Archive
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!
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!
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!
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 Week Review: I’m Tired
This week was a full week if there ever was one. We managed to dodge a bullet in the power department, survived another AT&T T1 failure, rebounded from an RCS mess, and finished the first steps of a studio upgrade.
Power. We take it for granted. A normal facility would have enough available capacity to grow. Here we do neither. This is tied into our RCS NexGen installation where we had to add a server room to accommodate the hardware intensive system. (not our choice, but we do what we do.) The facility was built in the mid-80’s for two stations. Today it house 4 stations, a minimal amount of production space, and a tech center that was expanded to handle the PPM equipment. The tech panel is connected to a generator and is only capable of 40 Amps, max. The limit is the generator which we cannot do anything about, yet (future project and story will accompany it), at 12.5kW. We are max-ed out on the panel with only 5 Amps of headroom on two phases and 0 Amps on the third phase. With a bit of juggling and shedding non-critical equipment, racks, and even production rooms, we managed to fire up all 18 server class computers and their peripheral equipment. Mr. Goldberg would be proud of this accomplishment.
Since I dropped the RCS NexGen mess into this and it is associated with this hell, we received the equipment and it was NOT configured with IP addresses which we were told was done. We were also not given instructions on the Dell FX100 KVM extenders which even Dell does not support. We ended up finding out that Dell re-brands them under the model FX100 and they actually come from a Canadian company of which our IT dude contacted. We find they are obsolete and no longer manufactured. He did receive instructions and got them to work! We can now proceed on learning how this beast runs and begin to deploy such beast.
On that note, in conjunction with the RCS project we are upgraded a production room. It is finally getting equipped with a SAS Rubicon console. Finally all our main facilities will be on the same system. This was a project that has been postponed for 3 years! I had the furniture modified to accommodate the smaller frame, a PR&E/Harris Legacy console was removed, and a new Rubicon 16 installed. The console was up and running by the end of the day as I pre-configured it between the other headaches of the week. All we need to do is finish connecting peripherals and attend to details. I am the resident expert on SAS having installed 8 consoles in our facility, one configured as a split-console. One issue that has arisen in this installation is the Telos Console Director. The display starts out good, but then messes up. Operation is not an issue, just the display. Next week begins with a call to Telos to see what I can do to verify anything unusual. I know the cable from the I/O to the director is good and I know the Desktop Director works just fine. Interesting that I seem to have issues with Console Directors. I still have no resolve on my other two that just go stupid and shut down. A mystery that needs solving!
In the middle of this fun was our routine T1 outage from our friendly folks at AT&T. This came in the middle of our power management project. We finally got to deal with a tech that knew what he was doing. He was baffled by the fact that the circuit was down hard for 2 hours with no signs of problems before or after in the logs. He proceeded to tear out the circuit and test all the way back to the CO. He found 80 Volts of cross-battery and had new pairs assigned. Let’s see how long we go this time. This circuit has issues at least 3-4 months, and each time AT&T says it tests good.
I did manage to make it to the SBE meeting to hear what Nautel has to offer in the future. Now there is a company I have not problems with at the moment.
I continue the installation of the Burk ARC Plus system as time permits. All projects are running together now and two of our stations have gone into live broadcast mode. We do the best we can to cover everything, it just means we delay projects to accommodate them.
On that note, it was tiring this week. It took time off today and spent time with my daughter. We attack next week and fit all in everything in between 3 live broadcasts. Busy is good, it just makes it difficult to do it right and in the time allotted. Have a great weekend!
My NAB Round-up
If you were looking for something new and cool, you may have been dissapointed. For me it was refreshing to not be bombarded with” it’s new and fresh” sales pitches. I saw more to my liking the” we have improved this or made this” better in our product. When you purchase products that are meaant to last several years you cannot purchase the latest and greatest, so you look for the improvements.
Sierra Automated Systems showed me the improvements to their routers. IP audio and redundant MCU capability. Nautel previewed a bit of the AUI and I was unable to return for some in-depth insight to a couple of NV questions I have, so a phone call is going to be made. Harris will be providing me another software/firmware update to the Flexstar as I continue to have issues. At least theyare responsive to my needs.
There was one item that I thought was cooland innovative. It belongs to Pelican, the road case guys. It was an LED light that packs within a case. Bright, battery operated, it was exactly what I need for them dark morning show remotes outside. Shoot even in dark venues pop one of them out. The batteries last 8-10hrs. I saw two and four light versions. Switches file each light. Very handy and in its own case. Nice job. That gets my cool stuff vote!
These are the 9400 series remote area lighting systems. I really liked the 9470 package, but may be overkill.
I made my customary stops and expressed my opinions, be that what it may. Some vendors are quite receptive and others think I’m a freak. In either case it was a good show for me this year. Till next time!
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NAB Convention Is Upon Us!
I sit here gathering up my “notes” and listening to my Blues channel on Pandora; NAB is around the corner. No way, it is here! I leave tomorrow! Wow. I have an agenda. The company has an agenda. The show has an agenda. My job is to make them all mesh. Of course it will not prevent me from doing some “vendor disruptions”.
I need to visit vendors regarding remote controls. Burk, Audemat, and Davicom come to mind. Any other suggestions? I’m familiar with Burk. I like the concept and white paper by Audemat, though some reports from the local boys across town will curl your hair. Davicom I’ve seen via web meeting and should be usable. How far do I want to go? This could be fun.
