Monday Morning Coffee and Technical Notes

July 7,, 2025 View as Webpage

ABA Annual Conference

Make your plans to attend the ABA annual conference Thursday and Friday August 7^th and 8^th. On Thursday the ABA Engineering Services will host a day-long engineering seminar with 5 great presentations by noted engineers from around the country.

Topics include advancement in modern solid state liquid cool transmitters by Rohde & Schwarts, installation and maintenance of diesel generators by Thompson Power Systems, Creating quality audio for radio and television by the ABA Engineering Services, ATSC 3.0 datacasting from Gray

Media and a review of the FCC requirements covering the “Station Log” and Chief Operator.

Registration which includes lunch is only $40.00. The conference will be held at the Ross Bridge Resort in Birmingham. Click here to register. 

If you need hotel information contact Lesa Rice lrice@al-ba.com.

During the Engineering session we will recognize the 2025 Engineer of the Year. This award recognizes excellence and innovation in broadcast engineering for an Alabama radio and/or television station. Criteria include development of new technology, leadership in education and contributions to broadcast engineering technical standards.



We invite you to send your nominations to Sharon Tinsley at stinsley@al-ba.com by July 15. Please include a short letter or email citing why you feel this person should receive the award, including ways in which the nominee has met the criteria listed above.

Managing Network Cables

As broadcast operations continue moving to an all-IP system, cable management can become an issue. Before designing an Ethernet network, you must evaluate your needs to develop the right one.

Determine how many devices are expected to connect to the network, for today and the future.

Locational layout is important as planning deals with aspects such as where all the different parts of the network will be situated. This encompasses determining the locations where the routers, switches, cable paths, and access points should be.

Choosing the right network equipment is essential to ensure reliable and efficient network performance. Select high-end routers, switches, and access points that meet the solution’s bandwidth and port requirements. Some equipment features to look out for include Quality of Service (QoS) for prioritizing traffic on the network and Power over Ethernet (PoE), which enables devices to be powered through the network cables.

Proper documentation of your network design is vital for future reference and troubleshooting. Document the network topology, IP addressing scheme, equipment details, and cable routes.

Regular maintenance, including software updates, hardware checks, and performance monitoring, is crucial to keep the network running smoothly and efficiently.

It is also a good idea to use color coding of the network cables, use different colors for dedicated programming streams, control data and general network traffic. Neatness counts, use cable routing troughs to manage cable runs and use caution when using any type of cable bundling, such as cable ties, over tightening can destroy the wire twist, leading to diminished efficiency.

Above all make sure to label both ends of the cables. Going forward, have a procedure to install any updates to network equipment.



Information courtesy of Networkdrops

ABIP Training Seminar

Engineers and other station personnel are invited to attend a free two-day seminar covering the Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program (ABIP). 

Even if you are not involved in the actual inspection, this seminar will cover a lot of areas, both technical and legal. The items covered will help keep your entire operation in compliance with current FCC Rules and Regulations.

The class will be held on Monday and Tuesday August 18^th and 19^th at the ABA training center in Hoover, AL (Birmingham). The first day will be the classroom and the second day will be in the field conducting “Mock” inspections at an AM, FM and television station.

Instructors include John George, ABIP inspector for South Carolina and Larry Wilkins ABIP inspector for Alabama.



There is no cost for attending the seminar. You can register online here. We encourage you to register early since seating is limited. On the registration page is a list of hotels that have special reduced prices for attendees.

FCC Notes

As a courtesy reminder, the FCC requires all radio and television stations to quarterly create and place in their Online Public Files (OPIF), a list of “local” issues and how your station addressed those issues. These “Issues and Programs lists” must be uploaded to the OPIF by the 10^th of the month following the end of each quarter.

For issues that you choose to address, stations must list all of the programs that you aired that addressed the issue. For each include the following:

1. The name of the program on which the issue-responsive segment aired

2. The duration of the discussion

3. The time and date that it aired

4. A brief description of what the segment was and how it addressed the issue.



As you are giving the time and date, it probably does not look good if all of your issue-responsive programming airs at 5 AM on Sunday morning.

Fall schedule of the ABA Engineering Academy’s Technical classes

The ABA Engineering Academy has released the schedule for our Radio and Television Engineering class for this coming fall. The radio class will be held the week of September 21 – 26 and the television class will be held the week of November 3 – 7.

The Academy began offering these classes in 2012. Over the years it has attracted students from all across the country and Canada. While they are designed for those just starting in broadcast engineering, we have had many “seasoned” engineers attend both for a refresher course and the latest technology (including HD Radio, ATSC 3.0 and SMPTE 2110).

The classes cover basic electronics, history of broadcasting, analog and digital audio, radio/ television generation and transmission, plus overview of station operations including EAS and FCC Rules. On Fridays we offer the opportunity for students to take the SBE Certified Broadcast Technologist exam. You do not have to take the exam to attend the class.

Classes are held at the ABA Training Center, 2180 Parkway Lake Drive Hoover, AL (Birmingham)

We encourage you to register for these classes soon, as we have limited seating. Don’t forget the classes are offered at no cost by the Alabama Broadcasters Association. Click here to register. There is a list of hotels that offer special rates for students on the web site.



Contact the Academy Director for more information.

Pro Audio – Looking Under the Hood at Equalization

Those involved in Pro Audio, at live events or a recording studio know the importance of EQ (equalization). Carl Stewart writing in the latest issue of Live Sound said, “ I use equalization for three things: 1) overall sound quality; 2) intelligibility; and 3) to avoid feedback”.

In a live performance you want to “tune” the room first to minimize the possibility of feedback. Carl added “nothing gets negative attention from the technical director, client, and audience faster than feedback”.

In a typical corporate event, you will probably have two speakers on stands on either side of the room. Running the system in dual mono with separate feeds to each speaker instead of looping thru, will give you better control of the room.

Place a graphic EQ on the speaker outputs. The process involves running pink noise through the system and looking at a real-time analyzer (RTA) to see what each of the various frequencies are doing in the room. Some frequencies will bounce around the room (reverberate), and others are absorbed. Those frequences that have peaks will be the ones that most often

create feedback. Taming those peaks is important before you move to other items.

Then using the channel EQ’s check and adjust each microphone input to eliminate offending frequencies.

During the event if you have presenters with wireless microphones that tend to move around and may walk in front of the main speakers, using the dual mono mentioned above, you can pan that speaker or channel to cut any possible feed back.



The main take away is plan ahead and pay attention during the event!

Earl, take a moment to clean off all the DNA on the splicing block !