SBE Chapter 17 Meetings and Stories in 2024
SBE Chapter 17 Zoom meeting recordings appear at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzmFge7phAyiY2FCsIiFfPg
Friday, September 6, 2024: The annual SBE 17 Summer Picnic. This time at the twin towers of the Shoreview, MN, transmitter site. They are home of TV and Minnesota Public Radio FM stations. Some 26 engineers and friends showed up along with Telos Alliance to show of their latest gear. There was a tour of the TV transmitter facilities too. Lots of food and conversation. Ed Smith from KSTP-TV gave a facility a tour that day. For a better look at the towers, see Towers.
Thursday, July 25, 2024:
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President Stephen Wilde of American Amplifier Technologies https://www.americanamptech.com/ was the speaker. Our hosts were the State Services For The Blind, 2200 University Avenue West, in Saint Paul. This was a noon luncheon meeting. There were a number of Zoom guests in attendance. By special request, Cecil's Deli
\https://cecilsdeli.com/ brought the food. Wilde gave a tutorial on vector network analyzers and time domain reflectors from his office in California via Zoom. Failing bullets can be detected in transmission lines before they fail completely. He described double slug tuned line transformers used on combined FM antennas. An interesting subject, especially when there is trouble at a transmission facility. |
SBE 17 engineers who attended that day. Others attended via Zoom.
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Thursday, June 20, 2024: Our SBE 17 meeting involved DJB Radio, maker of software solutions for automation, content retrieval, logging, and more. Jim Hammond, Vice President for Marketing and Sales of DJB, joined us via Zoom. Our friends at WCCO-TV, 90 South Eleventh Street in Minneapolis generously agreed to let us use their rooftop conference room.
Many thanks to SBE Chapter 17 President Mike Davison for the photos below from the tour of WCCO-TV. |
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SBE Chapter 67 member Jim Hammond in Dallas, Texas, was the presenter. He told of getting involved in radio just before automation and how automation progressed over the years. He recommended all computer have solid state drives and cloud storage for disaster recovery. Keep the computers clean, he said, for reliability. |
Sarah Kristine Murray 1995 - 2024.
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June 10, 2024: Sarah Murray of Rochester, MN, passed away unexpectedly at age 29. After graduating from college, Sarah started her first job at KTTC/Fox 47 News, where she spent two years kickstarting her career as a Promotions Producer. Sarah’s experiences in the news industry, along with her passion for adventure, gave her the opportunity to pursue a Creative Services Producer position at KUTV in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the four years she spent in Utah she was able to experience amazing opportunities both at work and in the outdoors. After the birth of her niece, Sarah was ready to be closer to family and moved back to Minnesota, where she returned to KTTC in a new role as a Marketing Coordinator. After a year in that position, she was able to move into a new role as the Community Engagement Coordinator which is a position she held until the time of her death. Sarah’s passion and drive made her a success in both organizations, and her empathy and positivity left a beautiful impression on those she worked with and for.
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May 9, 2024, noon meeting: Our friends at Hubbard, 3415 University Avenue West, in Saint Paul generously hosted us once again. A class was held on using oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers and network analyzers. The latest spectrum analyzers and network analyzers are hardware boxes without controls or displays. They use the computer power of computers to process and display information. Food was served, sponsored by SBE Chapter 17.
Tuesday, April 30, 2024: We heard from Kenny Miller of SuiteLife Systems at KARE-TV, 8811 Olson Memorial Highway, Golden Valley. Participants received a complete building tour and lunch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q70R76J_Q2Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q70R76J_Q2Y
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April 13, 2024: Robert G. Peterson, age 64 of Minneapolis, passed away on April 13, 2024. He served as transmitter supervisor for KMSP/WFTC, the culmination of over 30 years of service. Robert was preceded in death by father, Robert. Survived by mother, Lorraine; siblings, Joan (Thomas) Wilhelmy, Tony (Julie), Karen (Mike) Kunz, Lisa; and many nieces, nephews, extended family and friends. Funeral service was held Monday April 22, 2024. Interment was at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.
