Veteran engineer Ben Brinitzer is blogging from the NAB Show in Las Vegas.
I was invited to a golf tournament here at NAB sponsored by Dielectric and Stainless Inc. The tourney was held at the Siena golf course in Las Vegas.
There were several in attendance including Kevin Fisher, Matt Leland and the rest of the Dielectric sales staff. While my game was marginal, others did very well. We had time to discuss the HD power increase and what we all face in changes as well as advancements in antenna design. I should note that Kevin Fisher pretty well cleaned up on the awards for closest to pin and longest drive. (Ok I’m envious.) I saw Keith Pelletier and others on the engineering team.
After the golf I headed to the convention center to see Tim Bealor’s presentation on translators and boosters and the advancements that Broadcast Electronics have brought to the table. Tim did a great job of covering the challenges with synchronizing translators and boosters for HD operations.
After his talk, I attended the BEC reception sponsored by the NAB. This is always a great place to meet and greet the others in our industry; I saw several familiar faces in the crowd. Some of the engineers I spoke with expressed satisfaction with the Ennes sessions and the technical lineup of the Broadcast Engineering Conference. The majority of the conversation revolved around the changing description of the job each of us does. Also discussed was the impact of the HD power increase and what it means to each of us, from the perspective of “Are we already prepared?” to “We are challenged by the additional costs involved.”
It was great to see old friends and network with new ones. Today it’s been on to the exhibits and balancing the best of the sessions with the time we have.
If I had my way I would see all of the sessions, then spend a full day on the exhibits. I’m very interested in Tony Peterle’s session on “The Smart Site” followed by Kevin Rodgers from Nautel on “reducing costs with better monitoring and control of transmitters.” How about AoIP to the transmitter presented by Kirk Harnack of Axia or point to point audio distribution by Rolf Taylor of Worldcast Systems. There are many others I will be visiting today. It should be a great show. Hope to see you on the floor. …
Benjamin Brinitzer, CPBE, AMD, is a regional vice president of engineering for Clear Channel Radio and director of engineering and technology for five stations.
