| On the 11th of January we held our State EAS Committee
(SECC) Meeting at the Sand Point offices of the National Weather Service. At some
point in the meeting, WCM Ted Buehner mentioned that some weather was coming that we might
want to be concerned about. As predicted, we had snow. Not as much in the
Seattle area as the ‘Low’ went inland a bit south of where it was
projected. However, south of Olympia received a huge dump of the white stuff, with
reportedly 18 inches in some places. Like all snowfall in the Puget Sound area, it
does not last all that long. The forecast called for warming with the snow changing
to rain (like normal) and we were all assured that the weather was about to get back to
normal. What really happened, was it rained (they got that part right) but the
temperature failed to increase above freezing resulting in a record setting
ice-storm. Just to add good measure, we got another 2-3 inches of snow on top of the
ice. This time NWS, Cliff Mass and all the TV forecasters got it wrong. The resulting ice storm caused a huge number of trees to lose limbs
that fell into power lines causing about 500,000 to lose power. The area of major
impact was the Eastside through Tacoma and Olympia and south to Chehalis. In my
town, Auburn, 50% of the city was out of power.
Cougar Mt got about a foot of snow, topped with ice and, of
course, no power. Hauling a 4x4 of diesel to the site it became clear why.
One phase was lying on the ground. All together 70 hours of generator use at that
site. Our thanks to Steve and the crew at Don Small Oil for hauling in diesel in a
big 4x4 when the usual suppliers said they would not go up there.
At West Tiger, both of the power lines feeding the site
went down, resulting in some 80 hours of generator time. As Murphy would have it,
the road to the site was snowbound. Not knowing how long it would take for a thaw,
or power restoration, the road was plowed out. If you think that Seacomm does
nothing but tower work…guess again. John and crew went way over the top in
coordinating the plowing of the West Tiger road, cutting a huge number of trees and hauled
in some 1000 gallons of diesel. To add to the problem, the only highway reaching the
Tiger Mt. Road is SR-18 which was closed from I-90 to Auburn!
From behind the wheel driving to West Tiger
Mt.
Some stations were not so lucky and did not have back-up
generators. Others, like KVTI in Lakewood have an antenna that is very sensitive to
ice without radomes or heaters. Reportedly, the Capital Peak FM’s were off the
air as was KSWS in Chehalis due to lack of access and a snowed-in dish. KCKA-TV, at
the same site was reportedly off the air, not sure why at this writing. The ice on
STL and satellite antennas created ice-fades that are hard to overcome. In one
instance, a station had heaters on its satellite antenna reflector, but the LNB and feed
were put out of commission due to a heavy coating of ice. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge
was closed due to falling ‘bridgecicles” for several hours. Then there is
PSE that encouraged their customers to report outages via their computer. Perhaps
they fail to understand that most computers don’t operate without power.
Through all of this, a couple of things stand out –
1 - Over the air broadcasting is pretty hard to beat, especially when you are dependent on
a system between you and the station you wish to receive.
2 - Reliance on an intermediate carrier for TV, telephone and Internet can cause you to
lose a number of services at the same time. Something about eggs and baskets.
3 - My windup radio really was put to good use. Kudos to KOMO and KIRO-FM.
4 - The Blue/Yellow and Red Jacket guys on the local Channels certainly did a great job of
keeping us informed, even though it appeared that they were having difficulty coming up
with new material.
5 - Power line crews from all over – working at Cougar Mt. was a crew from B.C.
6 - The sounds of chain-saws and smell of wood smoke.
At the homestead, I was lucky in that we only lost power
for about 6 hours. However, our cable was out until late on the 22nd. My
normal means of getting e-mail etc. is via DSL and that did not return until the
26th. I did, however, have POTS so I can see dial-up access to my ISP is going to be
a must. Thankfully we have a gas water heater, range and a great wood
stove…fuel for that is laying all over the place. Jim Dalke lives near me and
on one of my drives by his place I could not help but notice that he must have a generator
as his was the only house in the area with lights on.
