Brad on Broadcast

By Don Markley

Editor’s note: Maintaining power to a facility is job one for any engineer. For the next few columns, we will learn from Broadcast Engineering’s former expert on power and RF systems, Don Markley. While his dedication to teach others was timeless, Don left us Oct. 22, 2009.

Preventative maintenance goes a long way.

There is an old joke that has been floating around the industry for years. It claims that a station chief tested the standby power plant every week for years by starting it and running it for a short time. When the day came that the power actually failed for the first time, he couldn’t get the generator online; it seems that the starter button was worn out.

That doesn’t mean you should stop doing maintenance. In truth, the entire primary power system needs ongoing service. The time involved and frequency of the work may be different than for the RF or video systems, but it’s an absolute must. more

On Tuesday, March 9, Cisco announced a new generation of its telecom switch. The switch, Carrier Routing System CRS-3, builds on the company’s previous model, the CRS-1. For video professionals, this new switch provides a hint at the bandwidth that tomorrow’s IP circuits will be capable of providing.

The new CRS-3 handles up to 322Tb/s of traffic. Just how fast is 322Tb/s? Glad you asked.

The switch is so fast you download the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress in just over one second. The switch could allow every man, woman and child in China to make a video call, simultaneously. Of most interest to Broadcast Engineering readers, this switch is so fast that you could download every motion picture ever made in less than four minutes! more

IBM Research has announced the demonstration of a 100GHz graphene transistor. The company says that its graphene transistor is faster than today’s state-of-the-art transistors, which have a cutoff of 40GHz using the same architecture. Experts say graphene’s properties could lead to even faster transistors. more

After nine years and $100 million, holographic storage pioneer InPhase Technologies has closed. The company’s office building was also seized for nonpayment of back taxes.

Readers may recall the numerous articles in Broadcast Engineering about holographic storage as the technology marched toward a product launch. Unfortunately, it appears that even a decade of work and $100 million doesn’t guarantee success. more

Hidden in President Obama’s 2011 budget is almost $5 billion in new FCC fees. These fees consist of both spectrum auctions and “license fees.” That shouldn’t surprise anyone. Previous presidents have proposed that broadcasters pay more and higher fees for the use of spectrum. However, in light of the push for broadband, broadcasters should be especially concerned. more

By Ken Michaels, F.D. Hayes Electric Co.

Popular with electricians and electrical inspectors, this device is inexpensive. You can easily use it to test a receptacle for correct polarity. But is it giving you a false sense of security?

Some three-lamp circuit testers prove our industry’s old adage: The bitter taste of poor quality remains long after you’ve forgotten the sweet smell of low price. more

The announcement of a new Apple product always generates lots of buzz, and the iPad was no exception. In advance of the iPad’s unveiling on Jan. 27, thousands of posts predicted the product’s name, features and functions, and a few were even correct. If success was measured by preannouncements, Apple had another winner.

Unfortunately, good press doesn’t always equate to good sales. Post-iPad news conference stories have not been particularly kind to Apple’s new kid. “iPad hype hangover follows buzz binge,” said one headline. Many writers complain about missing features, screen size and aspect ratio, connectivity, and the biggie: no support for Flash. more

I discovered a funny video on the topic of backup storage. Broadcasters are well familiar with the importance of backing up data and media. Even so, this short video puts the issue into perspective in terms of importance — and hassle. While it’s directed at regular office data backup issues, the principles of backing up data applies also to video.

One caveat, the video is a commercial for Sepaton, a VTL backup technology company. Even so, the video puts the issue of properly backing up data into a humorous perspective.

Can you identify with Don the IT guy?

Back on Jan. 21, the FCC issued a Public Notice of its inquiry into what it called, an “Examination of the future of media and information needs of communities in a digital age.” This 11-page document contains 42 questions concerning media, distribution, consumption and minorities. Just in case you don’t feel like preparing a Word document, the FCC has even built a Web site where you can interactively fill in the blanks.

While the notice is filled with lots of feel-good language, “We’re from the government and here to help,” an impartial reader might come away with the uncomfortable feeling that this could represent another power grab by Obama’s commission — one that is filled with First Amendment issues. more

Teenagers are dumping blogging and instead settling for that always-on, location-based connection from their iPods and smartphones. According to a report released by the Pew Research Center, blogging has declined particularly for both teens and young adults since 2006. more