{"id":3389,"date":"2011-08-22T15:27:18","date_gmt":"2011-08-22T19:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/?p=3928"},"modified":"2024-03-14T20:15:46","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T00:15:46","slug":"the-nautel-vs-2-5-fm-transmitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/2011\/08\/the-nautel-vs-2-5-fm-transmitter\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nautel VS-2.5 FM transmitter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is cute. A small (VS allegedly stands for “Very Small”) integrated 2,500-watt FM transmitter. \u00a0This one we just finished installing as a backup transmitter for WSPK<\/a>, on Mount Beacon, New York<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nautel<\/a>
Nautel VS-2.5 FM Transmitter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This site has a Nautel V-7.5 as the main transmitter. \u00a0That unit is very reliable, however, this transmitter site is non-accessible 4-5 months out of the year due to ice and snow. \u00a0The last time we had an off-air emergency due to a crippling ice storm, it took an entire week to clear away all the downed trees so we could gain access to the site via snowmobile. \u00a0As such, every system needs dual or even triple redundancy. \u00a0The lack of said redundancy has led to several prolonged outages in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WSPK<\/a>
WSPK signal flow diagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last year, we were finally able to install a backup antenna after 63 years without one. \u00a0This year, it is time to upgrade the rest of the backup equipment. \u00a0The new auxiliary transmitter is connected directly to the auxiliary antenna via a five-port coax switch. \u00a0This allows for the use of the dummy load for testing when we are present, but removes a potential failure point in the coax switch. \u00a0There have been at least two incidences of the disk jockey accidentally transferring the transmitter into the dummy load when taking transmitter readings. \u00a0Hopefully, this configuration will be fairly idiot-proof. \u00a0I am making an interlock panel that will prevent both transmitters from being on the air at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nautel<\/a>
Nautel VS 2.5 connections<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This site is a work in progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The backup processor is at the transmitter site, the main processor is in the rack room at the studio. \u00a0This works well because the main processor occasionally looses its mind and needs to be rebooted. \u00a0It would be a significant pain to drive all the way up to the transmitter site just to reboot the processor. \u00a0It might not happen at all during the winter. \u00a0The backup processor has no mind so it is not an issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The VS transmitter is attractive because it has a built-in exciter that accepts composite, AES, or IP audio. \u00a0The exciter also has a built-in Orban processor as an option. \u00a0Thus, if it really hit the fan, we could use the LAN extender to get the audio to the site. \u00a0Further, it could be addressed by any studio in the company WAN. \u00a0Which is cool, when you think about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nautel continues to crank out innovative, dependable products and there is nothing wrong with that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is cute. A small (VS allegedly stands for “Very Small”) integrated 2,500-watt FM transmitter. \u00a0This one we just finished installing as a backup transmitter for WSPK, on Mount Beacon, New York. This site has a Nautel V-7.5 as the main transmitter. \u00a0That unit is very reliable, however, this transmitter site is non-accessible 4-5 months … Continue reading The Nautel VS-2.5 FM transmitter<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[337],"tags":[215,15],"class_list":["post-3389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-installations","tag-fm-transmitter-site","tag-fm-transmitters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3389"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11759,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389\/revisions\/11759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}