The SCTE Rocky Mountain Chapter recently hosted its 2012 symposium.
The event took place June 12–13 at the Inverness Hotel in Englewood,
Colo., occupying more than
9,500 square feet of floor space and including the following activities in order:
Tuesday, June 12:
Golf tournament; vendor exhibits set-up; and Cable-Tec Games
This and four other custom-built vehicles helped attendees touch the technology at the 2012 SCTE Rocky Mountain Chapter Symposium.
Wednesday, June 13:
Exhibit hall with 70-plus vendors; on-site demonstration vehicles (five vans); Engineering Roundtables (three panels);
MPEG 101 workshop; IP Video 101 workshop; and Operations Roundtables (three panels)
All of the symposium activities were concentrated in a two-day schedule without any overlaps and included late hours on Tuesday, as we continue to accommodate the business needs for our respective companies by minimizing attendees’ time away from work.
Given the richness of the program this year and the support from local MSO executives, the attendance this year was far larger than expected. Registration materials were exhausted. It was estimated that attendance exceeded 400 participants, including representatives from the 70 vendors, 15 speakers, and the honorary chairs.
Once again the symposium started with a golf tournament on Tuesday morning. A shotgun start allowed 18 teams of four participants each to all start and end simultaneously. Prizes through sponsorships were available for multiple activities, such as hole-in-one, closest to pin, and longest drive.
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BY
Jorge Salinger vice President, Access Architecture
Comcast Cable Communications; board Member,
SCTE Rocky Mountain Chapter
SCTE: Essential Knowledge for Cable Professionals TM

There’s a new sheriff in town, and the name is the SCTE
High Plains Meeting Group.
On May 16 in Ulysses, Kan., and May 17 in Hays, Kan., the newly established SCTE High Plains Meeting Group conducted its first seminars. The topics included SCTE’s benefits, presented by SCTE Representative Rick Sullivan, and MoCA ® , presented by Extreme Broadband’s Dan
Deutmeyer and Eagle Communications’ Jordan Wildeman.
Day One took place at the Pioneer Communications facility, and Day Two was conducted at Fort Hays State
University. More than 60 cable professionals attended.
The room in which High Plains conducted its meeting
(see photo) at Fort Hays State was donated by
Eagle Communications’ Chairman of the Board Robert
E. Schmidt. The president of High Plains is Matthew
Schonlau, director of network operations with Pioneer
Communications.
SCTE headquarters and Fort Hays State University recently constructed an arrangement whereby many of
SCTE’s technical training courses are redeemable for college credits with Fort Hays.
—Submitted by SCTE Board Member and Region 5
Representative Rick Sullivan
HTD for CLC
…SCTE training can help you succeed with more than just knowledge. Take SCTE courses and get a jump start toward a technical degree through an SCTE College Partner. The majority of SCTE’s technical courses qualify and are available both online or onsite—offering convenience and flexibility for busy cable professionals. SCTE prides itself in providing you with the resources needed to maintain long-term value to your employer.
Qualified SCTE courses include the likes of “Broadband
Premises Installation and Service,” “Fundamentals of IP
Networking in Cable Networks,” and “IT Essentials: PC
Hardware and Software (CompTIA A+).” Explore SCTE’s arrangement with Fort Hays State University at www.scte.org/degrees. Register today!
provides credibility to my expertise, which has helped me get salary increases. Also, maintaining my certifications isn’t difficult and keeps my skills fresh.” to prove knowledge and set yourself apart from other professionals. SCTE certification
—Albin (george) bosak Jr., bPi, bPT, bPE, bdS, bTS, Technical
Training Manager, Midcontinent
Communications

The SCTE Dakota Territory Chapter’s
Vendor Day 2012 on June 26 facilitated excellent interaction.
Your technical leader in the cable telecommunications industry,
SCTE, has developed the Broadband Premises Installation and
Service Guidebook and corresponding course—essential for learning how to safely and with technical integrity install and troubleshoot multiple services for residential customers.
You probably have read or heard that fact over recent months, but do you know what factors have combined to set SCTE’s offerings above ones available elsewhere?
Here are some characteristics that make SCTE’s broadband premises training materials for installers and technicians particularly attractive and appealing:
Content-wise, the SCTE Broadband Premises Installation and Service
Guidebook is the only official training manual to capture all items related to today’s competitive landscape.
The 500-plus-page Guidebook is packaged for maximized readability and understanding. This starts with its spiral binding, which allows the installer or tech to lay the book open to the appropriate pages and refer to them hands-free as he or she works.
Guidebook’s two-column format means narrower column widths,
Key terminology is bolded and highlighted throughout the Guidebook , relating back to a comprehensive 28-page glossary.
Content call-outs emphasize and bring understanding to key areas.
Extensive charts, diagrams, and 3-D illustrations complement content and illustrate best practices. The Guidebook contains more than 300 technical illustrations.
Self assessments for each module allow readers to measure their comprehension of the material.
Guidebook (and, by extension, the course) is built with the contributions of industry experts, featuring the most up-to-date input from the operators.
An impressive 17 technical organizations contributed to the Guidebook ’s
Cable networks are migrating toward an all-digital spectrum with digital architectures at the headend/hub site. The “impact of going All digital” course will provide participants with an understanding of analog reclamation,
QAM migration, service narrowcasting, encoding of services and digital hookups required for new customer premises equipment. Participants will explore ways to improve system performance as they learn about the impact of going all digital with digital troubleshooting of services. Register today at www.scte.org/courses.
Learn the alphabet soup of digital cable technology, beginning with what everyone is most familiar with, the
Tv in the home. The “What is…a video display?” primer covers video displays, their technology, and the terminology that surrounds them: CRT, LCds, and PdP; ATSC and
QAM; 480i, 720p, and 1080i; and digital ready, hd ready,
SdTv, hdTv, and EPg. find it now at www.scte.org/primers.
SCTE congratulates Crystal Coast and Wiregrass, which have both advanced recently from SCTE Meeting group to
SCTE Chapter status. Learn more about them and other chapters at www.scte.org/chapters and become involved.
content. Check out the lists of contributors and module titles at www.scte.org. Click on Resources followed by Broadband Premises
Guidebook .
The content is centered on today’s networks and technologies, beyond HFC.
Because the content is segmented into easy-to-digest modules,
15 of them, readers are enabled to focus on specialized subjects.
The “Safe Work Practices” module supplements the safety training of major MSOs and zeroes in on the three chief hazards: vehicle accidents, back injuries, and falls.
The “Customer Service” module emphasizes the impact of the installer or technician’s actions on company image and includes a five-step self-management model to minimize negativity. Readers are also taught how to extend the service by suggesting additional products.
The “Preparing for the Installation” module provides handy checklists.
The “Bonding and Grounding” module captures the latest-and-greatest information per NEC ® 2011 operator recommendations.
. Grounding methods are prioritized per
The “Equipment in the Home” module covers smartphones, tablets, video game consoles, DRM, and program guides.
Remember that SCTE’s Broadband Premises Installation and Service Guidebook and course prepare you for two SCTE certifications: Broadband Premises Installer (BPI) and Broadband Premises
Technician (BPT). Learn more about these certifications at www.scte.org/bpi and www.scte.org/bpt.
Put the SCTE Broadband Premises Installation and Service Guidebook and the corresponding instructor-led, on-demand, and onsite course options to work for you or your team today. SCTE members save, and bundle and bulk pricing is available. visit www.scte.org/courses or www.scte.org/store and purchase today.

