{"id":8190,"date":"2014-10-27T08:31:16","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T12:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/?p=8190"},"modified":"2023-03-26T09:24:44","modified_gmt":"2023-03-26T13:24:44","slug":"fixing-small-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/2014\/10\/fixing-small-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Fixing small problems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This happened recently at an AM station we were doing work for. It seems the modulation monitor was not working when connected to the backup transmitter. A quick check of the RG-58 coax showed that I had the correct cable plugged into the monitor selector relay.  Another check with an ohm meter showed the cable was okay.  Then I looked at the connector on the monitor port of the transmitter and saw this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"BNC<\/a>
BNC connector pin improperly located<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Looks like the pin is too far back in the connector. This is an old-style BNC connector with solder in center pin:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"BNC<\/a>
BNC connector solder type center pin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The center pin has a blob of solder on it, preventing it from seating properly in the connector body. I could have lopped it off and applied a new crimp on connector, but my crimp tool was in the car. I didn’t feel like walking all the way through the studio building, out into the parking lot and getting it. Therefore, I used a file and filed off the solder blob then reassembled the connector:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"BNC<\/a>
BNC connector<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The transmitter was installed in 1986, I think the connector had been like that for a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may seem like a small detail to have the modulation monitor working on the backup transmitter, however, the modulation monitor is also the air monitor for the studio.  Switching to the backup transmitter but not having a working air monitor would likely have caused confusion and the staff might think they are still off the air.  I know in this day and age, a lot of station do not even have backup transmitters, but when something is available, it should work correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like my cool network analyzer and all that, but sometimes it is the Mark 1, Mod 0 eyeball that gets the job done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This happened recently at an AM station we were doing work for. It seems the modulation monitor was not working when connected to the backup transmitter. A quick check of the RG-58 coax showed that I had the correct cable plugged into the monitor selector relay.  Another check with an ohm meter showed the cable … Continue reading Fixing small problems<\/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":[3],"tags":[87,46,101],"class_list":["post-8190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-am","tag-repair-work","tag-studio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8190","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=8190"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11232,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8190\/revisions\/11232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.engineeringradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}