Archive
When The UPS Fails
When Murphy’s Law kicks in, there is no holding him back. I had an UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) die on me at 11:45pm, 12/31/2012. That’s right. 15 minutes before the New Year. I may as well was having a baby! To add insult to injury the UPS was only 2 months out of warranty!
In any case, apparently we took a brief outage at the transmitter site and the return surge was enough to damage something in the UPS. The UPS in the other rack had no issues. How did it fail, you might ask? At the time of the utility interruption, the unit switched to battery power as normal, but when utility power came back, it did not switch back and the batteries ran out of juice.
When I tested and discovered this I noticed that I can force it back to utility power by turning it on and off. Eventually the relay that switched to utility will close. Yes, the UPS starts on battery and tests utility before switching on. Of course no love from the manufacturer except for the “we have service, please call….” I already ordered a new one. I may find a replacement relay and make the repair myself, but something in the back of my mind is telling me that some logic issue is involved and it is not just the relay.
How often do you relay on instinct when making repairs? I do quite often with great results. I’ll follow up if I do this repair do to boredom. 😉
Cheers
Break-Through, Breaking, Broke, Fixed
That sums up this week. Break a few things, get good news on an old issue, and fixing stuff. That’s my life.
Cleaning up is my number one To-Do this week and I can walk into my office now. Hall cleared, office cleaned up, and Station Logs files for 2013 are made. (year, really.) As we progress I got to cleaning up my remote control situation even more and creating automated tasks with macros. This turned into a 2 day exercise as I had a chat with my pals at Burk Technology with some questions when I find out they posted updates for the ARC Plus firmware, now at 3.0.0.37, and AutoPilot 2010, officially 2.8.4. Not resisting something “new” I had to update. All went well except for 2 ARC Plus units. The configurations I saved prior to the update messed them up when loaded back in! Doh! To quote Homer. I figured that out and loaded configurations I had saved last week when I made a couple of macro changes. Lesson learned: Save that configuration as soon as you make a change! Now I can proceed with some more macro building and some JET flowchart learning. Yeah, I’m lagging on that.
The break-through is from RCS and our on-going NexGen v. Sage Endec IP control issue. WE CAPTURED AN EVENT! I received and email and RCS is working on code to install within NexGen to more closely evaluate why NexGen did not respond to the incoming alert. We await this little update to the A-serves. I ask again, anyone else out there doing IP control between NexGen and Sage? I wish I knew a bit more of the inner workings of this system. On the other hand I would not want to see that internal road map as the software in its basic form has been around for years!
Broke: AT&T. Nuff said? We’ve had a series of T1 failures. Some responded to quickly, others just lie in wait to annoy us. I would suspect our Moseley equipment, but history proofs otherwise. I do wish Moseley had a better self monitoring system, but the equipment is older and we are looking at upgrading to newer systems. Bottom line is it sucks to not have line-of-site to transmitter sites so I can use a reliable microwave STL, I want a new 11GHz system so bad with a large bandwidth! I can dream, can’t I?
As things settle down, other than AT&T, I am now going to sweep the studios and clean up some dust bunnies. I think I have a battery replacement on an UPS due, too. Love the holidays!
Cheers!
PS: Glossary for those new to this stuff:
STL = Studio Transmitter Link. Conversely TSL = Transmitter Studio Link, the opposite path. In radio we are mostly concerned with getting audio to the transmitter site. In this modern world with data, along with monitoring/metering, the return path is for this information.
11GHz = 11 Giga Hertz microwave systems, is the band that carries audio, data. “Classic” STLs are in the 950MHz band with limited bandwidth. For comparison, 802.11 WiFi routers run in the 2.4GHz band with wireless N also in the 5GHz band. Wireless mice and keyboards are also in the 2.4GHz band.
NexGen and Sage Endec Control
We installed the RCS NexGen a year ago. As of today we still have issues with the NexGen – Sage Endec communications.
Our NexGen system is installed with no GPIO, or opto-relay, equipment. We are 100% IP control with the system at this time. We run EAS Required Weekly Tests, generated from the NexGen, without any issues. It is pretty simple once set up. NexGen is configured to look at the IP address and Port of the Sage Endec, monitoring for any Sage originated activity. If an alert or Required Monthly Test (RMT) comes in, NexGen is supposed to “see” it and act accordingly. It works sporadically at best. Today we had 2 of 3 stations run properly.
