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THE CGC COMMUNICATOR
CGC #1129
Monday, March 26, 2012
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Robert F. Gonsett, W6VR, Editor
<cgc (at) cgc333.connectnet.com>
Copyright 2012, Communications General® Corporation (CGC)
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FCC NEWS BRIEFS
o Legislation will "constrain us from maximizing the [TV]
spectrum recovered" - FCC chairman Genachowski in an article
on the new Incentive Auction Task Force:
http://tinyurl.com/SpectrumConstrained
o DTV RF Channel 51 has been identified as a possible
source of interference to the 700 MHz band:
http://tinyurl.com/CH-51-IX-Implicated
o The FCC has granted a Section 325(c) permit to send
program material across the border to XEWW, 690 kHz, Tijuana:
http://tinyurl.com/XEWW-325c-Permit
o The FCC made key LPFM and FM Translator decisions ahead
of schedule last week, so the Commission simply deleted those
items from its Open Meeting agenda:
http://tinyurl.com/RushingToApprove
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LPFM ROUNDUP
o The Commission still has some important issues to
decide before flinging open an LPFM application window.
The following story explains what work lies ahead:
http://tinyurl.com/LPFM-MorewDecisionNeeded
o Should 250 watt LPFMs be allowed in rural areas?
Should 10 watt LPFMs be eliminated or retained?
http://tinyurl.com/Details-on-LPFM-Powers
o Enthusiasm abounds from LPFM supporters. (The reality,
of course, is that some full power stations will lose valuable
fringe area coverage over wide areas because of interference
caused to them by the LPFMs, while the LPFMs cover relatively
small areas):
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/03/21-5
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FCC ENFORCEMENT WATCH -- CALIFORNIA PRIMARILY
As reported in CGC #857 dated September 23, 2008: "KUSI-TV,
San Diego, [was] fined $25,000 for failing "in a timely manner
to make accessible to persons with hearing disabilities emergency
information that it provided aurally in its programming for KUSI
during a wildfire emergency in the San Diego, California area
on October 26 and October 27, 2003.""
On March 16, 2012, following an appeal by KUSI, the Forfeiture
Order was canceled and the case was effectively closed. To
resolve that little matter took only three and a half years,
a court case and considerable legal fees.
http://tinyurl.com/KUSI-Matter-Dismissed
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RANDOM NOTES
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ATTENTION COMMUNICATION SITE OWNERS/USERS ON
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FOREST SERVICE LAND - PART 3
This continues our series on anti-perching devices and other
stipulations applicable to four Forest Service National Forests
in our area:
A copy of the 1999 settlement between the Southwest Center
for Biological Diversity and the Forest Service is available at
the URL below (settlement attachments not included). This is
apparently the document that led up to some of the anti-perching
stipulations given in Appendix G.
For those interested, scroll down about 40% through the
settlement document to numbered paragraph 5 where this language
appears: "Consistent with the recommendation of the Condor
Recovery Team, the USFS will require installation of anti-perching
devices on all microwave sites within the four national forests at
issue in this case."
So, what exactly did the Condor Recovery Team have to say,
what is the definition of a "microwave site," what is the basic
concern about condors at microwave sites and what radio frequency
experts (if any) were consulted in the formulation of the now-
mandated remedies? The SCFCC has expressed a willingness to help
interface with the Forest Service and their contributions will be
sincerely appreciated.
http://earthsignals.com/add_CGC/Stip-of-Dism.pdf
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o Be there no mistake. The 199 foot height limitation on
new towers in Appendix G is applicable to Angeles National
Forest towers (e.g. Mt. Wilson). See Roman numeral "I" at:
http://tinyurl.com/ForestServiceAppG-Angeles
o Informal reports indicate that the USDA Forest Service
has for years required the use of anti-perching devices at
a number of their communication sites in the Santa Barbara
area including the KTMS (990 kHz)/KTYD (99.9 MHz) site.
o With respect to installing a bunch of short wires as
anti-perching devices, one engineer wrote as follows:
"It has always insulted my sense of rationality to see
hundreds of dipoles taped to areas in the near and semi-near
fields of antennas - they take a 1 ft hunk of #12 or 14 steel
wire, bend it into a V and staple it to a strip, and double
sticky tape the strip to the "horizontal surface" and think
that is wonderful. The "non interference" version of the
anti-perching wires is exactly the same thing with the V
of steel wire encased in plastic...."
o If you have comments on our Appendix G stories,
please post them on the Tech Letters Website mentioned
below.