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The Cable-Tec Games were conducted on Tuesday evening to allow the largest possible attendance from MSO technical staffs. Ten teams, each with four participants, competed to obtain the highest scores in the following categories: Fiber Splicing, Coaxial Splicing, Meter
Reading, TDR/OTDR, and Jeopardy. The first-place winner overall,
Brad Jensen, Comcast Denver South Metro, was awarded a free attendance to SCTE Cable-Tec Expo ® 2012 set for October in Orlando, including travel expenses paid by the Rocky Mountain Chapter.
Among the several additions this year, the symposium included local industry executives as honorary chairs. Jay Rolls, CTO of Charter
Communications, served in the role of honorary chair of the symposium.
Chris Cholas, senior director of IP video services, Time Warner
Cable, and Wayne Davis, vice president of field operations, Charter
Communications, served as honorary chairs of the Engineering and
Operations Roundtables, respectively. In these roles, Jay, Chris, and
Wayne helped us draw attendance from their respective companies and elevated the quality and participants’ expectations of the event.
The exhibit area, including 70-plus vendors, sold out well in advance.
In addition, five companies brought custom-built vehicles to demonstrate current products simulated in the mobile units. Exhibit tables were provided to SCTE and to industry partners CableLabs ® and Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT).
Given the success of Tom’s Tent, a series of panels that was added to the program last year and named for Tom Gorman, this year the
Rocky Mountain Chapter expanded on the concept by creating two sets of panels, which were called roundtables. Each set of roundtables comprised three sessions:
• “HE Monitoring and Testing” (Panelists: Eric Olsen, JDSU, and Stuart Brager, QUEST)
• “Leakage Detection” (Panelist: Dick Shimp, ComSonics)
• “Improving Customer Care” (Panelists: Karl Weber, SageQuest, and Tony Holmes, Trilithic)
• “How to Deal With the QAM Explosion” (Panelists: Francois
LaFlamme, CommScope, and Bob Scott, Harmonic)
• “Network Design” (Panelists: Tom West, Motorola, and Mike Kelly, Infinera)
• ”MSO Perspectives” (Panelists: Wayne Davis, Charter, and John Heslip, Comcast)
The 2012 SCTE Rocky Mountain Chapter Symposium provided attendees with a variety of technology opportunities to explore in June.
This last panel, as expected, attracted the largest attendance.
In another addition to the 2012 symposium, two workshops were offered, one in the morning following the Engineering Roundtables and one in the afternoon preceding the Operations Roundtables. The morning workshop, with 20-plus attendees, included Ruben Araza from Triveni, who presented an overview of MPEG, including MPEG-
1/2/4 and MPEG-TS. In the second workshop, with 35-plus attendees,
Dan Torbet from ARRIS provided an overview of IP video, including encoding, transport, and CPE devices.
In addition to representatives from the vendors, the symposium attendance included technical, engineering, and executive personnel from local and regional cable companies.
The onsite and post-event feedback from vendors and participants was excellent, citing the organization and content both as having been excellent.
The location, once again being the Inverness Hotel, is a first-class site, perfect for hosting this event. The hotel has outstanding facilities to host the golf tournament.
The symposium’s costs were managed via low fees for tables and ancillary services (power, cable, etc.) and a multitude of inexpensive sponsorships. The names of sponsoring vendors were prominently displayed, which the vendors appreciated.
The SCTE Rocky Mountain Chapter Symposium event was, once again in 2012, a resounding success!
+ Learn more about SCTE Chapter events—www.scte.org/events
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800-542-5040 | information@scte.org
©2012 Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Inc. All rights reserved.
SCTE Field Focus is published quarterly by SCTE as an educational publication designed to help field-level employees make their job easier through tips, resources, and insights from SCTE and its members.
To submit content or suggestions, contact Joe Madagan, SCTE manager, publications, at jmadagan@scte.org.