Wyoming Public Media: Bringing Wild Wyoming the World
From its studios in the Outreach School on the UW campus in Laramie, Wyoming Public Media (WPM) reaches out across the Equality State with a network of 24 transmitters and 7 translators. The public broadcaster delivers three channels of programming. The main stream, Wyoming Public Radio, contains NPR and local news programs, while Classical Wyoming and Jazz Wyoming provide music. Content is delivered via analog FM, HD Radio, and through web streams.
Read More
Live Mixing for Engineers with Larry Wilkins
More radio stations and larger podcasters are building and using performance studios. Mixing live audio is once again a needed skill. Indeed, it’s critical for the performers’ monitors, in-studio audience, and for the live broadcast itself. Larry Wilkins is retired from a broadcast engineering career and now teaching the fundamentals and the fine points of live audio mixing.
Read More
Vintage Audio: Ampex TU-40 Flutter Meter
In the digital age of WAV files and hard drives, sound appears as if by magic from a PC or iPhone. But it wasn't that long ago that audio reproduction involved something going around, be it a turntable platter, tape or cassette reel, cart hub, or film reel.
Read MoreIntroducing the VOCO 8
The Omnia VOCO® 8 Networked Microphone System combines 8 high performance preamplifiers with up to 8 channels of comprehensive Omnia.S4 3-band microphone processing including analog, AES, and Livewire+/AES67 Audio over IP connectivity with full IP remote control in a compact 2 rack unit high package.
Vintage Audio: National Radio NC-HFS VHF Receiver
During a recent Found in the Attic we visited Malden, Massachusetts while discussing the Millen 90651 grid-dip meter. Malden was also the home of National Radio Company. It occurred that after about 25 installments of FitA, no NRC equipment has ever been hauled down from the great upstairs for a write-up. Easy to remedy. The only challenge was finding something a bit unusual. Almost hidden behind a stack of National shortwave receivers was a 1949 NC-HFS VHF radio. Yes, that will do.
Read More
Vintage Audio: Heath IT-28 Capacitor Checker
This edition of Found in the Attic might better be called Found on the Workbench, because that is where this item lives. The Heathkit IT-28 capacitor checker is an incredibly useful device, particularly when working on vintage gear. Most modern test equipment, even inexpensive items, can run circles around older test and measurement devices. But there are a few items that have a timeless design that enables them to thrive in the digital age. The IT-28 is one of them; there are things you can do with it that can't be done with digital devices. Of course, the IT-28 is a vintage device itself, dating from the late 1960s.
Read More
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.
Read More
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.
Read More
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.
Read More
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?"
Read More