General – Page 14 – Engineering Radio

Radio is dead? Don’t tell these guys then…

WXHC in Homer, New York will never be listed on the NY Stock Exchange. Is that bad?

They don’t think so. A small class A FM station, one of many that signed on in the early 1990s as part of the 80-90 drop-ins (FCC docket 80-90, for those unfamiliar). Many of these stations did not fair too well and ended up being absorbed by larger stations and groups starting with the first wave of ownership deregulation in 1993.

WHXC has remained under the same ownership since it signed on in 1991. Eves Broadcasting is a family operation, employing maybe half a dozen people. Their studios and offices are on the third floor of the Bank of Niagara right in the center of town. The facility is very nice. Like any successful radio station, its focus is the community they serve. The format is “Oldies” but they also broadcast high school football, Syracuse sports and so on. They host a yearly Blue Grass festival on the village green.

The air studio has an Arrakis console and uses BSI Simian automation software. They have live DJs from 6 am to 6 pm, local news, weather, sports, etc.

The production room has a BE Spotmaster 8S200A console from 1978. Aside from needing some power supply capacitors, it still works relatively well. However, as the owner’s son said; that thing belongs in a museum.

BE Spotmaster line input card. Probably can still get all these parts if we wanted to.

I forgot to take pictures of the transmitter site when I was there. Next time.

We will be working on several projects for these folks, so I will keep you posted on the progress.

A case for security cameras

I little bit of local awesomeness from the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department:

A Patterson (NY) man was committed to the Putnam County Jail in lieu of bail in connection with three separate thefts of copper fixtures from cell communications towers in Patterson and Kent.

The rest can be read here: Man charged with stealing copper from cellphone tower sites

I once got into an argument with my boss about transmitter site security cameras. His attitude was “what difference does it make, nobody will do anything about it anyway.” Clearly, if the police have something to go on, they will take action. I know that several E911 sites in Dutchess and Ulster counties have been victims of copper theft as well.

IP security cameras are inexpensive and fairly reliable, provided you keep them out of the direct elements. We have dozens of old Windows XP computers floating around which, with the addition of a software package like Blue Iris, can be repurposed as a record and save system. The advantage of Blue Iris is the record on motion. The cameras do not need to be monitored continuously; if something happens, go back and look at the stored video.

The old Windows XP boxes do not need to be connected to the outside world unless one wants to look at the security system from the studio or home. Alternatively, if one is Linux savvy, something like Zoneminder or Xeoma look like full featured video surveillance software packages. I have not fooled around with these yet, but perhaps when I have some spare time…

The point is, for not too much money, a full-featured video surveillance system can be installed at remote transmitter sites to keep track of comings and goings. If enough idiots get busted for stealing copper, perhaps it will stop (or at least slow down).

Copper Thieves

If you are the type of person that drives around to transmitter sites and steals things; fuck you. You have no idea the problems you are causing to get a few extra dollars worth of scrap copper.

I have a feeling that most of these copper thefts can be attributed to out-of-town tower contractors removing old cellular equipment from towers. Notice, only the buss bar and copper ground wire is missing. They did not try to cut the transmission lines. In other words, they seemed to know what they were doing. I have noticed around here that when a particular contractor, employed by an unnamed large company that rhymes with glint, would work at a site, things would be missing afterward.

Perhaps it is just a coincidence. I have never been able to catch anyone pinching things. However, if this is you, and I catch you, you can rest assured that I will block you in with my car, then walk down the road and call the police.

The Voltair

I have put off writing anything about this for several reasons. First of all, there is a lot of secrecy surrounding the use of the Voltair magic machine. No one will admit to it, however, I have had several off-the-record conversations with various engineers. All of this is hush-hush, unofficially off the record and on the QT, so no names, call letters, or cities of license can be disclosed.

The general gist of these conversations is this; the Voltair seems to be increasing ratings in some cases but not others. It is sometimes too early to tell whether the increased ratings are a one-time anomaly or something more permanent. In one case, an AC station saw 30% increase in numbers, while a certain talk station saw next to nothing. Results are mixed.

In the credit where credit is due department; the Telos Marketing campaign has been effective. Again, from a variety of different sources; Program Directors, Market Managers, and Sales Managers are “beside themselves,” or “giddy” when the UPS truck delivers the Voltair to the front door. In one case, requiring that “I (the market engineer) drop everything” to get it installed as quickly as possible and “acting like it is God’s gift to radio.” It looks like all those trade publication ads are paying off, $15,000 at a time.

Voltair PPM encoder enhancing device, in the wild

One interesting thing about the Voltair, you can program simulated listening environments such as sporting events, restaurants, kitchens, vehicles, etc. This allows the user to see how their program material is being decoded by a PPM survey device in those types of environments. For example, if you are a sports station, having your program material decode well at sporting events or restaurants and bars might be important.

Of course, we have all seen the confidence display:

Voltair PPM encoder enhancer "confidence display" — Voltair PPM encoder enhancer “confidence display”

So, what does this mean? Perhaps there is an inherent flaw in the Nielsen PPM encoding technology. In the past, PPM has been blamed for the demise of the Smooth Jazz format. I always had the notion that Smooth Jazz was responsible for the demise of the Smooth Jazz format. However, if PPM is indeed causing certain program material to disappear from the airwaves, then it would be a case of the tail wagging the dog. If PPM requires that station owners purchase a $15,000 in order to get credit for their TSL and cume, then there is a pretty big problem with the technical aspects of the system.

Of course, there are others that say there is no “Voltair effect.” The Voltair machine is simply a fancy and expensive gizmo that looks good but does not really do anything.

Nielson Audio is having a Webinar on July 21 to address some of the questions regarding the Voltair and PPM encoding for subscribers only. It will be interesting to see what the outcome is.