Tech Notes from the Field

I thought this week was going to be routine, maybe even slow.  Not the case when you walk in and find the IT guy at the HD rack restarting all the devices due to a UPS failure!  Luckily that is all it was.  The only odd thing is the UPS was an Eaton-Powerware UPS.  I have had good luck with these.  The lesser models, the acquired MGE UPSs, are not worth the effort, but the Powerware models usually hold up well.  At this point you are thinking batteries, but not the case.  Darn thing bellied up and will not pass AC or even attempt to go into bypass.  It took a power hit and protected the equipment by committing suicide.  Oh well.  I had a spare.

Finished Monday off well with the second NV20 field modification.  Like last week, the modifications went well with only one hitch.  Some excessive RF was getting into the monitoring and control of one PA module and affected the fans; shutting down said module.  I was short ferrite beads, so we took a shot and added one, and only one, to a fan lead.  All errors cleared and we were in business.  This NV also received the cooling modification.  Both modifications were completed in 3 hours.  After doing the NV modifications I asked Nautel if the same modification to their V series would work and improve performance.  The answer is a yes, but I figure I will wait and see if it is really necessary.

I got to meet with a Studer rep.  Remember Studer?  Yeah, they still exist.  By the way if you have their old reel-to-reel machines, they have someone who will service them.  Our meet was to discuss consoles.  I cannot elaborate, but it was a good discussion.  Ask yourself how many Studer consoles are there in radio stations in America?  Europe?  You see where this is headed.  Anyways, I have some thoughts to make on how I will proceed in future console installs, but  I will remain adamant that a console be simple and intuitive for the air talent, but flexible enough to perform technically without too many bells and whistles.

The last technical headache of the week involves Windows and USB to Serial adapters.  Timed SAS automation events will not run if your computer running the Router Control Software is not functioning.  We found out the hard way.  Though many are convinced that something occurred with the SAS 32KD system, the logs and dump file show that an error with the device driver for the USB to Serial device caused a kernel crash.  What a pain.  Be aware of this if it has not happened to you before.  We are researching other manufacturers of these devices, but since they seem to be made on the cheap the potential for issues remains at a moderate level.

It looks as though I am able to spend a couple of days at the NAB Show this spring.  Automation or audio deliver systems will be high on the list of products for me.  I look forward to attending my first Nautel Users Group meeting.  Should be interesting.  I hope to meet some readers out there.  On to next week and beyond!