It was installed new in 1974 when the station moved to this site from another one a few miles up the road. It functioned as a main transmitter until the BE AM5E was installed in late 2001. The BE transmitter, other than a power supply issue, has been a solid, reliable unit. Truth be told, the last time the BC5HA ran was in 2006. After that, the unit refused to run, and a bad modulation transformer was suspected. It was deemed not worth it to repair, thus, out the door it goes. We ended up giving it to a local contractor who scrapped the metal in lieu of payment for his labor. The only thing he could not take was the aforementioned modulation transformer, which is full of PCBs. That will have to be hauled away by a licensed disposal company.
Broadcast Electronics AM5E, WROW Albany, NY
We may be getting a second hand Nautel transmitter from another station as a backup transmitter. If that comes to fruition, then a couple of racks can be added to the end of the Phasor/transmitter/transmitter row and the wiring for the remote control and STL can be simplified and neatened up.
I found this old ATT promotional video from 1967. It mainly concerns the PSTN wired network reliability.
It’s a mildly hoaky propaganda piece, but we often forget how our modern communications infrastructure is very young. If ATT seems proud of their system, they had a right to be. Prior to electronic communications, you wrote a letter and hoped that it arrived.
If you have the time, there are many interesting archive videos on the ATT Tech Channel. Be careful, one can spend a lot of time watching these videos!
Linux, oh Linux! Where have you been all my (adult) life? I know, I know, you have been right there all along, just waiting for me to get out of my Microsoft phase. Day after day, year after year, you have been sitting there thinking; when? When? When will he pay attention to me? Well, I tell you I am through with that old, expensive habit. Sure, Microsoft has Windows and all that, but you have GUI too. Not to mention the wonderful open office suit. Then there is the back end, I have always been a sucker for back ends. Yours is wide open, with no inhibitions, no problems, no hangups. Microsoft? You can’t even look at their back end without an army of lawyers descending upon you with malice and litigation on their minds.
Up front, you seem complicated and high maintenance. But once I got to know you, I found it is just the opposite; so simple and easy to get along with.
No, my Microsoft days are over, I tell you. I feel secure with your Linux like you will adapt to my needs and communicate with me when troubles arise. You won’t let malicious code get in the way of what could be a wonderful relationship. What’s more, there are so many different versions of you, I feel like I can pick and choose operating systems based on what my needs are. Finally, a computer that does what I want it to.
I have been busy of late, however, still keeping abreast of the news of the day. Along with that, CES 2014 wrapped up recently. No huge developments, especially when it comes to Broadcasting. However, there was one item of interest; the updated technical specifications of IEEE 802.11ac.
It is of interest here because of the implications of mobile/portable data developments and their impact on traditional AM and FM broadcasting. The new specification calls for 1.2 Gbp/s per device in the initial release, increasing that throughput to 6 Gbp/s in later releases. These data rates are for overall transmission, including the WiFi overhead. Actual usable application data (layers 5-7) would be about 20 to 30 percent less. Even so, 900 Mbp/s is a phenomenal data rate. Truly I say to you; this is the future of digital broadcasting. HD Radio™; may well prove that the “HD” stood for “Huge Distraction.”
The new 802.11ac specification uses MU-MIMO, high-density modulation, larger channel bandwidths, and beamforming technology in the 5 GHz WiFi spectrum. Of course, the question is, at what distances will this system work? If it is like conventional WiFi, then 100-200 feet is about all that can be expected. However, there are also many people interested in wireless broadband (WiMAX) service as an alternative to traditional wired ISPs. For that application, having many outdoor 802.11ac nodes connected by a backbone could potentially blanket a city or campus with free high-speed wireless data.
Example of cjdns network
Along the same lines, there are many people involved in creating mesh networks of various types; be they ad-hoc mobile networks, darknets, bitclouds, etc. Mesh networking is a very interesting topic, for me at least. The network protocols are getting better and more secure. WiFi hardware is becoming less expensive and more reliable. As more and more people put effort into developing protocols like cjdns, local mesh networks will become widespread unless they are outlawed. You know; because of teh terrorism!!1!!
As it stands today, I can drive for two hours in mostly rural upstate NY and CT streaming my favorite radio programs and have nearly seamless handoffs and very few dropouts. This is on my three-year-old, beat-up 3G HTC android phone sitting in the passenger seat of my car.
Digital Radio is here, it is simply not the In Band On Channel system that legacy broadcasters have chosen.
