The SBE Ennes Workshop is the traditional kick-off for the NAB Show. (Here are all the SBE events and activities at the convention.) In 2025, it will span two days on April 4 and 5. There will be two separate educational tracks: RF 101 Bootcamp and Media Over IP. The two tracks will combine at the end of the second day for a joint session on creating and operating a contract engineering business.
RF 101 Bootcamp is designed to give those with a predominantly IT-oriented background the foundational information regarding transmission methods and equipment so that they can effectively function in these disciplines. Media Over IP (MoIP) introduces the essentials of IP-delivered media, covering video and audio implementations. Individuals involved with non-broadcast media delivery, whether a house of worship, post-production facility or as an audio-visual professional will also benefit from grounding in the installation and maintenance of modern non-analog facilities.
The last portion of the Workshop will bring the tracks together for a combined session on contract engineering business.
The Ennes Workshop will be held in the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Register at the NAB Show website. The Workshop registration of $289 includes a free exhibits pass, and a registration code for SBE members that offers a free exhibits pass or $150 off the NAB Show Conference pass. The two-day workshop includes lunch breaks. Use the promo code SBEEARLYBIRD by February 28 to get a discount on the SBE Ennes Workshop registration.
A rundown of the two educational tracks follows. The schedule is subject to change. Information about the presenters will be provided soon.
Register for the SBE Ennes Workshop at the NAB Show website. Use SBENAB25 for the SBE member free exhibits-only code + $150 off core education collection (the main conference bundle).
Quick Links:
RF101 Day 1 | RF 101 Day 2 | MoIP Day 1 | MoIP Day 2
Thanks to these SBE Sustaining Member Sponsors
| GOLD Sponsor |
| SILVER Sponsors |
| BRONZE Sponsors |
| April 4 – RF101 Bootcamp – LVCC Room TBD | |
| 9:00 a.m. | Welcome Jeff Welton, CBRE; Nautel Ted Hand; SBE Mike Downs; SBE |
| 9:15 a.m. | Basic Electronics Fundamentals Ohm’s law and the principles of electronics theory that can make troubleshooting faults a lot easier. Greg Buchwald; Motorola Solutions |
| 10:00 a.m. | Break |
| 10:15 a.m. | Propagation This is a discussion of how radio waves travel covers AM, FM and TV, and discusses polarization, antenna gain and more. Fred Baumgartner |
| 11:00 a.m. | Modulation How does the audio get onto the radio wave and what’s different between AM, FM, TV/ATSC, QAM/COFDM and others? Greg Buchwald; Motorola Solutions |
| 12:00 p.m. | Lunch |
| 1:10 p.m. | Regulation The FCC takes licensing seriously, and the role of the chief operator is to protect the license. This sessions discusses FCC considerations, STAs, NOTAMs and various other situations. Kevin Trueblood, CBRE, CBNT;WGCU Public Media, Florida Gulf Coast University |
| 1:40 p.m. | Gold Sponsor Recognition – Audio Processing History Bob Orban; Orban Audio |
| 2:05 p.m. | Proof of Performance There are various tests performed to prove a station is operating within proper parameters. This session explores audio proofs, MER, and related topics. Greg Buchwald; Motorola Solutions |
| 2:35 p.m. | Test/Measurement This is a discussion of test equipment, and measurement techniques specific to broadcast facilities, such as how to operate a spectrum analyzer. Rick Daniel; Rohde & Schwarz |
| 3:40 p.m. | Break |
| 3:55 p.m. | Troubleshooting When it comes to finding out what’s wrong, there’s a process. This session covers that process and discusses stocking spares and look at when to call for help. Greg Buchwald; Motorola Solutions |
| 4:55 p.m. | Site Optimization and Safety Jeff Welton, CBRE; Nautel |
