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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2018 22:57:20 GMT
KDX & KHZ Worldround Radio Enters the Future
The present transmission system for KDX and KHZ Worldround Radio is housed indoors with plans for many more transmitters, some outdoors.
We will be hand-building a Remote Control Panel capable of controlling every transmitter in the system in as many ways as we can engineer.
It will be possible to bring the carrier up or down (on or off) from the same panel for each transmitter.
The way it is now we must walk to each transmitter location and control on/off functions in a manual way.
Red to green LEDs will signal whether a carrier is on.
The circuitry for the remote switching is already drafted in a file folder devoted to the project.
Hard wiring will need to be run from the Panel to each transmitter for power and signalling.
We'll also need hard-wiring for balanced audio circuits based on traditional telephone line technology, 600 ohms.
Having an unlimited supply of bamboo poles we anticipate building small telephone poles for routing the cables above ground.
Without thinking about the transmitters and antennas, the destination of all the cabling, there is an immense amount of work ahead.
If your station is doing anything along this same line, running transmitters at a distance through cables and wires, your details will be very interesting to hear about.
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Post by Boomer on Mar 3, 2018 0:32:05 GMT
Out of hibernation for Carl Bear
Your system sounds like it will be like a home control panel, the systems that control indoor and outdoor lighting, alarm systems and locks from a central control box, but just for radio.
Tha Dood and me have been barkin' about how we might use optics on our stations. One of the ideas is to use infra-red light beams as a studio to transmitter link across open air. That could also help with lightning and transient protection of the studio, providing a gap, even within a room, so that those voltages aren't brought down directly to a mixer output.
There's still the connection to the AC wiring that lightning could travel, and I thought about solar power to take the transmitter itself off the grid, and indeed my transmitter's manual recommends it, a 5 watt solar panel and a storage battery.
Boomer
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2018 14:19:37 GMT
Bear Facts
This is a strange moment. I recall yesterday posting a reply to Boomer's comment, but it is missing from the thread creating a sense of dizziness, confusion, uncertainty, and doubt in the stability of reality itself.
To repeat my deja vu, Boomer's more modern method of wiring and powering outdoor transmitter installations might not only be safer and smarter, it might take less time to set up.
Boomer said: "Like a home control panel, the systems that control indoor and outdoor lighting, alarm systems and locks from a central control box, but just for radio."
Two elements... solar power and infra-red light beams... in place of lengthy cables.
But, in the case of KDX, we might need to have one point-to-point cable, and here's why.
The intended transmitter location for AM 1680 is 100' from the building, the farthest possible place so that we can have the experience of hearing KDX from as far away as possible. But the spot is in shade most of the day, ruling out using a solar panel at the antenna.
Directly behind the building there is plenty of sunlight and a solar panel could either be mounted on the roof or a self-standing tower, connected to the transmitter by 100' of power cable... still isolated from the AC grid. In fact, this solar tower could also support the infra-red sending transmitter for the audio beam.
There, I've said it again.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2018 14:49:00 GMT
Destination 2020
The entire Worldround Radio glom (abbreviated from conglomerate) of radio stations is deadlined for 2020, when we hope to have all our stations and the infrastructure operating from here in the Internet Building.
We have ten distinct radio stations planned, each with its main and backups totaling 20 transmitters.
Of course some of these will be simulcasting on AM & FM, one on shortwave and another on longwave.
The actual program feeds will amount to 3, all streaming on the internet.
We want our switching to be able to send one pre-dominant program feed over all stations.
That's all technical, then comes the matter of window dressing such as slogans.
As of this morning we have assigned our newest slogan to KKDX AM 1550 & FM 106.9 which will be known as "The Fringe".
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Post by Druid Hills Radio on Mar 7, 2018 16:07:41 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2018 19:08:16 GMT
Lobby Portraits
Our Main Lobby at Worldround Radio will be papered with giant portraits of major radio figures including Alex Jones and the Resident Hobby Agent.
Additional suggestions welcome... we've got the walls!
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Post by Druid Hills Radio on Mar 7, 2018 19:11:54 GMT
Our Resident Hobby Agent  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2018 22:38:53 GMT
Small Reception Held in the Multi-Purpose Hallway
A new Translator Station has gone into service here at the Internet Building, K198ZZ, Scosche FM4T FCC Certified, relaying vinyl records from the Turntable Closet to the ROLLS FM Tuner at the Control Desk for digitizing.
This is the world's first Part 15 translator.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2018 1:32:46 GMT
Better Than Expected
Not very long ago we carefully set the RF output of KDX-FM so the signal faded to noise at 100'.
