SBE Chapter 17 Meetings and Stories in 2022:
SBE Chapter 17 Zoom meeting recordings appear at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzmFge7phAyiY2FCsIiFfPg
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December 28, 2022: Don Egert passed away at the age of 89. Egert, a familiar and engaging voice on radio & TV for over 70 years in west central Minnesota and northeast South Dakota, passed away Wednesday December 28, 2022, at the age 89 in Watertown, South Dakota. Beginning in 1949 on KWAT, Watertown, on KSOO in Sioux Falls, KYNT in Yankton, and for 41 years at KDIO, Ortonville where he was cofounder, and then sole owner of KDIO and KAHF-FM, he continued in broadcasting after selling those stations in 1997 by returning to KWAT and then KXLG, Watertown, until he semi-retired just 4 years ago. He was also the Pioneer Public Television personality for over 40 years. https://www.crawfordosthus.com/obituary/Donald-Egert
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December 11, 2022: Dewey "Duke" Wright Jr. died at the age 83. His career in broadcasting started as a teenager when he successfully talked his parents into buying a radio station in 1958. That was just the beginning of his life as a broadcast owner, with more than 80 stations in 18 markets including Duluth and Hibbing in Minnesota along with Wausau and Green Bay in Wisconsin.
Radio World Story More history at: https://mwcradio.com/about-us/ |
Friday, December 16, 2022: The annual SBE Chapter 17 Holiday Party was held at the Green Mill Restaurant in Shoreview, MN. Ten SBE members attended. SBE paid for much of the food. They raised a glass to the 75th anniversary of the invention of the transistor.
There was an election of officers. No changes this year to SBE 17 leadership.
SBE 17 has a name change to SBE 17. I was the Minneapolis chapter. Now it is Central Minnesota chapter.
There was an election of officers. No changes this year to SBE 17 leadership.
SBE 17 has a name change to SBE 17. I was the Minneapolis chapter. Now it is Central Minnesota chapter.
October 5, 2022: National SBE Membership Meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muvmpffzH6M
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October 4, 2022: SBE Chapter 17 meeting at BLVD Kitchen and Bar, 11544 Wayzata Boulevard in Minnetonka. It was a lunch-and-learn session featuring Dave Buck, Brian Beckwith, Nicolette Boissonneau, Fred Wright, and Mackenzie Jacobson of Imagine Communications.
https://imaginecommunications.com. Thanks to Mike Davison for the photo. |
September 7, 2022: We learned about electric vehicles from Jukka Kukkonen, Chief Electric Vehicle Educator and Strategist for Shift2Electric. An automotive engineer by training and a former Ford area manager, he has worked with the EV market for over dozen years. He also teaches EV Market and Technologies at the University of St Thomas. Jukka said the demand for electric vehicles has gone through the roof, so to speak. Gas powered cars are 15 to 25% efficient while electric cars are 85 to 95% efficient. For more information, visit www.Shift2Electric.com and a clean energy advocacy organization Fresh Energy https://fresh-energy.org/
August 28, 2022: Gary Smith passed away last week, formerly of Cumulus Media’s Twin Cities office and iHeartRadio in Rochester, Minnesota.
Father Bernie Ness 1938 - 2022
Find his obituary at: https://www.sctimes.com/obituaries/sct071442
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August 26, 2022: Father Bernie Ness passed away at age 84. Father Bernie was affectionately referred to as "The Robin Hood Priest of Guatemala."
