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necturusI'm on Block Island this morning, waiting for the Metropolitan Opera to call.
I've actually been here since eight o'clock, trying to find a couple of annoying problems with the radio station. There is a hum on the air, for one. It wasn't there before, but it was really nasty this morning. I can't tell if it's a grounding/balancing problem or if there's a power supply problem, so I've been swapping different parts of the system out and listening for it on a radio on a chair outside the building, away from the noisy machines.
The hum is not on the Internet stream, which is fed from a different output of the same audio switcher; that means the problem is *after* the switcher. The switcher is connected tp the Arbitron encoder; the Arbitron encoder to the Optimod; the Optimod to the transmitter.
I've tried bypassing the Arbitron encoder; the hum was still there.
I'm now running a piece of Cat-5 cable from the audio switcher directly to the Arbitron encoder, bypassing about 25 feet of old audio cable running to and from a relay box and a switch panel, neither of which has been used for years. I can't tell if the hum's there because the music's too loud. I need the music to go away for a few seconds to tell.
I'm trying not to interrupt programing any more than necessary, so as not to drive listeners into the arms of the Evil Empire.
The other problem is a nasty hiss that's been showing up for the last three weeks on the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. They've sent me a new box; I just installed it. Now I need them to call and tell me whether they're hearing the hiss.
There seem to be a lot of birds singing today. I don't remember hearing them a couple weeks ago. But lest y'all think this is a harbinger of spring, there were three common eiders swimming around in Old Harbor as the boat arrived. Those are winter birds; they spend the rest of the year in the high Arctic, except for a few oddballs that breed on the Boston Harbor islands.
No seals today. There were two of them in Point Judith Harbor the last time I came out here.
I've actually been here since eight o'clock, trying to find a couple of annoying problems with the radio station. There is a hum on the air, for one. It wasn't there before, but it was really nasty this morning. I can't tell if it's a grounding/balancing problem or if there's a power supply problem, so I've been swapping different parts of the system out and listening for it on a radio on a chair outside the building, away from the noisy machines.
The hum is not on the Internet stream, which is fed from a different output of the same audio switcher; that means the problem is *after* the switcher. The switcher is connected tp the Arbitron encoder; the Arbitron encoder to the Optimod; the Optimod to the transmitter.
I've tried bypassing the Arbitron encoder; the hum was still there.
I'm now running a piece of Cat-5 cable from the audio switcher directly to the Arbitron encoder, bypassing about 25 feet of old audio cable running to and from a relay box and a switch panel, neither of which has been used for years. I can't tell if the hum's there because the music's too loud. I need the music to go away for a few seconds to tell.
I'm trying not to interrupt programing any more than necessary, so as not to drive listeners into the arms of the Evil Empire.
The other problem is a nasty hiss that's been showing up for the last three weeks on the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. They've sent me a new box; I just installed it. Now I need them to call and tell me whether they're hearing the hiss.
There seem to be a lot of birds singing today. I don't remember hearing them a couple weeks ago. But lest y'all think this is a harbinger of spring, there were three common eiders swimming around in Old Harbor as the boat arrived. Those are winter birds; they spend the rest of the year in the high Arctic, except for a few oddballs that breed on the Boston Harbor islands.
No seals today. There were two of them in Point Judith Harbor the last time I came out here.
