Folks – you can see from the string of notes below that UNC-TV is planning a phone bank staffed with volunteers to answer questions from viewers during the week of the DTV cutover (February 18-20).  Wayne thinks hams would be good a great fit for staffing the phones on one or more of these nights and it fits in with the FCC’s request that we assist our communities with this transition.  I told Wayne I would pass his request on to clubs in the area.  Perhaps you guys could sponsor a night during this time and commit to providing a certain number of volunteers?  Wayne is promising everyone a tour of their facility and probably some on the air publicity.  If any of your clubs are interested, let me know and I’ll pass your info on to Wayne.  Thanks & 73!

Tim,

Thanks for your quick reply. I think that is very possible that we could mention amateur radio on the air in relation to this effort. We need to let folks know about this service. I am not the final say on this but this is reasonable and the usual protocol with volunteer groups especially for something this important. We always try to thank volunteer groups that way.

I think this would be good for the amateurs also. I did discuss this with some of the UNC-TV management folks and they think this is a great idea. We haven't done much planning or coordination yet as I wanted to first get your feeling about this as soon as possible. Many of the UNC-TV mangement staff are on vacation this week so we cannot work out the details but you could begin to get the word out. We do have some time and as soon as I have more information I will coordinate with you.
I have not yet discussed this with our volunteer services director but that department might coordinate the attendees.
I also don't mind any direct contacts or questions but I am quite occupied with viewer calls for help.

As you mentioned,  we have several clubs in the area, perhaps a different organization or two each night might work. We are open to any arrangement that helps us with this. I do realize this is scheduled for weeknights so it has some effect on those that have to get up early to work for a living.
Thanks for the quick reply and thanks for your help with this.

Regards,

Wayne Estabrooks Chief Engineer- Retired UNC-TV
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Slay" < This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it >
To: "Wayne Estabrooks" < This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it >
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 12:10:25 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: RE: FCC Request to ARRL

Wayne – good to hear from you.  I’ll be glad to help you recruit some volunteers from the area.  If we get enough folks, could we get a mention of amateur radio on the air?  There are several very active radio clubs in the area so I’ll start sending them the info.  Do you want volunteers to coordinate directly with you?  Thanks.

Dear Tim Slay N4IB,

I see per your ARRL section newsletter that the FCC is asking amateur radio operators to assist in educating the public about the analog broadcast TV shutoff that will occur Feb 17, 2009. This is good news.

UNC-TV provides tower space to many amateur groups for repeaters on our tall towers all across the state.

UNC-TV has an opportunity for amateur radio clubs in the Raleigh / Durham and surrounding area to fulfill some of the request the FCC has made to the ARRL. UNC-TV is in need of some assistance on the evenings of Feb 18, 19 and the 20th 2009 to answer phones and assist viewers that are having trouble with digital reception. We expect an onslaught of viewers that use antennas will discover problems when analog goes away.

We will have a 40 phone bank and  will publicize numbers to assist viewers. In the past few months we have helped thousands of viewers with digital reception issues and I have trained some our limited staff  and field engineers here to assist. When I go out and talk to senior centers and similar organizations in the rural areas, I find many viewers that have not yet installed a converter box or  gotten a digital TV set. They are surprised to learn that the digital broadcast signal has been on for more than 7 years!

Perhaps there are some Ham clubs in the Triangle area that would be interested in helping fulfill their civic mission and help UNC-TV in this effort. We could provide a tour of the technical HD production facilities of UNC-TV along with their visit.
I would also provide orientation and access to signal mapping software that we use to predict receivability at viewers homes.

Let me know what you think, if this is something to consider and if so, you could get the word out on this.

I got my ham license in August. I had always wanted to be a ham and have many ham friends and co-workers. I purchased a used Icom 718 I saw on the QRZ swapmeet and have put up a couple of antennas and have made a few contacts already. Another ham friend gave me a 2 m 440 handheld.

Sorry to ramble on with this.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,
--
Wayne Estabrooks -  UNC-TV

KJ4GDW