• Broadcasting

  Transitioning from Studio TD to Engineer…Tips? Books?

  Posted by Trent Whittington on February 26, 2011 at 12:42 am

  Hi,

  I am currently employed as a Technical Director at a television station in Australia and I have found I am way more interested in the engineering side of the station. I have been given permission from the Chief Engineer and other engineers to start ‘tagging’along with them during installs and also cabling.

  I have an Associate Degree in Digital Television but I don’t really know much about soldering,cabling or SNG/Fibre/Satellties.

  Can you recommend any short courses/books I could do? I am going to do learn AutoCAD on the side, but any other recommendations would be great!

  Thanks,
  Trent

  Trent Whittington – Technical Director

  Tom Matthies replied 15 years, 1 month ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Bob Zelin

  February 27, 2011 at 3:30 pm

  you will not read a book, and learn how to solder, crimp cables, label cables, run wires thru ceilings.
  Why not order a soldering iron and some solder, and sit there for 8 hours, and try it? Doesn’t sound that glamourous, does it. This is how you learn stuff. You sit there, and do it OVER AND OVER AND OVER, making mistake after mistake, until you get it right. If your chief engineer is a nice guy, when he sees you trying, he can help you. He can give you tips (no, you are doing it wrong, try this). I am an electrical engineer, and I learned nothing in school. You learn by sitting there. I draw in Visio and EXCEL (for compatiblity with clients) – how do you learn Visio ? You buy Visio, you buy “Visio for Dummies” and you read the book, and try it, making mistakes over and over and over. This is how you learn networking, this is how you learn to setup cameras, or calibrate equipment, or read waveform monitors, or anything new.
  There are countless free things on YouTube on every subject. There is no easy way out, you have to sit there, and suffer and do it. I am always amazed when people want a book or a course, when you can sit there, suffer, make mistakes, and learn it yourself. This is how anyone learns anything. You can learn how to sew a sweater, or change the oil in your car, or build a bookcase the exact same way – buy the tools, jump in and MAKE MISTAKES, and dont’ give up. Suffering is the only way to learn. If you have no passion for it, and are unwillling to suffer, you will never learn.

  Bob Zelin
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  Tom Matthies

  March 29, 2011 at 7:03 pm

  Check out the Society of Broadcast Engineers website (https://www.sbe.org). Lots of good info there and they’re international as well.
  Tom

  E=MC2+/-2db

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