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Six Tips For Using Skype On The Radio

C

carrington

RadioWorld.com contain a link to this article (11/4/11): Six Tips For Using Skype On The Radio. What has your experience been? Any other tips or suggestions for use, such as listener contributions, news, public affairs, remotes?

The six tips are:

1. Use a proper microphone in the right place.
2. Set the microphone level manually.
3. Use headphones, not a loudspeaker.
4. Turn off Skype video.
5. Turn off other things on your computer that compete for Internet bandwidth.
6. Turn off alerts.

The link (http://earshot.tvi.gg/2011/11/six-tips-for-using-skype-on-the-radio/) contains a discussion of each tip.
 
One that was left out that is always a problem is the automatic level control. It may have a purpose , however, it stinks.

The first test of Skype was wonderful, a dream come true. We found talent did nt keep levels 100 percent all the time. Levels too high resulted in ducking the signal to a level so low it affected the broadcast. After removing the automatic level, in remote 2, it sounded great.

In tools and options unclick the level control.
 
One other that was left off the list: Pay for Skype instead of using the free service. Calls using Skype business accounts are routed differently (and often more reliably) than free consumer accounts. And a couple of business accounts aren't too expensive.

One other factor is that the business terms-of-service contract doesn't currently contain all the broadcast restrictions as the free service. Although I suspect it's often ignored, the standard Skype TOS requires broadcasters to register with them, attribute Skype, and a host of other restrictions for use on-air.

Tom Hartnett
Comrex
 
A remote from Heck last night. We are a non com and have no money for options already in a tidy package. The hard line wasn't in as promised for our computer internet. We used a poor signal Verizon Mifi. Except for the 2 drops until we placed the mifi near a window (as I sat and listened) the whole thing worked well.
My first effort with music was not good because of audio levels up ndown. This remote was incredible. They used a Mac into the wifi. We had a JK Audio sportster as our mixer. (Yes it was mono and no one noticed). Used another computer to feed audio in and 2 mics.
I fed the audio from Skype direct to the on air automation computer through LogMein. We turned video off because of the connection. I used this opportunity to eliminate all the beeps and squawks Skpe makes in the Tools Options area.
If everyone gets comfortable this beats a Hotline remote which had been our bread and butter. I mentions the setup is more involved and requires outboard gear. The sound quality is incredible.
 
I had good luck using Winders Media Encoder to push the audio as a 'stream' to the board.

There is some delay but the remote pushed the music (as needed), too.
 
Skype has been used on PC and MAC in our case.
 
comrex said:
One other that was left off the list: Pay for Skype instead of using the free service. Calls using Skype business accounts are routed differently (and often more reliably) than free consumer accounts. And a couple of business accounts aren't too expensive.
Click to expand...

Where is the option to pay for a Skype account? I pay for a Skype Out account and for a Skype Number (dial-in), but those are the only two options I find.

We use Skype for some webcasts we do, and it is often unreliable, even with 30/5 Internet connections. We have fewer problems with a co-host from the UK than we do with calls in the US.
 
In most situations removing the video from the Skype call eliminates bandwidth problems.
 
My main account is a paid account, but I was not aware that there was any difference in the quality of the service. I also have an incoming telephone number. In fact, we use Skype as a telephone bridge for a podcast we do. It has its problems, but it works fairly well. (After three calls are on the line, the board op is unable to answer a fourth call. Sometimes it works. Usually it doesn't.) Contrary to what a lot of people think, it is very important to have a mix-minus feed to Skype. The echo cancellation works very well, but it's not perfect.
 
Skype problems yesterday on a ballgame.

Set your profile to invisible and only accept calls from contact list. some hot to trot internet hottie kept sending calls to the Skyoe account, disconnecting the call I think.

Anyone have this problem before?
 
Anyone have this problem before?
Click to expand...

Wow Dude... that was my major problem ever since my puberty until I took a course on how to turn off chicks & hotties in one easy step.

For only $79.00 + shipping I'll gladly show you how to eliminate this cumbersome interference.

YOU CAN THANK ME LATER.
 
My wife is using skype on her iphone for remotes at the station she runs, either over 3G or wifi depending on location, its working quite well. Even over 3g its much more stable than I thought it would be.

With that said, another station I do some work for tried skype and had bad results, ended up purchasing audiocompass and has been extremely pleased with the results. Just did a remote with them last week where I dropped them a wireless link (My day job is a wireless ISP) on the same network the studio is on so it didn't even have to hit the internet. Was able to run 44.1 aptx on that one, just as clean as sitting in the studio. Over there I have found audiocompass to be much more stable long term than skype. They have 2 setups and cover football for both public high schools in town.
 
One more tip: Skype for Verizon Wireless phones is different than generic Skype. Skype and Verizon cut a deal where when using Skype on VZW smartphones the program works differently. Essentially, the phone carries your voice over the traditional VZW network to a Skype gateway VZW supports. This results in two conditions:
1) You get charged voice minutes for using Skype
2) You are limited in codec choice to normal cellphones quality.
 
That deal between Verizon and Skype would be sufficient reason for me to never use Verizon. For now, I have AT&T. By the way, AT&T throttles the audio bandwidth on iPhones. If you take an AT&T iPhone to Japan, the voice quality is fabulous.
 
doesn't surprise me about at&t... I will never use them. Here, we use c-spire (local regional carrier) and verizon data cards, with one or the other being reliable in a given area. c-spire has far more 3g coverage in the state than anyone else, with that said, verizon seems to hold up better under load in a busy area.

I had an iphone on att a couple years ago, never again. I finally got an iphone again but with c-spire once they got it, they are I believe the only regional carrier to date that has managed to get the iphone 4 and 4s.
 
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