[IRCA] Re: SBE Meeting

["Dennis Gibson" <wb6tnb@xxxxxxx>]

Fantastic. Scott is a smart cookie (and a really nice guy).

I want to put in a plug for broadcast station CE's (Chief Engineers) in 
general. Back in the good old days each station had its own full time CE who 
was expected to keep the station on the air. As the owner bought more 
stations in the same market or nearby more often than not the CE was 
expected to do the same for the newly acquired station(s). Then came 
computer automation. Then came lots of new FCC regulations. The CE was 
expected to keep current on them. Then came personal computers. As 
technology advanced the CE was expected to keep *everything* running. 
Anything that broke (such as plumbing) had to be fixed by you-know-who.

The problem is that broadcast station engineering is very time consuming and 
in all but large markets pays relatively poorly. CE's for the big companies 
probably make decent money but they are on call 24/7/365. For some people 
low pay means why should I bust my butt; I want to put in my time then go 
home. The engineers who love radio don't see it that way.

Many of these CE's have more things to do than the time to do them right. I 
can see where some of them view DX'ers as pests. Some others tolerate us and 
some of them like us.

They're not bad people. They're mostly underpaid for what they do.

End of soapbox speech.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Les Rayburn" <les@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "NRC AM List" <am@xxxxxxxxxxx>; "IRCA" <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; 
<abdx@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 8:38 AM
Subject: [IRCA] SBE Meeting


> Following up on Scott Fybush's suggestion, I contacted the local
> chapter president here in Birmingham. I've already been invited
> to speak to the Society of Broadcast Engineers meeting at lunch time
> on March 2nd.
>
> I'll be playing a CD of past DX test receptions from here...along
> with a few rare catches during normal operations. I plan to
> discuss how DX'ers can be a valuable source of information
> to engineers, as we are often among the first to detect
> problems with antenna patterns and automation.
>
> Of course, I'll also be asking for stations here to conduct
> DX tests and alert us when they are going to be down
> for maintenance.


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