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TheOnLineEngineer.Org
Learning Series
Developed just for students of Broadcasting this new section will cover the topics that any new engineer needs to know and how to go about gaining that knowledge. From societies and books to the tutorials found right here on TheOnLineEngineer.Org. Check out our list of recommended books.
For Students of Broadcast Engineering
Things you can do to help yourself along the path to becoming a Broadcast Engineer.
First – learn as much as you can about the following:
Electronics – Basic electronics is essential to being a Broadcast Engineer since you will be working with electronic equipment. Knowing the fundamentals of how they work will lead you to how to fix them. Many times its knowing the tips and tricks of working with electronic equipment will lead you to being the hero who got the station back on the air.
Video (digital and analog) – Understanding how video works to capture a live picture and put it on the screen of millions of viewers is very important. The use of Sync, both AES-11, analog video and SDI-HD is very important. How color is encoded and embedded audio is accomplished is fundamental to understanding and working in a television facility. Analog is still important as the vast majority of the past 50 years of television is still on analog video tape and most facilities have at least some equipment that is still analog. Know how to read a waveform monitor.
Audio (digital and analog) – For radio and television this is very important, to know what sounds correct and what does not. How to look at a meter or display and know what you are looking at and how to interpret it is important. Understanding dBs and the various scales that are used to measure audio is essential. Understanding the wide range of analog audio levels as well as 16 and 24 bit AES-3 signals will help you a lot.
Audio/Video Signal Flow – Many people are baffled by how to hookup their own stereo system and or television set. Leaning how cables connect and transport the fundamental signals from the output of one device to the input of another is very important. These all play a factor in how a modern television or radio plant is wired. What is a patch bay or a routing switcher (not IP) and how are they used? Being able to answer these questions sets a Broadcast Engineer apart from the rest.
Computers (Windows and Mac and Linux) - You don’t have to be an expert on all of them but knowing how to trouble shoot, find your way around the file systems, remote access and common setups of each will take you a long way. Each of these systems are in use in today’s broadcast facilities, running automation systems, audio and video servers, encoders as well as being used to setup and trouble shoot other equipment. The future is in computers.
Computer Networking – This is where it’s all headed, knowing IP, Ethernet and the internet will only push you further ahead in your career. Even mobile TV (ATSC M/H) is IP based, as are many of the audio and video links in use every day. Today’s video servers almost all use IP to move programs from storage to online play out. Knowing how to troubleshoot network problems is a must and how to use software that lets you look at the traffic moving along on it is a real plus.
RF Fundamentals – This is were we Broadcast Engineers really diverge from mainstream engineers, understanding the black magic that is RF. Especially high powered RF, the stuff that can burn holes through solid copper. All that stuff you learned about in electronics will come to life here in the RF world. From tuning AM towers to installing antennas 2,000 feet up at the top of a tower, RF is pretty interesting stuff.
Transmitters – Do you want to work with vacuum tubes that use 36,000 volts to create a beam of electrons that carry two Amps of current (that’s 72,0000 Watts)? Transmitters are composed of many different systems from arch detectors to water-cooling systems, exciters and power amplifiers. They are a lot more stable than they used to be but if they are not maintained properly it will cost the station money and time off the air. This is a very specialized area where the most schooling you can expect to get is a one week class at the manufacture’s facility, if your lucky. This is one of the main reasons TheOnLineEngineer.Org was started.
How do you gain all this knowledge?
National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is dedicated to promoting broadcasting and lobbies for broadcasters at the federal level. One of the best features of the NAB is its annual convention held every year in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is where hundreds of manufactures come to show off their wares in one place. Seminars are held on a very wide range of topics that make the time and cost well worth it.
Tektronix (Tek) holds seminars around the country showing how to use their equipment but also why you need their equipment. Their seminars cover a wide range of electronic and television topic. And there free. To find out about their seminars go to Tektronix website and request some posters and or downloadable PDF files on topics that interest you, this is how you get on their mailing list. Make sure you fill out their form and that it’s on video or RF products so they will know what your interested in.
Ennes Workshops are sponsored by SBE and offer classes in the basics such as tower guy wire maintenance, grounding, wiring, disaster recovery and so on.
Subscribe to trade magazines, fill out their form, (be sure to tell them you are the director of engineering for your company, the one at the address where you live, as this will motivate them to send you the magazine). Or just read them online, here are some of the biggest trade magazines;
Broadcast Engineering, TV Technology, Radio World, Television Broadcast, Radio. Do your own Google search for more.
You can find this section under the Basics menu. Learning Series > Students
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