| April 4 – Media Over IP – LVCC Room TBD | |
| 9:00 a.m. | Welcome An overview of the day’s sessions, including a state of broadcast update and and overview of SBE events at the NAB Show. Ted Hand, SBE |
| 9:05 a.m. | What Are We Going to Learn in this Workshop? A bright and forward thinking introduction to our two day workshop to include the latest trends, technologies, implementations, and business aspects of multimedia. A novel and well-rounded unique treat awaits us media techies. Tim Carroll; Dolby Labs |
| 9:25 a.m. | Analog to Packets: Quick Review of Old and New Standards A review of how we now use generic packet flow and industrial off-the-shelf hardware for our technical media facilities. From analog to digital, composite to component, parallel to serial, stereo to surround to objects, multichannel to MADI, to flexible IP today. Kirk Harnack; Telos Alliance |
| 9:55 a.m. | Network Fundamentals With an Eye to Media and Streaming Requirements Forming a solid foundation of TCP/IP Data Networking. With a review of fundamentals: Subnetting, HCP, NAT, protocols, ARP. How to configure an IP facility for media production and delivery, including security concerns. TBD |
| 10:25 a.m. | Break |
| 10:40 a.m. | Physical Layer Considerations: IP Hardware Features and Protocols, Including PTP Analysis of physical hardware, its capabilities, how to specify, and how to configure. Review of requirements for reliability, flexibility, compatibility with media production and streaming. To include timing, bandwidth budgeting, and live WAN production peculiarities when dealing with uncompressed packet delivery; switches and routers. Gerard Phillips; Arista Networks |
| 11:10 a.m. | The Ins and Outs of Today’s Signal Transport: Analysis of Mezzanine, Prosumer, NDI With the industry at a technical crossroad, today’s choices define tomorrow’s operational success. Whether new build or upgrade, gain essential insights for the best technical decision for your organization. Learn how the right transport leads to significant workflow improvements, from industry experts who advise the world’s largest companies. eg: work on adapting NMOS for NDI. Alun Fryer; Ross Video Systems |
| 11:40 a.m. | What the Engineer Needs to Know About Programmatic Sam Sousa; Triton Digital |
| 12:25 p.m. | Lunch |
| 1:35 p.m. | Say Hello to the new SBE Executive Director Meet Mike Downs. Dave Bialik, Mike Downs |
| 1:40 p.m. | Gold Sponsor Recognition Bob Orban; Orban Audio |
| 2:10 p.m. | Metadata in Multimedia: What You Know and What You Don’t Greg Ogonowski; StreamS |
| 2:40 p.m. | Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain! Network Health, Status, Monitoring, and QOS Nigel Brownett; NFB Consulting/Leeward Software |
| 3:10 p.m. | Troubleshooting Audio and Video Streams John Passmore; New York Public Radio |
| 3:40 p.m. | Break |
| 3:55 p.m. | FAST Channel Analysis – Syndicated Media Pull Protocols; Configuration, Care, and Maintenance Markell Lambright; CBS News and Stations |
| 4:55 p.m. | IP Audio Formats: Quirks, Configuriguation, Compatibility, Troubleshooting: Ravenna, Dante, Wheatnet, AES67, Livewire Bring your tech challenges to the wizards. Al Salci; Sierra Automated Systems John Davis; Wheatstone Kirk Harnack; Telos Alliance |
| April 5 – RF101 Bootcamp – LVCC Room TBD | |
| 9:00 a.m. | Welcome Jeff Welton, CBRE; Nautel |
| 9:05 a.m. | Broadcast Transmitters Overall discussion of transmitters, looking at cooling, maintenance considerations and related installation considerations. Jeff Welton; Nautel |
| 9:45 a.m. | Remote Control This is a discussion of transmitter site monitoring, both conventional and over IP with SNMP. Tony Peterle; Tony Peterle Technology Services |
| 10:15 a.m. | Break |