What could be the problem? No one seems to know or ask the proper questions. We have tested time and again the Sage Endec for the information it sends out. It exists. It’s there. It just needs to be acted upon. The NexGen will not “see” the information. It does not acknowledge that an alert or test has come in. If it does, it works just fine. If it doesn’t, then manual intervention is required or the Sage takes over and runs the alert or test on the air, interrupting programming.
I ask the question: Why does the NexGen machines not see the information consistently? It is there to be acted upon, so why does it not see it? NexGen is installed on Windows 7 server class computers. NexGen runs on layers of older code. I conclude one of two things: 1) the older IP stack on which NexGen is build stops responding, or 2) the Windows 7 computer “shuts down” something such that the information is ignored. Anyone have experience with Windows 7 boxes acting odd like this? Could there be a miscue between the application and the physical NIC?
We continue to send logs to RCS for evaluation. No one seems to have answer. One year later. Any Windows 7 insight is greatly appreciated, and if you have an RCS NexGen running IP control, let me know what experiences you have.
Cheers!
More on Tin Whiskers
A few weeks back I posted on Tin Whiskers. Well, look what I found on Phys.org today: Phys.org: Tin Whiskers.
Coincidental I say. I had a nice chat with Kirk Harnack on TWiRT on these suckers and how they can cause failures and you would never know they were the culprit. Pretty cool.
Anyone out there have a story or experienced a “tin whisker failure?”
Cheers!
End of Year Routine?
So, we are wrapping up the year. Can’t spend any more money. Folks are heading out on vacation. What do you do?
Once again let’s keep things organized! I tend to clean up the shop. I make sure my documentation is straight. I have a couple of shots of whiskey. Oh, wait, well, you know….. Much of this is tedious work, but should be done. Shoot, drop “should” and make that a “MUST” be done. I find having my documentation up to date make troubleshooting easier when it is necessary. I know you hear this time and time again, but DO IT!
The most frustrating thing I find is since more than one of use does something, it does not get documented. This is because I am anal about it, to a point, while those around me are not. Of course when it comes to troubleshooting, I pick up the binder and use it while the others do not. Annoying. Plus keep the documents up to date helps refresh your memory of what was done. It is a habit which must be learned, but it sure pays off when you get a good one and a quick repair or work-around is needed.
Start you end-of-year clean up and be ready for next year!
Cheers!
Tin Whiskers
I was poking around the web during lunch and came across one of my favorite sites, EE Web. While browsing down the page I saw this blog/article post on Tin Whiskers. (For those looking for humor: I almost wrote Whiskey!)
Anyone ever run into an issue with tin whiskers? I know some manufacturers that have. The issue one had was between a PCB and a shield assembly. Over time with the help of dust the whiskers grew until they shorted with the shield. The solution was to make the gap between PCB and shield wider. Knowing that this can happen and if you start seeing intermittent oddities with a piece of equipment, check for tin whiskers. Blasting air will clean out the dust and any other catalyst, but it will not prevent regrowth.
EE Web is a great resource for electrical engineering articles and tools. Very easy to navigate. Do you have a favorite site? Pass it along and I will publish it.
Cheers!
Wow, A Marconi!
It hit me today that I am the Chief Engineer of the Large Market Station of the Year. How cool is that? The whole group of people pulled together to make this station shine over the last months. What a good bunch.
Let’s hope and work for another successful year. I feel a sister station may be in contention. That would be very cool.
Cheers!
Radio and the Future IMHO
All this talk about secret meetings and radio’s future at the NAB Radio show really bothers me. The future of radio is divergent between programming and technology. The big radio companies of today, and little ones, will have to decide are they in the programming business or the transmission, or delivery business. Here is my take from the technical point of view. (Drop government regulations for a moment and open your mind.)
We already see a divergence between programming and transmission of programming with this thing call HD Radio. Many programmers find this a waste of time and money. Even engineers find it a waste as I believe they see the potential of digital, all digital, in the future. Radio needs to grow up. My take is to get rid of this duality of HD and Analog transmission. This is the 21st century, so why not push for all digital. Drop this analog and transform. Once a signal is all digital and the right minds build it well, it becomes a digital carrier capable of, say, 50 or 100 independent channels for an example. This could be more or less depending on the brains behind it and can it be split based on required bandwidth. The divergence is clear at this point, what radio station owner has the ability to program 50 channels, they cannot even program a single channel.
