RF CURRENT

Welcome to RF Current, a weekly electronic newsletter focusing on Broadcast technical and F.C.C. related issues. This newsletter is part of The RF Page @ www.transmitter.com, a web site devoted to TV Broadcast RF engineering. For more information see the What is... guide to the R.F. Page site.

Issues are dated each Monday, although recently I've needed an extra day(week) or two to complete each issue. Articles may be posted earlier if time permits or if there is a major, breaking story.

<<< Back to October 30 - Issue 238

November 6, 2000 - Issue 239 Final Edition

FCC Requests Nominations for Membership on the Technological Advisory Council (Nov. 6)

The FCC is requesting nominations to its Technology Advisory Council. The Council was formed to provide "cutting edge" advice to the FCC on technological innovations. It first meet on April 7, 1999. The FCC Public Notice (DA 00-2490) said nominees and applicants for membership on the Council "should have national, or international, reputations as leading technologists in their areas of expertise. In the case of nominees or applicants who are affiliated with private sector companies, nominees will frequently hold the title of Chief Scientist, or Chief Technology Officer; and in the case of academic and other research organizations, applicants and nominees will frequently hold an endowed professorship, or fellowship, or senior management or technical position within that research or development organization."

Individual may apply for or nominate others for membership on the Council. Refer to the Public Notice for a listing of information required in the applications/nominations. The deadline is November 22, 2000.

DTV - CEA Says DTV Product Sales Surged in 3Q2000 (Nov. 2)

The Consumer Electronics Association released figures showing that factory sales of DTV displays to dealers totaled 368,947 units, nearly seven times the number of DTV displays sold in the same period in 1999. Sales for stand alone set-top box DTV receivers, which most DTV displays require to receive broadcast DTV signals, was not as impressive. CEA said 25,855 of these set-top boxes had been sold to dealers since January 2000. CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro commented, "These numbers and the results of our research demonstrate that the consumer DTV transition is thriving. Consumers are buying DTV products now, despite their concerns about limited broadcast programming. When you consider the long-term success of the technology, robust DTV sales and high consumer satisfaction are the indicators that matter."

The CEA release noted that DTV can come from a variety of sources, including pre-recorded DVD, satellite, cable and the Internet. CEA said that in 1999, seventeen percent of the total DTV products sold were capable of receiving DTV broadcasts. The release said, "CEA expects this trend to continue as long as some broadcasters question the DTV broadcast standard or insist on using DTV primarily as a subscription data service. However if we start to see Alternative delivery mediums such as cable and satellite increase their HDTV delivery and content this number will begin to increase."

CEA News Releases are available at www.ce.org/newsroom/newsroom_recent_news.asp.

SATELLITE - INTELSAT starts satellite shift with 702 move (Nov. 2)

INTELSAT has completed the first phase of a plan to rearrange its satellites in the Pacific Ocean Region to meet growing customer demands. INTELSAT 702 was moved from 177 degrees East Longitude (E.L.) to 176 degrees E.L. The next phase will move INTELSAT 602 to 178 degrees E.L. and operate it in the inclined orbit mode. This will happen in May 2001. The final phase comes in 2003 when INTELSAT 705 is scheduled to replace 602. INTELSAT 701 will remain at 180 degrees E.L. and INTELSAT 802 will stay at 174 degrees.

This information was obtained from an INTELSAT press release - INTELSAT 702 Relocated to Meeting Growing Demand in the Asia-Pacific.

OTHER Items of Interest

FCC Auction of LIcenses in the 747-762 and 777-792 MHz Bands Scheduled for March 6, 2001 - Public Notice focuses on bidding procedure.
700 MHz Guard Band Auction Applications Accepted For Filing by FCC - Public Notice
FCC Implements Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act Sports Blackout and Program Exclusivity Rule Provisions for Satellite Carriers - News release says new rules apply to C-band and DBS satellite service providers. Six superstations carried pursuant to a statutory copyright license are subject to program deletions to protect contract rights of local television stations.
Belo Selects Harris Corporation to Complete Transition to DTV - Press release - Harris to have all DTV equipment - including solid state and IOT transmitters, exciters, encoders, PSIP generators and transmission monitoring systems - at 19 Belo stations by September 2001
Sigmacom Integrates NxtWave Communications' NXT2000 Receiver Chip into PC DTV Card - Press release - Sigmacom PC DTV card with RAVISENT CineMaster HDTV decoder handles all ATSC formats and can show full frame rate video with no frame drops at 720p and 1080i.
EE Times article - Oren adds broadband chips to DTV base under new CEO - story by Junko Yoshida says new VSB chips have 576 tap equalizer with -4.5 to +44.6 microsecond range. Oren's Mike Hurlson says, "our VSB solution today is up to par with the OFDM standard"
EE Times article - Joint venture targets TV-based datacast platform - story by Yoshiko Hara notes "e-Platform" may be limited to use in Japan because of different data broadcast formats.

>>>>Next November 13 - Issue 240

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