Television Repack Update: Phase 1

Television Repack Update:
Phase 1 of the television repack will end this week. November 30th is the last day for those stations assigned to Phase One to change frequencies. If your station cannot meet the November 30th date, contact the FCC regional coordinator.
December 10th, 2018 is the last day for stations in Phase One to file License to Cover Application on FCC Form 2100, Schedule B.
Stations in Phase Two can begin test on December 1, 2018 and must be complete by April 12, 2019.
AWARN:
AWARN (Advanced Warning and Response Network), utilizing ATSC 3.0 Advanced Emergency Alerting, represents a major upgrade to America’s emergency communication system. AWARN uses next-generation terrestrial broadcasting to deliver rich-media, geo-targeted public alerts. AWARN wakes up devices, delivering alerts even when the cellular network is jammed, or the power grid is down.
The U.S. broadcast standard for mobile television, the ATSC A/153 Mobile DTV Standard, uses Internet Protocol (IP) at its core. The use of IP allows the new application to be flexible and extensible. Data delivery, non-real-time delivery, and electronic service guides are all included.
Class A protection decease:
As part of the FCC’s AM Revitalization program, the Commission has proposed to revised interference protections for Class A AM stations in the United States. One proposal is for daytime hours, two are for protection during the “critical hours” periods and two are for protection of Class A AM stations at night.
Class A stations operate on clear channels with 10 to 50 kW.
The Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program (ABIP):
Does your station participate in the Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program?
Each State Broadcasters Association has an agreement with the FCC to conduct these alternative inspections. Once a station has been inspected and issued a Certificate of Compliance, the Commission has stated it will not make “random inspections” for a period of three years. The only exception would be for complaints filed against your station and/or reported safety violations.
In addition, the Alternative Inspection is a great educational tool. With the rapid changes in technology and FCC rules, this affords the station to be sure it is up to date on technical and legal items. The inspection is conducted by an independent contract engineer hired by the Association with the approval of the FCC.
For more information contact Larry Wilkins, Alabama ABIP Inspector or your State Broadcasters Association.
ABA Engineering Academy:
The ABA Engineering Academy has released the schedule for Engineering Classes and Seminars during 2019.  In addition to the four basic radio and television classes there will be a number of special one-day seminars presented throughout the year.
We are also excited to announced that the “Continuing Educational Series” of articles will start back up in January.  Each month we will offer a paper covering various technical items for broadcast and sound engineers.  These will be created with the aid of professional engineers around the globe.  Let us know if you have a special subject you wish to have the Academy to cover in the series.  Previous articles are available here.
Also, we are working with the IEEE BTS to host a special ATSC 3.0 seminar presented by Gary Sgrignoli.  Dates for special seminars will be posted in this newsletter soon.
Our popular “Art of Mixing Live Audio” seminars will be offered again in 2019.  If you have a church that would be interested in hosting one of these one-day seminars have them contact us.  It is a great training tool for church sound crews and broadcast engineers as well.
IP Media Webcast Series:
IP promises enormous flexibility and scalability in the broadcast facility and in order to compete in today‘s multichannel, multiplatform world, you need to stay on top of the latest developments and trends. Moving from SDI to IP is inevitable but will take time to develop.
TV Technology’s new series of Webcasts: IP Basics for Media will begin on Thursday,  December 06, 2018 at 2:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. Register Here
New Technology from Intel:
As broadcast media migrates to IP two of the major concerns are latency and QoS. Intel® has introduced Optane™ Technology, based on 3D XPoint™ memory media, along with the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) driver.
When this new memory media is installed between the processor and slower SATA-based storage devices (HDD, SSHD or SATA SSD), the computer can store commonly used data and programs closer to the processor. This allows the system to access this information more quickly, which can improve overall system responsiveness.
This new technology is built to address the need for non-volatile memory. Traditional DRAM is a volatile memory technology that serves as your computer’s “short-term working memory”. Optane will accelerate your PC’s accesses to non-volatile data. In your PC, non-volatile data is your computer’s “long-term memory” that persists even when the PC is powered off.
The two memory technologies serve different purposes in the PC memory hierarchy, so Intel® Optane™ memory complements DRAM, rather than replacing it entirely. A computer with both Intel® Optane™ memory and DRAM can access programs and data faster, providing additional performance and responsiveness.
Upcoming Events of interest to Engineers:
February 4th – 8th  Radio Engineering Class
March 11th – 15th Television Engineering Class
April 6th – 11th NAB Convention, Las Vegas
August 9th & 10th ABA Annual Convention, Birmingham
September 9th – 13th Radio Engineering Class
September 24th – 27th NAB Radio Show, Dallas
October 14th – 18th Television Engineering Class
Additional Special Seminars: Dates TBA
ATSC 3.0
ABIP Training
IP for Broadcast
Digital Audio Workstation
Live/Recording Audio Workshop
Advanced Radio Engineering
To register for any of the ABA Engineering Academy classes or seminars visit our web site.  All classes ,unless otherwise noted, will be held at the ABA Training Center, 2180 Parkway Lake Drive, Hoover AL (Birmingham)