Archive
Travels, Work, and More Work
Wow, it seems to be forever since I posted. Forgive that. I bet you expect juicy details on super secret stuff. Well, not exactly. Recently I did travel, and since being back I have been busy. Shoot, I was busy before the travel. Does work get in the way of vacation or does vacation get in the way of work? Will we ever know?
Vacation was great. Part of that was to visit the Elenos factory in Italy. I enjoyed meeting the crew out there and talking shop. What I saw was quite impressive and the dedication and passion behind the product is amazing. With that we may see Elenos become a player in the transmitter market, so stay tuned. From what I understand I may be receiving one to test. Did I mention they did win a Cool Stuff award at NAB this year?
Of course I get back from vacation, IT Dude goes on vacation. This always equals some trouble. In this case it is Marketron vs. Windows 7 and a Ricoh printer. After a whole week, we still cannot print from the new machines. They print locally, but not through Marketron. I think I am overlooking something that IT Dude will notice right off. That is the true difference of dealing with something day-to-day versus only on occasion.
Do I dare mention the Harris Flexstar? I should write a whole post on just this. Yes, I continue to have Exciter muting issues, though not as bad as before. To make a long story short, we know for a fact that the Flexstar cannot handle too much data. It bogs down and eventually chokes. The only way to recover from the mute is to reboot. I wired up my remote control to the Flexstar restart input. This is pin 13 on the Remote User Interface of the Flexstar itself. A contact to ground and the Flexstar will perform and cold boot.
I have been fine tuning my Burk ARC Plus installation and utilizing the AutoPilot program a bit more. Now if we can only get Burk to support SNMP within the ARC Plus removing the need for AutoPilot they may be on to something. In the meantime I have created a fine custom view that shows the basics of all my transmitter sites. Attached to the touch screen monitor, all it takes is a touch of the screen to execute a function like STL switching or rebooting the Flexstar exciter. In addition I am utilizing SNMP with my Eaton-Powerware UPS’s by adding a network management card to the UPS. Currently four are up and running and I monitor on AutoPilot input and output voltage, UPS load, time remaining, and battery charge level. As I learn more about SNMP I may have status notifications if a self test fails or whatever else I can find!
Maybe my next post will get into some dirty details. If there is a subject you wish to see covered, drop me a line.
Cheers!
PPM Qualifying
I know this may sound simple, stupid, but this turned out to be the best method for me to respond to the Arbitron request to make sure the PPM encoders are working. Record your off air audio on your computer and email it to them!
I am able to monitor in my office our stations’ air feeds, HD feeds, program feeds, etc. This came in quite useful yesterday when I finally got around to responding to Arbitron’s request. In the past we placed a phone by a speaker and stepped through each station. Not this time. I fed my computer, fired up Audacity, and recorded 5 minutes of each station. After I was done with the main encoder, I have remote access via my Burk equipment and switched to the backup encoders. Again, recorded 5 minutes for each station. When I was done I emailed off the recordings properly named for easy reference.
If you are running a logger and feeding it via an air signal, this is acceptable, too. Now you already have a recording, you just need to edit down to about 5 minutes, and email off to them.
I sent 128kbps mp3 audio files. A bit better quality than they request, but it definitely gets the job done and it beats wasting the time of two of us on a phone.
Any other tips? Let me know!
NAB Observations
Back from the NAB convention. It is always great to see people and see what is going on. Here are four observations from a list of many. What did you see, hear, or ignored?
1. Radio was slow. Lots of elbow room on the floor. No real “wow” factor items on the floor. I did see stuff to improve the plant, but with no money one can only wish. Seems once the subject of money came up no one wanted to deal with you. That is a shame as I am always looking to integrate items into capital projects.
2. Manufacturers selling analog only transmitters. I found it quite interesting the number of smaller market folks were looking at transmitters. They were not looking at HD, either. This was quite evident at the Nautel booth where they were showing the NV LT, an analog only version of the NV transmitter. I even stopped by and saw John Bisset at the Elenos Booth. Seems it is too expensive too license from iBiquity, both for manufacturers and end users.
