Our evening meeting on Advanced Television last month was canceled when the speaker was taken ill in Sacramento. We hope it can be rescheduled. This month will be our traditional post-NAB bull session as we peel off the mole skin and gather for tales of the show that devoured Vegas.

As usual our luncheon will be at Sinbads. Sinbad's is just south of the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero near the foot of Mission Street. Please RSVP to Karen Prasek at Zack's: 408-324-0551 x126 as we've been running out of tables and chairs. We meet at 11:30 and are seated at 12:30.

The following meetings are currently scheduled:

MAY 24th - ORBAN PRESENTATION

JUNE 26TH- ROLAND DIGITAL EDITOR

JULY 31ST- BELDEN WIRE AND CABLE

AUG 28TH- ANDREW PRESENTATION

Washington, DC - April 1, 1996

The somewhat emotional topic of whether broadcasters will have to pay for ATV frequencies has been settled. All parties determined to go into ATV must deliver $1 million in cash to the FCC by midnight April 15th. That will entitle them to participate in musical chairs on April 18th at the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. The floor of the ballroom will be divided up by markets with a chair for each available channel in each market. When the music stops, whoever gets a chair wins. Participants may use proxies in the contest such as trial lawyers, wrestlers, syndication promoters, or student interns.

In a follow-up to the March 8th meeting in Sacramento, a working committee from Radio, TV, and Cable met on the 28th to rough out a plan to submit to State OES so that we would be on track to meet the deadlines we face.

These are my notes from the meeting. They aren't official.

The LP1 will be KCBS. They are one of the 30 stations nationwide with a direct connection to White House communications. The LP2 will be KNBR and the LP3 will be KSJO. That will give us a good geographic distribution of transmitter sites.

Stations will be required to monitor LP1 and either LP2 or LP3. Monitoring both is optional. In addition, stations will need to monitor NWS (National Weather Service) radio.

EDIS will not send messages in the EAS format so it isn't a required monitoring assignment. It is a good idea though to continue to monitor EDIS.

All county OES offices can activate EAS as can cities with population in excess of 250,000 such as Oakland and San Jose.

National Weather Service activation's will be in EAS format via their weather radio frequencies but the committee suggests they should also phone LP1 and still send the activation request via AP as a backup.

The coordinated monthly test will take place on the first Tuesday of the month. On odd numbered months the test will be at 10:30 am. On even numbered months the test will be at 4:30 am. There is no text or format for the coordinated test at this time.

A list of monitoring codes was proposed but weather related ones are still in question pending discussions with NWS on their meaning and how NWS will use them.

It was pointed out that there isn't a specific code for a toxic substance release or a major fire. Presently they would be handled using CEM for "Civil Emergency Message" or EVI for "Evacuation Immediate". The codes, which are in addition to the mandatory national codes, are:

Minimum Recommended:
TOR Tornado Warning
FFW Flash Flood Warning
TSW Tsunami Warning
EVI Evacuation Immediate
CEM Civil Emergency Message
DMO Practice/Demo Message (not for broadcast)
ADR Administrative Message (not for broadcast)
Optional (depending on applicability to your area):
SVS Severe Weather Statement
SPS Special Weather Statement
FFS Flash Flood Statement
FLS Flood Statement
Possible Additions:
HWA High Wind Watch
HWW High Wind Warning

Between now and June Ed Cavagnaro, LECC Chair, will meet with individuals from each county OES. On June 20th there will be a general meeting of all participants at KTVU at 10:30 AM.

Whereas this typeface is ambiguous, I'll mention that the letters in the address are LNS since you can't tell a 1 from a lower case l. The address is:

http://www.lns.com/sbe

Thanks to these companies for their support of the April newsletter:

Zack Electronics
San Francisco/San Jose - Judy Carr - 415-626-1444 408-324-0551
Sacramento - Chris Champion - 916-369-1786

Advanced Marketing 
Frank Santucci - 415-365-3944 FAX 415-365-1630

Riggins Electronics Sales
George Riggins/WA6DZR - 310-598-7007

Orban
Jesse Maxenchs - 510-351-3500 FAX 510-351-0500

MARCOM
Martin Jackson - 408-438-4273 FAX 408-438-6617

David Carroll Electronics (DCE)
Rosie Alexander - 510-528-8054 FAX 510-526-1982

Hammett & Edison, Inc.
Dane Ericksen,P.E. - 707-996-5200 [email protected] FAX 707-996-5280

RF Specialties 
Bill Newbrough - 510-687-9990 FAX 510-687-9991

LeBlanc / LDL Communications (Larcan) 
Dave Hill - 415-347-9700 FAX 415-347-1772

Svetlana 
George Badger - 415-233-0429 - FAX 415-233-0439

Brill Electronics 
Marci Mearns - 510-308-1249 - [email protected] FAX 510-452-3620

TFT 
Paul Black - 408-727-7272 x 215 FAX 408-727-5942

Don Lincoln 
RF Suits - 415-388-5678

Tektronix 
Bill DeMay - 408-486-5110 - FAX 408-988-6051

Harris 
John Klecker - 909-989-4660 - [email protected] FAX 909-989-5529

Anixter 
510-489-7430 - FAX 510-489-2250