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Forget the phone company!!!

H

hipporadio

...They are THE WORST people to deal with! GEEZE... ‘Consider you're cell phone “experience” for just a sec :mad: Indiana has been ravaged by storms, and many stations went down during the fury. Thru ALL THE VICIOUS LIGHTNING, WIFE Connersville stayed “on-air” – HI-FIVE Bob-on-the-job.... ‘But your technical endeavor was later-defeated by the frickin’ PHONE COMPANY... 1580 WIFE went “off-air” for a night and day – courtesy of Verizon, Sprint, or whoever provides the critical studio-to-rig link. BTW, this is an excellently-presented station that is struggling [because of the “AM facade”] for local audience and advertiser support. I am a BIG fan of this station’s endeavor... BUT ::)

I’ll admit – I’ve been in the position of HAVING to deal with the phone company - cut lines and all, and DIDN’T like it – especially since I had little option. If a clear alternative exists and terrain permits – I want to control my link! I engineered a very difficult [and initially-expensive FM STL path]... It ended-up well, and never failed.

The WIFE studios are less than a line-of-sight mile from their hilltop TX... God, I wish I had that pleasure [so do many facilities], so WHY don’t they take advantage of that technical nirvana?

I suppose WIFE’s Radio One-assisted owner can easily-afford his choice of the perfect STL, and two dishes... This is a NO BRAINER... I’m not trying to be personnaly-critical toward a man who has made an EXCEPTIONAL effort at his station, but I hope this natural calamity has convinced him to call Bob – and put him back on the job :)
 
I wonder if a long range WIFI network might be of use for this situation. You have a computer with
Windows Media Encoder at the studio. You use Windows Media Player at the transmitter. This is
much lower cost than an STL and it is digital too. You can use WIFI or the internet. This works great for remotes too. Not much need for that old Marti anymore. What a modern world we now live in!
 
I’m not sure if “wi-fi” is a practical and dependable solution, Bruce. With all due respect, when was the last time your laptop PC failed to find a wi-fi network? ...Mine has failed six times in just the last month! I don’t think I’d like that as a “lifeline” to my station's TX – not now, anyway.

There is no sub for a well-engineered and built “radio STL”... I have not seen one fail. I'm sure they do in a Maloxx Moment [or a direct hit from a lightning bolt] - but not in the 20-plus years of my experience - 'guess I was lucky :) My rig shot-craps a few times, but the 949 MHz STL always worked. I’m sure there is failure – but it is minuscule compared to most maintenance and repair demands. For God’s sake – it’s only FIVE WATTS into an overbuilt coaxial line and antenna! I have used three Mosely 909c pairs and never had a failure - over a six to ten-year emplyment!

If I were still an operator, I’d NEVER consider the “internet” to be acceptable as a vital link from my programming to the transmitter. My parents have a home in Beaufort County on the South Carolina coast – where Hispanic 1430 WNFO AM links via Windows Media Player to their TX... It’s a low audio quality intermittent JOKE—even when it’s “on” it’s awful. I’d not go there – neither should any reading this!
 
Thanks for the constructive ctiticism/suggestions...but first some insight. This actually borders on a dream come true. WIFE has a DEDICATED multi-dry pair cable that runs DIRECTLY from the studio to the transmitter site. Never sees the central office. This fact alone eliminates the classic human-error factors that are responsible for all too many un-necessary outages. Plus being able to ship Marti, NOAA & other things from the transmitter site to the studio and the AM audio to the transmitter at will offers amazing flexibility. And it's a grandfathered deal that costs almost nothing by today's standards. That said, the station was off for better than 12 hours. I was there at 2AM verifying that audio was being applied at both ends & nothing was coming out the other end. The cable had severe damage from my diagnosis. And the diagnosis was dead-on...Mike Peacock drove the cable length after sunrise & sent me photos of the result. I'll leave them at downloads.bobandtanya.com for a few days for anyone who wants a peek.

WIFE's stream is at the studio & as such, a laptop listening to the stream could have been patched into the audio chain & life would have resumed. We'll be talking about the options there. With wireless internet flying around Connersville, one would think 512k service at the transmitter site (especially if it could be traded out) would make a very nice safety net. Now I am a huge fan of Moseley STL's, but they aren't cheap. I pretty well shot my brownie chips on the solid state transmitter & dreamy Omnia 5EX HD+AM processor (an almost unheard of combo at a 250W AM at the high end of the dial). To save 12 hours of air time every few years, I can't in good conscience even ask for many grand in STL equipment...not to mention, I know the answer already. I pick my battles wisely & an STL for WIFE doesn't pass my cost/benefit ratio. But finding someone at the studio who'll volunteer their laptop in an emergency & trying to trade a low end ISP service to stream 64kb or so in a pinch, that I'm willing to try for.

Glad to know that Ted's weather reporting at 3:45AM was being listened to & helping protect lives...that means more to me than all the spins of Shocking Blue - Mighty Joe combined!
 
Flying-Dutchman said:
Oh! I meant to add that this is not a replacement for an STL. But it sure beats being off the air.
Anyway here is a link to media encoder. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/encoder/default.mspx
Try it. Play with it. You will be surprised how good it can sound. And, it's free.
Click to expand...

Assuming your cable internet doesn't go down. Which usually happens a lot more than the phone company. And if you're using the phone company's d...........s................l (imagine the turtle here), if your phone is out, so is your internet.

phone companies, cable service and corporate radio - monopolies that shouldn't be allowed.
 
