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T1, E1, 900mhz STL, and Harris Intraplex..?

S

spinjector

Hi all,

This question is related to my previous question two weeks ago about registering a new 900mhz STL.

I'm sitting here today fiddling with dipswitches on Harris Intraplex cards as I move cards between stations, and I'm seeing numerous mentions of "2MB E1" and "microwave STL interfaces" in the manuals for the cards. The implications seem to be that an Intraplex chassis can interface directly to an STL instead of a T1.

Is this correct? If I get that STL that I was asking about, can I just take our existing Intraplex and install a different interface, and plug it right into the 900mhz gear on both ends?

Whats more, would it increase the bandwidth to E1/2MB from the existing T1/1.54 MB..?

Also, if I left it T1/1.54, would it be possible to keep the T1 line as backup to the STL, and if so, how could they connect simultaneously? Can I have them both plugged into the Intraplex at the same time with some kind of instant-failover..?

Thanks.
 
Yes, maybe, with a lot of modifications to a composite STL or by buying certain models of new STL's.

In the end, unless there is some specific need to have more than one program feed to that site, probably not worth the effort, and, when done, probably much less reliable than a garden variety composite STL hop.
 
T1 and E1 are data lines you can get from your local telephone company. It's a dedicated data line, either fibre or copper. T1 is used in the USA and can carry 24 speech channels or 1.5 Mbps of data. E1 is used in the Europe and can carry 32 speech channels or 2Mpbs of data. You Intraplex can interface to either, but since I assume you are located in USA, only T1 is available to you.

As for the STL, you need a digital STL to transfer the signal using Intraplex. Mosely seems to have digital STLs in the 900 MHz range and converters to use existing analog STLs in that band...


Regards,
Goran Tomas
 
Ah OK I didn't know E1 was a European thing.

Am I mistaken, or am I reading between the lines that this kind of thing normally isn't done at 900mhz?

No matter what the frequency, what kind of channels/bandwidth should one normally expect?

FYI - The reason I asked about the Intraplex interface is because it would be easy. If there were STL transceivers that had a T1 interface, it would be instant plug & play - no extra work, no extra money. AND easy backup via a real T1 and a T1-over-IP bridge.
 
Yeah... I'd sure have another option as a backup to a t carrier. T carriers around here have outages more than a broadcaster would consider acceptable in many cases. Those that totally rely on the damn phone co. quickly realize the hype of priority service only means hours instead of days to repair it, and means nothing for the circuit's reliabilty. Call me old school, but even if I did the HD thing, I'd keep my 900 licensed stuff as a backup if the hop was possible. It's hard to beat the reliability of a properly installed analog 900 stl. All of these digital solutions fall short of the old stuff when it comes to keeping dead air from gracing your station.
 
The T1’s we deal with have a 99.98% uptime guarantee in the contract. I’ve had the Phone Company call me within minutes of the one outage we last year. There is however a premium cost for there circuits.
 
This sort of thing is done at 900mhz, it's just not bi-directional.

We're sending four channels of audio (dual stereo), uncompressed, at 44.1khz over our licensed freq using the latest Mosely radio. We are also using an amplifier and have only experienced one weather related dropoff....due to fog. You could see about 100m in front of you, and that was about it. It's rare to get fog that thick, around here.

I would have a barix unit or a composite STL on hot standby using this form of digital STL...it's not 100% reliable. But then again, nothing is.

All digital whatchamacallits use analog parts. :)
 
The Harris Intraplex can interface in to off the shelf data microwave systems from a wide number of suppliers. These microwave systems are designed to carry data payloads and have interfaces such as IP, T1 or E1. As noted earlier, E1 is used in public networks outside the US, but can also be used over microwave systems to gain additional bandwidth.

These microwave systems work in different frequency bands such as 2.4GHz, and 5.8GHz. They can be both unlicensed or licensed. I believe suppliers like Motorola, Freewave, Stratex, and others make several, including those with capacity for several T1’s worth of capacity. These can either replace the T1, or serve as another path. I think many of the popular broadcast equipment suppliers sell these as well as e-tailers on line.
 
boiseengineer said:
The T1’s we deal with have a 99.98% uptime guarantee in the contract. I’ve had the Phone Company call me within minutes of the one outage we last year. There is however a premium cost for there circuits.
Click to expand...

Doesn't mean much in all cases. It may well be worth to pay the fine than invest on equipment to meet this SLA statement. In the meanwhile you're out of the air.
 
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