Candidates for the Radio and Television Engineering Achievement Awards must be or have been an owner, officer or employee of any company, subsidiary or division whose primary business is broadcasting, or directly supports broadcasting, including employees of the federal government directly engaged in broadcast engineering work. The NAB Executive Committee will select the award winners.

Previous award winners include Radio magazine Technical Editor John Battison and Bob Orban. The complete list of previous NAB Engineering Achievement Award winners is posted on the Radio magazine website. The award nomination form is available at the NAB website or by calling 202-429-5346. The deadline for nominations is Jan. 15, 2008.

SBE, NFL Renew Game-day Coordinator Agreement
Indianapolis - Nov 16, 2007 - The Society of Broadcast Engineers renewed its contract with the National Football League to provide game-day frequency coordination services for the 2007/2008 football season. The one-year renewal marks the ninth year of the partnership.

SBE Game Day Coordinators manage frequency selection of all wireless services at every pre-season, regular season and playoff game (except the Super Bowl) nationwide. Frequency coordination is critical to prevent interference among wireless communications, wireless microphones, coach-to-player and coach-to-coach communications and video transmission links at the stadiums in order to facilitate an interference-free game atmosphere and uninterrupted media coverage. The SBE provides the NFL with access to a pool of talented broadcast engineers with the skills necessary to manage the radio frequency spectrum used during the live coverage.

To request frequency coordination of wireless equipment at an upcoming NFL game, contact the home team's game-day coordinator (available at www.sbe.org/nfl.php). RF users can also use the online frequency coordination form.

NAB Trains Engineers at NAB AM Antenna Computer Modeling Seminar
The NAB AM Antenna Computer Modeling Seminar held at the NAB headquarters in Washington, DC, the week of Nov. 12, 2007 attracted 45 engineers. The students from across the U.S. participated in two days of classroom training designed to instruct broadcast engineers in basics needed to utilize modeling software such as MININEC and nodal analysis for designing performance-optimized AM directional antenna phasing and coupling systems. The course was taught by AM antenna experts Ron Rackley, a principal in the firm of du Treil, Lundin and Rackley Consulting Engineers and Ben Dawson, president/senior electrical engineer of Hatfield and Dawson, along with antenna modeling software specialist Jerry Westberg, principal engineer, Broadcast Electronics.

FCC to Hold Open Meeting Nov. 27
Washington - Nov 20, 2007 - The Federal Communications Commission will hold an open meeting on several subjects on Nov. 27, 2007 at 9:30 a.m. in Room TW-C305, at 445 12th Street, S.W., in Washington, DC. Items on the agenda of interest to broadcasters include ownership and LPFM.

The ownership item is the continuation of the Commission's review of diversification in broadcast ownership. The Commission will consider a report and order and Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning initiatives designed to increase participation in the broadcasting industry by new entrants and small businesses, including minority- and women-owned businesses.

In LPFM, the group will discuss MB Docket No. 99-25, the Creation of a Low Power Radio Service. The Commission will consider a Third Report and Order concerning the promotion and expansion of low power FM (LPFM) service.

Other agenda items cover telephone services, TV licensing, and video programming competition.

FCC Awards Public Safety Spectrum License
Washington - Nov 19, 2007 - The FCC has granted the application of the Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corporation (PSSTC) for the single nationwide license for the public safety 700MHz broadband spectrum allocation. In July 2007, the FCC re-designated 10MHz of public safety 700MHz spectrum, from 763 to 768 and 793 to 798MHz, to establish a nationwide, interoperable broadband public safety communications network. The Commission also created a single nationwide license for this spectrum called the Public Safety Broadband License.

The primary responsibilities of the licensee are to:

The complete order can be accessed through the FCC website. Reference PS Docket No. 06-229.

Business

The intended coverage area of the project superimposed on a Google map.

CBS Launches Free Wi-fi in Manhattan
New York - Nov 19, 2007 - CBS has launched the CBS Mobile Zone, a free 36-block Wi-fi area in Midtown Manhattan. Coverage of the hotspot will ultimately range from Central Park South to 42nd Street between 8th Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas.

The project is a collaboration of CBS, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New York City Transit. The effort is ad-supported, and Citi and Salesgenie.com have already signed on as sponsors.

Upon logging on, Web surfers will come to a home page with "hyperlocal content such as breaking local and national news, sports highlights, weather reports, music discovery, wallpapers, ring tones, maps, a social network, and the ability to search for nearby restaurants, shops and entertainment complete with geographically-targeted community reviews," CBS said in the announcement.

This Wi-fi network is considered a test project that should last for at least six months. Some areas are live effective immediately and will be joined by the rest of the network by the end of November. Local businesses are also being encouraged to add wireless routers to their buildings to help avoid dark spots inside the area, according to the broadcaster.

The Mobile Zone is not device- or software-specific. VoIP calling and other comparatively high-demand Internet activities will also be acceptable. If successful, the trial may also expand to include other areas where CBS' outdoor division has a presence.

Sales Call Russian Television And Radio has chosen Dalet Enterprise Edition to digitize its news production and archiving for its Moscow-based headquarters and its 86 regional stations. The massive installation will seed some 2,500 seats with the media asset management and production system.

Products

RCS Releases Nexgen Digital 2.7.4
White Plains, NY - Nov 16, 2007 - RCS releases its newest version (Version 2.7.4) of Nexgen Digital, which includes opto masking to enable the audio server to only respond to specific switch inputs. This customer-requested feature gives the engineer more control over what, when, and how each event is triggered.

Additional feature sets include more options on the Control Room Display size and Button Bar/Cart Deck/Wall of Carts buttons. Configuration has expanded with user based logout options, archive window deletions, and enhanced spot block communication between stream and master stations. Nexgen 2.7.4 now includes status of any events in XML exports.

Additional details of the enhancements are noted at www.rcscommunity.com.

HHB Launches Tell It/Win It Promotion
Old Lyme, CT - Nov 19, 2007 - To collect stories about Flashmic uses, HHB is soliciting Flashmic case studies from its users. HHB will feature the best anecdotes in a series of advertisements, and users whose stories are selected will win a free Flashmic.

To participate, visit www.hhb.co.uk/flashmic to submit a short summary of your Flashmic application, along with up to five digital photographs. A print ad created from a typical case study is also available from the same site to guide participants. No purchase is necessary to participate.

Logitech Adds Squeezebox Support for Slacker Personal Radio Service
Fremont, CA - Nov 15, 2007 - The Logitech Squeezebox and Transporter network music players will support Slacker's new Slacker Personal Radio service in the United States. Slacker Personal Radio enables listeners to create, edit and share Internet radio stations or personalize more than 100 programmed stations. The service will be available to Logitech equipment owners at the end of November.