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Volunteer Help Requested in Massachusetts

A

admcs13

Guest
As some of you know, I am part of a student-run college radio station (non-profit/low budget) in Worcester, MA. I am a senior, and am the Chief Engineer of the station I truly enjoy doing it, and over the last 2 months I have learned an extraordinary amount of information from the function of our antenna and transmitter and stereo processor.

However, we do have a few modifications to make to our studio itself, and I am having a hard time understanding how the wiring is done (from our console to a large conglomeration of wires). It was done in the late 1970s and it has not been kept up with (except with the addition of CD-players, computer, etc. by various individuals both students and hired professionals.

If possible, it would be awesome to have someone spend a short amount of time, a few hours explaining exactly what certain wires are doing/how audio is routed to/from the board before going to the transmitter feed wire, etc.

I learn by watching, and in the short amount of time I have been doing this, I have learned to love this, and would absolutely love to work in radio engineering after college. If anyone out there is in the area, or has any advice and would like to help, or can provide any further information, I would sincerely appreciate it.

Chris
 
Try the following two people:

Peter Q. Goerge
[email protected]
Peter is a well known engineer in Massachusetts and has done work with several college stations in the area

John Ramsey
[email protected]
Although he's in Connecticut, John is a darned encyclopedia of information and he always answered my questions.
 
Hi,

I woudl come help you except that I am out in California. I have just gone through something similar where I got a communications setup (5 transmiters, no documentation).

So if you don't get any local help I would recommend getting some old clothes, a flashlight, a pad of paper, and some of the paste on numbers.

This is easier if the station is off the air.

You may luck out and find that a lot of the cables are color coded.

The idea is to be methodical. Start anywhere. The master board would be a nice place. Start at one side. Sketch the back panel layout. Start with the outside cable. Identify the input into the master board (it should be labelled).

Put a number 1 on it at the board end. Also write down color and anything else idendifying it (e.g. coax type, color, RCA Phono plug, etc.) It is not necessary to disconnect the cable

Carefully, very carefully, trace it to it's destination. Mark the destination on the schematic and put a number 1 on that end as well.

Now move to the next ccable over and repeat the process. Put number 2 on the next cable. Cut wire ties (carefully) if neccessary. Rebundle them when you are through.

After you have gone from one end to the other, you will probably discover that you have identified the type and destination for almost all the cables.

Now look around and find those that do not have numbers on them and trace those.

When you finish take you notes and draw them up neatly and file them away. You have now dcoumented the setup.

BTW, It took me a couple of days (at 2 hours per day) to do my setup.

John
K6JHU
 
Chris,

In order to walk you through some of this, we'd need a little more information on your setup. Maybe you can answer the following questions:

1) What make and model of console?
2) What is in your studio? Computer automation system? CD players? Microphones? Microphone processors? Headphone amplifier?
3) Does it look like all the wiring from the console ties directly over to the equipment or does it go through patch bays, punch blocks, or other types of distribution hardware?
4) Is there what we call "logic" involved? Basically, are there buttons on your console that start/stop the CD players, tape machines, etc. playing?
5) Where is your transmitter in relation to the studio? Same building? Same room? Another part of the campus? Where is the audio processing?

What sort of modifications are you looking to do?

I'd be glad to provide some advice. I'm not in the nearby area (I'm in NYC) but plenty of people answered questions for me when I was first starting out in the business and I like to return the favor when I can.

Ideally you want to think of your radio station in sections: Air studio, air chain, STL, and transmitter. The studio is exactly that. Everything in the studio up to the program output of the console. The air chain is any audio distribution equipment and processing. It's called a chain because the gear is all linked in sequence like a chain. The air chain may be one or two pieces of gear or a full rack of stuff. The STL is the Studio-Transmitter Link. If your transmitter is in the same building as your studio, you don't really have one of those. If it's connected via microwave link, ISDN, T1 lines, phone company audio circuits, or whatever going to the other side of campus or to a mountaintop elsewhere or whatever, you have an STL. Finally is the transmitter and RF system. The actual transmitter, transmission lines, RF switches, and antenna.



> As some of you know, I am part of a student-run college
> radio station (non-profit/low budget) in Worcester, MA. I am
> a senior, and am the Chief Engineer of the station I truly
> enjoy doing it, and over the last 2 months I have learned an
> extraordinary amount of information from the function of our
> antenna and transmitter and stereo processor.
>
> However, we do have a few modifications to make to our
> studio itself, and I am having a hard time understanding how
> the wiring is done (from our console to a large
> conglomeration of wires). It was done in the late 1970s and
> it has not been kept up with (except with the addition of
> CD-players, computer, etc. by various individuals both
> students and hired professionals.
>
> If possible, it would be awesome to have someone spend a
> short amount of time, a few hours explaining exactly what
> certain wires are doing/how audio is routed to/from the
> board before going to the transmitter feed wire, etc.
>
> I learn by watching, and in the short amount of time I have
> been doing this, I have learned to love this, and would
> absolutely love to work in radio engineering after college.
> If anyone out there is in the area, or has any advice and
> would like to help, or can provide any further information,
> I would sincerely appreciate it.
>
> Chris
>
 
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