Monday Morning Coffee and Technical Notes

March 3, 2026 View as Webpage

ABA Engineering Academy

The ABA Engineering Academy will offer the spring Television Engineering class the week of March 23 – 27. 

This 5-day class covers basic electronics, analog and digital audio, video creation, transmitters (including ATSC 3.0 and SMPTE 2110) and along with studio operation EAS, FCC Rules, etc.

Classes are held at the ABA Training Center in Hoover, AL. A daily schedule of subjects and online registration is available here.

Reviewing the FCC Rules – Radio Frequency Energy

The FCC and other regulators require many sources of radio frequency energy to limit the exposure of humans to high levels of Radiofrequency Radiation (RFR), also known as Non-Ionizing Radiation (NIR) and Electro-Magnetic Radiation (EMR).

Broadcasters are required to demonstrate their compliance with the Commission’s RFR rules. This responsibility requires re-evaluation of compliance whenever any changes are made to the broadcaster’s facility or to any other nearby facility that can contribute RFR energy to the human environment above prescribed levels.

Appropriate signage must be in place to alert persons who may be visiting the site, including unauthorized persons, of the potential for exposure in excess of the Commission’s rules and regulations.

Back to the Basics - Audio Proofs

An article from a 2020 edition of Radio World recalls “Remembering AM broadcast 'Audio Proofs' (Proof of Performance),” which evokes memories of careful, hands-on engineering work—usually carried out early in the morning to avoid disturbing listeners.

These tests, required by the FCC (though later eased), ensured the transmitted audio met strict standards for frequency response, noise, and distortion”. 

Those of you who have never conducted one of these overnight tests don’t know the fun you have missed. In addition to all the equipment, you needed a thermos of black coffee. Quite often it took two people to run the test, one at the studio and one at the transmitter. The engineer at the transmitter site had to make all the measurements while fighting off the late-night critters.

Test included the frequency response, distortion and signal to noise for the entire system (studio to the output of the transmitter.



If you are under 30 and would like to know more about the old audio proof visit World Radio History.

Increase Your Word Power – Inclusive and Exclusive

Engineers are very much aware that at its very core, computer operations involve millions of switches called gates. These gates switch between two states, a one or a zero (high or low).

There are several different types of gates that aid computers in manipulating the data. Some are called Inclusive while others carry the name Exclusive.

Ever wondered what those terms mean?

Inclusive means including, covering, or welcoming everything and everyone, whereas exclusive means restricting access to a select group, limiting, or omitting items. Inclusivity focuses on bringing things into a whole, while exclusivity creates a, often specialized, boundary.



The primary difference between inclusive and exclusive OR (XOR) gates is how they handle both inputs being true (high). Inclusive OR outputs true if at least one or both inputs are true, while Exclusive OR outputs true only if exactly one input is true, resulting in false if both are true.

Pro Audio – Hearing and Listening

Our ears are always turned on, 24/7 even when we are asleep.

However, we do subconsciously “tune out” sounds we are not interested in. This is where the terms hearing and listening come into play. Learning how to listen critically is something that anyone can do.  

When you start listening, focus attention on the sounds you’re hearing, the same as you would when trying to hear a friend’s conversation at a club with a loud band playing. It doesn’t take much time to train our ears; it’s something we can do anywhere at anytime. A few minutes of critical listening daily can go a long way in helping us to really start to hear things differently.

Critical listening is an indispensable skill for creating great mixes. It allows us to hear the subtle differences in equipment, from mic preamps to microphones, between mixing consoles and loudspeakers, between various instrument pick-ups, various amplifiers, and so on. It can help us find the “sweet spot” for mic placement.

Critical listening also helps us learn and recognize frequencies, and everything we do in audio and music production involves frequencies.

When you learn how to listen critically, the world of mixing opens up to you. Spend some time listening today.

All ready for summer, raise your hands!