Another Week, Another Update
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!
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!
Happy Holidays from Eisenhamer Engineering!
What an interesting year. I hope everyone has survived. I hope next year will bring a bit more prosperity to everyone as I must say these last couple of years, shall I say, sucked.
Hope to catch you in 2011! Enjoy the posts as they arrive. I’ll continue to fight the spam filter and reply to comments as they come in.
Last, but not least, I was able to get my Harris transmitter to make mask! Hope you were sitting down.
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.
VPN, VNC, & the iPAD
By digging up some spare parts and unused hardware, my assistant honed his skills on rebuilding a computer that will access our transmitter network via VPN and various applications via VNC. He done good.
I have to say it is cool and our IT dude accessed the computer, opened the browser, and we connected to the Nautel AUI. Very nice. I now others have done this with their iPhones and such, but I still find all the “steps” to access something very annoying. First do this. Then do that. What I would like is for companies, like Nautel, to create a native application for the iPad, iPhone, and Android that can be called up once a secure VPN connection has been made. I wish I could code and create one, but that is not my forte.
Some day, maybe. I am teaching myself Visual Basic, but I am not wired to be a coder. Anyone out there doing such work? I’m curious to know what you have and how well it works.
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?
Tech Notes from the Field 