This Week In Radio Tech (TWiRT)

Preparing for winter is a time-honored ritual in most temperate climates. Most of the USA - indeed most of the world’s population - falls in temperate zones, and that means winter weather is likely or possible. The “business end” of broadcast equipment is often exposed to winter weather. Paul Montoya, Director of Engineering at Wyoming Public Media, oversees operations and maintenance at transmitter sites that are difficult to access and exposed to harsh conditions while being considered “critical infrastructure”. Paul joins us to discuss preparing for winter’s harshness to stay on-the-air - and to stay safe.

Show notes:

* Wyoming Public Radio* Wyoming Public Radio Coverage Map* Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) explainer video from Matt Risinger* When in Laramie, Wyoming, we recommend you stay at Vista de la Luna B&B

Guest

Paul Montoya - Director of Engineering @ Wyoming Public Media

Hosts

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

Follow Kirk on Twitter - @kharnackFollow TWiRT on Twitter - @TWiRTshow and Facebook

Sponsored by

Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc.Angry Audio - your source for StudioHub cables and adapters, plus audio Gadgets and Gizmos. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com.

To most radio broadcast engineers, FM transmitting antennas are both slightly mysterious and rather fascinating. There are several fundamental designs plus differences in materials, testing, placement, and operational maintenance. Bill Harland from Electronics Research, Inc. (ERI) provides a wealth of information and photos to point out key concepts with FM antennas. This episode is packed with information that every radio engineer should know!

Show notes:

* Antenna Planning Tools* Antenna System White Papers* ERI “Rototiller” Antenna - Name controversy? [YouTube video]* TWiRT coverage of the Engineer's Seminar & Tribute to the FM Master Antenna* Video about ERI from the Economic Development Coalition of SW Indiana

Guest

Bill Harland - Vice President of Marketing at Electronics Research, Inc.

Hosts

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

Follow Kirk on Twitter - @kharnackFollow TWiRT on Twitter - @TWiRTshow and Facebook

Sponsored by

Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc.Angry Audio - your source for StudioHub cables and adapters, plus audio Gadgets and Gizmos. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com.Nautel - keeping you connected with your community, and offering informative webinars at Nautel.com/webinars.

Automated live video production is now arguable as good as human-directed switching - at least for “visual radio”. Stan Walbert, President of Multicam Systems, has created an AI (artificial intelligence) video switching engine that emulates the best decisions of human video technical directors. Stan and Mary Ann Seidler are here with real-world examples of AI-controlled vision switching, along with advice for radio broadcasters wanting to add visual radio or improve their current systems.

Show notes:

* Multicam Systems for Radio* Full-length, real-world Multicam Studio demo in diverse venues* Backdrop: Virtual Production Using AR

Guests

Stan Walbert - President at Multicam SystemsMary Ann Seidler - Owner at First Light Broadcast, LLC

Hosts

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

Follow Kirk on Twitter - @kharnackFollow TWiRT on Twitter - @TWiRTshow and Facebook

Sponsored by

Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc.Angry Audio - your source for StudioHub cables and adapters, plus audio Gadgets and Gizmos. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com.Nautel - keeping you connected with your community, and offering informative webinars at Nautel.com/webinars. And MaxxKonnectWireless - Prioritized High Speed Internet Service designed for Transmitter Sites and Remote Broadcasts. 

What good is a backup power generator if you can’t depend on it, 100 percent? None, really. After analyzing dozens of generators and what makes them not run, John Bisset offers poignant tips and advice to ensure that your backup generator runs when you need it.

Show notes:

* The Mice vs. the Generator* Radio World articles by John Bisset* Klein Tools Non-Contact Voltage Tester* Semi-Rigid USB Endoscope for under $11 from Amazon* 4 inch magnetic parts dish from Harbor Freight

Guest

John Bisset - Director, Western US Sales at Telos Alliance and Author of the “Workbench” column in Radio World magazine.

Hosts

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

Follow Kirk on Twitter - @kharnackFollow TWiRT on Twitter - @TWiRTshow and Facebook

Sponsored by

Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc.Angry Audio - your source for StudioHub cables and adapters, plus audio Gadgets and Gizmos. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com.Nautel - keeping you connected with your community, and offering informative webinars at Nautel.com/webinars. And MaxxKonnectWireless - Prioritized High Speed Internet Service designed for Transmitter Sites and Remote Broadcast...

Not many radio engineers handle a phone system for 500 employees, but Marcos O’Rourke does! Five years in the planning and execution, and now KWave Radio, plus the church campus they’re part of, are saving close to $10k per month in phone service costs. Plus, their Santiago Peak transmitter site is getting a rebuild - with a very efficient setup.

Show notes:

* Santiago Peak - LIVE WEBCAM* Shure MV88 professional stereo mic for iPhone* KWave Network Status Page from Statuspage.io

Guest

Marcos O’Rourke - Chief Engineer, KWave Radio, Santa Ana, California

Hosts

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

Follow Kirk on Twitter - @kharnackFollow TWiRT on Twitter - @TWiRTshow and Facebook

Sponsored by

Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc.Angry Audio - your source for StudioHub cables and adapters, plus audio Gadgets and Gizmos. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com.Nautel - keeping you connected with your community, and offering informative webinars at Nautel.com/webinars. And MaxxKonnectWireless - Prioritized High Speed Internet Service designed for Transmitter Sites and Remote Broadcasts. 

We knew it was coming - and now it's here…. Top-shelf audio processing and FM stereo coding in "the cloud" - either private cloud or "public" cloud. There are big possibilities here, and Mary Ann Seidler joins us to tell all. Plus, Chris Tobin rounds out the show with advice that’s especially timely.