We will attempt to crash the NexGen, so be prepared RCS. We like to dig and we want to push buttons; simultaneously. We did this to WideOrbit and they passed. Others failed in an endless loop in the past, so maybe everyone is robust compared to then. Should be fun.
I will be at the NUG (Nautel Users Group) on Sunday. Hey, that app you posted in the Waves newsletter does not work through VPN. I look forward to seeing what’s new and how things are. I also want to see the advanced AUI presentation.
To bad Verizon won’t be there. Maybe even HTC and Samsung. No VPN through hotspots? NAT issue? Come on, now. How do we run our stuff securely, leave it on an open network? Security first, people. If WiFi is available on the floor or nearby, I will be happy to show you a VPN connection w/VNC to my Nautel transmitters on an eReader, a.k.a. cheap tablet.
I will be talking with SAS (Sierra Automated Systems) regarding my system and integration with our next automation system being mandated by the company. (I’ll elaborate later, and will be a subject of review) I have a studio upgrade coming.
Tieline will get a visit. I see a new box and they did not send me one to play with. Does that mean I can break it at the show? Also I noticed an application to manage the Tieline remote gear. Well, where is it? I know I have 8 boxes I could manage. I like pushing updates. I also like to add and subtract profiles as necessary. Let’s have at it! Oh, and where is the Android app?
I will visit Sage and ask to tear about the Digital Endec. EAS and CAPS is coming and we are to upgrade this year anyways. Just a few questions and a look at the box. This is the one we have decided on.
I’ll visit with Studer as they want to meet with me regarding consoles. This is not a formal thing, but would be cool if it led somewhere. I am quite happy with my SAS Rubicons and SLs. If it leads to anything, it is design, like I know anything about that; I install and make ’em work.
It just piles up. I notice a hard time for Audemat. Hopefully we are discussing remote control and not that stupid Golden Eagle box. I had to reboot that thing 3 times yesterday just to get diversity delay readings! Ouch. The multipath at the studios isn’t much help either.
I think I will swing by Harris and tell them that my Flexstar dropped off once again without any reason. Once in 1 year is a major improvement! Of course a week after that occurred I get an email talking about their new transmitters. WT>>>> I have a “young” transmitter, I cannot get another. There is other competition out there! 😉 (See my article in the Waves newsletter….) I want to see the STL solutions provided by these guys, too. This means I will be visiting Moseley, too. I have Moseley and Intraplex.
Gosh, I just remembered I wanted to look at some audio test gear and modulation monitors that work. The ones I have are in a word, worthless. They will make good air monitors for HD, though.
I will hit the usual suspects as time permits. I have a lot to do with only 2 days on the floor. I’m a bit disappointed I may not get to see interactive and video. I want to delve into some of that and see what ideas I can come away with.
Hope to see you all at the show! Walk up and smack me if you wish to talk.
Cheers!
Updates & Repairs
Many little things were taken care of this week. Mostly routine. We had another older MGE UPS die on us. Luckily it passed commercial power before complete death. It seems the life on these is not too long and I can see why Eaton-Powerware bought it up and discontinued it. The latest models from Eaton have been much better. I place the unit on the bench after the failure and cleaned it up. I turned on and began to work properly, though it sounded like relays were a bit clunky during the start-up procedure. I let it sit and I am glad I did. Later that night I got a call from the station complaining of excessive beeping. They unplugged it and turned it off. It was indicating a fault once again. Needless to say a new one has been ordered.
I started my planning for my brief visit to the NAB show. I started a list of vendors to visit. I only have 2 days on the floor, so I need to make it count. Topics I have started are remote controls, STLs, and hopefully to crash an automation system. Maybe I will have time to blog some interesting stuff. I will attend the NUG (Nautel User Group) meeting on Sunday. That should be interesting and fun. If time permits I will look at the interactive and T.V. stuff.
Here’s an interesting article in Radio Magazine. We do this all the time. Technology is just way too much fun sometimes. New Options for Remotes
I was going to link an item I found in Radio World Online, but it seems I get a message “Service is unavailable”. I will try later when I think about it.
Have a good weekend and keep with the me on Twitter: Dragonbill
Wild and Fun
Do you ever get the urge to do something crazy? How about with your own money? Well, that was my week. The result is I am writing this post via a non-traditional mobile device: A Nook Color.
After reading a couple of articles I could not resist: Could I use the Nook as a tablet and manage my equipment remotely. The boys and I headed to B&N and I bought the Nook. Following directions online I installed the “root” and now I have an eReader and mobile Android device. I’ve chosen not to link the websites, but they are easy to find.
By the middle of the week I was accessing the network via VPN and my equipment via VNC and a PC hosting the VNC server. Android devices are supposed to support Adobe Flash, but that doesn’t seem to be the case on this, so I need to run VNC just like an Apple device. The bottom line is I can view and manage the Nautel AUI and other devices!
Other conveniences such as email, twitter, and Facebook are a given. I did try to install Skype. No luck there. I attempted AIM and got one message off before I was no longer able to use the app. I may dig a bit on that since instant messaging is a normal daily activity. Interesting is Google talk works, but only under a single account. I cannot switch between accounts like I can do with email via GMail.
Of courses the week had real work. HVAC quarterly maintenance was in there along with dealing with daily requests. At least I had some good fun with this Nook!
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!
Tech Notes from the Field 