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Weekly Update 1/28/2011
Once again another week winds down. No major work is planned on Fridays. How about you? Do you start anything new on a Friday?
Anyways, we had a good week. We attacked our first Nautel NV20 modification. Having the earliest boxes off the line, we get to do field modifications to match the current generation of transmitters. Ours are now two years old and running great. The modifications this week are the AUI/controller cooling fan and the PA modifications. If you have a box without the PA modification, definitely contact Nautel and get the instructions for it: IS10001 is the document number. Our DC-RF efficiency as indicated on the transmitter went from 56% to 70%. We dropped the PA volts down from 45.7V to 33.8V. Even the controller ambient temperature dropped from near 38C to 27C. I cannot wait to take care of the second transmitter.
We did a real world “test” and live segment using the Tieline Field Unit and a new Verizon LTE modem. We purchased a CradlePoint CTR500 3G/4G router and downloaded beta software “engineering release” for the unit. The USB modem supplied by Verizon is the Pantec ULM290. I tweeted earlier in the week, or was that last week, during a bench test we reliably connected the Tieline at 192kbps and took data hits based on movement and proximity to the antenna. Otherwise it was rock solid. In the real world, we ran the same 192kbps. Again one data hit during the segment. We were in a crowd of people smashed into a burger place. Nice and clean with little latency on the network: 60ms. Couple that to the Tieline encoder latency of 70ms and you have a winner. 3G uses the latency ranged from 250ms to over 1s at times. We will continue to look into this as the future of remote, live broadcasts is changing rapidly and the need for a licensed RPU is becoming less of a requirement. Then again, in our city and RPU is only good if you have many receiving points. Terrain is a killer!
A note to Tieline: Upgrade your USB interface to allow a direct connection with a USB modem for LTE! Built in would be real nice, as they say. Maybe even create a little WiFi hot spot with your device to route talent laptops with built-in QOS to favor the broadcast stream. Just a thought. I know, it’s only money!
I checked in with a subcarrier client. It is a shame they cannot get some cleaner equipment. Anyways, a basic clean up job eliminating the need of a second mixer with poor mic-pre’s. I told them to retire their main mic and they came up with an SM58 which actually sounded much better than the old SM7 that was falling apart.
Ending the week with a Radiothon for St. Jude’s Cancer Research Center for Children. What a great cause. I love our SAS and the ability to create the “remote” from our conference room. We aren’t like certain unnamed (CCR) companies that have a “performance” space. We just aren’t big enough.
Next week I look forward to talking with Studer and the product development manager to discuss, of all things, consoles. Should be interesting. Anyone else ever volunteer to spread knowledge? It is rewarding. It is not always about money. Be a good guy sometime.
Have a safe and trouble free weekend!
Weekly Update: 1/21/2011
Yup, still no good idea on a title. Actually I really haven’t thought much about it! There, the truth. Mostly routine stuff again this week. I like it slow as I can spend a bit of time relaxing and getting ready for whatever big thing that may strike.
Had our Telos Console Director go batty again. Just doesn’t want to communicate with the Studio I/O. Emailed Telos. No response. I know they are busy and have bigger things to worry about like marketing the Omnia processor or Axia studio systems. I let it set for a few days and then reconnected. It works again. Hmmmm? As a new test I placed an in-line power supply on that sucker with the thought that if I buffer it from the I/O we may see less trouble. So far we are good this week. Well, I should say no reports as the folks are pretty much trained to disconnect and reconnect at will. We will not discuss the concept of using the Desktop Director through the console as this seems to go way over the operators’ heads. For those interested this issues has been with us for coming up on 3 years. No solution has ever been found. Very annoying.
AT&T bummed our remote control line again this week. False alarms have stopped, so maybe they fixed it again. Also spent some time checking and ISDN (yes they still exist) at a venue. I replaced the block. Have you tried to order ISDN recently? It is nearly impossible with AT&T. Lead time is 4 weeks. Good thing we do not use ISDN much anymore. IP is our main transport of remote audio now.
Had a timed relay replaced on the transfer switch at a transmitter site. It works for the time being. While that was done we dug a trench for conduit getting ready for a new STL line pull. The landlord is preparing to “organize” the site’s STL dishes. I’m looking forward to a less than 600-foot run and no more iso-coupler.