3. GoPro booth was hopping. I could not miss this Booth as it was right next to the radio section. Oh, and I have a friend that works for them. I own a Hero 2. It is fun. The buzz around their booth escalated around 3pm at their drawings. The NAB decibel police even monitored what was going on.
4. Way cool interactive signage by Cisco and Verizon. Wandering the South Hall was interesting. We started at the upper level which seemed slow. I was looking at data delivery options, so I here’s up there. Maybe it was early, thus the lack of activity. Once downstairs we hit more crowds and happened on the Verizon booth. We talked to a Cisco Rep who showed us a great interactive display with a media player. What we saw is great for large office buildings and campuses, but we saw potential for clients. JR has medical clients so he immediately saw a unused there. Coupled with Verizon’s 4G LTE we saw potential display possibilitiiies for radio station lobbies showing live shots from remotes or a guest in studio.
I enjoyed meeting with everyone there. I can see how another day for me would have been worth it. I did not have time to talk with Orban or Omnia. Maybe next year I will take a different approach to the madness.
Cheers!
NAB 2012
I have been lacking on posts this year. Personally it has been tough with family issues culminating in the passing of my Dad. It adds to the lack of motivation. Now it is time to get back on track. A kick start: the NAB show is back! I’ve printed some floor maps this year and I have a list of 32 vendors I want to harass, I mean talk to and look at. All for various reasons from the obvious to the “what they He** would I want to look at them” is on that list. What are your agenda for this year?
1. Talk with those of which I still have some issues. Harris is one. Do they intend to make a new exciter that is a bit more reliable? Am I looking at having to budget for a new Exporter that may correct some of the issues? BTW, I received an email that specifically states that I “should have no need to move the equipment to the transmitter site,” so I hopefully am on track to eliminate or better manage my issues.
2. Telos: I am going to ask you point blank and face to face: Why do I have 2 Console Directors that just go to sleep and you guys cannot help with a solution? Only two. I am going to swap one out today with a different one just to see if the problem follows again, though I have done it before.. Gotta do though.
3. 305 Broadcast. A new distributor on the block. I figure I will see what they have to offer and how they compare or plan to compete with the likes of BGS and BSW.
The list goes on, but you get the gist. I will also just wander around aimlessly because I can. The largest road block to moving forward is money. No budget. I can plan and think and plan and think. Ouch, maybe not so much thinking!
Hope to see you there!
EAS and CAP
Here is the link to the FCC Federal Register: Review of the Emergency Alert System
It looks like I have some reading to do. Hopefully someone somewhere will know how to implement this crap. If you have any pointers we would like to hear!
HD Equipment Placement
Feel free to respond to this one. I should make a poll and get info that way, but I’m lazy, or not.
Where do you prefer to place your Exporter and HD equipment in general? Mine is at the studio. I have many issues with Harris, but none with Nautel. I have been asked, and I hate to admit it considering, to place the Exporter at the transmitter site. Of course they I will have to do another GPS installation, but that’s life.
Do you have any compelling feelings either way? If you would like I will post results after NAB.
Cheers!
Fiber Optics Information
Saw a tweet and a link to Brad Dick’s post on Fiber Optics. I found it a very good primer. Good information. Check it out here: Fiber Optics, Part I He posts through Broadcast Engineering.
We use fiber between our RioLinks and 32KD frames. You can purchase Plenum rated and multi-stranded combinations as necessary. Gepco is my first choice, but we have used Clark after a little lesson they learned. Amazing what pictures will prove.
I can’t wait to see Part 2 of his post.
Cheers!
Remote Controls: Burk Technologies ARC Plus
As you have seen tweeted over the last few months, I have installed and now tweaking our new remote control system. I decided to go with the Burk Technologies ARC Plus as it was a logical move from the existing ARC-16 system plus I was able to integrate components from the ARC-16. Moving over to an IP based system was not too bad, though I do have to wonder what others do for data at their transmitter sites. Well, here are some things that I thing you should be aware of if you are considering the Burk ARC Plus.
