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THE CGC COMMUNICATOR
CGC #894
Monday, March 9, 2009
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Robert F. Gonsett, W6VR, Editor
<cgc (at) cgc333.connectnet.com>
Copyright 2009, Communications General® Corporation (CGC)
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JULIUS GENACHOWSKI NOMINATED AS FCC CHAIRMAN
Last Tuesday, President Obama formally announced that
Julius Genachowski is his nominee for FCC chairman, but
the job will be challenging:
http://tinyurl.com/FCCChair
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/03/03/10684/?nc=1
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FCC NEWS BRIEFS
o Temporary waiver of 100 day DTV countdown requirement:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-15A1.doc
o The transition of the broadcast auxiliary service (BAS)
to frequencies above 2025 MHz is again postponed (for 45 days):
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-13A1.doc
o Related stories:
http://tinyurl.com/Nextel-a
http://tinyurl.com/Nextel-b
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TIJUANA TELEVISION STATIONS - A COMPREHENSIVE (DRAFT) LIST
Following is a draft list of television stations located
in or near Tijuana, Baja California North, Mexico. The list
was compiled from a variety of sources with special thanks to
David Tanny. Please let us know if there are any corrections:
Tijuana Area Analog Stations (channel, call):
03 - XHTJB
06 - XETV
12 - XEWT
21 - XHTIT
27 - XHJK
33 - XHAS
45 - XHBJ
49 - XHDTV
57 - XHUAA
Tijuana Area Digital Stations (channel, call, notes):
22 - XHUAA
23 - XETV
28 - XHJK
29 - XHTIT
32 - XEWT
34 - XHAS (weak)
38 - XHTJB (inoperative)
44 - XHBJ (inoperative)
47 - XHDTV (inoperative)
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FCC ENFORCEMENT WATCH
It is almost as if the FCC's Enforcement Bureau (EB) has
shut down -- at least in terms of issuing Field Notices of alleged
rule violations. Very few items have been added to EB's Field
Notices website, and none of the new items are in California.
EB staff has probably been sidetracked by the DTV transition.
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RANDOM NOTES
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TV NEWS BRIEFS
o Gary Stigall of SBE Chapter 36 has put together a
terrific story entitled, "Lessons Learned During the San
Diego DTV Transition." It is available here:
http://tinyurl.com/SDdtvTransition
o Gary says he's a real evangelist for the "Terrestrial
Digital 91XG" UHF receiving antenna. It has high gain AND
excellent front-to-back ratio (28 dB):
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=TD-91XG
o If your viewer also needs a high-gain/high-band (CH-7
to 13) VHF antenna, Gary recommends the following Winegard:
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=YA1713
o "What will you do with your free White Space?"
That's the aggressive theme of this White Space page:
http://tinyurl.com/FreeWhiteSpaces
o NAB, MSTV sue to overturn FCC's White Space decision:
http://tinyurl.com/WhiteSpacesSuit
o YouTube has surpassed the mark of 100 million U.S.
viewers in a given month:
http://www.radioworld.com/article/75706
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RADIO NEWS BRIEFS
o There is a looming danger of "digital host interference"
if and when HD Radio transmitter power is cranked up:
http://www.rwonline.com/article/75498
o Radio magazine's Digital Radio Update has a
fascinating look at HD Radio (IBOC) penetration figures
in a story entitled, "Eye on IBOC:"
http://tinyurl.com/IBOCReach
o Vacant FM Channel 281A (104.1 MHz) for Murrieta, CA is
scheduled for auction in September. Upfront payment, minimum
opening bid and bidding units are $200k each. Bidder should be
aware of potential adjacent channel interference from super-
powered KBIG (its HD sidebands in particular) - something the
FCC hasn't told you about. Comments are being sought on the
bidding procedure:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-422A1.pdf
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-422A2.pdf
o The person behind the recorded voice of Time and Frequency
Station WWV has passed away. Announcer Don Elliot Heald, of
Atlanta, Georgia, who gave WWV its human touch, passed away
on Thursday, February 19th. (Amateur Radio Newsline)
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KPBS-TV, SAN DIEGO, TO CONTINUE IN ANALOG UNTIL JUNE 12
KPBS-TV's plans to shut off its analog transmitter
early -- well before the June 12 deadline -- have changed.