As the two diverge, I see the physical radio plant becoming a technical operation center for the distribution of content, not the origination, and I see programmers becoming content providers. I see radio station owners eyeing the money at becoming content providers. Great! Concentrate on programming something well. The technical side now splits off and companies that know how to distribute, technically, start looking at owning the actual signal. The plant becomes a technical operating center (TOC) or a network operating center (NOC). Now the programmer leases a channel or more from the distributor. Sound familiar? Cable, satellite television, satellite radio, the Internet?
Who buys the technical side? Who is already capable of wireless transmission? The wireless companies are! The licenses of the radio stations will be purchased by the likes of Verizon and AT&T. The “big” signals become the focal point of pushing data to the wireless world. The cellular system becomes the receiving end of the system and a fill for the areas that do not get covered by the broadcast signal. You now have your bi-directional communications. It is all about pushing data and this is a good medium for doing such.
At this point, yes, radio as we know it needs to change. The FCC would have to treat the licenses of radio stations similar to cellular wireless. The purpose of radio stations needs to be redefined. Name a radio station that actually serves the public interest. Do not give me music stations. Public safety notifications or whatever propaganda the government wants to feed must be dealt with in a new way. I foresee an allocation of a channel or two for such services based on the geographical area. I also see them pushing a means, like EAS, that the TOC or NOC owners will need to be able to insert. The burden moves from the programmer to these owners. Programmers will not have a choice if an alert or emergency that meets a certain criteria occurs, it gets pushed on all channels.
At the same time the choices of programming become more. Again, depending on how this digital carrier is built and how much can get squeezed in will determine the number of channels available. The whole argument of an FM chip on a cell phone will go away as regulations would change and most likely these channels will be available on other data feeds, read Internet, that the point it moot. If not, this could actually go the opposite way and cellular devices, smartphones, will get FM, or even AM, chips as this medium becomes the backbone to pushing data for wireless carriers.
All in all there will be a paradigm shift in the radio and broadcasting world. It is a matter of when. All this half-assed business with HD and iBiquity is just a start. A learning experience. Eventually someone will suggest an alternate future like this. The picture will become clear. The divergence of programming and distribution will occur. How that is handled is up to us in the industry. What side are you on? I am an engineer. I am on the distribution side. You?
Cheers!
PS: As my thoughts congeal, I may post more on this. Please openly send comments and smack me down or add your thoughts! I, for one, would like to know how you really feel about this subject.
Networking, IT, IP, and RF
Been spending a lot of time in the modern world of broadcast engineering. As we keep moving forward we keep doing more of what people call IT. What do we do as broadcasters, we pass information. Why not group us into IT?
First I have been spending time with Burk and Nautel on a Burk PlusConnect-NV disconnect issue. Seems the PlusConnect is working fine. Nautel does say there is a little issue with the SNMP agent as it is slow to respond at times. I understand a few customers have this issue. Rest assured both parties are aware of this and both parties are working together to resolve this issue. I’m glad I get to work with both. Right now I have been informed there is a new version of the Nautel AUI in the works. This version will address many concerns including the SNMP agent. As they are being so diligent on making sure all the “bugs” are worked out, we all must be patient on the release date as there is none at the moment. I say great, make sure it works before getting it out there. Anyone beta testing? I’m not.
As for the Burk system, it is working pretty well. I did have them re-write the version 3 of the ARC Plus, so ask about the latest version that is not posted on their website. 😉 I see 3.0.0.25 still there. I am still waiting on a new build of the AutoLoad Plus to address another minor issue.
As for the overall problem I am going to seriously look into the RF situation and network cabling. Though I use shielded cable, I suspect a bit of RF causing some headaches. Not sure exactly how I will attack this, but as we move more into the networked systems realm, I want to make sure future installs do not exhibit RF issues. What is very interesting is the shielded cable is actually giving me more problems than unshielded. This makes me wonder about the integrity of the connectors on the former cable.
More RF fun is my old Moseley Starlink. Seems I have a “special” unit. For one it shows a received signal in the mid- -50’s. WTF? When a different receiver is installed it shows a more realistic -75 dBm. The spectrum analyzer shows a -80 dBm. I think the dish that the landlord relocated needs to be re-sighted. The fun never stops. I’m working with Moseley regarding this odd reading and I suspect they will take the unit back and have it calibrated.
