SBE CHAPTER 40 NEWSLETTER
JUNE 2003
San Francisco
Roy Trumbull - Editor roy547@msn.com
Bill Dempster - Artist
Advertisers for this month's newsletter are:
Projection Systems Inc. - Marci Mearns - (510) 259-2469
Santucci Video Systems - Sandra Santucci - (818) 704-6324
Belden - Steve Lampen - (415) 440-8393
Media Technical Consulting - Paul T. Black - (925) 827-9511
MARCOM - Martin Jackson - (408) 768-8668
William F. Ruck, Jr. Broadcast Engineer - (415) 564-1450
Ross Marketing Associates - Kevin Frost - (408) 988-8111
Kathrein (Scala Division) - Michael Wm. Bach - (541) 779-6500
Hammett & Edison, Inc. - Dane E. Ericksen, P.E. - (707) 996-5200
Howell Communications - Mike Howell - (559) 674-8989
Econco - George Badger - 650-327-7599
Improbable Missions Fource - Mike Schweizer - (888) 4-ISDN4U
Digi-Gear / Cancomm - Eric Lane - (818) 980-9188
West Penn Wire/CDT - Michael J. La Porte - (650) 652-9080
Microwave Radio Communications - Clark Rhoads - (909) 246-1602

Babes/SBE Luncheon on Wednesday June 25th

This month our speaker is Mike Adams. Mike's topic is "The Race for Radiotelephone - 1900-1920": in those important pre-broadcasting years, inventors and experimenters like Herrold, de Forest, Fessenden and others were attempting to make Marconi's wireless telegraph talk, their goal a wireless replacement for the wired telephone. As their transmitting technology evolved from spark to arc to vacuum tube, these individuals used music and other content to test their devices, accidentally developing the first radio audience. The emphasis will be on Charles Herrold as he did this on a pre-announced regular schedule, but my research and book puts Herrold into the larger context of broadcasting.

As usual, our luncheon will be at Sinbad's just south of the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero near the foot of Mission St. We meet at 11:30 and are seated at 12:30. To make reservations call Paul Black at 925-827-9511 and leave a message on his machine.

SBE Certification Program Recognized by NSSB
The National Skills Standard Board has the task of identifying quality certification programs that merit the attention of employers and employees. For an organization to be accepted it must complete a formidable application process and undergo a comprehensive review to make certain that it meets specific quality requirements.

By the time the National Certification Committee met this year during NAB, an initial evaluation of our application had been made by NSSB. The many missing elements that needed completion looked like they would be difficult to do. Nonetheless, a subcommittee was formed consisting of Linda Braun, David Carr, Terry Braun, Joe Snelson, and Chriss Scherer to put our application in final form. On May 17th, in a session lasting 11.5 hrs., the application was completed. Their expenses in getting to Indianapolis were all out of pocket.

On June 10, we got word that eight of our certification categories had been recognized as meeting NSSB criteria. For more information go to www.sbe.org.

End of a Paper Era
I started editing this newsletter at a time when chapter 40 was defunct and hadn't met for a year. I acquired the last mailing list and sent out a mailing calling members to a meeting at KRON-TV to determine if there was enough interest to keep the chapter alive. We had a good turnout. The problem was that the officers had worked themselves to death trying to put together evening meetings that were sparsely attended. It was pretty discouraging. We decided to hold meetings jointly with the established BABEs luncheon group and the rest is history.

For some 18 to 20 years I've done pasteups, mailing labels, and stamp licking (albeit with a sponge). Now the time has come to switch from paper to the internet. If you signup with Tim Pozar, you will get the newsletter text as email.

The newsletter, as you see it now, is posted to my web-site: home.earthlink.net/~rhtrumbull

At some time in the future we will get a Chapter 40 web-site so we won't have to pray for Tim's hard drive to keep going. Tim and I will work that out jointly. Speaking of Mr. Wi-Fi, he is close to launching a site on Yerba Buena Island. Now if I can just get a 2 foot dish and a pre-amp.

CGC Communicator
One of my little pleasures is getting the CGC Communicator in my email. You can signup at: http://www.bext.com/_CGC/

In a recent issue it was mentioned that there is a plate in a concrete platform on Mt. Wilson that marks it as the site where the equipment used for Albert A. Michelson experiment to determine the speed of light to unprecedented accuracy was located in the 1920s. Michelson had already determined the speed of light in an experiment conducted in 1888. But using a 22 mile baseline measured to within a fraction of an inch, he was able to refine his original result. His first experiment had set a certain patent examiner to thinking deep thoughts (Einstein).

http://hum.amu.edu.pl/~zbzw/ph/sci/aam.htm has some of the story and links to a number of other related sites.

Media Concentration
The limit of A/N as N approaches infinity where A = audience size and N = number of stations owned.

Subscribe to the online version of the newsletter
The electronic copy version of this newsletter is now availible via a mailling list. You can subscribe by going to http://www.lns.com/mailman/listinfo/sbe-announce and filling out the form there.

Web Page
Webmeister Tim Pozar has the current newsletter plus newsletters all the way back to 1996 at: http://www.lns.com/sbe

Roy also posts the current newsletter at home.earthlink.net/~rhtrumbull but the posting is without links.