On the West Tiger Road – Lowell Kiesow and Nick Winter
from KPLU - The reason for the smiles….the road was just plowed and the going was
easy.
Spotted something in a recent Issue of Consumer Reports
– They did a survey asking which innovations from the past few decades would be the
hardest to live without. 26% said microwave oven, 19% said home computer, 15% said
cellphone and 14% said cable and satellite TV. No mention of over the air
broadcasting.
Another sign of the times is the fierce amount of
competition for the automobile dashboard. Car makers are racing to install the
latest whiz-bang toys to the point that radios are now likely to be integrated into a
larger package of electronics. In the view of at least one maker, GM, it’s time
for the CD player to go.
According to a recent piece in TV Technology, TV antenna
sales are booming. The main reason cited were cutting costs and video streaming
video sites. During our recent ice-storm those with antennas were probably better
off for other reasons.
The FM version of HD radio is spreading a bit in various
places in the world. News reports this month tell of a new HD Radio Station in
Dhaka, Bangladesh. The station is using a package of BE equipment.
Interesting how there is so many in this country reluctant to embrace the system while a
new station in Bangladesh embraces it.
From the list of – I know where you are from by the
way you drive – comes this description of someone from Seattle. (One hand on
latte, one knee on wheel, cradling cell phone, foot on brake, mind on game).
The 31st annual Mike and Key Amateur Radio Club Electronic
Flea Market will be on Saturday, March 10th this year at the Puyallup Fair Grounds
Pavilion Exhibition Hall. Been an annual event for me and several friends.
Seems to me that I have been writing about this for a very
long time, like 3 years. They are projecting that Tribune (owner of a couple TV
stations in our town) may exit bankruptcy by the 3rd Qtr. this year. I’m not
going to bet on it.
I understand that George Bisso has had additional
amputation surgery as a part of his advancing diabetes. We wish him well.
As I mentioned in the last Chapter Meeting, I was reading
the latest QST and was saddened to discover that W7JPH is a Silent Key. For those of
you that don’t follow ham radio call letters, W7JPH was Don Rose. In years past
Don was a regular at our Chapter meetings. I remember him as the salesman for EEV.
National Public Radio elected to drop the word 'Radio' from
their name, becoming simply NPR. Now it’s Clear Channel Radio's turn to drop
the work ‘Radio’ from their name becoming Clear Channel Media and
Entertainment. So CCR is now CCME. For the time being the firm will own some
850 Radio Stations….or perhaps 'Point-Multi-Point Aural Entertainment Facilities'?
Some changes in who does what in our market ….Sam
Roffe is leaving KBCS, going over to KUOW. Taking his place will be Buzz Anderson.
We may have something new to see during our annual Picnic
on Vashon Island over at the 770/1090 Spread. I’m sure that Arne Skoog or Tom
McGinley will be happy to show us the newest 50,000 Watt transmitter at the CBS station, a
new Nautel NX50. Likely the smallest 50 kW transmitter in the area.
The latest radio ratings are out and KWRM came up with some
huge number in the 12+ Race...a 12. It’s been some time since a radio station
has been in double digits. Congrats to Mark Kaye and the crew over in
Bellevue. Some other observations – KING-FM’s ratings are higher since
they went non-commercial. Something you don’t see everyday…but
KRWM’s stream showed up at #38. Two Bellingham Stations had higher ratings
than KVI in Seattle and little KNHC operated by Nathan Hale High School beats 50,000 Watt
AM, KIXI.
For some time, NAB and others, have been pressing to get FM
radio receivers in cellphones. One of the first to say OK to the idea is Blackberry
with a couple of their models.
The Mobile 500 Alliance previewed a new mobile TV receiver
at the recent CES event in L.V. The device will be tested here in Seattle later this
year.
A legislator in W.V. is working on legislation that would
make certain copper thefts a felony. The penalty would be 1 to 10 years in prison or
a $10,000 fine, or both. Perhaps the Legislature in our state is more concerned in
how to fill the budget hole than worry about copper theft?