According to the station's Website, "KPBS will continue to
simulcast all programs until our analog channel is turned
off on June 12."
A KPBS insider put it this way: "In the end, we decided
that the cash cost to keep the [analog] transmitter on was
outweighed by the needs of our audience (many of which are
still "unready households") and the increasing demands by the
FCC to run even more DTV education spots if we sign-off early..."
The letter also mentioned that fundraising could be impacted
by an early analog shutdown.
http://www.kpbs.org/tv/digital_television
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
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COMMENT ON HD RADIO
I am the Engineering Manager of a Los Angeles area AM &
FM combo and have nothing good to say about AM HD Radio and
little positive for FM HD. The systems are seriously flawed
and cause a host of problems including serious adjacent channel
interference. Fundamentally, HD Radio needs to be aborted, and
the last thing it needs is a power increase.
In its place, at least for FM, I'd deploy FMeXtra because
it's a good spectral neighbor and it's inexpensive. It's time
we station engineers spoke up despite being muzzled. HD Radio
is just plain bad science.
Name withheld upon request
[Editor's note: The CGC Communicator airs opinions on both
sides of the HD Radio issue. Please keep all submissions to
100 words or less.]
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OFF TOPIC
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RADIO MISTAKE -- RF TRAP BLOWN UP BY POLICE
Sad yet funny story out of Omaha -- that's where Police and
a Bomb Squad have blown up an RF trap used in a ham radio antenna
because a cleaning crew thought it might be a pipe bomb.
The house in question belonged to Bob Rennolet, W0AEX.
There had been an electrical fire in the house two weeks ago
and he had hired a clean-up crew. Since no one present knew
what the mysterious device was -- and rather than take chances --
the Bomb Squad decided to blow up the gizmo -- a not-uncommon
device used in multi-band ham radio antennas.
(Story adapted from Amateur Radio Newsline)
http://tinyurl.com/Dangerous-Balun (Video clip)
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GENUINE OFF-TOPIC MATERIAL
o Re the Fordson Snow Machine video in CGC #893, we
are told that the Russians made an updated and more powerful
version in the 1960s and it really moves (1 minute video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afJ18eJeNgU
o Computer recreation of the Flight 1549 bird strike
and landing in the Hudson River (2 minute video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imDFSnklB0k&feature=popular
o Jay Leno shows us the latest technology for duplicating
mechanical parts with what is essentially a 3-D Xerox machine
(8 minute video):
http://tinyurl.com/3dXerox
o Very funny video clip and totally off topic:
http://tinyurl.com/CarsonIII
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AM RADIO - LOCAL ITEM FROM THE FCC
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AM STATION APPLICATION FOR LICENSE TO COVER ACCEPTED FOR FILING
BL-20090209APK KAZN 51426 MULTICULTURAL RADIO BROADCASTING
P 1300 KHZ LICENSEE, LLC
PASADENA, CA
License to cover.
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FM RADIO - LOCAL ITEMS FROM THE FCC
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FM STATION APPLICATION FOR LICENSE TO COVER ACCEPTED FOR FILING
BLED-20090303ACA KMRO 65404 THE ASSOCIATION FOR COMMUNITY
E 90.3 MHZ EDUCATION, INC.
CAMARILLO, CA
License to cover.
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FM BOOSTER APPLICATION FOR MINOR CHANGE TO A LICENSED FACILITY
ACCEPTED FOR FILING
BPFTB-20090225ABR KCAQ-FM2 165418 GOLD COAST BROADCASTING LLC
E 104.7 MHZ SANTA SUSANA, CA
Minor change in licensed facilities, callsign KCAQ-FM2.
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FM BOOSTER APPLICATION FOR MINOR AMENDMENT TO A CONSTRUCTION
PERMIT AMENDMENT RECEIVED
BPFTB-20090225ABR KCAQ-FM2 165418 GOLD COAST BROADCASTING LLC
E 104.7 MHZ SANTA SUSANA, CA
Engineering Amendment filed 02/26/2009
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TV - LOCAL ITEMS FROM THE FCC
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NO LOCAL ITEMS (AGAIN)
No local TV Applications or Actions have been published
by the FCC in several weeks. Probably the Video Division,
like the Enforcement Bureau, has been sidetracked by DTV
transition tasks. May the diversion end soon.
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