Recent Posts
Vintage Audio: General Radio 1550-A Octave Band Noise Analyzer
A recent installment of Found in the Attic looked at the Allison Laboratories 650 Random Noise Generator. Tuning up a multiband audio processor with pink noise was discussed as an application of noise generators. The classic Texar Audio Prizm was used as an example. We mentioned that you could measure the noise output of the device under test with an AC VTVM at the individual band outputs, oscilloscope, low frequency spectrum analyzer, or Real Time Analyzer (RTA). To complete the 1960s vintage noise measurement series, this installment of Found in the Attic looks at the General Radio 1550-A Octave Band Noise Analyzer.
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RTL Nederland Tests Out Z/IPStream X/2 & 9X/2
Online consumption of content, both audio and video, grows significantly each year. Online offerings for movies, TV and music are becoming more and more common. The industry is moving at a fast pace, challenging for engineers who come mainly from traditional radio and have little time to keep up.
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A Visit to the Past and the Present
Many Television engineers got their start in radio, and still keep up with happenings in the world of Radio. The staff at WIBW, Channel 13 in Topeka, Kansas, is no exception. My associate from Linear Acoustic, Hal Buttermore, and myself, had the pleasure of speaking to the engineers of SBE Chapter 3, Topeka, Kansas, meeting at the WIBW studios in May. Chief Engineer, Cary Lahnum, led a tour of the facility which included both new and old, including one of the station’s old RCA black and white cameras, with an old remote mixer sitting on top.
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Resilient Radio Vet Reinvents Radio Career
Chuck Leavens is a broadcast industry veteran - specifically in the public broadcasting sector - having worked as both engineer and radio host at former Pittsburgh jazz station WDUQ for several years. But following an unexpected turn of events, and after more than 20 years at the legendary DUQ, the Duquesne University radio station was sold, and Chuck was left asking, "What am I going to do?"
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RDS & RDS2 with Alan Jurison
The Radio Data System - RDS - has been on-air in the US since the mid 1980’s. Good for what it does - identifying FM stations and providing call letters and basic program information. What if we could double or triple the data rate, allowing more text, graphics, and even supporting return data via IP or SMS? iHeart Media Senior Operations Engineer Alan Jurison joins Chris Tobin and Kirk Harnack to find out about RDS2.
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Braden Pickett and IP STLs
More radio engineers are installing IP radios as Studio-Transmitter Links - or STLs. Even in - and perhaps especially in - rural areas like Altus, Oklahoma, where the terrain is flat and unlicensed WiFi bands are relatively uncluttered. Braden Pickett joins Chris Tobin and Kirk Harnack, talking about IP radio equipment selection and configuration.
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Remote Possibilities
TV stations are doing it. TV networks are doing it. Big corporations and SMBs are doing it. So why aren’t radio stations doing it? We’re talking about IP connections with remote offices, moving vehicles, concerts and sports venues, and just about anywhere you’d want to broadcast from - and do it reliably with bonded wireless data connections. Chris Tobin and Kirk Harnack explore the affordable tech that makes this possible.
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Valley People Audio Processing
A recent installment of Found in the Attic examined the Allison Laboratories 650 noise generator. In the company history, we mentioned that Allison Laboratories was not to be confused with Allison Research. That comment fired up your author's memory cells, and led to a search deep under the rafters, flashlight in hand, for this month's find. Our next subject is a holy trinity of 1970s audio processing: the Allison Research MAXI Q parametric equalizer, Gain Brain II Limiter / Compressor / Ducker and KEPEX II Keyable Program Expander.
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Telos Visits the Museum of Magnetic Sound Recording
Most technology museums are started by people who have a passion for the equipment they have worked with. The Museum of Magnetic Sound Recording in Austin, TX is no exception. Martin Theophilus, founder of Phantom Productions, spent much of his career as a recording engineer, working with analog tape recorders. His passion is such that he has turned his entire house into a tape recorder museum. No room has been spared, and he's quickly running out of space. Having never seen a house filled with recorders, this was on the 'must see' list during a recent trip to Austin.
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Plenty of Reasons to Love Axia for Florida's WFCF
Radio veteran Dan McCook is Station Manager at WFCF - Radio with a Reason - at Florida's Flagler College, with studios in historic St. Augustine - quite the unique setting for a modern broadcast facility. "We have our own little radio station on the first floor of a building in middle of the historic district," says Dan. "We have horse and carriages going by the window all day long and it looks like we live in the 1700s!"
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