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Was it Lightning?

W

westlife

Guest
NJ101.5 is now transmitting in glorious mono, with audio that sounds like it's being played through an 8-bit Sound Blaster card. I'm too far away to check if 97.3's audio is the same.
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Re: Was it Lightning? - Yes

Yes, it was lightning. 97.3 is not affected, it's
a totally different system.

> NJ101.5 is now transmitting in glorious mono, with audio
> that sounds like it's being played through an 8-bit Sound
> Blaster card. I'm too far away to check if 97.3's audio is
> the same.
>
 
Re: Was it Lightning? - Yes

Are they using a phone line, ISDN or T-1 from the studio to the transmitter site as a backup currently?
What did the lighting hit exactly?


> Yes, it was lightning. 97.3 is not affected, it's
> a totally different system.
>
> > NJ101.5 is now transmitting in glorious mono, with audio
> > that sounds like it's being played through an 8-bit Sound
> > Blaster card. I'm too far away to check if 97.3's audio
> is
> > the same.
> >
>
 
Re: Was it Lightning? - Yes

The main STL is digital, backup is analog telco line
(automatically kicks in) and ISDN (manually switched)
The storm took out power to one of the sites.

> Are they using a phone line, ISDN or T-1 from the studio to
> the transmitter site as a backup currently?
> What did the lighting hit exactly?
>
>
> > Yes, it was lightning. 97.3 is not affected, it's
> > a totally different system.
> >
> > > NJ101.5 is now transmitting in glorious mono, with audio
>
> > > that sounds like it's being played through an 8-bit
> Sound
> > > Blaster card. I'm too far away to check if 97.3's audio
>
> > is
> > > the same.
> > >
> >
>
 
Re: Was it Lightning? - Yes

> The main STL is digital, backup is analog telco line
> (automatically kicks in) and ISDN (manually switched)
> The storm took out power to one of the sites.

With all the horrendous digital aliasing I'm hearing, it sure doesn't sound like the analog telco STL is on the air now. Sounds like single-channel ISDN with no anti-aliasing, causing the highs to splatter into the lows and the lows to sizzle into the highs. Ugly.

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Re: Was it Lightning? - Yes

It's an analog line ... maybe the phone company
digitizes it somehow in between ... who knows.
It's only for emergencies, but should be better.

Everything is back to normal now, after almost
4 hours with no power.

> > The main STL is digital, backup is analog telco line
> > (automatically kicks in) and ISDN (manually switched)
> > The storm took out power to one of the sites.
>
> With all the horrendous digital aliasing I'm hearing, it
> sure doesn't sound like the analog telco STL is on the air
> now. Sounds like single-channel ISDN with no anti-aliasing,
> causing the highs to splatter into the lows and the lows to
> sizzle into the highs. Ugly.
>
 
Re: Was it Lightning? - Yes

My recollection is that that's an 8 KHz equalized line. Analog over copper wires from the studio to Verizon's Ewing Central Office, then digital over fiber between the Ewing CO and Lawrenceville (I think) CO, then back to analog over copper wire to the transmitter site. Fairly typical of these lines. Verizon may be having an antialiasing problem in its A to D conversion.


> It's an analog line ... maybe the phone company
> digitizes it somehow in between ... who knows.
> It's only for emergencies, but should be better.
 
Re: Was it Lightning? - Yes

Do you think feeding a full-bandwidth signal into
a "hybrid" line like this could be the problem ?
In other words - might it work better with the
bandwidth rolled off by an EQ at the studio ?

> My recollection is that that's an 8 KHz equalized line.
> Analog over copper wires from the studio to Verizon's Ewing
> Central Office, then digital over fiber between the Ewing CO
> and Lawrenceville (I think) CO, then back to analog over
> copper wire to the transmitter site. Fairly typical of
> these lines. Verizon may be having an antialiasing problem
> in its A to D conversion.
>
>
> > It's an analog line ... maybe the phone company
> > digitizes it somehow in between ... who knows.
> > It's only for emergencies, but should be better.
>
 
Re: Was it Lightning? - Yes

> Do you think feeding a full-bandwidth signal into
> a "hybrid" line like this could be the problem ?
> In other words - might it work better with the
> bandwidth rolled off by an EQ at the studio ?

If you installed your own 8 kHz (or less) brick-wall filter before the audio goes into the Verizon line, then yes, that would eliminate the horrendous digital aliasing we heard yesterday afternoon. Even something cheap like a "stick-on" NRSC filter or Inovonics 222 (with everything except the brick-wall filter disabled) would be a huge improvement next time the backup line is called into service.
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Re: Was it Lightning? - Yes

It would improve it, but a typical equalizer doesn't really have a sharp enough cutoff to eliminate the aliasing. Kevin's NRSC filter suggestion is an interesting suggestion that might work, but unlikely Frank has one on the shelf to try.

Better to have Verizon fix their problem.

Or maybe better yet use the ISDN instead with a panic dial on the Zephyr and eliminate the 8 KHz line. Yes there would be a couple of second delay to connect, but much better quality especially when you're playing music.

> Do you think feeding a full-bandwidth signal into
> a "hybrid" line like this could be the problem ?
> In other words - might it work better with the
> bandwidth rolled off by an EQ at the studio ?
>
 
Re: Was it Lightning? - Yes

The ISDN was taken out by the storm ... but yeah, that
is the best way. Eliminating the middle hop is in
the works.

> It would improve it, but a typical equalizer doesn't really
> have a sharp enough cutoff to eliminate the aliasing.
> Kevin's NRSC filter suggestion is an interesting suggestion
> that might work, but unlikely Frank has one on the shelf to
> try.
>
> Better to have Verizon fix their problem.
>
> Or maybe better yet use the ISDN instead with a panic dial
> on the Zephyr and eliminate the 8 KHz line. Yes there would
> be a couple of second delay to connect, but much better
> quality especially when you're playing music.
 
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