RF Shorts - April 30, 2010

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published


It's always nice to see a TV station reporting on the installation of its new antenna. KTUL sent their chief meteorologist to spend an afternoon with the crew that will be installing the antenna.

  • • A Tel Aviv University researcher who helped the U.S. State Department improve the security of RFID devices in passports describes data on credit cards, e-ballots and other cards equipped with RFID could be vulnerable to someone using fairly simple equipment to steal the information on the cards. He also explained the RFID chips easily could be zapped with a strong RF field using a device he constructed, effectively voiding an e-ballot or making a passport easier to copy, for example. He recommends shielding cards with something as simple as aluminum foil. Professor Avishai Wool will present his work at the IEEE RFID conference in Orlando Fla.
  • • What do people concerned about RF exposure think about the FCC's plans for expanding wireless broadband? Citizens for Health is asking the FCC to require minimum 1,500 setbacks for wireless infrastructures near schools. See the Media Advisory [PDF] for more information and colorful graphs.
  • • Nikola Tesla is recognized for his experiments with electricity and "inventing" alternating current. Did you know he invented the world's first practical remote controlled robot and was granted a U.S. patent for the technology behind the unmanned vehicles?
  • • NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith's testimony [PDF] before the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship has some excellent arguments on the value of wireless broadcasting and reconsideration of wireless carriers requests for more spectrum:
    "NAB strongly encourages Congress to create economic incentives for wireless companies to invest more in technologies like femto cells and to ensure they are using their existing allocations most efficiently," said Smith. "Dumping new spectrum in their coffers will have the opposite effect, discouraging investment and innovation, and will not ultimately result in the most efficient use of the nation's spectrum resource." See the summary here.
Doug Lung
Doug Lung
Contributor

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack. A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.