He was known in the Twin Cities broadcast engineering community for his yearly visits to us to beg, borrow or steal surplus broadcast equipment from TV and radio stations and then have that gear shipped to his mission in Coban, Guatemala where he built shortwave and FM radio stations that served the indigenous Mayan communities in the northern part of Guatemala. Among his 'rescues' were a 5kW AM transmitter from a defunct station in Minneapolis, as well as a surplus 5kW FM transmitter. George Werl, Mike Gorniak and Steve Brown made trips to Guatemala to help troubleshoot those transmitters. Bernie was an active ham operator, and early on in the days of satellite delivery of TV programming. He hand constructed a 3 meter dish to receive programming. When his mission project closed in Guatemala he retired from active scrounging and returned to the U.S. Bernie spent his last days at St John's University in Collegeville, MN. Because of his command of Spanish, he served Mass at area Hispanic churches. I'm quite sure that he's resting well in the afterlife, and is still successfully trying to 'obtain' surplus equipment from the angels in his neighborhood to use in missionary projects. Radio Ranger Steve Brown. |
August 23, 2022, in-person SBE Chapter 17 meeting was at the Saint Louis Park City Hall. Lunch was provided.
A while back, we heard about LiveU's remote production solutions. At this meeting, we saw a slightly different perspective. Regional Sales Manager Dan Tarczon of TVU Networks, a microservices and professional cloud-based production platform, came to town. https://www.tvunetworks.com/ Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxepFMn86HI
A while back, we heard about LiveU's remote production solutions. At this meeting, we saw a slightly different perspective. Regional Sales Manager Dan Tarczon of TVU Networks, a microservices and professional cloud-based production platform, came to town. https://www.tvunetworks.com/ Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxepFMn86HI
Robb Daly 07/24/1952 - 08/22/2023
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August 22, 2022: Well-known engineer Robert (Robb) Daly passed away from congestive heart failure at age 69. He worked for MPR and KQRS in Minneapolis before hiring on at Enco Systems.
Find his complete obituary at: https://www.klecatskys.com/obituaries/obituary-listings?obId=25717449&fbclid=IwAR2ex-VEHfFo9Rf3pi0dnumHYcB76VzdvsLOykgpJeVtMD1CDooG9S3xwWA |
July 22, 2022: The NBT (Next Best Thing) Tour came to the Twin Cities. The event coincided with the annual SBE Chapter 17 Summer Picnic. A fun time was had by all. Thanks to Mike Davison and Joe Conlon for the photos.
https://www.facebook.com/events/702569064315106?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22page%22%7D]%7D
and https://nbttour.com/?fbclid=IwAR3_T1R2JT-Ov08mmpfSeGw2BwCrubfglzaAbQclbwXdbF2my2DqffV-7Tk
Photos below:
https://www.facebook.com/events/702569064315106?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22page%22%7D]%7D
and https://nbttour.com/?fbclid=IwAR3_T1R2JT-Ov08mmpfSeGw2BwCrubfglzaAbQclbwXdbF2my2DqffV-7Tk
Photos below:
SBE Chapter 17 meeting on Wednesday, July 6, 2022: John Fallows, a retired broadcast engineer and amateur radio operator VE6EY in Winnipeg, will tell us about his experiments using diversity to improve radio reception.
http://play.fallows.ca/wp/category/radio/radio-frequency-interference/ The recorded video should be available soon.
http://play.fallows.ca/wp/category/radio/radio-frequency-interference/ The recorded video should be available soon.
Then Mark Persons W0MH showed his amateur radio station, constructed using lightning protection techniques learned while he was employed as a radio broadcast engineer. The recorded video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZPxgSybEXg
Mark Persons W0MH and his wife Paula W0HA at their HF ham station.
June 21, 2022: Those involved with covering press conferences during the pandemic may be familiar with LiveU. https://www.liveu.tv/products/manage/air-control. We learned more from Sales Engineer Luis Munoz and Sales Director Arco Groenenberg at an in-person meeting at iHeartMedia. Thanks to Mike Davison for the photo.
Monday, June 13, 2022: SBE Chapter 17 member Mark Persons did a talk to national and local SBE members on writing websites for local chapters.
