortium of 1,000 TV stations and media groups who are rolling out the concept of free mobile digital TV in several markets. The 200 District of Columbia-area participating residents have been equipped with a Samsung receiver with a tuner chip. A few hundred other residents will be introduced to the test broadcasts via provided laptops and iPads.

Sprint is participating in the free mobile digital TV test and has evinced interest in being a carrier of such transmissions. That excites the National Association of Broadcasters.

All this budding excitement is a byproduct of the nationwide mandated transition to digital-only TV broadcasting, which scrubbed the airwaves of lots of analog transmissions and freed it up for new digital services. Full-motion, free mobile digital TV promoters are claiming some of it for their own.

If kinks are ironed out and standards agreed upon, live local digital TV broadcasts will become an option on cell phones and netbooks, PDAs and fixed devices in vehicles. Both commercial and emergency public safety transmissions will become part of America’s mobile existence, as it already is in some Asian countries. It will be possible – regrettably, if getting away is your goal – to be digitally connected all the time, everywhere to what is going on in the world.

From the broadcast industry’s perspective, free mobile digital TV offers new markets for them and their advertisers. Leaving home, work or school will not mean leaving behind full access to free, local TV programming. It not only extends the reach of network broadcasts, it lends itself to new programming possibilities.

Consumer electronics manufacturers are delighted at the prospect of creating new, sophisticated receivers for mobile digital TV and selling them to tens of millions of end-users of the technology. The devices use a new broadcast format that lets fast-moving personal devices securely latch on for uninterrupted, high-quality viewing. LC Electronics and Samsung hold patents on the chip that makes it all possible.

The revolution in audio and video communication races ahead. LBA offers state-of-the art test and support equipment for digital TV broadcasting. Go to http://www.lbagroup.com/technology/schomandl_kathrein_main.php for the Kathrein line of digital signal analyzers, and http://www.lbagroup.com/technology/timing-synchronization.php for precision digital time references and atomic accuracy master clocks.

DAB Digital Radio Shut Down in Canada

LBA — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:34:53 +0000

Britain and other European countries are forging the path to convert to digital radio this decade, with plans to discontinue analog radio altogether. The future of digital radio in the United States is also a hot topic for debate. Canada, however, appears to be backtracking in their approach. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. told the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission that it was shutting down its DAB radio transmitters, beginning with Eureka-147; the same L-band DAB system that just over a decade ago launched with tremendous fanfare in Montreal. The signals being shut off are CBME-DR-1, CBM-DR-1, CBF-DR-1 and CBFX-DR-1 Montréal, Quebec.

According to the DAB website, 73 DAB radio stations were licensed in Canada as of March. With the CBC signals being shut down, it is likely any remaining commercial DAB radio stations will follow suit.

The end of the DAB radio signals shows what the CBC has known for years; the promises made for DAB radio including new services for niche audiences never came to fruition. Having barely improved audio quality to sell unaffordable receivers that could be used only in large markets, DAB radio failed to get a foothold. Even early in the adoption, the engineers that maintain the DAB radio transmitters were complaining of unreliable signals. Several commercial DAB radio stations out of Toronto were off the air for long periods in 2009, yet they had few, if any, complaints from listeners. Not that this is a big surprise, there are estimates that show that less than 1,000 DAB radio receivers were ever sold since the system was put into operation a decade ago.

Another possible reason for the failure of DAB radio in Canada could be the fact that the DAB radio receivers operate using L-band, which in Canada is 1452-1492 MHz, while DAB radio receivers in other countries broadcast on Band III, a VHF band between 174–230 MHz. Also, Canadian DAB radio receivers must accommodate both English and French languages. The decision by the US to use a different digital radio technology than what was in place in Canada made it difficult for DAB radio receiver manufacturers to make units for both markets. This was particularly difficult for car manufacturers who instead turned their support toward digital satellite radio.

