NAEB Newsletter (Sept 1957)

writing surface for instructional materials written on camera, or the material can be prepared prior to program time and presented as needed. Lesson material can be saved for future presentation or can be edited to alter the course material. The tablet can be used in place of flip cards or cue cards and also as a crawl title machine. The machines are available in a manual model as shown, or with an electric motor drive and remote control. If you are interested in purchasing these machines you may write Mr. Miles at Route #2, Williamsport, Md. The manual machine sells for $132.80. ***** We’d like to call your attention to four meet¬ ings of interest to technical personnel. On Sept. 27- 28 at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D. C., the IRE Professional Group on Broadcast Transmission Systems will hold its annual two-day fall meeting. The program will feature papers primarily on tele¬ vision subjects at sessions on Friday and Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon. Friday afternoon, a visit to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center has been scheduled with a demonstration of its closed circuit color television facilities. On Oct. 4-9 the SMPTE will hold its annual fall convention in Philadelphia, Penna., at the Sheraton Hotel. A wide range of interests will be reflected in the program of papers to be presented. Details of the program are not yet available. How¬ ever, sessions are being scheduled on international television, military uses of television and video tape recording. Other sessions will deal with high speed photography, motion picture laboratory practices, closed circuit television, large screen television and television operating practices. A number of interesting papers on color for both motion pictures and television are to be included in the program. During the convention there will be a considerable schedule of Engineering and Ad¬ ministrative Committee meetings. The Audio Engineering Society is holding a five- day technical session at the New York Trade Show Building, Eighth Ave. at 35th Street in New York City Oct. 8 through 12. A detailed program is not available for this meeting. However, the Program Committee is working to arrange a program of tech¬ nical sessions covering many topics from amplifiers to turn tables. The Audio Fair is usually held in conjunction with the AES meeting where a great deal of audio equipment may be seen. Much of it is demonstrated for both professional and home use. Concurrently with the SMPTE and the AES, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers is hold¬ ing its 1957 fall General Meeting at Hotel Morrison in Chicago Oct. 7 through 11. Tuesday Oct. 8 has been tentatively set aside for papers on television broadcasting with the afternoon session being de¬ voted to four papers on the work of the Television Allocations Study Organization (TASO). These four papers will serve as an unofficial progress re¬ port on TASO. We have extra copies of the program for this meeting, arranged by the AIEE Committee on Television and Aural Broadcasting, in case you want more details on the paper to be presented. ***** General Electric has recently announced an electronic device about the size of a cigar box which is expected to double the life of image orthicon camera tubes. The box mounts on the side of the camera and contains an electronic deflection system which “wobbles” the TV image inside the tube and prevents “sticking” or burn in. This device is to be marketed immediately and will sell for around $1,200. It was originally devel¬ oped at WSM-TV at Nashville. ***** WILL-FM of the University of Illinois recently rebuilt and replaced its 8 bay antenna at Allerton Park. It is now transmitting on 300 kw ERP. ***** Bob Higgy of WOSU-TV reports that Neal Milli¬ gan of his staff has developed an automatic gain control system for use with their RCA vidicon film chain. He states that it works perfectly and avoids all gain riding and completely eliminates dark slides coming up on slide changes. It is a comparatively simple addition to the film chain and since it is patched in between units it requires no change whatsoever in the RCA equip¬ ment and can easily be connected or disconnected. The AGC takes a sample from the video output and from this develops a control voltage which controls the gain control stage in the vidicon processing chassis. The actual video circuits are not changed at all and the AGC works quickly and effectively on all kinds of films and slides. We have asked Bob for the details of this AGC system which we will duplicate and send to our readers. ***** The Kaltenborn Radio Scholarship for the ac¬ ademic year 1957-58 was awarded to Enest T. Kaufman, University of Wisconsin law student from West Allis, Wis. The scholarship, which this year amounts to $750, was established by Wisconsin-born news commentator H. V. Kaltenborn to encourage im¬ provement in news analysis and presentation over the air. NEWSLETTER