WUML-FM 91.5 Lowell Now Broadcasting

[Laurence Glavin]

Umass/Lowell's radio station WUML-FM 91.5 has resumed broadcasting, but apparently with reduced power.

 

[mgpt6]

Wonder if WMFO is going further north on 93?

 

[Deleted User]

Grrrrrrr wmfo. Leaving the transmitter on throwing dead carriers for years. When I was CE at wjul they were a pain in my .........
Pm

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Grrrrrrr wmfo. Leaving the transmitter on throwing dead carriers for years. When I was CE at wjul they were a pain in my .........

Not anymore. WMFO now has an automated music system that runs whenever there's no DJ. I live in WMFO's listening area and I remember the dead carriers all the time in the past, but the station has been on the air with music 24/7 for a number of months now since they got their new system running.

 

[carmen]

88.1 uses an off-the-air source for their net stream. so when the transmitter goes out to lunch after a thunderstorm - stream does too.

ive been thinking of setting up a 0.25 watt transmitter to provide the stream with better material than Gaussian noise overnight..

 

[carmen]

does WUML go off air? i recall the Boston Herald being read around 2 am

 

[pqgeorge]

does WUML go off air? i recall the Boston Herald being read around 2 am

They are generally on 24/7. Anytime the students are away, WUML runs the Talking Information Center (programming for the blind or visually impaired), a very worthwhile and much needed program. It's good to see that 'UML is back up and running. Hopefully, they'll be able to get their old transmitter fixed for backup operation. Because...... you just don't know!

 

[Deleted User]

I'd be surprised if they repaired a 16 year old unit with multiple issues.

From what I was told the U Mass folk were doing the work, which I assume is Grady.

Back in my day we did it all in house, and even when they made the move for a new transmitter and antenna up on top of Fox Hall (where they should have been back in the 70's!) it was done in house by Tony J IIRC.

But then again when I was CE there were at least 8 of us there with First Class tickets, and none of us was over 22 years old.

 

[Laurence Glavin]

WUML was off-air during the Wednesday/Thursday overnight and a good portion of the morning on Thursday (today). It's running right now (Thursday pm).

 

[4CX1000A]

88.1 uses an off-the-air source for their net stream. so when the transmitter goes out to lunch after a thunderstorm - stream does too.

ive been thinking of setting up a 0.25 watt transmitter to provide the stream with better material than Gaussian noise overnight..

An Internet stream will usually sound better if it is fed audio that hasn't been processed for AM or FM broadcast. In my experience MP3 encoders work best on audio that hasn't seen a peak clipper.

 

[Channel Surf]

By the time that you get as far west as Leominster, 91.5-WRPI Troy, NY becomes audible as well.

 

[aaronread]

An Internet stream will usually sound better if it is fed audio that hasn't been processed for AM or FM broadcast. In my experience MP3 encoders work best on audio that hasn't seen a peak clipper.

Yes and no. In a perfect world, you're correct...the processing that's ideal for FM is not all that great for the MP3 codec. However, what bitrate MP3 stream you're talking about makes a difference. And the equation is different if you're using something other than MP3...presumably MP3PRO, WMA or AAC, or some derivation of them.

And with the incredibly wide range of levels common to "college radio" formats, you can't NOT have some level of AGC on the internet stream or inevitably you'll end up with wildly varying levels...especially between the music being played, which often is already compressed to hell and back anyways, and the DJ's on the mic.

Let's put it this way: if you can't afford to put a separate processor for your internet stream, it'll sound better to feed it an off-air pickup than to feed it just the program output of the mix board. OTOH, there's freeware Winamp plugins that actually do a remarkably good job processing your audio for webcast (or for FM, for that matter) but it means putting a Windows computer into your critical-path air chain...not something I'd be inclined to do. Especially when Broadcast Warehouse processors, or an Omnia ONE processor, are relatively inexpensive and sound sweeeeeeet.

WUML uses a two-bay half-wave DA, right? Or is that a full-wave? Can't be sure from that pic on Necrat. If it's a halfwave, I'm guessing they need close to 1400 watts TPO through that DA to make the same in ERP? (if full wave, probably more like 0.9 to 1.0kW?)

 

[Deleted User]

Apparently their new "transmitter" is an old exciter, so they are probably running a whole 10 watts, enough to cover their C.O.L. and not much more. I did get tehm on 93N at 213, but lost them between Exit 2 and 3.

I was getting WMFO in Wilmington.

 

[4CX1000A]

An Internet stream will usually sound better if it is fed audio that hasn't been processed for AM or FM broadcast. In my experience MP3 encoders work best on audio that hasn't seen a peak clipper.

Yes and no. In a perfect world, you're correct...the processing that's ideal for FM is not all that great for the MP3 codec. However, what bitrate MP3 stream you're talking about makes a difference. And the equation is different if you're using something other than MP3...presumably MP3PRO, WMA or AAC, or some derivation of them.

Peak clipping is not something any of these codecs are designed to handle.

And with the incredibly wide range of levels common to "college radio" formats, you can't NOT have some level of AGC on the internet stream or inevitably you'll end up with wildly varying levels...especially between the music being played, which often is already compressed to hell and back anyways, and the DJ's on the mic.

Processing for FM involves more than AGC, and it anticipates a 75-microsecond preemphasis curve that doesn't apply to Internet streaming. A lot of peak clipping is applied to allow a high average modulation, again something that isn't applicable on an Internet stream. FM processing on an Internet stream will not sound right, any more than will AM processing on an FM station.

Let's put it this way: if you can't afford to put a separate processor for your internet stream, it'll sound better to feed it an off-air pickup than to feed it just the program output of the mix board.

Those are not the only alternatives, though.

 

[johnster]

Orban makes cards that work really well.
http://www.orban.com/products/streaming/