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GENERAL NOTES OF INTEREST
o There is an important reason for allowing text-to-speech
converters for audio EAS messages as this article explains:
http://tinyurl.com/Text-to-Speech-for-EAS
o In-car Internet radio seems to be on the verge of
becoming a mass-market reality:
http://tinyurl.com/DashboardInternetRadio
o On the virtues of spot welding AM (and sometimes FM and
perhaps TV) tower sections together:
http://tinyurl.com/SpotWeldingVirtues
o The TVFOOL Website is a perennial favorite for DTV
coverage patterns. We are advised that it now has "overlays
for Google Earth that include all TV station transmitter
locations and their Longley-Rice coverage patterns:"
http://www.tvfool.com/
o KSCI has ordered an ERI UHF-TV antenna to replace their
collapsed Andrew antenna (see CGC #1108). Same radiation
pattern as before. The station hopes to have the new antenna
on the air by early June. (Verbal information from KSCI)
o Los Angeles LPTVs KNET-CA, KNLA-CD and KNLA-LP are being
sold for $16.4 million:
http://rbr.com/local-media-tv-stockpiles-more-big-market-class-as/
o AmericanRadioHistory.com is a treasure trove for radio
and TV history. They even have old Broadcasting Yearbooks in
a searchable format. ARH would appreciate the loan of classic
documents for scanning and Web-posting:
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/index.htm
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ROAD ICE HAZARDS -- A SNOWPLOW DRIVER'S VIEW
The following e-mail is from a southern California road
maintenance worker. He happens to drive one of the snowplows
that services one of our 5000(+) foot broadcast sites. The
issue is road ice -- something that can be treacherous for
some time after a snowfall or freezing rain occurs. Here
are his thoughts:
"I love how all you think the worst is over, when you all
should take into consideration the road is shaded all the way
up the hill which means that there are icy roads. Then the
second worst thing is the falling ice off all of your towers.
So the storm is not always the problem -- it's the couple of
days after the storm that is truly the worst."
Points well taken.
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ULTRATHIN FLEXIBLE BATTERIES
Coming: An ultrathin flexible battery. In the works from
Japan-based NEC for over a decade, the organic radical battery
is just 0.01 inch thick, can refresh a teeny screen 2,000 times
and can be recharged in less than a minute. In 2013, it'll appear
in enhanced credit and debit cards that display balances, in hotel
keys, in subway and train passes, and in much slimmer and lighter
smart phones. It'll also pave the way for slender flat-screen
displays and e-readers that feel like paper.
The Kiplinger Letter, March 23, 2012
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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TECH LETTERS
The most recent Tech Letters postings include the following:
o A number of interesting Internet links have been posted.
Use the Tech Letters URL below and under the Recent Comments
heading, click on "Steve Blodgett, W7RNA, on CGC #1126."
Letters to the Editor of the CGC Communicator should be
posted on the Tech Letters Website. Here is the URL to see
the most recent postings and to make new postings (all letters
and comments are moderated and are posted after review):
http://www.earthsignals.com/press/
Please contact the moderator, Steve Blodgett, if you are
having trouble viewing or posting: sblodgett (at) earthsignals.com
Thanks!
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OFF TOPIC
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HIGH STANDARD OFF TOPIC MATERIAL
o Motion-induced blindness. No, you won't "go blind" by
watching this video, but you will wonder why certain dots
mysteriously vanish from view:
http://www.msf-usa.org/motion.html
o Great old 4x5 Kodachromes, 1940-1943:
http://pavel-kosenko.livejournal.com/303194.html?thread=22669914
o "Sweet Home Alabama" as performed by two Tesla coils in
concert. As one person put it, "After a few years of rock
artists doing "unplugged" (acoustic) albums, this certainly
is about a far as one could go in the opposite direction:"
http://tinyurl.com/TeslaTones
o Amateur blue laser flash received at the International
Space Station. Check out the details -- this was not a
trivial accomplishment:
http://tinyurl.com/AmateurBlueLaser
o NASA's Picture of the Day (3/26/12) features the
Cigar Galaxy:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/
o 100% effective anti-perching device from the UK,
no RFI concerns:
http://earthsignals.com/add_CGC/Bird.mpg
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With regard to Part 3 of your series of comments on bird anti-perching devices, and specifically the comment from one local engineer:
“The “non interference” version of the anti-perching wires is exactly the same thing with the V of steel wire encased in plastic….”
In terms of the products sold by Bird-B-Gone, this is not true. I wrote to the Bird-B-Gone Company this note:
“Can you please say whether-or-not your Polycarbonate Bird Spikes contain metal of any kind? Specifically, are the Polycarbonate Bird Spikes made from metal which is then *coated* with “polycarbonate”, or are they made from 100% polycarbonate (with no metal of any sort)?”
Mr. Jeff Watts from Bird-B-Gone replied:
“Yes, Mike, it is 100% Lexan polycarbonate – no metal.”
MW