A leading 12 volt engineer and Vice President at NAV-TV, Derek Schmiedl, is leaving the company and the industry to head up engineering at another venture owned by NAV-TV CEO Moni Melman.
He transitions full time to the 5-year old Stellar Communication Group, which produces and installs public safety signal boosters. Due to new federal regulations, all commercial buildings will be required to install these signal boosters by the year 2025, Schmiedl said, creating a lucrative and exploding market.
“I am extremely grateful for my time in the industry and the opportunity to make a difference at NAV-TV… I’m really grateful for Moni and Constance [Melman] for giving me this opportunity. I got to do things I’ve never dreamed of,” said Schmiedl, adding, “I’m confident they will continue the legacy I had a small part in building.”
Until now, Schmiedl wore many hats, managing both NAV-TV and Stellar Communications. He felt it was time to devote himself more fully to Stellar where he is VP Engineering. “To do that I need to have 100 percent of my head and heart in that game. It’s a natural progression for me. The industry is closely related to audio…”
Stellar provides boosters that improve the signal of emergency 2-way radios used by police and fire departments. The new regulations mandating these boosters follow the 9/11 collapse of the Twin Towers in NYC. It was determined that 2-way radio communication was blocked in the stairwell area of the towers during the tragedy, which resulted in the deaths of many firefighters, Schmiedl explained. New and old commercial buildings will be required to install bi-directional amplifiers and distributed antenna systems to boost signals so that 2-way radios are supported.