1. It works. That’s nice. Make sure you get the latest firmware if you do not have it yet. Right now that is version 2.3.0.5. It is up on their website: Burk>Downloads>ARC Plus. This takes care of a flash memory corruption, that if attacks, you end up having to send the unit back to the factory. I did not need a loaner, but be prepared. Since the update my boxes have been running well.
2. Tech support has been very good, though response can be somewhat slow. Based on severity response is quick, but for some of the fun I’ve had email and screenshots have helped resolve some stuff.
3. Networking and having sites see/talk with each other. Talking with Burk, about half of the installs request or require sites to communicate with each other. I do it for convenience. If I’m on one site I like to be able to see the others. Keep your network simple, and since the data rate is not a huge demand, not too many issues with busy networks. We even have an older Moseley LanLink to one site and it works 90% of the time. Also, configure the ARC Pluses correctly the first time. I actually got confused and did not bother worry about the configuration of the Public IP Address field in the units. I though, hey, I’m not using a public network, I”m on extended LAN, why bother. I learned quickly that the sites will not talk unless everything is configured properly. In our situation, the Public IP Address and the Private IP Address must be the same. Research your installation and configure accordingly.
4. Build that site list right the first time. As tech support told me, think bees and a behive. Build the first site to start the hive. From there add new sites (bees) to the hive. Do not connect to other sites and start the process over again. Start with one and you will be safe. I have four sites (ARC Pluses) along with a couple of ARC-16s attached. Everything talks well, thus my delving into automatic switching of STLs and eventually switching to our auxiliary site. See point #3 above about configuring them private and public IP addresses. It is very important to make these sites talk.
5. When using AutoLoad 2010 and all the Plus-X devices, make sure the latest definitions are downloaded for the devices. Again, those are available on their web site (see link above).
That is what you need to make these things work. Since my installation, Burk has introduced the Plus-X IP-8 adapter which takes the actual cable used between the IP-8 and ARC-16, eliminates the ARC-16 and now talks with the ARC Plus via IP. Confused? Simplified: Keep existing IP-8, remove ARC-16, add IP-8 Adapter. Ethernet cable on network, configure ARC Plus. No rewiring of the IP-8. I wish I had that as I still have 3 ARC-16s on my system. I’m looking forward to updating that portion over the next year, money pending.
Note that all channel assignments when using the ESI (Enhanced Speech Interface) are 3 digits. Since you can have up to 256 channels monitored on the ARC Plus, 3 digits are necessary. Alarm reports are 300 now versus using 30. Status is 350. Logging off is 999, not 99. As you can tell, if you can get connected via VPN and a computer, that is the way to go versus using the phone, but that functionality is there. I am just starting to use the hidden channel feature so will update this post when complete.
Logging with the AutoPilot 2010 is similar to the older AutoPilot. I am still not happy that I cannot print to a file a daily log for each site as a dialog box continues to pop up to confirm the print to PDF. This may be a function of the PDF printer I am using, but still an annoyance. I’m open to suggestions and thoughts. If and when I figure out what I’m doing I will update this post. Overall the reports are definitely in-depth and you can pick and choose what you want in the report. I’ve used this to change a log for a week to track down a potential issue. Didn’t find one, so back to my normal reports.
Overall I like what we have. Not sure how others compare to this, but I would say the complexity level is about the same among them. I like the fact that I can access each ARC Plus directly via ESI, web interface, AutoPilot, and as a backup via modem. I also like that I can have AutoPilot on my computer for quick access from home while the application running in the shop continues doing it’s business. I will follow up as I create more macros and delve into the Jet Flowcharts which is next on my list of to-dos. BTW, there is new firmware update coming out, but no date yet that will make macro and flowchart processes run based on status and limit changes. At the moment you need to configure a monitoring loop to notice these changes.
