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Palomar Completes CCCSAT Facility Remodeling
Two months ahead of schedule and under budget, Palomar College has completed the remodeling of its broadcast control facility that will be the heart of the new California Community College Satellite Network (CCCSAT). The remodeling project involved creating two rooms, one that will house CCCSAT's state-of-the-art broadcast control center and an engineering room that will contain equipment related to the uplink facility. The completion of the remodeling marks another milestone on the way to creating the statewide satellite network, which is expected to be operational by May 2000. As a result of the recent work, several significant improvements were made to Palomar's facilities, which are also home to its Educational Television (ETV) department. A broadcast control room was enlarged from five and a half feet by 15 feet to 14 feet by 20 feet, creating enough space to accommodate new equipment that will be installed in the next several months. "The old room was like working in a hallway," said Connie Rodriguez, on-site engineer for CCCSAT. "This new room gives the equipment plenty of space and the right atmosphere for the people that work there." The existing engineering room was reconfigured and will be used to house the uplink equipment as well as controllers, power supplies, router, and other associated equipment for the uplink and broadcast control room. Work on the project began on July 16 and was essentially complete by the end of September, Rodriguez said. The project was originally expected to be completed in mid-December. "The project was budgeted for $20,000 and we'll spend less than $10,000 for all of this," Rodriguez said. "The savings will give us more money for other equipment that we need." The remodel was made possible by Palomar College's facilities staff, which is run by Mike Ellis. "We called him about this on a Wednesday and he had a crew in here working by Friday," Rodriguez said. "We were really amazed." Ellis' dedicated assistance made it possible to bypass the lengthy request-for-proposal process and lower the labor cost since the work was done in-house," said Rodriguez. The completion of the remodeling sets the stage for the next phase of the CCCSAT program, which will involve procuring the actual uplink equipment and associated gear. In May, Palomar College was awarded an $8.5 million state grant to establish the CCCSAT Network, which will link video distance learning programs at all 106 community college campuses. Palomar has been pioneering distance learning since 1975 with its ETV department, providing classes delivered via cable-access television and home videos that students can check out. Thanks in part to the remodeling work that was completed in September, Palomar is now one step closer to operating a 24-hour, automated programming facility for the state's Community College system. |
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