My most recent mentee is John Loven. He was hired away from the cellular industry to be the engineer for 16 Hubbard Radio facilities in central Minnesota. I built many and serviced all those facilities over the years. What a great fit for a mentor and mentee! John came with a background in microwave RF, but AM antennas with coupling networks and phasors were somewhat of a mystery to him. This was a great opportunity for me to be a teacher and enjoy a great friendship along the way. In the process, I’ve had to keep up with the latest broadcast engineering technology. As the mentees face problems, I help them and often learn from them while working out the answers. It is not always easy for an analog RF guy like me.

In the beginning
It all starts when I find a mentee, or I am assigned one by the SBE. The first act is to schedule a one-hour phone call or an in-person meeting to talk about our strengths and weaknesses. We get to know each other before any advice is given.  In one case, I found the mentee was not a good match and asked SBE for a change. It is best to get off to a good start rather than suffering with a problem. The mentee also signs my form saying he or she won’t sue if something goes wrong with my free advice.

I set down rules at the first meeting. That includes 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday calls. Don’t call from a transmitter in the middle of the night asking, “What do I do now?” Don’t expect me to be always available. After all, even retired people have schedules. That is even more important for mentors who are still working for a living. 

The first photo shows me explaining the engineering room at a studio to John Loven. He needed to understand the basic plan before proceeding with a change. 

Mark Persons and John Loven

On the job
When I have been able to be with a mentee at a jobsite, I resist the temptation to do the work. After all, the new person needs to learn the job, even if he or she is slow to catch on. My biggest problem is keeping hands off the equipment. After all, the best approach is to explain how it is done and let the student learn by mistakes, just as I did years ago. The second image shows a hand drawing and conversation during coffee, explaining intermodulation between two transmitters. It is the theory part before a spectrum analyzer is pulled out for actual measurements. 

 
Instruction over coffee

 
About that AM directional …

What did you say?
Be conscious of using buzz words, phrases and abbreviations that outsiders would not know, such as STL, ICR, AoIP, RF circular polarization, ground system, TPO, ERP, HAAT, composite audio and SCA. The list goes on. Explaining these is all a part of the teaching and learning process.

Schools
The Society of Broadcast Engineers was a group of mostly men who got together to share ideas. Now it appears to be a group of men and women working, among other goals, to ensure the survival of the profession.  At last check, there are four SBE certified schools. Bates Technical College is one of them in Tacoma, Wash. SBE member Roland Robinson is one of two instructors teaching the subject there.  He says they start out with basic electronics, soldering and test equipment. They go on to audio and video, leading to system design and maintenance. Most students learn television broadcasting, video production and content delivery. Many quickly find themselves working at television stations in the northwest after graduation. Some have gone on to be radio broadcast engineers. SBE certification exams are offered at the college as well. Roland said there is even an amateur radio station at Bates for students to use. It is a great tool for learning RF propagation across all frequencies. See my article from 2021, “Alike, But Not Alike: Broadcast vs. Ham Radio.”