The CRTC was aware of the problems with DAB radio and made a number of changes in an effort to bolster the adoption of the technology. Stations were allowed to air different programs on the digital stations than what they offered over analog. They also allowed FM IBOC transmissions, should the stations choose to go this route.

Broadcasters in smaller markets have resisted investing in the equipment necessary to be part of a transmission “pod”, where five stations can occupy less than 20% of the total bandwidth of just one 1.5 MHz channel. The stations in the pod each cover about the same area and have equivalent power levels.

The differences between DAB radio and IBOC may help IBOC’s adoption in Canada. DAB radio uses only digital in the L-band and had no option of analog like an iBiquity system. Canadian broadcasters currently air simulcasts, with a copy of their analog programs going to the digital channels, whereas HD Radio can use multicast channels. The biggest issue is with needing investment in new digital transmission equipment in a down economy.

LBA Technology is a leading manufacturer and integrator of radio frequency systems, components and test equipment for broadcast, industrial and government users worldwide.

LBA CEO to Address WCAI at Summer Summit

LBA — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:14:10 +0000

Lawrence Behr

Lawrence Behr, a prominent telecommunications industry executive, will be a featured speaker this month at the “Summer Summit” of Wireless Communications Association International.

Other summit speakers include R. Gerard Salemme, the executive vice president of Clearwire, and Bill Payne, vice president and chief technology officer of Motorola Networks.

Behr is founder and chief executive officer of LBA Group Inc. The company offers engineering consultant services and hardware fabrication and distribution worldwide to wireless and communications industry customers.

The focus of the June 30-July 1 summit is best practices for “4G” – the fourth-generation of cellular wireless. This discussion will include how WiMAX operators can improve their performance and how broadband radio (BRS) and education (EBS) license-holders can comply with Federal Communications Commission license renewal standards on “substantial service.”

Behr will address WCAI membership on the latter issue – BRS / EBS substantial service safe harbors and FCC compliance. The association president, Fred Campbell, cited Behr’s “extensive experience” with the issue in inviting him to speak. LBA Group has become an engineering and hardware resource for broadband licensees needing to prove they provide what the FCC deems to be acceptable levels of service. The deadline for the licensees to comply is next May.

Behr is a frequent industry lecturer. He often is called as an expert witness in communications regulatory matters, testifying in FCC hearings as well as in courts and before zoning authorities. He is a director of the National Association of Radio and Telecommunications Engineers.

The WCAI summit is in Herndon, Va., just outside Washington, D.C. June 30-July 1^st. The link to register for the event is: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e2wuu8lef4b59820

Stay tuned: More about LBA Power Line Detuning

LBA — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:34:45 +0000

Like a re-radiating RF signal, positive feedback about a Lawrence Behr Associates engineering job keeps bouncing around cyberspace.

Components of LBA Group helped clear the way for an electric power distribution project in New York state, a job that finally wrapped up earlier this year after more than two years of work. The project required detuning of power lines emanating from a new natural gas-fired power plant near Rensselaer, N.Y. owned by Empire Generating Company.

The plant’s 8 miles of overhead distribution lines cut through an AM radio broadcast area, jeopardizing the integrity of the radio station’s transmissions. The giant metal towers had the potential to re-transmit the station’s signals, which not only would have disrupted broadcasts but also run afoul of the Federal Communication Commission’s licensing provisions.

You can read a complete published account of the engineering feat in an article by CEO Lawrence Behr at http://www.elp.com/index/display/article-display/5732562163/articles/electric-light-power/volume-88/issue-3/sections/detuning_engineers-curb.html.

The shorter version is that Empire’s engineering consultant, CH2M Hill, asked Lawrence Behr Associates to investigate the situation and mitigate any re-radiation threat to the AM station. With the help of LBA Technology detuning hardware, Associates did exactly that, detuning the towers so that their presence in the RF field became illusory and inconsequential.

Publication of the detuning article this month in Electric Light & Power Magazine coincides with a Linked In posting by the CH2M Hill project manager on the power plant job. In his posting, manager John Shepard conveyed his complete satisfaction with the engineering work by Lawrence Behr Associates.

