All I want for Christmas...

[thebroker]

I saw a post with this same title on another board, and I thought 'hey, that would be perfect for the engineering board...' So here goes...what do YOU guys need for your stations?


All I want for Christmas...is a pair of new Nautel J1000 1kW transmitters, one tuned to 1490 and the other to 1230, along with a pair of new Omnia AM3s to go with them.


But, since they won't fit in Santa's sleigh, I guess American Express will have to bring them instead.

 

[tpt]

Be going down to the bank next week to finance an R55E for production; replaces an Autogram 8 channel we bought when we built the station in '83.

Looking at an Armstrong exciter to replace the MX-15, but then I saw a used Conthnental 802B for sale. Very tempted. (Have an 802A on the small FM driving a 2.5H. Just runs.)

 

[Les]

Unless you are a workaholic...

> Be going down to the bank next week to finance an R55E for
> production; replaces an Autogram 8 channel we bought when we
> built the station in '83.

Consider borrowing just a little more and get the pre-wire kit
for the R55E. Do-it-yourself wiring to the punch blocks can
take weeks and, if rushed, will be fraught with errors. We
did one that way, saved a few bucks, and have been paying for
it ever since. One more going to replace a Wheatstone A32
in a few months and I have already served notice that, if the
pre-wire kit, with punchblocks, is NOT purchased I will not
install it. I can get away with that 'cause I work for free
and am the only damn fool willing to spend my own money for
an airline ticket to get there...a place where the closest
engineer of any kind is 800+ miles away.<P ID="signature">______________
Misanthropy:

Not just a hobby...a WAY OF LIFE!</P>

 

[tpt]

Re: Unless you are a workaholic...

We're small enough that I don't use punchblocks. Have a 27 pair shielded cable between studios for interconnects, terminates in terminal blocks.

At the moment I have 2 stereo sources, six mono sources coming in, a mono cue feed and a stereo pair out. In studio, just a computer (in/out), CD, cassette, reel (in/out) & hybrid in/out. The R55E board uses 25 pin "D" connectors in/out.

Not a rush project, we have to line up someone to do counter top/cabinetry, wall paper the walls, then when everything is assembled, demolish the concrete blocks the present countertop is sitting on, bare-wall the place & put the furniture in. (we built the studio back in 1984).

Drop in the console & pre-wired cables, connect everything up & I am done.

We're retiring the Autogram now in use to engineering for a back-up studio & will use it for production during the construction phase. The engineering shop was the original transmitter room when we were a class A, & is the quietest room in the building, since it was designed to keep the transmitter blower noise in.

BTW--banker in to cut some spots. Already said ok.

 

[Les]

Re: Unless you are a workaholic...

> We're small enough that I don't use punchblocks. Have a 27
> pair shielded cable between studios for interconnects,
> terminates in terminal blocks.

I hear you!

I'm a fan of "home runs"; devices (CD players, sound cards, etc.)
wired directly to the board. Especially when the board is built
with a single connector (or pair thereof) per input. Over the
years I have come to loathe sub-miniature D type connectors,
possibly having to do with advancing age and retreating eyesight.

Unfortunately, the last R55E and the next one are both full-boat
with almost every input (both A and B) used. All but a handful
of those come from other rooms (there are six other studios
plus a bunch of UHF and VHF news/remote receivers and five
feeds off the audio server. Things change enough that not using
punch blocks would have guaranteed continual change and chaos.

I recently did a small public affairs production suite that
had little "outside" connection so used an Autogram Mini-mix
12A. They're having a ball with it because of the pan pots
on the mic channels....doing multi-party interviews with
the host strongly favoring the left channel and the guests
favoring the right. They feel it makes the "experience" more
relistic. They like that so much that I stuck a $99 Beheringer
upstream of the RE55E so they could play at stereo live
recording in there, too.

As to noise, this particular room has a lot of sound-deadening
but there's a lot of stuff in there that can't be silenced.
It's being cut over to Sennheiser MD441U microphones after I
tried one in there and found it cut the ambient pickup by more
than half!

As to furniture, I've had really good experiences with pre-made
office stuff from Office Depot. It wasn't expressly designed for
radio but it sure adapts very easily. I fasten plastic rain
gutter on near the top of the side/back panels about a foot
below the countertop as inexpensive cable trays. In the room
that's next in line for rebuild that won't happen; the existing
cabinetry is gonna be modified 'cause nothing off-the-shelf would
fit!
<P ID="signature">______________
Misanthropy:

Not just a hobby...a WAY OF LIFE!</P>