Hope this information is helpful. I will update accordingly as mentioned. I plan to write more about other network devices and SNMP. Stay tuned for a short post on how I configured my silence detection using the feature in the SAS 32KD.
Cheers!
Hell Week or Just Plain Busy
As promised a recap of a busy week. If you follow my tweets, your sure already know we had a busy week. Harris, RCS, AT&T, and the regular stuff just piled on.
My Harris Flexstar RF mute issues sprung up on me this week. It has been on hiatus for a couple of months and then an outage on Monday and two within 15 minutes on Tuesday. So, in answer to a phone call today, no there is nothing really to do but make sure the latest and greatest in software/firmware release is installed. If you do not have that, you will not get much in return from tech support. I updated the Flexstar to Exgine 4.40 and DSP to 8.33. Since this had to be done, I had to upgrade the Exporter to 4.3.1 and the Importer to 4.3.2. This now sets the clock on if I continue to have issues, and knock on wood I have not had an issue since the update. On that note I still need a good answer to why HD data should be able to knock me off the air? So if you have issues with your Flexstar, update it. Then document exactly what the issue is. Once you have all that ammunition, give tech support a shot and see what answers you get. Do not be surprised if you feel a bit helpless. The HTHD+ as an RF amplifier is great, they just need to fix the most critical piece, the exciter.
While transmitter issues were occurring we were hit with an RCS NexGen crash. All 3 station decided to play the game. Console control stopped, database communications became sketchy, and the whole system was just sluggish. No apparent reason. We noted it had to do with network traffic, so some box is flooding the network or we have a physical device that has an issue. On that assumption we changed out the brand new Cisco switch purchased from RCS with an old 1GB Dell switch used on the old DAD network. Everything began to run much more smoothly. IT and RCS check the switch and all seems good. We still have yet to switch back.
If this was not enough, concurrent failure of a T1 to a transmitter site happened. I was on the phone with AT&T when the Flexstar decided to drop off. It must have been a funny picture having me on the phone with AT&T while I was poking the remote control switching us to our Aux transmitter. Multitasking at its best. AT&T replaced a repeater and a snap-jack in the CO. No dispatch to the site. This particular CO seems to be having many issue of late. We seem to cycle through which T1 goes down. Annoying, but they were on it and problem is solved for now.
In addition to running around dealing with this, I still am working details on the Burk remote control system. I have the sites up and in theory they should all see each other. Reality is a different story. I can see one site from the shop, but not another. While at the “offending” transmitter site, I was unable to see the other sites from the ARC Plus. Here is the odd part. With AutoPilot I can see all the sites. I get readings and all the good stuff. With AutoLoad I can see all the sites. Even at the transmitter site I had to visit I was able to see all the sites. Why the ARC Plus does not see the others, and the site list is in it, is beyond me. I have an inquiry to Burk on that one. I am also going to contact Moseley to delve into a potential issue with the LanLink. I need something a bit more robust. A 6 mile shot should not be that difficult.
I can say at least I was busy and not bored. Mix this with home life and it was quite a week. I’m glad to be able to sit down and spew this out. If you have experience with any of the items discussed or have any items you wish to see a discussion, please drop a line, leave a comment, or give a call. Now let’s see what next week brings!
Cheers!
One Busy Year and a Happy New Year!
Sitting here on the last working day of the year for me and reflecting on the busy year that just occurred and the upcoming year. I hope the economy improves a bit for the radio industry. Though we did good by corporate in terms of being able to clear some much needed projects, the operating side needs a bit of economic help as I suspect many of my peers may agree. Anyways, let’s see what we did this year.
