Teleconferencing Project Correspondence

 

July 21, 1997

TO: County Superintendents, Chief Business Officials, FCMAT County
Contact Persons

FROM: Bill Luehe
FCMAT, Professional Development Director

SUBJECT: Update Regarding the FCMAT Teleconferencing Project and Broadcast

The FCMAT Teleconferencing Project is rapidly progressing and another update is in order.

The first of two site visits to your county office has been completed. The first visit was for engineering purposes, the second visit will be to install the downlink satellite dish and related equipment. The equipment installation visits to COEs is scheduled to begin on July 28, 1997. You should be receiving a call from COMSAT / CABLE-COMM to set up an appointment for this visit. Once again, it is important that you complete any preparatory work that needs to be done prior to the installation visit. In some instances, your satellite dish will arrive prior to the installation crew.

If you have technical questions regarding the installation of your downlink satellite dish, please call Woody Bilyeu, who is heading up the installation portion of the project for CABLE-COMM. You can reach Woody at 318-628-7924.

We have received several calls relative to the size of the satellite dish. You probably remember that Tom Henry, FCMAT CAO, sent out an "update memo" dated March 31, 1997, stating that the satellite dish would be twelve feet in diameter. To many inquirers, this seems like an unusually large dish. The reason the satellite dish is 12' in diameter is to enable you to receive a variety of signals ranging from strong to weak. A couple of factors to keep in mind are:

1. The weaker the satellite signal, the larger the size of the dish must be to receive a good signal. Conversely, the stronger the satellite signal, the smaller the dish can be to pick up a useable signal.

2. The stronger the satellite signal, the more expensive the cost for satellite time. And, the weaker the satellite signal the less expensive the cost for satellite time. Since it is costly for us to compete with Direct TV, DSS, etc. on the very powerful satellites, our other option is to have a larger dish and use the satellites that are cost effective.

Keep in mind that there are a number of other factors that come into play regarding dish size. For example; your dish will be steerable; it will accommodate both C and KU bands; and you will be able to receive both analog and digital transmissions. The engineering on the satellite dish was done by two separate engineering entities with the intent of identifying a downlink system that will not only work with current technology but accommodate tomorrow's technology, thus providing COEs with a reliable and long-lasting downlink system.

We are continuing to work on planning for the FCMAT inaugural broadcast. We have partnered with School Services of California (SSC) and the California School Boards Association (CSBA) in this endeavor.

CSBA will be assisting with the marketing and publicity. CSBA will be sending out a flyer to all board members and superintendents inviting them to the broadcast. In addition, CSBA will ask that board members and superintendents RSVP to the "county coordinator" for this broadcast so the coordinator will be able to anticipate the number of attendees.

SSC will be working on the broadcast programing. We anticipate that the inaugural broadcast will be an hour and 30 minutes in length. The first half hour will involve state elected officials and legislators who will respond, through a series of short vignettes, to two or three key questions regarding California public education. The remaining hour will be devoted to a panel discussion moderated by Ken Hall with a group of legislative advocates who will discuss a half dozen or so key issues facing California educators in the current school year. The inaugural broadcast will be interactive with approximately the last 10 minutes of the program devoted to questions that have been called in or e-mailed to the panel for answers.

FCMAT's role in this broadcast partnership is to work with procurement and installation of the uplink and downlink equipment as well as coordinate with the COEs and CDE. Please feel free to call 850-636-4692 if you have any questions regarding the teleconferencing project or the inaugural broadcast. We will remain in touch as additional planning is completed.

Once again, let me thank you for all of your assistance and cooperation. This project is a statewide team effort and your contribution to that effort is greatly appreciated.

 

| Correspondence Index | Professional Development |