““I hired the LBA Group to perform a complex task of RF analysis and mitigation in the regulatory heavy state of New York. Their performance not only exceeded my expectations, but they were able to develop customized solutions for one of our stakeholders, a large utility in the Northeast, that enabled our project to move forward without any delays.”

The detuning exercise was a win-win for everyone. The generating company got its plant up and running. Station WGDJ-AM retained its talk show audience and license. And LBA Group demonstrated its capacity to let power lines and radio stations co-exist in intersecting situations.

You can read more about LBA’s detuning engineering and technology on our AM Detuning homepage.

Taste of NAB Road Show July 2010

LBA — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:31:35 +0000

Engineers, grab your Blackberries. Scroll down to an open summer date on your calendar and plug in The Taste of NAB Road Show. It’s back!

In the month of July, host Larry Bloomfield and his fellow roadshow presenters will traverse Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, and LBA’s own home state of North Carolina.

Attendees also will have a chance to win door prizes. LBA Technology is sponsoring two $50 Amazon gift cards.

The calendar of local presentations is at http://tech-notes.tv/Taste_of_NAB.html. Check the itinerary for contact details and specific addresses.

Bloomfield is a broadcast industry consultant and for 10 years has been host of an online industry forum site – www.Tech-Notes.TV – from which the annual Taste of NAB Road Show sprang.

July 13th, 2010 – Tampa, FL

July 14th, 2010 – Miami, FL

July 15th, 2010 – West Palm Beach, FL

July 19th, 2010 – Jacksonville, FL

July 21st, 2010 – Jackson, MS

July 22nd, 2010 – Montgomery, AL

July 23rd, 2010 – Nashville, TN

July 26th, 2010 – Knoxville, TN

July 27th, 2010 – Greenville, SC

July 28th, 2010 – Columbia, SC

July 29th, 2010 – Charlotte, NC

July 30th, 2010 – Greensboro, NC

Riverside and Los Angeles Stops on the Taste of NAB Roadshow 2010

LBA — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:10:45 +0000

Running now through Sept. 10, the Taste of NAB Roadshow gives engineers an opportunity to have a hands-on, educational look at many of the key technologies introduced to the professional broadcast market at the 2010 NAB Show in Las Vegas.

For those who don’t know, Riverside, CA is the home of the mostly now de‐commissioned March Air Force Base – (now called March Air Reserve Base) where part of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) was once based. It is located about 55 – 60 miles east of down town Los Angeles, CA. The American Forces Network (once called Armed Forces Radio & TV Service or AFRTS) is housed at this Air Reserve Base in a very modern facility.

A significantly large percentage of the military and civilians at AFN make up the membership of SBE Chapter 131 and much of civilian broadcast community east of Los Angeles. The national SBE website shows eighty‐nine members currently listed with sixty‐eight certified. This is one of the highest ratios of members vs. certified members in the nation. This chapter has a lot to be proud of.

The audience for this stop on the Taste of NAB Roadshow was composed of mostly of military personnel in casual uniforms, contractors from Taft Broadcasting (they help with the operation and maintenance of the facility), a few DOD employees and some of the local civilian broadcast community. Should you ever visit this facility, you’ll be impressed with the competence and significantly high level of technical skills that these folks have.

LBA’s own John George was on hand for the Riverside stop on the Taste of NAB Roadshow. John was there to demonstrate and answer questions on such breakthrough technology as the Kathrein-Schomandl ADAM3000 analog / digital TV Analyzer and MSK-200 DTV Signal Analyzer and health-protecting SafeOne Personal RF Monitor, as well as the new Taref3 high-precision master clock by German manufacturer R.A.M. Gmbh.