Show notes:

* kmfm UK Goes Virtual with High-Density Virtual Audio Processing* How Software Audio Processing Makes Planning for Transmission Changes More Flexible* Nautel Webinar: Radio Air-Chain Innovation Webinar #2: Problem Solved

Guest

Mary Ann Seidler - Broadcast & Streaming Audio Processing Consultant

Hosts

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

Follow Kirk on Twitter - @kharnackFollow TWiRT on Twitter - @TWiRTshow and Facebook

Sponsored by

Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc.Angry Audio - your source for StudioHub cables and adapters, plus audio Gadgets and Gizmos. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com.Nautel - keeping you connected with your community, and offering informative webinars at Nautel.com/webinars. And MaxxKonnectWireless - Prioritized High Speed Internet Service designed for Transmitter Sites and Remote Broadcasts. 

If you’ve ever thought, “There should be a group that promotes learning electronics and audio to teens and college students,” well, there is! It’s Audio Builders Workshop (ABW), a working group of the Boston AES Section. Chris Kincaid is lecturer at the Purdue School of Engineering & Technology and Program Manager with ABW. While many ABW events focus on simple electronic kits, more seasoned engineers have access to truly professional projects. Large diaphragm condenser mics, ribbon mics, 500-series format mic preamps, and studio audio levelers are DIY projects available through ABW’s partner companies.

Show notes:

* Audio Builders Workshop* ABW - a working group of the Boston AES* ABW Metronome kit from CrowdSupply - as seen on TWiRT and built by Michael Harnack* Bumblebee DIY ribbon mic kits* DIYRE CP5 Colour Mic Preamp Kit* DIYRE OLA5 Opto Compressor Kit* MicParts DIY Microphone kits* AES Show - Fall 2020* Chris Kincaid mentioned Max8 aural and visual creation software

Guest

Chris Kincaid - Program Manager at Audio Builders Workshop

Hosts

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

Follow Kirk on Twitter - @kharnackFollow TWiRT on Twitter - @TWiRTshow and Facebook

Sponsored by

Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc.Angry Audio - your source for StudioHub cables and adapters, plus audio Gadgets and Gizmos. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com.

Broadcasting from home - working alone - informing and entertaining - keeping virtual company with our listeners; we’re doing the best we can during these continued lockdowns and social distancing. Industry events keep getting canceled or postponed, and we’re substituting in-person meeting with virtual ones and with webinars. Is it working? Are some things actually a bit better this way? Kirk and Chris explore these notions. Plus we’re talking with Greg Dahl. He’s bringing “The Next Best Thing” to 40 cities across the USA over the next 4 months in a socially distanced mobile equipment show.

Show notes:

* Chris mentioned Busby Berkeley a couple times. Here’s the camera shot he’s talking about.* Society of Broadcast Engineers 2020 National Meeting Goes Virtual* RJ Russell Is SBE’s Engineer of the Year* Read updates on Greg Dahl’s Next Best Thing tour on this Facebook page.* … and on this LinkedIn page.

Guest

Greg Dahl - Broadcast Engineer at Second Opinion Communications, Inc.

Hosts

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

Follow Kirk on Twitter - @kharnackFollow TWiRT on Twitter - @TWiRTshow and Facebook

Sponsored by

Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc.Angry Audio - your source for StudioHub cables and adapters, plus audio Gadgets and Gizmos.

Engineering in various disciplines is a big part of Corny Gould’s career path. From major market broadcast engineer, to audio processing algorithm developer, to podcast content creator, Corny Gould applies techniques from each specialty to improve the others. Today we’re looking at gathering accurate sensor data from a model rocket that may be moving close to Mach 1, and reliably transmitting this data to a ground station.

Show notes:

* 9 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Transmitter - a Nautel eBook* Corny’s advanced rocketry podcast, “The Rocketry Show”* The Model Rocket Show - a podcast for those newer to rocketry* Tripoli Rocketry Association* The National Association of Rocketry* BPS.SPACE - Thrust Vectoring at Model Scale* We discussed the Kalman Filter concept

Guest

Cornelius Gould - Audio Algorithm Developer and Rocketry Engineer

Hosts

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

Follow Kirk on Twitter - @kharnackFollow TWiRT on Twitter - @TWiRTshow and Facebook

Sponsored by

Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc.Angry Audio - your source for StudioHub cables and adapters, plus audio Gadgets and Gizmos. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com.Join Jeff Welton and guests for Nautel’s Transmission Talk Tuesdays - Register HERE.And MaxxKonnectWireless - Prioritized High Speed Internet Service designed for Transmitter Sites and Remote Broadcasts. 

Paul Shulins is President of Shulins’ Solutions, a radio and tv broadcast consulting firm based in Andover Massachusetts, specializing in remote control solutions, studio design and construction, antenna protection systems and ratings metrics.

Show notes:

* IEEE BTS Looks at Future of Monitoring - Paul Shulins, presenter* DAC System’s RF Hawkeye components* DJI Matice 300 UAS* RTK - Real-time Kinematic - technology to improve position accuracy* Infrared Thermography Certification

Guest

Paul Shulins - President at Shulins’ Solutions

Hosts

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

Follow Kirk on Twitter - @kharnackFollow TWiRT on Twitter - @TWiRTshow and Facebook

Sponsored by

Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc.Angry Audio - your source for StudioHub cables and adapters, plus audio Gadgets and Gizmos. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com.Nautel - keeping you connected with your community, and offering informative webinars at Nautel.com/webinars. And