Indian Wells Valley TV Booster, Inc.
Minutes of November 1, 2004 board meeting

A. Opening
1. Call to order
The meeting was called to order by President Middlemiss at 5:05 PM.
2. Attendance
Board members present: Blazek, Cole, Greene, Manos, Middlemiss
Board members absent: Ash, Longo
Visistor(s): Roy Mayhugh
3. Approval of minutes
The minutes of the September meeting as posted to the Web site were approved 5-0-0.
4. Treasurer's report
Treasurer Blazek presented a report for the month of September.   Major expenses for the month were for telephone service and conference fees for the Community Broadcasters Association convention attendees.   Enough donations were received at Maturango Junction Days to pay for the booth space, a reasonable result given the windstorm that arose mid-morning of the first day.   There is currently about $35,000 in the bank.

Treasurer Blazek made an inventory of the Laurel Mountain equipment for use in determining correct valuation for property tax purposes.   No pricing of the items has been produced as of the meeting date.
5. Correspondence
President Middlemiss passed out copies of the National Translator Association newsletter he had received.   Secretary Greene is to inquire of the NTA as to why he hasn't received his copy.  

Secretary Greene received a copy of an Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC) document from its author via email.   The document is a detailed overview of digital television and has been made available to anyone who wants it via email or CDROM.  

A form was received from Security Engineering requesting an update of the people to contact regarding facility alarms for Laurel Mountain.   This item was given to President Middlemiss for action.

Secretary Greene reported having received one email inquiry regarding HDTV via the Web site and having responded to it on behalf of TVB.  
6. Announcements
Booth space for Santa's Art Shop, December 4-5, 2004, has been paid and preparations have been completed for advertising TVB's participation.   Treasurer Blazek will be contacting people to staff the booth.
B. Committee reports
1. Standing committees
a. Nominating
President Middlemiss reported that Gene Schneider has agreed to be a candidate for membership.
b. Operations
Member Cole reports that there's an intermittent connection in the Dynavertor used with the KHIZ translation operation on Laurel Mountain.

Intermittent operation of KMEX was reported and suspicion exists that the cable connection to the antenna has corroded to the point of failure.   This will need to be corrected soonest.

The KMZT translator was removed from service for lack of acceptable operation and a need to use its antenna cabling for other purposes.

The wind has removed a portion of the roof covering from the Laurel Mountain building.   This has been reported to China Lake Public Works for action (which may be awhile coming).

An inquiry was made to China Lake Public Works about any air conditioning preventive maintenance (PM) program including the unit on Laurel Mountain.   The response was that China Lake has no PM program at the present time.   TVB may have to pay for some sort of PM for the Laurel Mountain unit since it has been in operation for about five years and is not known to have ever had any servicing.

A cursory report was made about the Emcee channel 11/67 translator being out of service due to internal component failures possibly caused by repair of other components.   The results of the digital experiment using the ITS translator were also reported (great video, incompatible audio).
c. Publicity
Treasurer Blazek reported that the annual newsletter mailing will occur the week of November 1.
C. Old business
1. Translator rechanneling
The consensus of the board members is to direct Emceecom to not proceed/continue with the rechanneling effort due to a lower-cost alternative means to get B Mountain channels 7 and 13 back into operation.

Related to this item, President Middlemiss was unable to make contact with former member Hugo regarding a source of replacement amplifiers for the translators.
2. Meeting schedule
It was moved by Secretary Greene that the board meeting schedule be changed to the second Monday of each month.   In the case of the second Monday being a holiday, the meeting will held the third Monday of the month.   The motion was seconded by member Manos and approved 5-0-0.
D. New business
1. Board membership election
It was moved by Treasurer Blazek that current board members Ash, Cole, Greene, and Longo and nominee Schneider be elected to board membership. The motion was seconded by member Manos and approved unanimously 5-0-0.
2. Laurel Mountain facility alarm
Secretary Greene questioned the need to have the facility alarms for the Laurel Mountain building due to ignoring the (false) fire alarms and failure to activate the intrusion alarm.   Any action on this item was deferred pending member Cole contacting Security Engineering and determining what needs to be done to make the alarms useful.
3. KMZT translation
Visitor Mayhugh reported that KMZT is preparing to begin simultaneous digital transmission of their programming.   Mr. Mayhugh contacted the FCC and there is no licensing or legal problem with converting the digital signal to feed the translator.   Converting the digital signal may very well solve the KLOA interference problem that has plagued the translator for so long.  

However, KMZT has not started to transmit the digital signal and when they do, there's currently no commercial receiver/convertor available to do anything with the signal.   Given the indefinite status, the concensus of the board was to have the "operations committee" take appropriate action if and when KMZT starts digital broadcasting and appropriate receivers become available.
4. DTV transition
The subject of the transition to digital TV (DTV) was raised in conjunction with the reports from the Community Broadcaster Association convention attendees.   Copies of "white papers" prepared by President Middlemiss and vistor Mayhugh were given to meeting attendees, said papers outlining the steps required and needed to make the transition.   Given the complexity of the subject and the need to examine the papers provided, it was decided to defer any decisions regarding the transition to the next meeting to give the members time to prepare to more intelligently discuss the matter.  

Member Cole moved that a committee be formed to research the process for DTV transition.   This was seconded by Treasurer Blazek and approved 5-0-0.   President Middlemiss named member Cole as the chair for the commmittee.
F. Closure
1. Next meeting: 5:00 PM, December 13, 2004, Kern County Library, Ridgecrest
2. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 6:50 PM.

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