Sorry for the boring update. Seems that the start of the year is follows the end of a year: slow. I will give an interesting report of the new iMedia logger we just purchased as soon as it comes it. Should be interesting to see how that goes. After 8 years, the old system just can’t cut it any longer. Why iMedia? It is the system we currently have and we will be getting the Websecure feature.
Till the next update, have a good weekend.
Weekly Update: 1/14/2011
I am going to attempt weekly updates with detailed posts on those things of interest. As most weeks are pretty mundane, weekly recaps seem to be the best. This week is no exception with the added twist of politics and a day with LTE.
The daily grind stuff is like an ATS (automatic transfer switch) service at the transmitter site. I discovered that it was not switching back to commercial power once restored. I sent the model number and pictures to the company that does the service; they send a tech who did not know the model number or device he was to work on until he saw it. He determined it is a bad timing relay, and of course it needs to be ordered. Part two of the service comes when the part comes in.
The FUN, yes capitalized, was our day with Verizon (lunch), and the USB LTE (4G to those who like buzz words and terms) device and prototype LTE router. After we got back from lunch we jumped on the test bench and connected our Tieline Field Unit to the router. We ran wirelessly at 192kbps! With 3G we were only capable of 33.6 to 38kbps reliably. Now that is an improvement. The item I noticed right off was the latency when locked in was 60ms! With 3G we saw a wandering latency from 500ms to over 1sec! We saw upload speeds approaching 5Mbps and downloads at 12Mbps. Now I must add that no one is really on the LTE network, but we were impressed. The one thing we did notice as we were testing within the confines of the building that as I moved near the antenna of the device we experienced some data hits. So, the speeds are there, you just need reliable reception to maintain. I bet outside without any interfering factors will make this thing fly real well. With a little tweaking of the pre-correction, I foresee some good times. Tieline: Create a way to connect this device directly to a USB port and you have a winner right now.
The political game of business is always fun. I do not take kindly to threats; yet, the third-party company is known to play this way. I kissed and made up with the part that is actually doing the work. It involves and STL move/change. I am wary of the 5dBm margin calculated by Comsearch. If they are a true engineering company this would concern them, too, but I suspect anything that comes under 0dBm of interference passes in their book. I do have the word that the installing party will correct any issues, so we are all playing nice. In our crowded microwave market, and whose isn’t, we try to play as nice as possible.
Next week a little trenching and routine work. Soon some Nautel NV modifications (with full reports) and maybe some thoughts on processing. Have a great weekend!
New Year, Week 1
I do not know where to start. The week started off good. We have some issues with AT&T and a T1, which at last email, has finally been repaired. The week ended not so good: a threat from landlord of a transmitter site.
In between a lot of work was completed. I am pursuing a hypothesis in regards to a Telos Console Director. After two days it is stable. I discovered last week a transfer switch issue and scheduled maintenance. I was proactive in regards to verification of circuits prior to upcoming events.
All this and I am disturbed by the attack from this landlord. All we are doing is making sure our interests are not being compromised. Theirs: money. A classic game of politics is to play out. It is a shame as at one time the two companies were cordial. I hope things will work out, and I will do my best. I just feel I do not have the support behind me.
I hope your year has started well.
Cheers!
Disable Protexis LIcensing Service (PSIService.exe)
I noticed a warning on my Win7 machine about updating the Protexis Licensing service. I obviously asked myself, “WTF?” It turns out it is a third party service installed by Corel! Those idiots allow a spyware type app to check on DRM. I found a link to disable it and Corel runs fine. I found these instructions to disable it without affecting the application (Corel) that installed it here: My Digital Life
I guess other vendors use this too. I just don’t like information on how my computer is used to be sent to an unknown party. This is my home machine and my wife finds PaintShop a handy little app. I will now add Protexis to my list of things to search for when my computer begins to boot slowly or have other issues.
If you have had some issues with this service I would like to hear about it.
