[BC] Modulation measurement

[Broadcast List USER]

While Eric is a piece of work, I actually liked the Mod Minder, and  
the Belar Wizard and the option to the QEI 691 that did the same  
thing.  They leveled the playing field, and allowed me to back off  
clipping, which is the worst part of audio processing.

Once getting a Wizard, I was able to remove the composite clippers,  
which made me happy, without making the PD unhappy.  Oh, how I hate  
composite clipping.

As an aside relating to Eric Small, I was working as a CE for  
Viacom.  My DoE designed a composite clipper that removed the Pilot  
by isolating it with a very high Q L-C filter, inverting it, adding  
it to the Compisite which made it go away.  Then it clipped the  
Pilotless Composite, and reinserted the Pilot.

After building two for my station, I built two or three for every  
Viacom station.  We were doing PC board fab at the station at the  
time.  When the NYC station put it on, Eric Small sued us.

Through a Patent search and as part of discovery, we learned how HE  
was doing it.

If you recall, Composite clipping got to be WAY out of hand, and the  
FCC ruled that you can use them, but they must be left in line during  
the Annual Audio Proof of Performance.  It was NOT allowed to have a  
"Proof Switch" which was common on many limiters and clippers, even  
on the Optimod.

So, Small's composite clipper looked for tones, then floated the  
clipping threshold out of the way!  In other words, it had an  
automatic proof switch.  I thought it to run counter to the intent of  
the FCC ruling.

We set ours during the Proof.  We just turned down the clipping  
threshold until distortion reached 1%.  Sad, but true.

As bad as stations sounded way back then, and as far as audio  
processing has come since then, it is just ASTOUNDING how bad many  
stations sound today.

--chip

> From: Cowboy <curt at spam-o-matic.net>
> [...]
>  What wonderful things this "mod-minder" thing did for us !
>  Just because we can, does not mean we should.
>  Apparently, Mr. Small didn't think this one through,
>  as clearly ( IMHO ) we should never have started down this path.
>  It's placed us squarely between a duck.
> -- 
> Cowboy