|
|
Post by sparepart on Jan 19, 2019 21:02:25 GMT
The usual suspects at CDL have a project underway to bring real-time weather into the studio: The podcast studio has a pair of Paraval Systems "WallTime" displays for time and segment information. The actual image is below:
We have Vaisala WTX510 weather sensor connected to a (very) used, rack mount Supermicro server running weeWX, which serves web pages. Screen shot is below:
So the plan is to use Paraval hardware to display the weather data alongside the Walltime on a second display, or build something similar using a Rasberry pi to display the weather.
Next step is to overlay local weather data on on the site safety cameras* so folks operating our radio telescope remotely know the local weather conditions: SP * Before moving the antenna, you need to verify no one is in proximity or aloft. |
|
|
|
Post by End80 on Jan 20, 2019 3:41:07 GMT
That studio clock is handsome, but a bit to.. no, it's way to expensive at $300 in my opinion, especially when you can use something with similar feature like "Studio Clock for Windows" free from www.radiotools.uk/ (they have some other cool free radio software there too). 
There's also some other free alternatives for google chrome users which I guess is cross platform, and others for the raspberry pi. Or if their features aren't enough, then StudioScreen has options of free version, or basic version for $50, or pro version for about $100 www.charliedavy.co.uk/studioscreen/ Still too rich for my blodd, but still less than 1/3 the price of WallTime. Personally, the free Studio Clock above has plenty of features and is good enough for me.
As for bringing real time weather into the studio, couldn't you do that with a PWS linked to a monitor inside? There's also some github downloads available (like for example Zara-Helpers which is not necessarily just for Zara, but rather just scrapes the info from the net and supplies it in a way Zara can use to incorporate it..
Anyway, I'm not trying to be critical, but the cost involved with your stations bells and whistles is a bit too expensive for the average hobby broadcaster I think, which I presume is what most of us are.
|
|
|
|
Post by End80 on Jan 20, 2019 3:47:17 GMT
By the way.. I'm a little confused.. You actually have a radio telescope?? What kind of operation exactly do you have going on there!? You're tripping me out!
|
|
|
|
Post by sparepart on Jan 20, 2019 15:31:31 GMT
That studio clock is handsome, but a bit to.. no, it's way to expensive at $300 in my opinion, especially when you can use something with similar feature like "Studio Clock for Windows" free from www.radiotools.uk/ (they have some other cool free radio software there too).
The Walltime is a packaged system that includes hardware, software, and an OS. You just plug it into a 1080 monitor and the network and you are done. It also has a bunch of GPIO triggers for alarming and status. By the time we were done rolling our own, this was actually cheaper. It's also one less PC & OS to support. |
|
|
|
Post by sparepart on Jan 20, 2019 16:47:47 GMT
By the way.. I'm a little confused.. You actually have a radio telescope?? What kind of operation exactly do you have going on there!? You're tripping me out! Long story - The US Army was shutting down bases all over the country to save money. One of the bases, Camp Evans (part of Fort Monmouth) was transferred to the local municipality, Wall Township. They entrusted it to a then-new non-profit corporation called InfoAge. The volunteers from InfoAge that I talk about all them time basically fixed all the broken stuff, painted building, found money to fund big projects (roofs) , and have built a decent Science Center out of it. The Radio Telescope is an interesting story to itself. When the Army was done with it, they locked it down to be a lawn ornament. Volunteers from InfoAge, OMARC (Ocean-Monmouth Amateur Radio Club) and Princeton University refurbished it and put it back into service as a radio telescope.
|
|
|
|
Post by sparepart on Jan 21, 2019 3:29:22 GMT
Just corresponded with Jonathan Cohen from Radio tools.UK. Basically, Studio Clock needs a full W7 or W10 PC to run on.
His recommendation for a minimalist approach was an Intel NUC or other x86 clone. Out of the box, that's more then the Walltime. Goes without saying if you have an old PC floating about, then it's a zero cost option. |
|
|
|
Post by End80 on Jan 21, 2019 4:19:26 GMT
Just corresponded with Jonathan Cohen from Radio tools.UK. Basically, Studio Clock needs a full W7 or W10 PC to run on.
His recommendation for a minimalist approach was an Intel NUC or other x86 clone. Out of the box, that's more then the Walltime. Goes without saying if you have an old PC floating about, then it's a zero cost option.
Uhhhhhh... I don't know... I hesitate to comment as it's been several years since I've even used it, and even then my motivation was really just for eye candy, so guess never really got around to actual station operations implementation, so my experience with it is vague..
