TWiRT 330 - War Stories with Tom Ray

It’s a “War Stories” episode with special guest, Tom Ray.  Tom is a soldier in the broadcast engineering trenches every day. He joins Chris Tobin and me with tower snakes, mothball mice, and clever engineering tips for mobile, street-level remote broadcasts.  

Guest: Tom Ray - President, Tom Ray Broadcast Consulting

Hosts:

Chris Tobin, IP-Solutionist 

Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting

Show Links:

Lectrosonics Wireless Mic and IFB Systems

The Car Doctor show

How to get rid of a Rattlesnake!

Vintage Audio: Western Electric Gear

As an electronics geek coming of age in the 1970s, my need for components and other gear often outstripped my meager budget. Between construction projects in Popular Electronics and restoration of surplus grab gear, the revenue from the allowance and part-time job wasn't enough.

Fortunately, help was at hand. With the rapid obsolescence of equipment and a thriving economy, it was often simpler for both consumers and companies to replace than repair. Picking up discarded TVs and stereos during the town's annual spring cleanup yielded a wealth of components. Occasionally, colleges got overwhelmed with components from surplus grabs and would pass some along to deserving high school students.

Topics: Vintage Electronics

TWiRT 329 - FM Antenna Tuning with Dana Puopolo

That hunk of brass, copper, and stainless steel up on the tower is a lot more important than we often consider. The FM transmitting antenna launches a station’s signal to the audience.  It can have a huge effect on the station’s listenability. Dana Puopolo joins Chris Tobin and Kirk Harnack for anecdotes and specific advice about tuning FM transmitting antennas.

Guest: Dana Puopolo - Chief Engineer WGLS-FM, Rowan University Radio, Glassboro, NJ

Hosts:

Chris Tobin, IP-Solutionist 

Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting

Channeling Your Inner SDI 

Building on insight and history in the television broadcast industry, The Telos Alliance created a new division to focus on the expanding needs of the TV audio market. Titled the “TV Solutions Group” (TVSG), the knowledge and resources of the two Telos Alliance TV brands, Linear Acoustic and Minnetonka Audio, are combined to provide a wide range of products, solutions, consultation, and custom development. Read more about TVSG here.

Here's the first of many TVSG tech tips:

Telos Tackles the Last Frontier

Public radio has a special place in the hearts and minds of listeners in rural communities. Often, it's their only link to the outside world. So it is in Alaska. “The Last Frontier” is served by 26 public radio licensees. Scattered across the state, they cover over 90 percent of the population. Reflecting the unique needs of each community, their program content varies widely, ranging from locally-produced entertainment to town meetings to regional and national news and information. At the hub of this network is Alaska Public Broadcasting (APB), whose headquarters are in Anchorage.

TWiRT 328 - Check the Radio and Turn Signals with Mark Persons

Gentleman engineer, Mark Persons, talks about mentoring engineering students from 150 miles away. Custom EAS Relay panels. Plus 4 dB steps in some car radios volume controls is crazy! And car-buying advice you don’t want to miss.  Plus Chris Tobin reports in from the Government Video Expo and Drone Show.

Guest: Mark Persons, President of M. W. Persons & Associates

Host: Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting

Keeping it Simple with SNMP

As broadcasters develop more complex networks for IP audio, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is becoming commonplace. At its most basic, it is a protocol for collecting information about and controlling managed devices on IP networks. These might include workstations, printers, servers, routers, and switchers. But it has the potential to do a great deal more for broadcasters.

Most of today's broadcast equipment with an IP connection supports the SNMP protocol. With a bit of time and creativity, SNMP can become the front end of a command and control system that feeds an onscreen dashboard, where all the key parameters of your station's facilities can be monitored.

Topics: SNMP

11 Cool Things About Telos Zephyr iPort Plus Multi-Codec Gateway

The Telos Systems iPort PLUS Mult-Codec Gateway is one of the most versatile products around, and we've just released new v2.1.0j software to make it even more so. Here, you'll find some of the best ways to use the Telos iPort PLUS to give your broadcast operation more flexibility and effectiveness.

Topics: iport plus, multicodec gatway, Zephyr

Vintage Audio: Detrola Model 276 “Super Pee Wee” Radio

Long before the Motor City was known as “Motown” it was simply called Detroit. And while it was the hub of the automotive industry, it was also the home base for lots of other manufacturing concerns, including the 6^th largest supplier of radios in the USA. This Found in the Attic examines the Detrola model 276 “Super Pee Wee” radio, discusses the history of the company, and talks about why private labelling was such a big deal for some manufacturers.

Topics: Vintage Electronics

TWiRT 327 - Denny Sanders and Processing the Buzzard

FM audio processing grew and developed right along with the Rock ‘n Roll radio format.  Denny Sanders played a key role in Rock Radio from Boston’s MIT to Cleveland’s Buzzard. Denny’s our guest along with Chris Tobin on This Week in Radio Tech.

Hosts:

Chris Tobin, IP-Solutionist
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting

Links from the show:

Denny Sanders on WMMS, November 1985 (in-studio video)

LABELING YOUR CABLES - Easy Everyday Solutions

3M™Scotchcode™ Write On Dispenser