4G, LTE, WTF
Verizon announces 4G rollout, but are any of these US systems really 4G? | ZDNet
So, is there really 4G networks? I saw a Verizon presentation and they call it LTE. Long-term. That is a good cover-up to “we will be expanding and this is expandable”. I look forward to it as the speeds advertised are compelling, but I remain skeptical until the system is rolled out. I really like this article as it references the ITU-R: “According to the ITU-R standard none of these current LTE, HSPA+, or WiMAX network technologies are truly 4G systems”. So, does 4G really exist? I am still not sure. “4G systems are supposed to support data transfer speeds on the order of
100 Mbps and the areas where we are just starting to see this is in
Japan and parts of Europe.” Have you seen 100Mbps on your cellular data network?
I look forward to the day of speed. I know the kids are too so they can get their music, videos, and send their pix and videos faster.
Checking Browsers
I have been playing with browsers in the “free” time. My favorite is still Firefox 3.6.12. What I have looked at is Google Chrome (which I use at work currently), Firefox 4.o beta, and IE 9 beta. Here is what I am finding so far on the betas:
Firefox 4: SLOW. Really SLOW. Now this could be that they are gathering information on “habits” or just work in general, but I have a very difficult time multitasking with this version. I have Google Apps open (or in-house email). If I have some desktop application running, like Access, and then try to browse for information, Firefox just crawls. I don’t know if it is the email checking every so many minutes or what, but I got so annoyed that I stopped using the 4.0 beta. At home I use 3.6.12 and it works just fine.
IE9 beta: Much quicker than expected, I was beginning to like this browser. It was taking me some time to get used to it. I was starting to use it exclusively when in the past I only used it at the Microsoft site only. Then, I clicked on a link and nothing happened. Odd, I thought. Must be something wrong with the site. I switched browsers and the link worked. I went back to IE. Nope. No go on clicking the link. It began to do this more and more. I cleared the cache. Still no good. I checked it with Firefox 3.6.12 and Chrome. No problem. What up Microsoft? I am giving it a rest for a couple of days, then I will try again.
Chrome: Works really well. I feel Google is tracking every move I make, but the browser is working for all my needs at the moment. I am having a hard time dealing with the interface as I cannot find all the settings nor can I find plugins (extensions) that work the way they did in Firefox. I find that annoying because I am annal when it comes to my processes. Currently I have 3 tabs open without issue and I created an application shortcut to my email. I started Last.FM to see how we all play together. So far so good.
This is what I want: I want my Firefox interface with the speed of IE9 and the resource management of Chrome. Can this be done? Anyone?
What browser do you use and why?
12/2: Working with FF 4.0 beta7 again. I tried to administer the Tieline Bridge-IT and I get the following: “Your current browser is not setup to allow the G5 Toolbox to load and run.” I have the proper Java. I have a newer browser. Either Tieline needs to update something, or Firefox has an issue. IE9 brings up a screen “Loading”, but nothing occurs. I did see it start the Java platform, but seems to just hang. Chrome is starts Java. I get an “unverified application warning” and then comes up just fine.
Looks to me like the newer browsers and Java don’t play well together. How are your tests going?
Some NRSC Stuff Regarding HD Power Levels
OK here is the NRSC-G202 FM IBOC Total Digital Sideband Power. I have not read the document as of yet, but I will shortly. Figure it is better to get the information out. 😉
I also hit the power calculator at the NRSC site. Power Calculator>
Would it be helpful to run links in my Pages? I think I will!
Keeping Busy
Why title it a “weekly update” when it has been more than a week? Shoot, it’s been a couple. Since my last post when Wide Orbit visited, all my updates have been tweeted. I had some family time, along with our travel group, at Disneyland! My kid loves the place, as does the wife. So what happened since? If you follow them tweets, then you know about AT&T. Well, we also worked on some HD2 preparations for one station, caught up on some EAS news, a UPS failure, and pretty much had busy work to do.
AT&T does not make me happy. That control circuit for our Burk went down in an interesting way this week which meant a little late night work to stay legal. It was not a complete circuit failure. There was two way continuity, sort of. The interesting and most tell-tale sign that the issue was at the CO (central office) was the echo sound I heard with my trusty TS-22A test set. The studio unit actually should a circuit was there and some of the channels reported readings, but no all. Some channels just showed dashes (—-) for the reading. When studio and transmitter units were placed back-to-back, they worked great. When AT&T finally reported back the issue was resolved the message was quite vague with an admission to a card replacement at the CO. I have since followed up with this question, “Why does the repair of this circuit always come down a card replacement at the CO?” No response as of yet.
