[BC] Best or worst of NAB

[Mike McCarthy]

Things which really struck a nerve...

Funny...Goeff Mendenhall of Harris winning at the ham reception the ARRL 
RFI handbook.

Ironic...D.C. communication counsels telling me the FCC needs engineers 
badly in policy making roles.

Silly... KBET-AM 790.  A CD changer playing on random the same 4 disks of 
maybe 30 songs.  1/4 were ABBA's greatest hits. Seems someone from Mama Mia 
may have been involved there....  And Beasley owns that one.  Though it was 
a recent sale close.

Cool...  white LED illuminated panels for lighting spaces.  One booth had 
12" x 12" panels, which could fit 4 into a standard ceiling grid.  70K+ 
hour run times. This is just the tip of the iceberg here folks.  I'm 
reading all kinds of articles on research to replace fluorescent tubes in 
commercial buildings.

Still figuring out...Google and how they will integrate with automation 
systems beyond Scott, Vault, and Enco....as well as make it viable for both 
station and advertiser.

Hmmm....OMT's Radio Classified application.  Similar to Google in practice, 
but makes radio accessible to the average Joe who only needs a handful of 
placements and can pay by credit card. Has much greater appeal to small 
markets than bigger players.

Interesting...shows promise.  Harris' ISO 9002 compliant DRM series of 
TX's.  5KW rack mount analog FM in less than 30RU...leaving room for the RC 
and processor in the rack. That despite Harris clearly wasn't interested in 
flaunting RF this year.  It was all content handling.

Interesting...shows promise #2.  Dialight's white LED lighting 
system.  It's clearly not ready for prime time.  But it is getting close.

Education....Tom King's demo at Nautel's booth about VSWR, phase rotation, 
impedance locus, and hermitian symetry.  When was the last time you saw a 
demo with such wide ranging implications?

Ironic #2...I saw as much floor space devoted to FMeXtra as I did 
IBOC.  Now there's a technology which has a bright future if it can gain 
traction and receiver sales.  It needs a BIG infusion of cash to get the 
word out.

Nice...BE's FM21i which can operate analog first, then switch to IBOC with 
a few jumper changes and a little retuning.  No major work to field upgrade 
when the time comes.

MIA....Interplex.  Didn't see it in Harris booth.
MIS #2... Honeywell lighting and is rumored to be on life support and on 
the block.

Just Plan Awful....McCarren.  When will the airport authority realize they 
need a bigger terminal building as well as seperate arrival/departure or 
personal/commercial levels for traffic to go along with the recently built 
D terminal...which is expanding further.  And lets not forget the "remote" 
car rental facility 15 minutes south of the terminal across I-215.

Un-nerving....seeing Las Vegas metro continue to expand at an unsustainable 
rate with an already unsustainable existing population.
Un-nerving #2...seeing Lake Mead down almost 100 ft. from normal.

Cheers.... all.

MM