Mark Persons
See the YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/mIEuTurhglw
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Tuesday, May 17, 2022: We held a joint Zoom meeting with SBE chapter 30. Our Vice Chair, Trevor Schwarze, is completing the first leg of an adventure that will take him to a faraway land. This journey begins with SonSet Solutions of Elkhart, Indiana. https://sonsetsolutions.org/ We were pleased to get a tour showing:
- Shortwave radio transmitter design, production and repair
- FM transmitter customization and repair
- LP FM antenna production
- Solar-powered AM-FM-SW radio receiver configuration, programming, and repair
- Satellite-based water well monitoring telemetry systems
- Electrical power protection, monitoring, and alternative energy solutions
- Solar-powered media distribution production.
SonSet Solutions is a Christian ministry with about 40 people, half of which are volunteers. They designed FM transmitters, which were manufactured by Crown. Shown on this day was a Harris DX-10 AM transmitter, which they retuned and will send it out to a station soon. SonSet has a machine shop that makes FM broadcast antennas for use all over the world. There are about 500 Christian ministries that partner with SonSet to make the world a better place. Not all projects are broadcast related. They come up with technical solutions to help get clean drinking water in third-world countries. A video of the meeting can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EqroLaL510&t=3s
- Shortwave radio transmitter design, production and repair
- FM transmitter customization and repair
- LP FM antenna production
- Solar-powered AM-FM-SW radio receiver configuration, programming, and repair
- Satellite-based water well monitoring telemetry systems
- Electrical power protection, monitoring, and alternative energy solutions
- Solar-powered media distribution production.
SonSet Solutions is a Christian ministry with about 40 people, half of which are volunteers. They designed FM transmitters, which were manufactured by Crown. Shown on this day was a Harris DX-10 AM transmitter, which they retuned and will send it out to a station soon. SonSet has a machine shop that makes FM broadcast antennas for use all over the world. There are about 500 Christian ministries that partner with SonSet to make the world a better place. Not all projects are broadcast related. They come up with technical solutions to help get clean drinking water in third-world countries. A video of the meeting can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EqroLaL510&t=3s
SBE Chapter 17 Zoom meeting on May 16, 2022. We heard from Tony Abfalter, whom you might recognize from Leighton Broadcasting. https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/people-news/tony-abfalter-heads-to-mcmurdo. You see, he's on an adventure to Antarctica, where he is putting his cold weather skills to the test.
https://blog.leightonbroadcasting.com/blog/leighton-broadcasting-director-of-engineering-heads-south-for-winter to the Tony is seen in the top right photo using amateur radio equipment. He will be there eight to nine months before returning to Minnesota.
McMurdo Station is a National Science Foundation research station, about 850 miles from the South Pole. At the beginning of winter, May 2022, there were 126 people at McMurdo, but the figure could rise to 200 before really cold weather sets in. About 1800 researchers inhabit the place during the summer months, which is winter in the northern hemisphere and Minnesota. Resupply happens by ships proceeded by ice breakers, in the summer. Parts orders take a few weeks during the summer and aren't available during the winter. Planes fly people in and out in the summer. Abfalter said his flight from the west coast of the United States took about 20 hours. Winter flights are only for medical emergencies. Internet latency is about 750 ms. McMurdo is on the same time zone as New Zealand, some 17 hours from Minnesota. Power is supplied by a bank of five diesel generator plants. The video of the meeting is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sv7mg9saV4&t=10s
https://blog.leightonbroadcasting.com/blog/leighton-broadcasting-director-of-engineering-heads-south-for-winter to the Tony is seen in the top right photo using amateur radio equipment. He will be there eight to nine months before returning to Minnesota.
