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Burk ARC16 and/or IP8 having a seizure?

S

spinjector

Hi all,

I went to one of our transmitters a couple weeks ago after what seemed to be lightning-related hijinks, and found the Burk ARC16 to be in a state of fits. An indeterminate number of relays on both IP8 panels were clicking & chattering wildly. It sounded like a miniature model of an old telephone switch room. I cycled the power and it seemed to fix the problem, but not permanently - it happened again about two weeks later.

Has anyone every seen/heard of this before..?

Thanks.
 
Yes, this is caused by your ARC16 being set to the wrong site. Press "Mode" and the next page is an opportunity to change the site.
Change it back to what it was when set up and it will be fine. The ARC-16 has A, B, C or D. One of them is correct unless you have other ARC-16s tied directly to this one.
 
spinjector said:
Hi all,

I went to one of our transmitters a couple weeks ago after what seemed to be lightning-related hijinks, and found the Burk ARC16 to be in a state of fits. An indeterminate number of relays on both IP8 panels were clicking & chattering wildly. It sounded like a miniature model of an old telephone switch room. I cycled the power and it seemed to fix the problem, but not permanently - it happened again about two weeks later.

Has anyone every seen/heard of this before..?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Exactly why I will NEVER trust an ARC16 to run a mission critical transmitter site again. Do yourself a big favor and buy a used Sine Systems RFC1/B and you'll never worry about silliness like this again.
 
Stupid question, I know, but do you have it on a UPS?

ANY remote control should be on a UPS. In fact, at all of my sites, the processor, T1 and/or STL, internet gear and the remote are all on a big UPS.
 
BobOnTheJob said:
Exactly why I will NEVER trust an ARC16 to run a mission critical transmitter site again. Do yourself a big favor and buy a used Sine Systems RFC1/B and you'll never worry about silliness like this again.
Click to expand...

Sine has closed their doors. The RFC-1/B is no longer made or supported. As far as I can tell, there's been no response from them to any inquiries since they officially closed in August. You can probably find some used ones out there as people phase them out in favor of supported gear. They were a pretty rugged, if somewhat outdated product. Some will probably live on in small stations for anpother 10 years, however, if anything critical gets damaged, like the programmed CPU or voice chip, no replacements are available.

There's a Radio World story about Sine's closure online:
http://www.radioworld.com/TabId/64/Default.aspx?ArticleId=214751
 
Sine no longer in business so not suported, Burk does not support the Arc 16 series without a very major upgrade. I've gone entirely with the Davicom units. They are strongly factory supported, very versatile units with all the capabilities you can imagine and not that hard to learn to use/program. I'll never go with another company that does not support the critical things I need at work. UPS on remote controls, STL's, and the circuits needed to communicate with them are an essential. For a backup site with little need, I use a 4 channel Broadcast Tools WVRC4, an exceptional box with limited capabilty but under $650.
 
Indeed there is no support for the Sine Systems but of the many I have installed since the early 90's, they are all still working and none have ever needed support. Someday one of mine will fail...if I live long enough to see it. I'll gladly cross that bridge then. For now, I would still buy a used RFC1/B and put it in place of the ARC16 and enjoy proven peace of mind.
 
Kmagrill said:
According to an article in Radio Magazine, Armstrong Transmitter has aquired Sine Systems today.
Click to expand...
:)
 
Given my experience with the reliability and quality of Armstrong products (it still annoys me that the Major's name is on those products), I don't know how that will turn out.

The Sine could use an update with web access for programming. It was a great simple solution, but there are things it can't do. I wouldn't install one new with all of the other remote offerings out there that have SNMP and web browsing control.

I put a remote in a new site with a Nautel, Omnia.9 and a Broadcast Tools AES switch among other things. I haven't needed to use the remote at all, as the transmitter, processor and switch all have web servers.

I will need it when I get the switch and backup transmitter installed... but for now it's a backup.
 
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