The very next day, the Taste of NAB Roadshow visited Los Angeles and another one of our own, Paulo Fernandes made an appearance. The SBE in Los Angeles is predominately a radio based group, despite being the 2nd largest television market in the US serving over 5,659,170 households which is 4.927% of America’s viewing audience. The television folks are more into SMPTE and STE. STE (Society of Television Engineers) is an organization that only exists in Los Angeles.

Tents for Haiti

LBA — Thu, 27 May 2010 19:26:06 +0000

Greenville Noon Rotary Club, LBA Technology, and Ferguson Enterprises joined efforts to send tents to the earthquake victims in Haiti.

When Javier Castillo, Director of Broacast Sales received an e-mail from Gilbert Fontaine whose company Power Tech Services is a client of LBA Technology in Haiti, he asked him how could we be of help and Fontaine’s answer was we need tents. As a survivor of the 1972 earthquake in Managua Nicaragua, Castillo knows first hand what its like not having a home; for several months he slept on a tent setup at a relative’s farm.

Immediately Castillo moved to action, identified a supplier and a tent type and asked members of his Rotary Club, The Greenville Noon, and relatives a and friends to donate the previously identified tents to send to Haiti. People reacted quickly and tents started arriving to LBA Technology from California, Virginia and North Carolina.

The obstacle on how to ship the tents to Haiti was solved by Gilbert Fontaine who told Castillo, if you get the tents, Power Tech will pay for the ocean freight to Port au Princem and he gave the contact of a shipping company in Miami.

The shipment of the tents to Miami was done through the services of Charles Tudor, (Past President of the Greenville Noon Rotary) Vice President of Ferguson Enterprises who made arrangements for Ferguson to pick up the tents and ship them to Miami once the staff at LBA Technology had them ready.

LBA Employees packaging the tents for Haiti

Taste of NAB Roadshow – June 2010

LBA — Mon, 24 May 2010 19:34:54 +0000

Engineers, grab your Blackberries. Scroll down to an open summer date on your calendar and plug in The Taste of NAB Roadshow. It’s back!

Co-sponsored by LBA Technology, the roadshow is returning for a 9^th year, bringing to broadcast engineers and technicians where they live the latest electronic equipment and ideas showcased in Las Vegas at the National Association of Broadcasters convention.

In the month of June, host Larry Bloomfield and his fellow roadshow presenters will traverse Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, including a 2 day stop at the New Mexico Broadcast Association Convention.

Fifty-three one-day programs are scheduled at stops in about 30 states. It is an ambitious undertaking, which Bloomfield justifies as necessary “so that some of the new technology from the NAB convention will get out to the grassroots engineers that didn’t make it to the big one in the desert.”

The programs often are coordinated with local chapters of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers. Some chapters have been known to turn the event into a barbecue social. Yet food is not why thousands of engineers have turned the roadshow into a main attraction; they show up each year to see the newest equipment, hear technical presentations, compare notes with their peers – and only then maybe eat a little.

Attendees also will have a chance to win door prizes. LBA Technology is sponsoring two $50 Amazon gift cards.

The calendar of local presentations is at http://tech-notes.tv/Taste_of_NAB.html. Check the itinerary for contact details and specific addresses.

Bloomfield is a broadcast industry consultant and for 10 years has been host of an online industry forum site – www.Tech-Notes.TV – from which the annual roadshow sprang.

Taste of NAB Roadshow June 2010

June 4th, 2010 – Pheonix, AZ
June 7th, 2010 – Tucson, AZ
June 9th, 2010 – El Paso, TX
June 11th-12th, 2010 – Albuquerque, NM
June 15th, 2010 – Wichita, KS
June 17th, 2010 – Tulsa, OK
June 21st, 2010 – Dallas, TX
June 22nd, 2010 – Bryan, TX
June 23rd, 2010 – San Antonio, TX
June 24th, 2010 – Rio Grande Valley, TX
June 25th, 2010 – Houston, TX
June 26th, 2010 – Beaumont, TX
June 28th, 2010 – Shreveport, LA
June 30th, 2010 – New Orleans, LA