[SBE] In Need of Mentoring

[Glenn Little WB4UIV]

I entered the broadcast engineering world 6 years ago with no 
training in broadcast..
49 years ago I started working with electronics building things out 
of car radios.
I entered amateur radio in 1970 with a novice class license followed 
in two years by a technician class.
After serving 22 years in the submarine service as a computer (main 
frame) technician, I worked as a video tape unit repairman.
This was followed by a year as a military contractor designing a 
redundant power supply controller.
The next five years was spent reverse engineering a computerized 
controller and doing site surveys to determine the source of lightning damage.
I was laid off for 16 months when I finally found a job as a 
broadcast engineer at a local TV station.
After being passed over for a assistant chief engineer job I quit 
that station and started where I now work.
I started as a broadcast engineer, soon to be promoted to assistant 
chief followed about a year later to chief engineer.
I have no formal training in electronics other than that from the US 
Navy as a Polaris Electronics Tech.

My skills are self taught.
My job was maintaining the 25KW analog TV transmitter as well as all 
aspects of the studio.
We are now converting the studio and master control to digital where 
I am maintaining the new drawings and ensuring that every thing is 
correctly documented.
In the past I have been called while out of town, on vacation, with 
the transmitter off air. My first choice as to the failure was what 
had happened (an open circuit breaker).

This just goes to show that someone with good general electronics 
knowledge fits in quite well as a broadcast engineer.
My electronics knowledge and experience is in designing and fixing my 
own equipment.
I repair to the component. Swapping boards gets you back on the air 
quickly, but board level knowledge sure keeps things going while 
keeping the budget in line.

Learn what you can by whatever means is necessary. Formal training is 
not an absolute necessity. Have a good work ethic. Do not live by the 
clock. Learn and understand the plant. You will go a long way until 
the transmitters are fully shut down to only feed the cable and 
satellite providers.

73
Glenn Little
WB4UIV Amateur Extra
WCIV TV CE