[SBE] Female Engineer of the Year nomination deadline near

[Phil Alexander]

Good point Gary. If we are going to award a "Female Broadcast Engineer
of the Year" the company employing the engineer should not enter the 
evaluation. Either the person is an outstanding engineer and has done 
more than others in the same (her) class of engineers, or someone else 
has. The award is not shared with the employer.

I believe similar forces may have been at play last year when we lost 
valuable insight and management ability for the board in our failure 
to elect Steve Davis. The apparent pool of resentment directed toward 
his employer (Clear Channel) may have made the difference in the 
outcome, and that should not have been an influence. IMHO, our 
Society lost in the result, but perhaps he will run again.

We are engineers who must deal in facts. That should carry over into
our decisions. The job an engineer does and the contribution he or
she makes to our profession is not and should not be diminished 
because some of us disagree with the practices and politics of that
engineer's employer.

Regarding the award itself, I have mixed thoughts about it for two
reasons. First, because it can be perceived as demeaning to engineers 
who happen to be women. Secondly, there is a risk of a proliferation
of awards if we begin to fractionate the "Engineer of the Year" into
the "Best" of various groups. We should ask ourselves if this takes
all engineers who happen to be women out of the running for "Engineer
of the Year." It seems to me there is a very slippery slope nearby.

Since the award is established, I'm not going to advocate its 
reconsideration, but suggest we consider all aspects before further
diluting awards and fractionating their prestige.

Phil Alexander - Chair, Chapter 25, Indianapolis



On 6 Feb 2007 at 0:28, Gary Blau wrote:


> Since nobody's nominating Nextel as Outstanding Female Broadcast 

> Engineer of the Year, how is this relevant?

> 

> I hope you won't conflate those who are part of the solution with those 

> who are part of the problem.

> 

> Just my opinion.  If I misread you I apologize.

> 

> g

> 

> 

> Glenn Little WB4UIV wrote:

> 

> > Have we forgotten why Nextel is changing out our equipment????

> > 

> > Nextel got their start by buying a group of Mom & Pop SMR systems. Part of 

> > the verbal agreement with the system users was that nothing would change 

> > but the name and where you mail your check to. The users agreed and Nextel 

> > bought the SMR systems. Before the ink dried, the analog systems that they 

> > bought were turned off and replaced by new Digital systems. Yes, the placed 

> > the Digital systems amongst the existing Analog systems owned by others and 

> > left their system users holding leased equipment that was of no use on 

> > their system. This left a lot of SMR users very upset with Nextel. Next 

> > thing you know, Nextel is interfering with everybody on the band. Motorola 

> > made some changes to the digital algorithms and this cleaned up part of the 

> > mess. Then public safety starting having communications problems. The 

> > ambulance that the dispatched sent to your location for your multiple 

> > gunshot wounds did not arrive. The ambulance crew was at the diner next to 

> > the Nextel tower.

> > 

> > Now if anyone on the form had caused this much of a problem with a 

> > communications system that you owned, the FCC would very quickly step in 

> > and revoke all licenses that you hold for RF emissions and ask for a 

> > donation to the US government for your indiscretions.

> > 

> > Having very deep pockets, Nextel was able to stay on the air and further to 

> > recruit many government users. This showed how important they were to the 

> > communications industry. If you remember they even got the term "Push to 

> > Talk" copywrited, at least for a short period of time to try and stop other 

> > wireless carriers from using this very familiar marketing term.

> > 

> > Today the are having to relocate the Public Safety users that they are 

> > interfering with. TO get the spectrum that they need to keep their system 

> > viable, they are also having to relocate the 2GHz users.

> > 

> > Anyone associated with a bunch of politically connected crooks as Nextel, 

> > would never get my vote.

> > 

> > These are my observations, based on what I saw while working with a company 

> > that made SMR enhancements at the time of the start of Nextel. These are my 

> > views and do not represent the views of any employer, past or present.

> > 

> > Just my thoughts on Nextel.

> > 

> > 73

> > Glenn

> > WB4UIV

> > Assistant Chief Engineer WCIV TV

> > 

> > iewAt 09:26 AM 01/31/07, you wrote:

> > 

> >>Cyndi Hutter-Cavell who is working for Nextel on the 2 GHz project.

> >>

> >>

> >>On 1/31/07 9:21 AM, "John Poray" <jporay at sbe.org> wrote:

> >>

> >>

> >>>To: SBE Chapter Chairs and subscribers to the SBE Roundtable,

> >>>

> >>>

> >>>

> >>>This Friday, February 2nd is the deadline for nominations

> >>><file:///\\sbedc1\users$\JPoray\PDFs\2007\AWRT-SBEAward-2007.pdf>  for the

> >>>2007 Outstanding Female Broadcast Engineer of the Year Award. The American

> >>>Woman in Radio & Television (AWRT) and the SBE will jointly present the

> >>>award on Saturday, March 10, in Washington, D.C. during the AWRT Annual

> >>>Leadership Summit & Business Conference. SBE President, Chriss Scherer, 

> >>CPBE CBNT will participate in the presentation.

> >>>

> >>>

> >>>This is the second year for the award, which serves to recognize the

> >>>contributions of women in broadcast engineering and helps to promote the

> >>>field in general to the broadcast industry and general public. SBE

> >>>contributed to the development of the award criteria and will also

> >>>participate in the selection of the winner.  The award is open to 

> >>>members of SBE and AWRT. If you know of a deserving individual, consider 

> >>>placing her name in nomination!

> >>>

> 


---------------------------------------------
Phil Alexander, CSRE, AMD
Broadcast Engineering Services and Technology 
(a Div. of Advanced Parts Corporation) 
Ph. (317) 335-2065   FAX (317) 335-9037