Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

GOVERNMENT continued FCC 'ROAD SHOW AIDS STATIONS • Commission puts second mobile tv monitor on road • Broadcasters praise assistance provided by units A little-known phase of the FCC's operations— one which has given valuable assistance to tv stations in the eastern half of the U. S. — soon will be offering its services to western outlets. This extra dividend to broadcasters is being provided by the Commission's two mobile tv monitoring units. One of the units has been in operation for over two years. Based at the Laurel, Md., permanent monitoring installation, it is operated by engineer Raymond L. Day and covers the eastern half of the U. S. The second unit, built by Mr. Day and Kenneth V. Preston at Laurel, recently completed a successful shakedown cruise in Pennsylvania, and with Messrs. Day and Preston at the controls, left last week for its home base in Livermore, Calif. The entourage will take a month for the trip, monitoring stations along the way. Mr. Preston will operate the second unit in the West, with Mr. Day returning to his eastern assignment. The two Commission engineers feel they have the perfect job — one that permits them to spend a majority of the winter in Florida or Arizona, and head for cooler climates, such as Maine or Montana, during the summer. Mr. Day, a bachelor, and Mr. Preston, a widower, have no family problems in their "seasonal" jobs and are quick to admit that, as much as practicable when on the road they can be found where the climate is most suitable. Each trip averages from 4-5 weeks and the units are on the road approximately 4050% of the time. They must be at the home base at least half the time, according to Frank M. Kratokvil, assistant chief of the FCC's Field Engineering & Monitoring Bureau and chief of the field operating division, who oversees the units' operations. There is a two-fold reason for this time spent at home: paperwork and the constant checking of equipment to make sure it is absolutely accurate. Messrs. Day and Preston explain it would be somewhat embarrassing to tell a station its video signal was several thousand cycles off and then discover that the mobile unit was at fault. As a result of constant equipment checks, the Commission engineers have not made such an error. The monitoring units basically are high-priced, elaborate tv receivers built at a cost of approximately $33,000 (including labor) each. Equipment (none of which was designed originally for mobile use) in each unit includes DuMont Model 280 oscilloscope; Tektronix Model 535 wide range oscilloscope; Gertsch Model AM-1 frequency measuring assembly; Hewlett-Packard Model 524B electronic counter; Hewlett-Packard Model 612-A uhf standard signal generator; Page 56 • December 2, 1957 Measurements Corp. Model 80 vhf standard signal generator. Also, Advance Electronics Co. Types 506 and 508 continuously variable RF delay lines; Trad Tv Corp. Model AT120 RF attenuator; Porarad Model M-200 color video monitor; RCA Model TM-2D monochrome video monitor; Panoramic Radio Corp. Model SA-8 Type T10,000 spectrum analyzer; Standard Coil Co. vhf-uhf tuners; RCA Type WV 97A vacuum tube volt-ohmmeter; Precision Type 10-54P tube tester; Lambda Model 28-M and 33-M regulated power supplies; National NC-125 receiver; relay rack cabinets and associated shock mounts; air conditioner, and associated smaller electrical items necessary in operating the equipment. Both units are installed on International IV2 ton delivery-type truck chasses. The FCC lists three reasons why it is "mandatory that the enforcement program be accomplished by means of mobile facilities." They are: "(1) The tv coverage of monitoring stations is very limited. [The Commission has 18 permanent monitoring stations throughout the country.] "(2) A number of very expensive instruments are required for tv engineering enforcement. Providing all monitoring stations with this equipment would be too expensive. "(3) It is essential that engineers who carry out this program be specially trained for this work and that they spend their full time on this activity. Having engineers trained especially for this duty at each monitoring station would not be economically practical." In the two years the eastern unit has been in operation, Mr. Day has covered from Bangor, Me., to San Antonio, Tex., giving him ample opportunity to "follow the season." He reports the stations have been 100% cooperative to date; he has yet to issue his first citation for a violation. While not secretive about their operations, Messrs. Day and Preston do not an WITH space at a premium inside the mobile monitors, equipment is mounted at the front end of the truck bed on racks. In the portion of the equipment above (I), the black-and-white monitor is connected to the unit's oscilloscope as the electronic trace pattern of a station is checked. The panel on the right shows an exterior view of one of the units with power cable connected and the detachable antenna in place nounce their presence to stations prior to the monitoring operation. A unit moves into an area and generally sets up at a motel, or wherever a commercial power supply is available. After monitoring a station, the mobile engineer then will call on the station's chief engineer to discuss any faults. In many instances, the station engineer and management will make a personal trip to the monitoring unit following the FCC's visit to the station. This proves beneficial, Mr. Day said, in allowing the station's engineer to "see" the imperfections found in his signal. The visit also makes him more receptive to suggestions for improvement or corrections. Some minor technical fault can be found at every station. Areas in which common errors usually are discovered include "Venetian blind" interference between co-channel stations, offset carrier spacing, horizontal, vertical and equalizing pulse rates, vestigal side bands, sound carrier frequency, line frequency, video wave form and phase, black and gray levels with respect to synchronizing pulse levels and spectral distribution. Broadcasting watched Mr. Day monitor (informally) a Baltimore station with the newest mobile unit. The station's electronic trace (called the "front and back porch" pictures by engineers) on the oscilloscope was found to be well within Commission requirements, as were other signal components. "The basic purpose of these mobile monitoring units is to provide for better tv service to the U. S. public," Mr. Kratokvil said. "The units act as a means of enforcement but cooperation with telecasters is our method of operation. Help is given to telecasters but improper conditions also must be corrected." Both Mr. Kratokvil and his boss, George Turner, chief of the Field Engineering & Monitoring Bureau, point out a valuable, more intangible asset of the field monitors. Many of the smaller tv stations do not have the personnel or equipment essential for complete and thorough checking of the station's operation. The mobile units are able to provide this service. Individual stations look to the monitoring unit for aid: one station engineer drove 70 miles to see the mobile tv unit in operation and get information to improve the color tv transmissions of his station. After a visit from the mobile unit another station wrote the Commission: "They made a number of helpful suggestions in our operation. We don't know whether they have any reason for citing us, but we will find this out soon, no doubt. However, they were really helpful and courteous. . . . We are actually looking forward to another such visit." Illustrating the expedients used by some stations which lack proper equipment, one Broadcasting