| 10:30 a.m. | Translators Translators are subject to different rules and protections than full-service transmitters. This session looks at the difference between parts 73 and 74 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Gary Cavell; Cavell Mertz/Capitol Airspace |
| 11:00 a.m. | STL/Microwave When setting up an STL or microwave shots, there are considerations to be made, including path plotting, Fresnel zones, discrete vs IP and more. Cindy Cavell; Cavell Mertz/Capitol Airspace |
| 11:30 a.m. | ATSC 3.0 Discussion on where it is, where it’s going and what engineers need to know, focusing on the Broadcast Positioning System. RJ Russell; Technical Broadcast Solutions |
| 12:00 p.m. | Lunch |
| 1:10 p.m. | AM and AM Directionals While AM radio is more than 100 years old, there’s always something to learn when it comes to antenna systems. This session will discuss theory and tuning, as well as maintenance. Stephen S. Lockwood, CPBE, AMD, PE; Senior Engineer and President; Hatfield & Dawson Consulting Engineers |
| 2:00 p.m. | FM/TV Antennas FM antenna systems also require some thought. This covers bandwidth, tuning, transmission lines, all of which play a role in the performance of a station. Stephen Wilde; AAT/Shively |
| 3:00 p.m. | Break |
| 3:15 p.m. | ROI and How to Speak It For years, the engineer has been that person in the back room who shows up and fixes stuff. This session delves into ROI, cost of acquisition/operation/ownership and related terms. Kevin Trueblood, CBRE, CBNT; Associate General Manager for Technology & Operations; WGCU Public Media, Florida Gulf Coast University |
| 4:00 p.m. | Opening and Operating Your Own Contract Engineering Business Cassidy Phillips, swXtch.io; Davit Robakidze, Innovator LLC; Jim Stenberg, OTARF Over The Air RF |
| April 5 – Media Over IP – LVCC Room TBD | |
| 9:00 a.m. | ATSC 3.0 Update: State of Broadcast Industry and its IP Future Icebreaker An non-technical industry report on the state of traditional broadcast and the opportunities offered by the ATSC 3.0 paradigm. The implemented and the proposed, from two-way data transfer, to civil, community safety, infrastructure, and mobile applications. And an update on buildout and audience reach around the globe and domestically. Madeleine Noland; ATSC |
| 9:30 a.m. | The “IP” of ATSC 3.0 Apart from RF radiation, the new ATSC television system is strictly IP-based, and its implementation is spread across virtual or physical machines with specific tasks. Review the necessary components and methods to fabricate an ATSC 3.0 system, everything between the incoming stream and the RF power amplifiers. Merrill Weiss; MW and Associates |
| 10:00 a.m. | IPMX Protocol Across All Media Classes Samuel Recine; Matrox and AIMS Alliance |
| 10:30 a.m. | Break |
| 10:45 a.m. | Media Over IP and the Broadcaster Joe Geerling and Jeff Geerling; Geerling Engineering |
| 11:35 a.m. | CAD for Documentation and Direction: An Organized Mindset–New Topics and Stragegies Christian Holbrook; WireCAD |
| 12:05 p.m. | Lunch |
| 1:15 p.m. | Advancements and Trends in IP Media COMS for Talent, IFB, WAN Productions Nico Lewis; RTS Telecom Systems/Triton Partners |
| 1:45 p.m. | Industry Standards Roundup: AIMS Alliance, AMWA Certirfication, and NMOS Discovery Felix Poulin; CBC and AMWA Board of Directors |
| 2:10 p.m. | Bridge to and From the Cloud Robert Erickson; TAG Video Systems |
| 2:20 p.m. | Break |
| 2:55 p.m. | Artificial Intelligence in Media: Opportunity or Burden? Mike Palmer; Sinclair Broadcast |
| 3:25 p.m. | Capstone and Business Model for Media Over IP: ROI, Cost Analysis, and Selling to Management Cassidy Phillips; swXtch.io |
| 3:55 p.m. | Break |
| 4:10 p.m. | Opening and Operating Your Own Consulting Engineering Business Panel Discussion Rob Bertrand; NAB Radio Technology Committee Davit Robakidze; Innovator LLC Jim Stenberg; OTARF Over The Air RF |
