Brad on Broadcast

Are you sick of your phone ringing? Do you get tired of looking into the screen of your PC or laptop? Does the Palm or Pre demand more of your time than you prefer?

Well, according to a recent study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, a nonprofit research group in Washington, you may not be alone. The report, written by associate director of research John Horrigan, claims that 7 percent of Americans use the Internet as their primary means of social communication, but they also feel conflicted about that fact. Horrigan calls these individuals “ambivalent networkers.” They are so connected, they feel like they can’t quit. more

In the last column, some issues of selecting and installing a generator were discussed. If you remember anything from that column, it should be to turn to the experts for advice and help. Don’t feel the need for a DIY facility-wide backup power system. Let’s continue on by looking at key generator components, starting with the alternator. more

I thought I was fully prepared for the death of analog television. All of my TV sets were connected to cable. There were no old-style TV sets connected to rabbit ears. I even purchased two converter boxes in case I ever needed them to feed an additional TV set. Yep, I was fully ready for all-digital broadcast. The death of analog broadcasting wouldn’t affect me. more

For truly large backup power or to power a system for many hours or days, a generator is required. We could spend the next week covering aspects of generators, but if you take away anything from this series of articles on backup power, remember this: Designing and installing a backup power system is best left to the experts.

Sure, you’ll need to know some basics, system designs, trade-offs and principles. But when it comes to mounting that behemoth and connecting the system to your power grid, get some help. Let’s begin our discussion on generators with some basic terminology. more

At the broadcast summits Broadcast Engineering conducts, I’m continually amazed at how busy the attendees seem to be. Even during intensive training sessions, keynote speeches or other activities, everyone seems to be talking to at least one person either live or on the cell phone, reading e-mail on a handheld or laptop, or checking the watch to see if they are late. These men and women are multitasking to the max. But, I wondered, how did our predecessors manage their broadcast stations and projects without being connected 24/7 to the Internet, cell phone and laptop? more

In the last column, you were introduced to types of backup power, including dual AC feeders, UPS systems and generators. We then reviewed the three basic types of UPS systems:

• Passive-standby (offline, relay-switched and battery-powered, available in .5kVA to 5kVA sizes)

• Line interactive (provide voltage regulation and filtering, available in .5kVA to 5kVA sizes)

• Double conversion online (capable of 10kVA and more, similar as above except that the primary power path is through an AD/DC and DC/AC converter)

Finally, the article provided some guidance on the selection of UPS technology based on application. There are three basic levels of UPS backup protection: Level 3, Level 5 and Level 9. Each level provides increasingly clean, regulated and sophisticated power for the load. With this as a background, let’s continue the discussion by looking closer at what is inside a UPS. more

The National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) announced that it had made available $44 million to help analog low-power, Class A, translator and booster stations make the conversion to digital.

On May 12, the NTIA announced the start of the Low-Power TV and Translator Upgrade grant program to help operators of analog low-power TV stations upgrade their analog facilities to digital broadcast capacity. There is $44 million available over two similar programs, so let’s examine both of them. more

With this series, we’re going examine backup power applicable to television stations, video production houses and other content provider facilities. These facilities share at least one common theme: the requirement for constant, reliable, 24/7 power. While other businesses, especially retail, can tolerate power outages, content providers are often sources for both entertainment and safety information. If a thunderstorm rolls through a community, knocking out the power to the local hamburger joint, few care. However, television stations, cable systems and others need to stay on the air, providing sometimes critical, even life-saving, information. Let’s see how that can be done. more

The headline was, “Democrats seek financial rescue of minority-owned broadcasters.” My first thought was: Here we go again . . . another bailout. Not surprisingly, the headline led to an article describing a move by House Democrats to force the Treasurer Department to prop up what the left sees as minority-owned businesses just needing the same kind of helping hand they’ve already given Wall Street. You know, free taxpayer money.


House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-SC, is the key man charged with getting President Obama’s banker, TurboTax Tim Geithner, to take “decisive action” to extend special credit privileges to minorities who want a bigger play in the broadcast arena. more