Arrangements are through Washburn-McReavy Chapels of Columbia Heights. |
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March 27, 2024: Wilfred Arthur "Bill" Meys, 87, of Superior passed away at Diamond Willow in Proctor, MN, with family at his side. Bill was born on March 16, 1937, the youngest son of Arthur and Eva Meys of Superior, WI. After graduating from Cathedral High School in Superior and attending the University of Wisconsin-Superior, he purchased a TV repair business at the age of 19 and throughout his career held service and repair roles at O&L Appliance, Carlton Appliance, Johnson Mertz Appliance and AR TV Service. Bill also received his FCC First Class Radiotelephone License in 1961 to become a radio station engineer, starting at WEBC. Over the next 51 years, Bill held broadcast engineer roles at radio stations including WQMN, WKLK, WAKX, KPIR, WEVE, KXTP, WMFG, KMFG, WHSM, KSCR, and KKIN.
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Wednesday, March 13, 2024, St. Louis Park City Hall: You may have heard about counties in west central Minnesota.
<https://grantcountyherald.com/news/minnesota-welcomes-first-x-band-radar-array-with-ceremony/ trying to fill the gaps left by existing radar networks. We heard from from Eric Jean, meteorologist of Climavision https://climavision.com about how that work is turning out, what can be done with the data, and where those efforts go from here. We learned more about X-Band Radar (8 to 12 GHz). Better informed weather models have many commercial, media, and public safety uses. Climavision is a private company offering higher definition weather images, via paid subscriptions, than the existing NEXRAD government network of 160 radars. In one instance, they reported an 18 minute lead over the National Weather service in reporting destructive weather.
<https://grantcountyherald.com/news/minnesota-welcomes-first-x-band-radar-array-with-ceremony/ trying to fill the gaps left by existing radar networks. We heard from from Eric Jean, meteorologist of Climavision https://climavision.com about how that work is turning out, what can be done with the data, and where those efforts go from here. We learned more about X-Band Radar (8 to 12 GHz). Better informed weather models have many commercial, media, and public safety uses. Climavision is a private company offering higher definition weather images, via paid subscriptions, than the existing NEXRAD government network of 160 radars. In one instance, they reported an 18 minute lead over the National Weather service in reporting destructive weather.
February 8, 2024: Blackmagic Design https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/ makes a wide variety of video production toys, from storage to streaming, cameras to converters...you get the idea. We specifically took a deep-dive into their switcher collection, and lunch was provided, too. The meeting was at Hubbard Broadcasting, 3415 University Avenue, in Saint Paul.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHbbRgScEEk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHbbRgScEEk
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January 26, 2024: We regret to inform you about the passing of Gregory "Greg" Schmitke. He was one of our SBE Chapter 17 members from Moorhead, Minnesota. Greg died of a heart attack.
Despite joining us virtually, he always carried the aura of one of those people you just plain had to meet, and were better off for doing so. Robert Taylor Barker Greg was an amateur radio operator with the call sign KE0LEE. Funeral arrangements at: https://www.korsmofuneralservice.com/obituaries/gregory-greg-schmitke |
January 24, 2024: In person and online, we heard from Chris Morgan and Dana Healey of Tightrope Media. The first 13 minutes of the video was the slide below. The live part started at 13:25 of the 40-minute recorded presentation. Some 38 people were watching online from three SBE chapters. Tightrope is Minnesota-based Cablecast Community Media https://www.cablecast.tv/ and https://www.trms.com/ They talked about the future of public affairs-related content. Specifically, they offer products for captioning and delivery of government meetings. The session was recorded at Town Square Television in Inver Grove Heights. CCM/TMS sponsored the luncheon that day.
Click on this image to see the presentation.
January 2024 news: Clinic 2024The Minnesota Broadcasters Association and the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association now work together to put on the Midwest Regional Broadcasters Clinic, formerly known as the Wisconsin Broadcasters Clinic.
