General – Page 32 – Engineering Radio

Chasing down a Pirate Radio station

I stumbled on this video on youtube. It seems like some old guy has too much time on his hands and is out being a private citizen vigilante:

Part one, he is driving around a neighborhood with a spectrum analyzer looking at signal strength:

Seems slightly creepy.

Then there is part II, the plot twist:

Actually, looks like a nice studio. PRE BMX II console, RE-20 microphones, and a live performance room at a radio station, what a concept.

Part III, the trouble of a technical nature sets in:

Brave man, fear of heights is overcome because of his love of radio. I myself suffer from Phronemophobia, not in myself, but in other people.

So this series goes on for some, then… First, a Notice Of Unauthorized Operation (NOUO), then, A construction permit for a C1 station! Wow!

So, they are currently building out their station and putting up a tower. Check out 89.1 Ken’s FM-KNNZ and see how they are doing. The call sign is KNNZ, licensed to Hawley, MN. Real radio, is alive and well in some places at least.

I wonder what kind of transmitter that is, I do not recognize it.

Good luck, guys. I will have to check out the web stream, it sounds like fun.

Backing up the UPS

Power loss is a critical failure, thus much money is spent to prevent or mitigate commercial power interruptions in broadcast facilities. Backup generators and Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) are the first lines of defense against commercial power interruptions. It is prudent to research products and check reliability and interoperability when specifying and installing these systems. However, even the best mechanical and electrical systems will fail, often at the worst possible time. The UPS has a startling tendency to shut down, often at the worst possible moment, due to some internal control circuit or something similar. This can happen when commercial power is being supplied without interruption. The net result is some critical piece of equipment is now dark and the station is off the air.

There is a solution: The Eaton EATS EPDU TPC 2234-A Automatic Transfer Switch.

With this unit, the primary plug is connected to the output of the UPS, the secondary plug is connected to the commercial power source. If the UPS fails, the load is automatically transferred to the commercial power. Typically, the commercial power is also backup up with a generator. The secondary plug can also be connected to a second UPS. In theory, having two UPSs connected in parallel via an Automatic Transfer Switch would increase the Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) by 50%.

The Eaton products come with a variety of options, including basic network monitoring, advanced network monitoring, switching, and management. Those features are available via Ethernet or serial data port.

Multiple layers of redundancy is the best method to avoid those late-night, weekend, or holiday phone calls.

FM Fool website

Just for geeks, the FM Fool website is. Nonetheless, it is a cool site to look at and can be used as a tool to find out what stations are available in any certain area. Using the FCC database and terrain profile, it will print out a radar plot of all signals for any address in the US:

This plot is for my house based on a 30-foot outdoor antenna and includes all FM stations that are even marginally receivable. We kind of live off to the side of nowhere.

The transmitter database was last updated on July 5, 2012. Longer bars represent stronger signals. Details about each transmitter are provided in the table to the right of the plot.

This is a companion site for the TV Fool website. If you want to see what off-air TV signals are available at any given location, this is the way to do it. A few years ago, I was thinking of getting rid of the Cable TV in favor of off-air reception. Unfortunately, there are only a few off-air TV channels available at my house. Therefore, I threw out the TV. Problem solved.

We are experiencing technical dificulties, please stand by

There appears to be some issue with my version of WordPress, the server in use, and the version of PHP. The ISP recently upgraded my server and migrated my site over to a new unit, which was supposed to be transparent. Right. I am working with the ISP to resolve these issues as quickly as possible and return to my regular blogging.

In the meantime:

Update: All fixed, for now anyway. Something about a mismatched password in the backend. To all those that tried to comment, my apologies. It should all be working correctly now.