That may be true Indy. However, if these guys have line of site from the studio to the transmitter they could set up
a private wireless network. They may have a tower at the studio they could use. Then it would only cost a small
amount to do it.

The FCC alows 4 watts ERP on 2.4 GHz and higher power on 5.8 GHz. This way you pay no internet provider and you
can send much more data back and forth. Say goodbye to the corporate internet provider.

The only drawbacks are you have to reboot the computers about once a month. And there is a 5 second delay in
the audio because it's digital. You have to listen in program when you speak. Monitoring off air would drive you crazy.

Great for backup to say the least!
 
The link from the phone-folks is back :) And tuning-in on my Meduci tuner -SOUNDS LIKE FM!!!Great job, Bob-on-the-job! BTW, My Father was in the room and asked me – “Is that a new FM station in town?” All this from “SuperOldies 1580” ON AM RADIO... This is a really cool and a GREAT-SOUNDING station! Hey folks – THEY SOUND AS GOOD AS FM inthe city—REALLY – I swear to the Level Devil ;) ;) ;)

Bob, you've have done a GREAT JOB... They sound better over the air than they do on the net ... That HAS to be a compliment for an AM station, and a positive investment in AM's future... THANKS!
 
Yes, AM radio can have great sound. Looks like WIFE has an owner who is wise enough to
use AM for what it is good for as well. That is, entertaining the people who would listen.
Those over 45 years of age. Real oldies and classic country are formats that will get a
station a large audience that is passionate and still has a quarter century left to live.

Wish one of the Indy AMs would see the light and take this path.
 
I was in Connersville about a month ago and knowing this I took my G.E. Super Radio III along, and WIFE sounded fantastic! I had the pleasure to visit the building which is housed upstairs in the newspaper office. I couldn't see much except, the two gentlemen on the morning show on FM. It was cool.
I too still believe that AM has a place for certain programing that the ad agencies tell their clients to stay away from. Good luck to BOTJ. and thanks for having the guts and the heart to provide those lucky listeners with such a great station, WIFE AM 1580.
 
BobOnTheJob said:
... I pretty well shot my brownie chips on the solid state transmitter & dreamy Omnia 5EX HD+AM processor (an almost unheard of combo at a 250W AM at the high end of the dial).
Click to expand...

You shot your “brownie chips” VERY-WELL, Bob! WIFE’s audio ranks among the very-best these ears have heard. I recently purchased a handmade Meduci AMX-2000 C-QUAM-capable analog-tuned AM tuner – just imagine the beautiful sight of peering inside that Radio Shack “project box” and seeing those fins behind the tuning dial :) The tuner’s creator has asked me to “save to file” some of the WIFE audio – he may wish to replace his current reference with it. Frankly, WIFE’s audio demodulated by this tuner SOUNDS BETTER than any standing Indianapolis FM station... An insane statement [?] – NOT AT ALL – I’m an ‘ole audiophile, and IT’S TRUE. If Bob Savage was heading the impudent and distracted FCC with Tom Wells in charge of the Audio Branch, AM radio would see its fortunes change.

As for WIFE’s “grandfathered” wire link... ‘Sounds like a great deal as you described it, and I likely would cruise-the-course if I were the licensee. I wish ONLY the very-best for this station – they are doing a GREAT JOB with a demure 250-watt [CB-powered at night] facility at the high-end of the AM band. I can’t find a contemporary equivalent in the radio biz.
 
Hey Bob... Since you have confessed your processing secret at WIFE, would you care to share what brand of rig is cranking out that awesome audio? I smell BE or Harris. I’m a Harris fan... Had three HT-7s [FM], two lovingly-rebuilt MW-1s [AM], and a Gates-1 [AM], but I like the BE alternative on lower-power AM. The Harris DX series ROCKS... I actually pushed the big green button at KMOX St Louis. Don Taylor was one of my favs... Every time I bought a rig from him, he personally-delivered it in his Chevy pick-up truck, and hung-around for two days to make sure Dean and I didn’t screw-up the installation :)
 
hipporadio said:
Hey Bob... Since you have confessed your processing secret at WIFE, would you care to share what brand of rig is cranking out that awesome audio? I smell BE or Harris. I’m a Harris fan... Had three HT-7s [FM], two lovingly-rebuilt MW-1s [AM], and a Gates-1 [AM], but I like the BE alternative on lower-power AM. The Harris DX series ROCKS... I actually pushed the big green button at KMOX St Louis. Don Taylor was one of my favs... Every time I bought a rig from him, he personally-delivered it in his Chevy pick-up truck, and hung-around for two days to make sure Dean and I didn’t screw-up the installation :)
Click to expand...
It's my fave...the BE AM-500A/AM-1A series. Have them running in Connersville and four other markets...if I only got a commission on all those sales! Harris' day in the sun has passed in my eyes...BE and Nautel are the future. So far, BE gets the nod with their factory within driving distance...Don Taylor...haven't heard that name recently, but he & I were on a first name basis a couple or three decades ago.
 
I sensed there is a BE atop Jenny’s Point... I lobbied that rig to a friend and he didn't regret it. As for Nautel, I have six friends that use them – two in Alaska - and one north of the Artic Circle [KOTZ Kotzebue]. They are orgasmic about that 10kw rig. They love Nautel. I’ve never touched one, but in the 10kw-plus arena, it seems to be a fave of many.

Thanks Bob for sharing this info, and THE BEST to WIFE!
 
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