[BC] Emergency studio

[Stevan A. White]

A backup studio can be a good thing and doesn't have to take up a lot of
space.  Everything you really need can be easily rack-mounted and even
incorporated into the air chain if you like.  It makes re-routing and
troubleshooting audio problems real easy.

Since you have a 2200 at the studio and the digital output feeds the digital
STL, I'm going to guess that the analog output of the 2200 probably feeds
the studio headphones.  The old analog processor, or a new or used Inovonics
DAVID (one of my personal faves) located at the transmitter makes a lot of
sense in this scenario.  If you want to move the 2200 to the transmitter you
could; but, some sort of protection limiter IS a good idea.  Depending on
the configuration of your Digit CD exciter you might be able to use an
inexpensive compressor-limiter ahead of the analog inputs and leave
everything else in place.  A built-in stereo generator is an option, perhaps
its standard I can't remember, in a Digit exciter.  Then again, if its an
emergency, does it have to be in stereo?

What about EAS?  Well, if you're using your EMERGENCY studio its most likely
going to be due to some sort of emergency, right?  During most emergencies
all bets are off and the rules that aren't broken usually get bent quite a
bit.  I'd hazard a guess that you'll have, at a minimum, a NOAA Wx radio, 1
or 2 wall-wart/battery operated radios, and perhaps a scanner monitoring the
rest of the world.  A second EAS box would be ideal but I've never met
anyone who was eager to buy the first one.

Best Regards,
Steve White, W5SAW
SW Commercial Electronics


-----Original Message-----
From: Wade Giddens [mailto:wg345 at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Friday, July 14, 2006 12:09 PM
To: broadcast at radiolists.net
Subject: [BC] Emergency studio

   At  the  station  I  work for, we have discussed having a backup audio
   source  at  the FM transmitter site, in case of disaster at the studio
   building.   The  transmitter  building has room for a PC, a tiny mixer
   board  and  a  microphone.   It  would  be  better  than  nothing in a
   disaster.   To  do this, we would need a processor at the transmitter.
   When  I asked one engineer about the possibility of moving the Optimod
   from  the studio to the transmitter, he reacted like it was an idiotic
   idea.   We  have  an  Optimod  2200 at the studio, with digital output
   going  to  a  Harris CD Link STL.  At the transmitter end, the CD Link
   goes  into  a  Harris  Platinum  Z  transmitter  with  the Digit CD FM
   exciter.    What  do  you  think? Would  having  the  Optimod  at  the
   transmitter  be  a  good  idea  or  a bad idea?  Would having a backup
   processor  at  the transmitter be a better idea?   Would there need to
   be  some  sort  of  limiter  at  the  studio  prior to the STL, in the
   position  where  the  Optimod  is  now?  I would think that having the
   Optimod  at  the  transmitter  would  make  using  a Marti as a backup
   emergency  STL  easier to set up.  What about EAS in a case like this?
   The EAS is at the main studio, not at the transmitter.