Recently Tweeted events was the RCS NexGen installation. Not a huge installation, nor a small one. Let’s say moderate in size at 18 computers and all the fun that goes with installing them. We met our deadlines having all our stations on the system before the end of the year. We will continue to work out the little bugs as they pop up. The most recent bug, as that is the only term I can reference at this moment, is the Export data can only be assigned to a single network. Our audio servers have 2 NICs (Network Interface Card) to keep NexGen traffic separate from other data and external sources. Exported data such as RDS, HD PSD, and streaming must be sent out. We happen to keep our transmitter network separate from house and streaming, and we keep streaming off the house and transmitter networks. While configuring Export data for a station we are lead to believe you fill in the appropriate information and if TCP/IP one types in the port and IP address of the receive machines. Well, this works pretty good for the data we send to the transmitter network (RDS and HD PSD), but not so good with the streaming network. We find that the export data can only feed one NIC. Ouch! Next week we decide if we install a basic router or we press the issue with RCS. Other than little things like this the system appears to be working as advertised. Now if Programming and Traffic departments can play nice. The last accomplishment of the RCS install is we are connected for console control and EAS (Sage ENDEC) control via IP. No GPIO devices are used (for the time being). Now that is cool.
We installed a new remote control system. We decided on the Burk ARC Plus system along with various peripherals they provide. I will say the overall project was a success. I will also have to say I may want to rethink some of the work I did. I also must say that 2 ARC Plus units had to be returned for factory repair due to memory corruption of which I updated 3 units to a new firmware version that should take care of this. I am also going to help Nautel and Burk troubleshoot a SNMP error that is occurring with, between, or something the PlusConnect-NV and the Nautel AUI. The PlusConnect-NV talks with the AUI (Advanced User Interface) via IP, so I have no more physical relay closures to the remote control, it is all done via IP. These errors are not causing trouble, but it fills my Burk Event Logs, so it is annoying. Also, no occasion I will receive a false alarm of an NV output power is below lower limit which is most likely due to the error and time-out of the SNMP request. This will be interesting to troubleshoot because it is an area I do not normally get to play: SNMP, Agents and Traps. Another fun time is the network between studio and transmitter sites. All are slow connections in some way or another. Part of two sites depend on the Moseley LanLink which I have noticed is not the most reliable, but works.
On the line of Burk and the remote controls, the series of devices help connect many items. One site has the IIU (Integrated Input Unit) and ICRU (Integrated Command Relay Unit), all sites have at least one Plus-X 300 which is an input/metering/relay box, and a site with 2 PlusConnect-NVs and 2 PlusConnect-HZs. The PlusConnect-HZ box connects to the Harris Z10 controller board via a serial connection and then talks to the ARC Plus via IP. Pretty cool on both accounts. In a way you may say that we are nearly all IP connected in some way or another.
We ran a firmware update of our SAS 32KD and RioLinks before the RCS installation. We updated all the RioLinks to work via IP. We also added the capability to change show configuration on the Rubicon consoles. If that was not enough, the firmware allows us to add silence sense to outputs. With this I plan to wire some alarm statuses to the remote control for various silence events. Another micro-management and troubleshooting tool.
Early in the year we upgraded our old Nortel PBX phone system to a new Avaya. This phone system is capable of using digital phones (which made our transition easier) and VOIP. We will be testing and implementing a bit of this here in the future. We also took advantage of the Avaya and integrated it with our Telos 2101 Hub. Now we have in-house extensions in the studios.
We continued to study and test various ways of doing live remote broadcasts. Verizon 4G LTE has been a live saver in some cases and has been a defacto go-to for other broadcasts. In all cases we had at least, if not better, a 98% success rate using this method. We use Tieline Technology codecs and an external 4G router and 4G LTE USB modem. I won’t mention that Tieline has developed an USB module which we plan on testing for them in the near future. Speaking of Tieline we decided to purchase the Report-IT application for iPhones and iPads. We have done a couple of successful long form broadcasts using just an iPad on WiFi. We plan on future testing of the Mic Adapter and Genie. Speaking of iPhones, we are using the iPush to get surf reports to our NexGen system. No more calling in and recording. Audio quality is much better and the reports are seamlessly inserted in the logs along with beds.
Lastly I want to mention that my Nautel NV20’s were delivered 12/24/2008. They are 3 years old!
As we wrap up this year, I wish my readers a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Tech Notes from the Field 