McMurdo Station is a National Science Foundation research station, about 850 miles from the South Pole. At the beginning of winter, May 2022, there were 126 people at McMurdo, but the figure could rise to 200 before really cold weather sets in. About 1800 researchers inhabit the place during the summer months, which is winter in the northern hemisphere and Minnesota. Resupply happens by ships proceeded by ice breakers, in the summer. Parts orders take a few weeks during the summer and aren't available during the winter. Planes fly people in and out in the summer. Abfalter said his flight from the west coast of the United States took about 20 hours. Winter flights are only for medical emergencies. Internet latency is about 750 ms. McMurdo is on the same time zone as New Zealand, some 17 hours from Minnesota. Power is supplied by a bank of five diesel generator plants. The video of the meeting is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sv7mg9saV4&t=10s
Friday, March 25, 2022, Zoom meeting: We heard from Dale A. Force of NASA's Glenn Research Center
https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/, located in Cleveland, Ohio! He had a 39 year career in communications at NASA, and covered various aspects of the work. His team received an Emmy for work on distributing Communication Technology Satellite TV to the home. Then a PBS Emmy applying multistage depressed collector technology to klystrons and on improving traveling wave tube amplifiers. He has also worked on internet protocols and Delay Tolerant Networks.
YouTube video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jCCpCxYR-0
https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/, located in Cleveland, Ohio! He had a 39 year career in communications at NASA, and covered various aspects of the work. His team received an Emmy for work on distributing Communication Technology Satellite TV to the home. Then a PBS Emmy applying multistage depressed collector technology to klystrons and on improving traveling wave tube amplifiers. He has also worked on internet protocols and Delay Tolerant Networks.
YouTube video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jCCpCxYR-0
Bill Dahlstrom
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March 22, 2022: Bill Dahlstrom from Minnesota Public Radio gave a Zoom presentation on using Microsoft Visio for creating floor plans, equipment rack vertical plans, schematic diagrams and flow diagrams.
YouTube video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXhk2IpdyyY Click on images below to see a larger version |
Bill finished up by showing SketchUp, which is a 3D version of Visio.
February 28, 2022. Anthony Travaglini of Dielectric https://www.dielectric.com/ was the speaker. He discussed and demonstrated the RFHAWKEYE, which is the first-of-its-kind transmission line and antenna monitoring system that operates in real-time and at full-power. See the YouTube vide here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erbHX9-RMNY
February 22, 2022: Zoom meeting of SBE Chapter 17. Guests were Rich Redmond and Bert Goldman of GeoBroadcast Solutions, https://www.geobroadcastsolutions.com/. They discussed the technology and processes to design fully synchronized FM radio booster systems along with details on how their systems in Boston that has improved coverage drastically in that market for three stations. Another example was a system currently in place for 99.3 KDDS in Seattle. They showed the design for the three-station, five node per station system currently under construction for San Francisco. Finally, they described what ZoneCasting is and showed some results of the testing underway in San Francisco. See the Zoom meeting at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgxcMRycelc
February 4, 2022: Neil Swanson passed away at age 69. He was a broadcast engineer for KSTP AM/FM, WCCO-AM and 93.7 KLXK (at the time he worked there). Neil had been in poor health for some time. His last gig was with Verizon Wireless. Neil retired from there a few years ago. He was a long time ham radio operator with the callsign WW0NS. Obituary at https://www.kozlakradulovich.com/memorials/neil-swanson/4850006/index.php
Michael Baez, Tripleplay
On February 3, 2022, we heard from Michael Baez of Tripleplay https://tripleplay.tv/. He described over-the-top solutions based on broadcast outputs, and what those destinations can mean to broadcasters. It is one place to bring together video from events for use on billboards, televisions and social media.
January 12, 2022: SBE Chapter 17 In-person meeting with Gopher Digital Productions.
https://gophersports.com/sports/2018/5/21/ot-gopher-digital-productions-html.aspx,
They granted us the rare privilege of a tour of Huntington Bank Stadium, which includes a visit to the press box, a guided walk-through of their control rooms, and a stroll through the rest of the building. University policy required masks regardless of vaccination status. Thanks to Taylor Barker for the photos.
https://gophersports.com/sports/2018/5/21/ot-gopher-digital-productions-html.aspx,
They granted us the rare privilege of a tour of Huntington Bank Stadium, which includes a visit to the press box, a guided walk-through of their control rooms, and a stroll through the rest of the building. University policy required masks regardless of vaccination status. Thanks to Taylor Barker for the photos.