BUT.. I do know that I had it on an old low-resources pc with the OS being a stripped down version of XP I created with Nlite, and.. studio clock was on the same pc as Zara was running on. All I can say is that it was running on XP and the display looked cool. Probably he meant that full blown versions of 7 or 10 is required to operate to it's full capabilities.
|
|
|
|
Post by End80 on Jan 21, 2019 5:33:55 GMT
I misunderstood what your saying. Didn't even know what a Intel NUC was till I goggled it, and missed your reference to x86.. I thought you were implying Studio Clock required a lot of processor to run. I misinterpreted your response completely.
|
|
|
|
Post by End80 on Jan 21, 2019 5:48:16 GMT
By the way.. I'm a little confused.. You actually have a radio telescope?? What kind of operation exactly do you have going on there!? You're tripping me out! Long story - The US Army was shutting down bases all over the country to save money. One of the bases, Camp Evans (part of Fort Monmouth) was transferred to the local municipality, Wall Township. They entrusted it to a then-new non-profit corporation called InfoAge. The volunteers from InfoAge that I talk about all them time basically fixed all the broken stuff, painted building, found money to fund big projects (roofs) , and have built a decent Science Center out of it. The Radio Telescope is an interesting story to itself. When the Army was done with it, they locked it down to be a lawn ornament. Volunteers from InfoAge, OMARC (Ocean-Monmouth Amateur Radio Club) and Princeton University refurbished it and put it back into service as a radio telescope.
Wow, what a cool place to be. Yours has got to be the most unique part 15 station in history! (you are part 15??). Interesting story on it's own, love it.
|
|
|
|
Post by sparepart on Jan 21, 2019 12:30:08 GMT
Just corresponded with Jonathan Cohen from Radio tools.UK. Basically, Studio Clock needs a full W7 or W10 PC to run on.
His recommendation for a minimalist approach was an Intel NUC or other x86 clone. Out of the box, that's more then the Walltime. Goes without saying if you have an old PC floating about, then it's a zero cost option.
Uhhhhhh... I don't know... I hesitate to comment as it's been several years since I've even used it, and even then my motivation was really just for eye candy, so guess never really got around to actual station operations implementation, so my experience with it is vague..
BUT.. I do know that I had it on an old low-resources pc with the OS being a stripped down version of XP I created with Nlite, and.. studio clock was on the same pc as Zara was running on. All I can say is that it was running on XP and the display looked cool. Probably he meant that full blown versions of 7 or 10 is required to operate to it's full capabilities.
Since CDL is running on donated material (and funding) we have to keep looking at the options to reduce cost. Due to the lower cost, I was hoping it would run on a Rasberry Pi using Windows 10 IoT.
Per Jonathan, the Arm (Rasberry Pi) platform lacks the resources to run his application, and requires a low end PC, hence his suggestion re the NUC or one of it's x86 clones. That kicks the cost right into the same range as the WallTime
SP
|
|
|
|
Post by End80 on Jan 23, 2019 5:51:38 GMT
I'm still curious about CDL Radio.. I looked at your station page isec.space/cdl_5/ and found another page with an intriguing description: "The CDL Studio is a community-based recording studio dedicated to the art of storytelling and verbal history preservation." But there's really no information found. Browsed some of your old post and see where you were trying to nail down a legal install by your fence, but no mention of kind of transmitter or what you eventually ended up doing.
My deductions are that your station is not currently in operation - but I'm just making assumptions. I haven't been in operation for about 6 months or so, but am primed to get moving again, just need some other things squared away first.
Anyway, I'm just interested in any details; as in present state and future intentions concerning specifically CDL Radio... If you don't mind? |
|
|
|
Post by sparepart on Feb 2, 2019 23:23:15 GMT
At the moment we are only streaming on Facebook. The merger with Makerspace next door is chewing up an obscene amount of time & resources. Update on that: Tax ID is issued, state non-profit in place, work on the 501(c)(3) filing continues. Anyway, back to the original question: I went back to the drawing board and came up with a way to use a PoE Rasberry Pi 3 as a Kiosk to view the weather server. All the parts, including a case came to $117.32 US Here's where it gets better: On Air Screen runs on the same hardware just fine! saschaludwig.github.io/OnAirScreen/ While the Wall Time units have been flawless, they retail for more than twice the cost of the opensource hardware / software combination noted above.
BTW, I am working on brackets to fasten multiple monitors to a section of donated aluminum truss like the folks at Astra Studios did. Not quite ready to spend $90.00 US per monitor if I can avoid it.....
Image Credit: astrastudio broadcast solutions
SP
|
|
|
|
Post by sparepart on Feb 9, 2019 23:19:44 GMT
Took a while due to the dependency issues, however the GPL clock software written by Sascha Ludwig is working on a Raspberry Pi.
Might have to patch it as some of the text is not in English. Once I get everything ironed out, would anyone be interested in an image of the CF card?:
|
|
|
|
Post by End80 on Feb 10, 2019 10:40:31 GMT
I've heard several part 15 stations utilizing those rasberry pi things in the last few years for various uses.. Although I've heard of them, still don't know much about them.. I thought they were some kind of phone! Anyway, have to look into the Raspberry Pi's, I'm beginning to get curious about them.
Incidentally, I remember some one combining a raspberry pi with one of those old Mac "Lamp" computers as an update of some kind. |
|
|
|
Post by sparepart on Feb 10, 2019 18:42:09 GMT
I've heard several part 15 stations utilizing those rasberry pi things in the last few years for various uses.. Although I've heard of them, still don't know much about them.. I thought they were some kind of phone! Anyway, have to look into the Raspberry Pi's, I'm beginning to get curious about them. Take a look - We set ours up to be powered from the network, and as another benefit, they are very low power devices (less than 15W).
That alone is going to be a plus for the Part 15 crowd that is watching their utility costs.
SP
|
|
