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When is "HOT SWAPPABLE" not HOT SWAPPABLE

W

wgliradio

When it's Harris Airwave "digital". ::)

It comes out all right, but "whoa" when it goes back in.

Can't wait for Vistamax. Instead of beating up Wheatstone, all threads should point to the crap that is Harris. ;D
 
Holy dead air, Batman!

Isn't Harris selling a lot of that Vistamax product? Why are the broadcast companies buying it if it is as bad as it has been reported?

What force causes a radio station to purchase equipment that in the end, screws them over? Or perhaps alternatively put, what force causes a radio station to purchase equipment that doesn't really do the job that it needs to do?

Inquiring minds want to know!
 
I have an Autogram IC-10 console at my station I bought used for $500. Easy to operate, easy to repair. If I need parts, Radio Shack is a mile away. I'm not gonna by something "digital" simply because it's "Digital".
 
Airwave Digital? Hmmm. I was told by the PR&E guys in CA to plug the modules in hot so it would come up! That's what I do when I have to pull ALL the modules to adjust those damn DSP clocks.
 
We bought a fancy pants Harris digital BMX console 4 years ago...thing looked like the starship enterprise...it was north of 35-40g, too, as I recall.

Dead on arrival. It was brought to life by someone who flew out immediately, but still....
 
Sgeirk said:
We bought a fancy pants Harris digital BMX console 4 years ago...thing looked like the starship enterprise...it was north of 35-40g, too, as I recall.

Dead on arrival. It was brought to life by someone who flew out immediately, but still....
Click to expand...
Garbage...it was sacreligious to use the venerable BMX name with this console.
 
The Airwave Digital was really the last real PR&E console. It had a few issues but the rest of the newer line of Harris junk is just too bizzare for me. Under my protest, I installed one for a mexican station I contract for. It works but I'm not impressed.
 
Vistamax= TDM

TDM is dead. Old tech, and going nowhere.

Notice how everyone is going IP. Axia started it and now the others (TDM platforms) are starting to copy this IP thing. Why? cause its flexible, scalable and it jsut works. Oh yeah, development is ongoing too.
 
Cal Stymes said:
What force causes a radio station to purchase equipment that in the end, screws them over? Or perhaps alternatively put, what force causes a radio station to purchase equipment that doesn't really do the job that it needs to do?
Click to expand...

I have it on good authority that the bulk of Vistamax systems were installed as part of package deals that included HD xmtr upgrades. If you ask a Harris guy, and he's honest with you, he'll prolly say the last one was installed over a year ago.

-- Doc
 
Fenway Frank said:
Vistamax= TDM
TDM is dead. Old tech, and going nowhere.
Notice how everyone is going IP. Axia started it and now the others (TDM platforms) are starting to copy this IP thing. Why? cause its flexible, scalable and it jsut works. Oh yeah, development is ongoing too.
Click to expand...

Call me an old crank, but I'd take a TDM/PBX phone system over one that is IP-based anyday. Its interesting at Wheatstone - they're supporting both platforms currently. Can't imagine that going on for any length of time.
-D
 
DT

I am curious as to the reasons for your "crankiness". I see a few possibilities:

1) VoIP-based systems made by companies (like Cisco) that don't know anything about Telephony (you don't want to get me going on this).

The Avaya and Mitel IP systems are better because at least they know PBXes

2) The performance of VoIP systems (of any kind) over the Internet. While this is technically VoIP, it's not an example that one can use as anything but a "worst case" scenario. It works pretty well given it is the worst case!

3) Other experience with VoIP PBX systems that were not planned and implemented with sufficient care.

I have to agree with you that the gradual loss of the near perfect technology for audio/voice transport makes me sad, it seems to be were things are going.

I am just curious about the details... ;)

dtube1 said:
Call me an old crank, but I'd take a TDM/PBX phone system over one that is IP-based anyday. Its interesting at Wheatstone - they're supporting both platforms currently. Can't imagine that going on for any length of time.
-D
Click to expand...
 
Hi Rolf. You pretty much nailed it (except for the Skype and friends nonsense - that I won't blame on VoIP!). I haven't heard a decent-quality phone call over any of the current systems. The IT guys I work with cringe when they see a VoIP installation. All of them have had to deal with routing analog lines to fax machines, ATM's, security systems, etc, past VoIP networks, essentially doubling-up connectivity to those locations. If you want to impress me with VoIP, improved the quality of the audio. As a society, I guess we've become numb to digital artifacts, thanks to cell phones... ::)
-D
 
DoctorWu said:
dtube1 said:
As a society, I guess we've become numb to digital artifacts, thanks to cell phones... ::)
Click to expand...

... and iPods...

-- Doc
Click to expand...

Well at least iPods can handle linear audio, if that's what the user loads into it. In that case, it's the consumer that decides whether or not compressed is "better."

Unfortunately, with a lot of people "quantity over quality" seems to be the mantra of the day.

Kind Regards,
David
 
The funny thing is that pretty much all VoIP systems have the option to give you regular POTS quality - you just have to use the G.711 a or mu law codec.

Hint, this is the same codec used on the Telco network and requires 64 kbps.

In the VoIP world this is nearly always an option, but after paketization is requires more than 64 kbps so usually they use coding. Use G.711 and you get real POTS quality albeit with more delay than POTS.

Even so, there are some potentially good reasons to use VoIP but generally it is used as a bean counter's tool so quality gets dumped.

Same thing with audio over IP. It may or may not save money, but it can have a number of other advantages.
 
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