{"id":5379,"date":"2012-08-17T12:26:06","date_gmt":"2012-08-17T16:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/?p=5379"},"modified":"2012-08-17T12:26:06","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T16:26:06","slug":"training-up-the-younger-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/2012\/08\/training-up-the-younger-set\/","title":{"rendered":"Training up the younger set"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Much ink has been spilled on the aging Broadcast Engineer. While it is generally true, many of the old RF engineers are getting older, there are some younger guys and girls entering into the broadcast technical field.\u00a0 While this is a good development, I look on with a bit of disappointment and a jaundiced eye.\u00a0 The newer broadcast engineers have fewer mentors around as there are fewer broadcast engineers.\u00a0 In addition to that, those broadcast engineers that are still at it are likely very busy trying to fill all the rolls they have been assigned.\u00a0 I have also noted a certain reluctance to impart information to the newer engineers.\u00a0 Perhaps this is some sort of subconscious preservation instinct.\u00a0\u00a0 Thus, when a young guy that works with us admitted that he didn’t know that much about RF, I was not surprised.<\/p>\n

I remember my first mentors in the broadcast engineering field.\u00a0 They were mostly older, near retirement and wanting to pass on their knowledge to the next generation.\u00a0 Several times, Don Porter would sit down at the work bench and draw out some basic schematic diagram on a broken piece of gear and let me try to fix it.\u00a0 It took time and patience because I know I asked many silly questions and made many silly mistakes.\u00a0 Sometimes he would chastise me and sometimes he would laugh and say “I did the same thing once,” which would lead to an interesting story.<\/p>\n

Most of the younger people entering the broadcast engineering field (by younger, I mean less than thirty), have some type of computer background.\u00a0 Since there are numerous computers in the studio fulfilling many different roles, having a technical computer person on staff is a good thing.\u00a0 However, those people are often tasked with going to the transmitter site to do maintenance and trouble shooting.\u00a0 That can lead to a dangerous situation.\u00a0 Transmitter sites are and should remain the domain of well trained engineers.\u00a0 Those that know the operating characteristics of a tube transmitter, if there is one present.\u00a0 Those that know the basic principals behind and automatic transfer switch, if there is one present.\u00a0 The real danger of an untrained person at a transmitter site is they don’t know what they don’t know.<\/p>\n

Then there are trouble shooting skills, which are only developed with time and experience.\u00a0 It takes experience to recognize that a tower crew has applied the wrong type of connector to an STL transmission line.\u00a0 It takes experience to recognize the failure mode of a Harris transmitter.\u00a0 It takes experience to know when a situation is too dangerous to proceed and wait for help.\u00a0 Formal education is very important, but nothing can replace the education received on the job.\u00a0 The field of broadcast engineering is so diverse and complex that it would be nearly impossible to learn everything in a classroom.<\/p>\n

To be a well rounded Broadcast Engineer, one has to have knowledge in many areas:<\/p>\n