Next week we dive deeper into our network as we install a new Layer 3 switch. This is going to be great!
Cheers!
First Post On Asus Transformer
We decided to deploy some tablets for work. Testing stage as we call it. IT guru JR chose these ASUS Transformers, so I get to test one, too. This led me to think about the applications I use for work. There are a couple that I just like and use on multiple devices. There is one that is the main reason we are testing the ASUS.
We use Google Apps, so the GMAIL app is the major winner. Email is the app of daily use, multiple times a day. We all know that. How much of you email is done on a computer today? We all seem to have smartphones, tablets, and i-Somethings.
The Messages App for text messaging is used too. How else can you get info in a a timely manor and in 160 characters or less and not disturb them with a phone call. Say what you will, but I find text messaging efficient over the phone call formality, especially if what you need is not need it now moment. That’s when the phone comes in the best.
Speaking of social media apps, I use TweetCaster for tweeting on Twitter. It allows me to post to Facebook simultaneously. Even though I do not use FB much anymore, it is there. The interface is nice. It is easy to use. I’ve tried HootSuite, but grew tired of it. I may try again because the first company that incorporates Google+ into the mix will win my business, at least to start. Google+, or G+, is my first choice of social media over FB, now. The G+ app is on all my devices. Rounding off social I have Foursquare which is just fun to use sometimes and I do have LinkedIn. This one is a good connection site and some of the groups do have interesting topics under discussion.
Productivity leads me to Evernote. How does anyone in the connected world not get by with this one. Sure I have Google Drive for documents and the like, but Evernote seems to be there for everything. Hmmm? Thus the “Ever?” With the desktop app and a web interface my notes are synced to all devices in a jiffy. I mentioned Google Drive. That is now getting more use as we expand to our mobile world. For me, I upload and sync important manuals since they all seem to be in PDF format today. That way if I’m at a transmitter site I have the latest information with me.
Now for a very big one that comes with the ASUS and I find almost indispensable now. It is called SplashTop. With the VPN connection, and soon to be a Flash version (yes we are beta testing), you can connect to your desktop from anywhere and operate it as if you were there. Very similar to Remote Desktop. Full control. All you do is install the desktop app to run in the background. Very cool, very useful. As for the VPN, as we use “legacy” Cisco concentrator JR discovered the one VPN app that actually seems to work properly called VPNcilla. It works. It’s easy. As we upgrade to Pix or other more modern devices, then the phones will get access too.
Now for a list of other apps I use:
DolphinHD browser. I find this one has worked the best in the smartphone and tablet world. I can even connect directly, yes, directly to my Nautel NV transmitters. I use this to connect to the web interfaces of my Burk ARCPlus remote controls. The new version 3 has a cleaner look and looks to be promising. I plan a write-up on the Burk soon.
Maps by Google is very useful, too. Locating sites and getting to where you need to go.
Under a folder I made named Utilities I have Ulysse Gizmos the BEST GPS compass ever. Used this many times and it is pretty accurate. Satellite AR for when I need to quickly spot a satellite for rough dish alignment. Intel’s CPU Decoder if you ever need to get specs on Intel CPUs. ElectroDroid when I need to cheat on some electrical thing be it simple calculation because my old brain doesn’t work any longer or need a quick pin-out on a connector. IP Calculator quick subnetting if necessary. RealCalc is a full featured scientific calculator. It even does RPN, so it feels like my HP calculator. I even have FuncGen, an audio function generator if I need quick audio for tests, sweeps, and various waveforms.
Any geek would not be complete without WolframAlpha. This one is pretty fun to use. I live in earthquake country so I have Earthquake Alert. My optional field of work would have been geology. Also we need our coffee, so yes, I have the Starbucks app. I use Pulse as a news reader.
I can go on. What useful apps do you have? I obviously have WordPress as I am writing on my ASUS right now using the app. Please share your discoveries.
As for this ASUS, I’ve had it 5 days. I have grown very attached to it this weekend. The optional keyboard that doubles as it’s case is great. The tablet itself is smooth and does what I need. You might say I’m digging it.
Device list:
HTC Thunderbold Smartphone
ASUS Transformer
B&N Nook Color, hacked with CM7 android so it works as a tablet.
Amazon Fire for books.
Apple iPad for the child and games.
Cheers!
Tech Notes from the Field 