RESUME

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My RESUME and my DUTIES

"Engineering is a great profession. There is the satisfaction of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realisation in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings homes to men or women. Then it elevates the standard of living and adds to the comforts of life. This is the engineer's high privilege."
- Herbert Hoover

Chief operator: FCC Rules

CHIEF OPERATOR KHSL-TV

Sense 1985: 21 years

Responsible for all technical operations, and compliance to FCC regulations.

Station Operating Logs

AES Transmissions and Inspections

As the Chief Operator, I am responsible for technical aspects of broadcasts.
For example, I am responsible for
Station RF Power Levels, Power levels, Field levels
Video: (Luminance, Chroma, Sync, etc) NTSC Video,
Modulation Levels: (Sound levels, Video levels). BlackSetup,

In addition, I am responsible for all station logging.
(Documentations of technical aspects; on paper and electronic media.

In addition, I am responsible for technical aspects of AES transmissions
(Amber Alerts, Weather Alerts, and more) for the station.

RULERMAR.GIF, 1 kB

CHIEF OPERATOR KNVN-TV

Sense 2000: 6 years.

Responsible for all technical operations, and compliance to FCC regulations.

Station Operating Logs

AES Transmissions and Inspections
(Same duties as KHSL-TV)

RULERMAR.GIF, 1 kB

REMOTE CONTROL ENGINEER

1991 Inventor of advanced control system. Officially adopted in 1992 by KHSL.

Control of all operations at site Cohasset: transmitters, power generation, security, etc.

Control of all operations at site Tuscan: transmitters, power generation, security, etc.

Control of some operations at Chico Studio

Layout and design of electronic circuits, and the physical production of such electronic boards.

No matter how successful a control system, in terms of technical merits and engineering, a system could not continue to thrive without operators acceptance. Fortunately, over the years, operators continually enjoy a personal input from me, as to the course of development and benefit.
I am dedicated to personal tailoring, and working with any criticism from operators. Operators of my systems gain an ultimate status of supreme importance, no matter if they are new or old, experienced or not. (Conversely, criticism from engineers is to be thrown in the garbage.) I do not believe that I have let my authority erode and supercede good engineering; The operator has my utmost respect.

RULERMAR.GIF, 1 kB

Emergency ON CALL ENGINEER.

Exclusive position: I have been the only one for about 13 years.

Duties are 24/7.

In the early years, I wore a pager at all times; then a pager and cell phone; then, in the last years, only a cell phone. I was the emergency on call engineer.

This position has also been aided by my radios. In my home, I had a permanent emergency radio on at all times. And for a few years, I even wore a portable radio, that I carried on me. Getting ridiculous; is it not?

I could hear the radio from the bedroom; I could hear the radio from the bathroom; and all over the house. Another man, Ken (WBRHC), and I (WD6CUK) designed this radio system for the company.

I had automated synthesized speech - which I designed myself - that would announce over the radio of any problems. It was a good marriage between Ken's system and my remote control system. Technical problems, and emergency problems, were clearly iterated in plain english, as well as required FCC station IDs. I was not the first with synthesized speech on a radio, but I was probably the first broadcaster with it. These announcements could be heard in my car, in my home, at work, and over much of northern California.

Studio ON CALL ENGINEER.

Shared position with studio engineers on a rotating basis.

As also the Emergency On Call engineer, I used to have to wear two pagers: one was a shared pager, and the other was my emergency, dedicated-to-me, pager. During the last years, the two duties seemed to have merged, and I only wore a single cell phone. The one unit seems to have fit double the calls inside. Sence 1988, I have been both a Studio On Call engineer, and the Emergency On Call engineer. Being loaded down with pagers and cell phones lets the whole world know that you are brain dead from holding the units too close to your head.

(A mans identity should not be defined by what he wears, or what he does for a living. And I eagerly include and express my personal feelings as such in this resume.)

RULERMAR.GIF, 1 kB

FIELD ENGINEER

Duties included maintenance of microwave paths, and translators.

This position was loosely assumed by me when our official field engineer quit in approximately 1995: a position that was never refilled. I had to shut down several translator sites, as I had no time with my many other duties. OUTSIDE ENGINEER

One perk!...
My wife likes this job. Sometimes she gets to come along. She gets away, into the pines and fresh air. Of all my many jobs, only this one, can I share with someone. And, of course, she is someone good to share with.

RULERMAR.GIF, 1 kB

Company TOWER CLIMBER

Since 1970: 36 years.

Standard duties included all tower light replacements for company towers.

Tower maintenance.

Statistically, tower maintenance is the most dangerous job in the United States. Between 15 and 25 climbers are killed per year.

I have been climbing broadcast towers sence 1970, and I decide and plan what work needs to be done on towers. Dishes must be aligned, and antennas must be repaired and replaced. Transmission lines suffer damage from abrasion and lightning. It all has to be fixed.

Painting too...
I have painted towers with lead based orange and white paint, and inspected them from top to bottom in fine detail. Because of several deaths of company amateurs in the industry, these duties are officially discouraged.

Emergency work in hazardous weather only stresses the point.
There are so many concerns with this job:
Attention must be given to special clothing, communication, and ground support.
In a single careless moment, the wind can rip a climber off the tower.
RF burns and RF overheating to body parts are constant aggravations.

Moves must be deliberate and calculated, and one must be given to full awareness of absolutely everything. Not that this is a problem - Tower climbing has a natural caffeine contained in the steel.

When the jobs have been too big for just me alone, I have hired and worked alongside real tower companies. Notably Magnum Tower and Tenco Tower, and several others. Otherwise, I would be on a tower with no one else knowing where I was, or what I was doing. Smarts have to go somewhere. They go into a bigger ball size.

CLIMBER

RULERMAR.GIF, 1 kB

Company SNOW CAT DRIVER and TRANSPORT CARRIER.

Exclusive position for about 10 years.

I maintained 25 remote sites, with most of them on mountain tops, accessable only through rough, slippery, dirt roads. For 20 years, I have excelled in driving trucks and cats in these difficult and dangerous conditions. I am noted for it, both in and outside the company. I have transported members of other - lesser equipped - broadcast companies.
I have experience as a transport carrier, with trailers that must be maneuvered and placed accurately. I have an excellent driving record. I have NOT had one single moving violation in over thirty years.

RULERMAR.GIF, 1 kB

Electronic News Gathering (ENG) VAN OPERATOR

Duties are only occasional.

RULERMAR.GIF, 1 kB

Cecil Alan Pennock

Bad points...

I work - and happily hide - illegal hours: more hours than the books allow. I am not an honest employee.

I can not arrive at work on time, if the hours are predefined, apply to me, written down, or explicitly documented. My watch is 24 hours early.

I have a problem with visible authority; And yes, my eyes have been tested.

My good points do not boldly proceed me, as is customary; They only humbly become visible after 35 years.

I am not trainable by modern methods and protocols; I can only learn by a primitive working. The process is too slow and powerful for most companies.

I purchase equipment without authorization, purchase under budget, and have it on site before it is needed.
Fortunately for me, the unhead of, wierd, behavior is not explicitly cited on any page of the employee handbook!

... Also unfortunately, my genome has serious amounts of Neanderthal, Cro-magnum, Java, and all the rest. It can not be erased from my employee profile.

I fail to obtain names-for-credit before the work is completed.

On the bright side:
I have never asked for a raise in 35 years at the same company.