Looks like a lot of money will be spent on political
advertising this year. Some estimates put the total at just under $5 Billion.
Almost $3 Billion will be going to broadcast TV. Washington with now 10
Congressional Seats will become increasingly a target for some of those bucks.
The FCC is out with totals, as of the end of 2011 –
AM STATIONS 4766
FM COMMERCIAL 6542
FM EDUCATIONAL 3644
TOTAL RADIO STATIONS 14,952
UHF COMMERCIAL TV 1027
VHF COMMERCIAL TV 360
UHF EDUCATIONAL TV 289
VHF EDUCATIONAL TV 107
TOTAL TV STATIONS 1,783
CLASS A UHF STATIONS 413
CLASS A VHF STATIONS 68
TOTAL 481
FM TRANSLATORS & BOOSTERS 6099
UHF TRANSLATORS 2997
VHF TRANSLATORS 1214
TOTAL 10,310
UHF LOW POWER TV 1644
VHF LOW POWER TV 403
TOTAL 2,047
LOW POWER FM 838 838
TOTAL BROADCAST STATIONS 30,411
As evidenced by some recent fines, the FCC does not care
for stations recruiting policies. In these cases the stations used only Internet
postings or word-of-mouth. The take away from this is when your station has a
position to fill – you’d be wise to advertise widely using a variety of means.
Pandora continues to grow as they recently reached the
one-million session mark. Traditional radio is trying to play catch-up with the
major ownerships involved. Second to Pandora is Clear Channel with their
iHeartRadio. Interestingly, the gym I go to is using Pandora over TV or local radio.
It’s not that we did not see this one coming, but the
bankruptcy of Kodak certainly leaves a funny feeling to many of us that grew up with a
number of Kodak products. Gee they still say – "Film at 11".
Unfortunately for the Rochester NY firm, they were late to see that film was being rapidly
replaced with digital everything. When that light finally went on, others were well
down the track.
WOR-AM in NYC recently successfully tested a power saving
modulation-dependent carrier system on their 50 kW transmitter. As AM’s
struggle to survive in today’s world of radio, it’s likely that many of these
high powered stations will be adopting this scheme. The FCC is, apparently, allowing
this use of this technology on a waiver basis. The makers of high powered
transmitters should like this as well, as it takes a newer generation transmitter to
operate it. My understanding is that Harris and Nautel both are offering it.
Come to think about it, aren’t they the only two manufacturers of 50 kW AM
transmitters?
Our nearest star has been mixing it up lately causing Hams
to jump for joy…The impact of moving the MUF higher is felt on broadcasters too, with
FM stations skipping into markets where they are not licensed. In one report, a
station in Florida was heard loud and clear in northern Virginia. Several years ago
I recall watching Channel 4, in Tacoma, get clobbered by a co-channel station from
somewhere. That’s not a problem now, of course, with KOMO, and others, now
operating safely on UHF Channels. Wonder what strong co-channel interference would
do to ATSC Digital?
Here’s an invention, just in time for our post winter
storm bout with potholes. It’s a vehicle shock absorber that converts its
motion into energy. The devices, known as Gen-Shocks, look like a standard shock but
have an electrical cord. The rougher the road, the more power is produced.
If your station operates a Part 74 -2-way radio, IFB, ENG,
RPU etc. system you probably know about narrow-banding and how this will impact your
system. The SBE as well as EIBASS has filed comments with the FCC dealing with this
issue. If you are not up to speed on this issue, I highly recommend you get that
way, quickly.
Those of you that double managing a project will enjoy
these definitions –
Contractor: A gambler who never gets to shuffle, cut or
deal!
Low Bidder: A contractor who is wondering what he left out.
Project Manager: The conductor of an orchestra in which every musician is in a different
union.
And finally -
The following was sent to me by Buzz Anderson –
Perhaps one could have been drawn for the TV
Remote Control…before that, the ‘couch potato' was forced to actually move to
change channels…but then there were very few channels.
Til next month –
Clay Freinwald, K7CR, CPBE |
