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SMPTE Chapter 11 Newsletter Vol. 2

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In this issue:

Steve Goze
Professor, Broadcast Television Engineering Technology
Napa Valley College
(707) 253-3258

Website Questions? Contact our Webmaster at web-master [at] smpte11 [dot] org

This is the second in a series of newsletters meant to inform alumni, employers, prospective students and interested parties in the operation of the Broadcast Television Engineering Technology program at Napa Valley College.

The current class is entering the second semester of the program where they will encounter digital video theory spiced up with a little analog theory. Thanks to one generous donor we have an interesting installation project in the form of a BTS Philips Venus 160 input by 128 output (160x128) video and stereo audio router. We are in the process of reconfiguring the router system for our studio and lab. The studio will have a 128x64 video, 96x64 stereo audio, and a 64x64 timecode router. The lab will have a 32x64 video router to feed each lab bench with video. Each of the lab benches will have remote controls to route the desired video to their bench and a tie line to access the video and audio in the studio. This will require a complete redesign and cabling of the lab and studios.

The same generous donor supplied us with 8 nine foot equipment racks. These racks will be used to replace the assortment of equipment racks in the engine room (White Room).

The BTV-199 class (independent study) will be assisting KVET (the Veterans Home in Yountville) in the installation of their television studios after a fire damaged their old facility.

Thanks to Brian Hughes, our webmaster, we have a nice looking and well performing website that is maintainable by individual students, alumni and employers. The current class is using the website for club meeting minutes, class assistance and general information sharing. Employers are now posting their own jobs and we have just installed a new feature to inform alumni and students of job postings as they occur. This will allow alumni to be aware of new job listings without logging on. This will take the place of my mass emails alerting alumni of new jobs. The jobs page is only viewable by account holders (students, alumni and authorized posters of information). If you know of alumni, let them know of the website. Many of the alumni graduated well before the advent of the web and are unaware that we may be on-line. Others may not know that we have our own domain name versus the old napanet address.

New officers have been installed in the clubs at the beginning of the new semester. Goals for this semester are to generate revenue to offset NAB expenses for student members. Some of the productions this semester have been “Andrea’s Voice”, the “Hiring Committee” training video, and a few informational videos. Most are viewable on the SMPTE website.

  • Dave Kramer dropped by to address the class about his work experience since graduating in 1998. Dave is living and working from his home base in Hong Kong.
  • Ben, Emma and Olivia Ganger stopped by and Ben addressed the class about his employment at KOMO in Seattle. Ben graduated in 2007 and has been employed since then at KOMO. Ben also takes the time to mentor the current class of students via the smpte11 website.
  • Bob McDonald, Class of 2007, addressed the class and stressed the importance of IT knowledge in the broadcast industry.

Every semester a few students enroll in the self study credit course which provides them with additional experience in their broadcast studies. We have arranged with the Veterans Home in Yountville (KVET) to assist in the installation of their television studios after a fire damaged their old facility. A second project will also assist Vallejo’s cable access TV with their engineering.

Since we have just completed the first semester, technically we have accomplished very little. We have installed an Abekas A72 character generator, two Grass Valley Tektronix PDR200 disk recorders and a Sony HDVS studio camera. While these three items aren’t state of the art they are better than our previous solutions.

The engine room’s old air conditioner finally failed and parts were no longer available. This unit appears in some of the old faded pictures of the engine room (white room). A new Mitsubishi air conditioner was installed in it’s place.

  • Pixar
  • Sony Broadcast
  • KGO-TV
  • NMT
  • Bruce Eib (Alumni)
  • Comcast
  • Charles Adkins
  • Lynne Browne
  • SMPTE
  • Holbrook Enterprises (Wirecad)
  • SBE
  • NABEF
  • Tech Notes TV
  • Intelsat