NAEB Engineering Newsletter (Mar 1957)

TV TECHNICAL TIPS NO. 29 The revised NAEB Technical Directory is ready to go press. The new edition will contain the names of over 400 engineers and technicians working at educa¬ tional radio or TV stations and production centers. This is over a 100 per cent increase in the listings of the original directory published in May, 1955; yet it still is not complete. We want to thank those of you have returned the directory questionnaires and test equipment data. We believe we have included the names of all who sent this information. We have also sent a second inquiry to some 20 stations, some of whom have not yet returned the in¬ formation (although each form was accompanied by a stamped return envelope). Our crystal ball is some¬ what cloudy, so if the technical personnel at your sta¬ tion is not included it isn’t because we haven’t tried. We’d like to keep this directory up-to-date, and would appreciate having the names of those added to your technical staff. If someone leaves, too, we’d like a post card or short note asking us to delete his name. It would also help if you would advise us of errors in addressograph plates or in the station address and telephone number. Data secured as a result of the test equipment questionnaire is being compiled. We hope to publish this material soon and circulate it to all chief engi¬ neers. * * * Another publication of the NAEB Engineering Service is an article which contains the constructional details of a two-channel transistor remote amplifier- mixer. This was designed and built by Donald K. Haahr of the WOI staff. The completed amplifier is 3 inches high, 6 inches wide and approximately 8 inches long. It has an overall gain of 80 DB into a 600 ohm load and excellent frequency response. The article is complete with schematic, parts list, frequency response, noise and distortion character¬ istics, as well as three illustrations which show im¬ portant constructional details and the completed unit. Copies of this paper have been mailed to all chief engineers of educational radio and TV stations. We shall be glad to take care of individual requests as long as the supply lasts. * * * For those of you who are thinking of new studio facilities, we’d suggest reading an article which ap¬ peared in the January 7 Broadcasting-Telecasting. It appears on Page 70, and tells how WSVA-TV built a studio-office building with 2240 square feet of space for $25,000. The studio itself is 28 x 32 feet with a 7 x 13 foot control room and a 7 x 9^ foot projection room. The building also provides space for film pre¬ view, an art room, darkroom, combination dressing and rest rooms, a program director’s office and a 280 square foot general office. The building is constructed of Armco galvanized steel. It is fully insulated and temperature is main¬ tained between 70 and 73 degrees throughout the year by a Westinghouse heat pump system. These pumps draw heat from the outside air even in winter and pro¬ vide cool air in the summer. The two five ton units employed are installed in outdoor metal bins. The $25,000 is all inclusive and covers studio fix¬ tures, (except TV lighting system) flooring, wiring ducts, toilets, conduits, air pumps and a ball bearing sliding door. At a little over $11 a square foot, this is very reasonable building cost. Construction was be¬ gun on July 15 and the first TV program went on the air from the studio on December 15. * * * Those of you who watched the inauguration Jan¬ uary 21st were privileged to see some of the first network use of Ampex videotape recording for de¬ layed broadcast. Both CBS and NBC taped the oath taking ceremony. CBS replayed it twice at approxi¬ mately 30 minute intervals after the actual ceremony. NBC also reported that it played back a tape of the ceremony less than a half hour after it had occurred. The use of magnetic video tape recordings is gradually increasing on the networks. December 24 CBS began using videotape for the West Coast re¬ peats of the Arthur Godfrey “Talent Scouts” program on Mondays at 8:30 p. m. EST. Beginning in March when Godfrey is on vacation, the program will be pre recorded and played back for both East and West Coast broadcasts. NBC is now making use of videotape for West Coast repeats of five Monday-Friday program series. Beginning January 22, NBC will present the “Truth or Consequences” program (11:30 a. m. - 12 noon EST) on tape. The program will be recorded at a 6 p.m. PST, audience performance and repeated on tape the following day in both East and West. Ampex officials have also announced they are in¬ corporating six new features in the production models of the videotape recorders as a result of the experi¬ ence gained by CBS and NBC in their use of the pro totype models. Delivery on the production models is now set for November, 1957, nine months later than the anticipated start of delivery at the time of the initial demonstration of the machine last April.