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When I began my career in cable TV decades ago, certification was not required. I attended some of the best electronic schools, so I was well-versed in electronics. But cable systems, which required sweeping and alignment of wide-band frequencies, were brand new to me.

Lucky for me, my Air Force training and my Federal Communications Commission (FCC) radio telephone license allowed me to work with microwave and became my ticket to better pay and rapid advancement, since microwave was the way to bring in distant signals needed by most systems. In 1969, SCTE was formed so members could receive broader training not be tied directly to a specific company or its product.

SCTE began using the BCT/E certification programs to teach cable TV technology with each product being a generic piece of gear instead of a certain company’s product.

Then, at some point, there was an agreement between the FCC and SCTE that cable industry technicians and engineers should use the BCT/E certification program to take the place of a radio telephone license. There still would be radio telephone licensing, but they would be issued for microwave and broadcast purposes. After all, with the advent of satellite transmission, cable operators no longer depended on microwave for programming.

This didn’t seem like a bad idea at the time because most of us thought the BCT/E certificates would be certified by the FCC and just as official as radio telephone licenses. The BCT/E certificate does not show FCC acknowledgement at all. And we wonder why the owners and managers aren’t impressed with the BCT/E certification and won’t make sure there is attendance at chapter meetings? If this document looked more like a FCC document, they would be more impressed!

If you have an FCC license, you can keep it current throughout your lifetime but simply paying the license fee before it expires. You aren’t required to keep up with new technology, even if you originally were licensed in the 1930s. But, with our BCT/E program, the SCTE requires continued education and re-testing during the life of the BCT/E certification. The certificates just don’t look "official" enough.

I see no reason why the FCC cannot affix something to these certificates just as they do the FCC radio telephone licenses and make owners and managers of cable broadband systems recognize the importance of certification to the careers of their own technicians and engineers.

 Back to April 2001 Issue

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