MSTV, IEEE Conferences to Focus on Transition

DTV channel election and repacking will be discussed at the Association for Maximum Service Television (MSTV) 18th Annual Television Conference September 28 in Washington, D.C. The 2:30 p.m. session, titled "The Mechanics of Channel Election and Repacking," will feature Rick Chessen, Eloise Gore and Barbara Kreisman from the FCC Media Bureau and Alan Stillwell from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology. Other sessions include, "Government's Role in the Digital Transition: The 85% Solution," and "Unlicensed Devices: Interference or Efficiency." For a listing of all sessions, times, location and registration fees refer to the announcement for the 18th Annual Television Conference.

Last week IEEE released a preliminary schedule for its 54th Annual Broadcast Symposium. This year's symposium will be held October 13-15 at the Hotel Washington in Washington D.C. IEEE has extended the Wednesday workshop into the evening with an after dinner panel discussion on DTV Repacking Transition issues with Victor Tawil from MSTV, consultant Dennis Wallace, and Keith Larson from the FCC. Other sessions will cover broadband wireless systems, including ultra-wideband, mesh networks and the MIMO space-time code technology discussed in the August 17 RF Report.

The IEEE BTS Symposium will have a paper from CRC on implementation of a return channel for ATSC-DTV and other papers will discuss interference to DTV reception from adjacent channels, intermodulation, and impulse noise. DTV reception is covered by papers on receive antenna performance, diversity antennas, and distributed transmission. For more information, visit the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society Web site.