Today we monitored KHZ-FM coming from a CCrane FM2 and the signals were about equal on the auto radio as we drove away.
The performance of the Sonos Software Audio Processor, side by side on the dial with Stereo Tool, is about the same... they are both performing very well.
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Post by jimhenry2000 on Mar 16, 2018 23:56:16 GMT
I was thinking the same thing. I have IRIS by Lowes and about a dozen "smartplugs" which are outlets that I can turn on or off from my laptop or phone. Bear FactsThis is a strange moment. I recall yesterday posting a reply to Boomer's comment, but it is missing from the thread creating a sense of dizziness, confusion, uncertainty, and doubt in the stability of reality itself. To repeat my deja vu, Boomer's more modern method of wiring and powering outdoor transmitter installations might not only be safer and smarter, it might take less time to set up. Boomer said: " Like a home control panel, the systems that control indoor and outdoor lighting, alarm systems and locks from a central control box, but just for radio." Two elements... solar power and infra-red light beams... in place of lengthy cables. But, in the case of KDX, we might need to have one point-to-point cable, and here's why. The intended transmitter location for AM 1680 is 100' from the building, the farthest possible place so that we can have the experience of hearing KDX from as far away as possible. But the spot is in shade most of the day, ruling out using a solar panel at the antenna. Directly behind the building there is plenty of sunlight and a solar panel could either be mounted on the roof or a self-standing tower, connected to the transmitter by 100' of power cable... still isolated from the AC grid. In fact, this solar tower could also support the infra-red sending transmitter for the audio beam. There, I've said it again. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2018 1:14:43 GMT
IRIS Under the Microscope
J.H. on IRIS: "I have IRIS by Lowes and about a dozen "smartplugs" which are outlets that I can turn on or off from my laptop or phone."
Did a quick study of IRIS at the Lowes website and it looks like it would be overkill for what I need.
I want to be able to remote control transmitters from a single control desk, not a phone or a remote laptop.
The information didn't say it would work with Windows 7.
If it could work on Windows 7 all the roaming capabilities of the system could be ignored... the price might fairly balance with the time and parts to do it by direct wiring with relays.
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Post by jimhenry2000 on Mar 17, 2018 2:07:39 GMT
Carl, The nice thing about Iris is you can do as much or as little as you want with it. No contracts and no monthly charge for monitoring. I was on-call for my job 24/7/365 so there was no need for me to pay a monitoring service though it is available. I had to respond to my phone already. I installed one system in my PA home and another in my MI home (when I was working). I love being able to control my thermostats remotely! When I was driving back to my MI home I would turn up the thermostat once my ETA was within four hours so the house would be properly heated or cooled by the time I got there. On negative though is when my systems were about a year old Lowes sent out a new upgraded hub to replace the old one, at no charge. I followed their upgrade procedure and all my devices migrated to my new hubs, but then,after a week or two, at each home, all the devices except my thermostats stopped communicating to my new hubs. I'm sure there is a resolution for this but I just haven't gotten around to doing anything about it. IRIS Under the MicroscopeJ.H. on IRIS: " I have IRIS by Lowes and about a dozen "smartplugs" which are outlets that I can turn on or off from my laptop or phone." Did a quick study of IRIS at the Lowes website and it looks like it would be overkill for what I need. I want to be able to remote control transmitters from a single control desk, not a phone or a remote laptop. The information didn't say it would work with Windows 7. If it could work on Windows 7 all the roaming capabilities of the system could be ignored... the price might fairly balance with the time and parts to do it by direct wiring with relays. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2018 2:16:41 GMT
More About IRIS
One thing I notice is that a "Smart Plug" is not the same as a "Smart Switch".
The "Smart Switch" needs no Hub and works off of Wi-Fi, but there is no explanation of how this can be done from a Windows7 Computer.
I am NOT impressed by the wording and descriptions on all the disorganized IRIS web pages.
But if it did do what I am wanting to do, then I want one tomorrow.
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Post by Boomer on Mar 17, 2018 8:29:11 GMT
Better Than ExpectedThe performance of the Sonos Software Audio Processor, side by side on the dial with Stereo Tool, is about the same... they are both performing very well. I'm glad that Sonos is working well for you Carl, I always try to get the word out about it because it's been good to me too. It's flexible, and you can adjust the processing to what you like, and it's free to put on any computer without limitations. You also should have MBL as part of the plugins, that's a multiband processor. I usually just use plain Limit and I'm fine, but it depends on what your station needs are. Here's the Sonos demo as a video by Vwestlife. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0pV90N-8ZABoomer |
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