As we push to air an HD2 channel, the question of EAS came up. I am still looking for any ruling regarding the necessity, but we are going to cover it anyways. Better safe than sorry. As we prepared, we discovered the old MSRP (multi-station relay panel) of our Sage Endec was not working. After serial data checks and a quick call to Sage to verify how it is supposed to work (we have never used it), I found the problem. The electrolytic capacitors had small holes and leaked. Not obvious until the circuit board was removed. Once replaced, the MSRP worked flawlessly. Usually the wall-wart power transformers are to blame, but this time we did the rare component level troubleshooting.
Why the MSRP? We wired the contact closure in conjunction with our SAS frame to create a “priority” interrupt and cross point to feed the EAS to the HD2 channel whenever the mother station (main channel) ran a test or relayed one. Who knows what other fine thinking we will come up with next.
We installed the new UPS’s after the failure of a couple weeks ago. We did both racks as the two that were in there were of the same age and type. As this was on our radar, when we visited our pee-shooter site, we did a simulated power outage on the UPS there. All worked well. This begs the question, “how often do you check on your critical UPS installations?” I have another question: What type of UPS installation do you have? Why did you choose the way you did?
That’s all for now! The little one is calling for me. Enjoy your day!
Cheers!
Friday Update: 9/17/2010 (For lack of a better title!)
I figured I would update all on the workings that occurred while we were concentrated on our Studio M build. As of today, Studio M is a big success. I think I’ll post some progress pictures on the website as soon as I can. (I have an issue at work with FTP uploads, damn firewall.) Today is the first day with live audience in the studio. They squeezed 20 people in the room. HVAC is holding up. They are loving it. Comfort level is good. He’s commenting on it as I write.
While we were working on this thing there has been other items that needed taking care of. One is our Nautel V1-D. Believe it or not, our front panel overlay, which has the buttons for On/Off and LED display indications seemed to cause mysterious Off commands resulting in shutting the transmitter off. In reviewing the schematic and doing the troubleshooting with our friends at Nautel, the Off switch is paralleled with the remote Off command. This makes sense in terms of being able to override the remote and shut the transmitter down if necessary. Do to what I believe was thermal expansion and contraction we had random off-air situations do to the transmitter receiving an Off command. We eliminated the remote control as the cause leaving the overlay. Once the overlay was bypassed, the issue went away. A new overlay has been installed and all is well now.
You ask, “Overlay?” Yes. It is an interesting design in that the switch is not a big, square switch, but something similar to a keyboard micro-switch, for lack of a better description. As it is part of the physical front panel, there is no way to replace or fix the switch. I am curious now if this issue will begin to surface again as the box ages.
As if we had nothing else to do, we did a software upgrade on the NV20s. We moved from version 2.7 to version 2.8.3. We had no issue with 2.7, per se. We did have one, just one, occurrence where one, and only one, NV20 had an off-air situation. We took a data hit on our T-1 STL which caused a loss of AES audio briefly. The exciter did not recover, so we had a transmitter on the air with no audio. Very weird. After an exciter reboot, all was good. This issue would probably never occur again, but as a precaution we updated the software as there is a fix for this rare situation. Only three known occurrences of this from what I have heard, and of course I would be one of them!
Update on the Harris Flexstar issue. We’ve been running the beta firmware for months now without incident. Our diversity delay drifts a bit, still. Our center frequency drifts a bit (last measurement was +270Hz). The real thing is we have not been off the air due to an exciter lock. No RF muting. I would say we have made significant progress on that one. As things slow down, I will request the release version of the firmware and complete the cycle. At this time, if it ain’t broke, don’t mess with it.
Last, be assured I will post some details on our Studio M build. What we use and how we overcame some situations. The final decision is whether I write it up for a trade. If this is the case, then I cannot have a previous post on that that. Stay tuned. Hope you all are enjoying updates as I file them.
Cheers!
Tech Notes from the Field 