Our Next Meeting

All Are Welcome at SBE Meetings;
SBE Membership is not Required

Meeting Date:

January 15, 2019 at 6:30 PM

Location:

WAMU Studios 4401 Connecticut Avenue Washington, DC 20016-8082

Directions:

We will be meeting at the WAMU studios, which are located at 4401 Connecticut Avenue, NW in DC.  If traveling by Metro, take the Red Line and get off at the Van Ness/UDC Metro station. Use the east exit and walk one block north on Connecticut Ave. to Windom Place and arrive at 4401 Connecticut Ave. If driving, set your GPS for the above address, which will bring you to Connecticut Avenue at Windom Place. WAMU is in the brick/glass building on the corner. Landmarks include a UPS Store, a loading dock, and a roll-up door on the side of the building. For this meeting, park in any available space.  Use the WAMU intercom next to the roll-up door to ask for Rob Bertrand, and advise that you're there for the SBE meeting.  Take the elevator to the first floor.

Map: By Mapquest

All Digital AM - WWFD Frederick

Guest Speakers: David Kolesar & Mike Raide

In July 2018, WWFD in Frederick, MD (820 kHz, 4.3 kW non-directional daytime, 460 watts directional nighttime) became the first AM station in the United States to turn off its analog signal and transmit fulltime a digital-only HD Radio signal. This presentation will discuss the steps taken to achieve this milestone: antenna adjustments, transmitter modifications, and the experimental authorization. Initial drive test reports will be shared, as well as a summary of outstanding issues and future work.

David Kolesar (CBT, CBNT) is a Senior Broadcast Engineer at Hubbard Radio. His primary role for the past twelve years has been to serve as the transmitter engineer for WTOP-FM, Federal News Network (WFED), and WWFD. David is the Program Director of The Gamut, the format broadcast on WWFD, the first full-time all-digital radio station in the United States. Prior to working at Hubbard Radio, David was an Electronics Engineer in the Information Technology Division of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (Washington, D.C.) from 2001-2006. David earned a Master of Electrical Engineering (M.E.E.) from the Catholic University of America (2001), and a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Physics from the same institution in 1999.

Mike Raide has been the Senior Manager for Broadcast Technologies at Xperi Corporation for the past 10 years. Previously he served for 10 years as Chief Engineer at CBS Radio, Rochester, NY. He is SBE Certified as a Senior Radio Engineer (CSRE) with AMD, CBNE and DRB specializations.

A bite to eat will be served Tuesday, January 15th at 6:30 PM.  We'll discuss a tiny bit of Chapter 37 business about 6:45 PM and begin our presentation about 7:00 PM.  Please RSVP before Noon January 14th by dropping an e-mail to meet@sbe37.org and let us know if we should expect you for dinner!  Thanks to our friends at WAMU for welcoming us to their facility.