Radio World

Webster identifies the word as an adjective and gives the definition as being so in effect, although not in actual fact or name.

We hear the word a lot in today’s culture. Virtual reality has moved from hard-core gaming to the more mainstream with headsets and adaptors that can turn our smart phones into VR engines.

We ask our virtual assistants for directions or to change the channel on the TV. You can get a virtual pet or send someone a virtual gift card.

Since the start of the pandemic, virtual meetings have become everyday events. I have participated in countless virtual training sessions, virtual conferences and even the virtual NAB show earlier this year.

So it would seem that we now live in a virtual world, and perhaps some do. But not me. I’m more of a brick-and-mortar kind of guy — I like real things that I can see and touch, things that exist in the real world and not just in lines of code and ones and zeros.

That’s not to say, however, that I don’t find many of those virtual things useful. I very much do, and I appreciate them.

For example, in addition to some of the things I listed above, I use a very capable flight simulator, which you might categorize as a virtual airplane, to keep my flying skills sharp between real-world flights. Now that has value.

So you might say that I’m warming to the idea of a virtual world.

In our biz

In recent years, and especially since the pandemic came along, broadcast equipment manufacturers have been coming out with all kinds of virtual devices. Some of these things exist only in cyberspace, and some have real-world components.

One thing all these virtual devices have in common is that they all have real-world application. We’re not talking about video games here. We’re talking about top-tier products that perform critical functions in the broadcast infrastructure.

In that sense, they depart from Webster’s definition in that they do exist in actual fact … just not in the traditional physical form.

Apps like Wheatstone’s ScreenBuilder can pull information from many locations, inside and outside a facility, including from one or more virtual consoles, to produce a “one-stop” display of important data.

For some time now, AoIP has been making inroads into broadcast infrastructure. I have been involved with this personally and can tell you that all those virtual connections beat the heck out of punch blocks and switchers.

Our cable ladders are almost empty, now with just small bundles of Cat-6 wires rather than huge bundles of audio and AES cables. Most any engineer who has been blessed with AoIP infrastructure will likely sing its praises, especially the ease with which “wiring” changes can be made, often from the comfort of his or her home or office.

A number of manufacturers have come out with virtual mixers, virtual boards, virtual control surfaces or whatever name you want to give them.

I suspect that the impetus for most, which likely predated the pandemic, was for remote operation or facility consolidation. But when COVID came along, a whole new need for that kind of thing presented itself. People were working from home, far from the faders, switches and knobs that they would normally manipulate with skilled hands.

Dreaming big

In recent days, I have read of PPM watermark insertion that will soon occur “in the cloud.” That, apparently, is one of those hybrid applications I mentioned where some real-world hardware is involved.

It is intriguing, and I’m all for eliminating a piece of equipment in the air chain along with its connectors and potential points of failure.

Virtual consoles like this Axia IQs are now a real-world thing.

And of course we have seen audio playout or digital media systems moving into the cloud in recent years. That’s a little scary for me; I like everything to be under our own roof where I can lay hands on the infrastructure and be responsible for its safety and security. But undeniably, that’s the way it’s all going.

I think the days of the on-premises file server based digital media system are numbered. Maybe, just maybe, that’s a good thing. I’m adjusting to the idea.

Our phone vendor tells me that equipment manufacturers have warned that their on-premise system assembly lines will, in the next couple of years, be no more, and all our telco service will be cloud-based. Letters I get regularly from carriers confirm this —“traditional” telco services are going virtual, and we had better be prepared to make the switch.

Now, we’re seeing virtual audio processors. In the Aug. 11 issue of Radio World Engineering Extra, you can read about Omnia’s enterprise audio processor, which exists in cyberspace. This is another hybrid virtualization, as real-world I/O has to exist, at least for the time being. But how long will it be before our exciters could simply connect to the network with no real world I/O at all besides the obligatory RJ-45 connector? That’s an exciting prospect.

Last issue, I left you with the way-out-there idea of high-power RF over IP. I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen, ever.

But what about a virtualized transmitter? That would be a hybrid application for sure, and if you think about it, many of the components are already in place in some production transmitters: single-board computer, web interface, SNMP control and monitoring.

You would need real-world power amplifiers, combiners, low-pass filters and control/monitoring hardware for sure, but could we move exciter, control and diagnostic functions completely outside the transmitter cabinet and into the virtual world?

Is that something that could happen someday as we continue to virtualize broadcast infrastructure? It’s certainly something to consider.

Personally, I’m hoping for a virtual phasor and virtual ATUs. Now that would be cool.

But seriously, folks, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Way back in 2001 and again in 2006, Mario Heib presented papers at the NAB Broadcast Engineering Conference proposing a digital phasor with variable phase/variable output power amplifiers at the tower bases. I can see virtualizing every part of such a system other than the actual power amplifiers and matching networks.

We’re headed for a point where cutting-edge facilities will have mostly empty equipment racks. I think that is something to get excited about.

Cris Alexander, CPBE, AMD, DRB is director of engineering for Crawford Broadcasting and tech editor of Radio World Engineering Extra.

The post Broadcasting — A Virtual World? appeared first on Radio World.

An Oklahoma licensee received a $3,500 notice of forfeiture for failing to file a license application for an FM translator on time.

Potter Radio submitted a construction permit for FM translator K236CT in Pawhuska, Okla., in January 2018 with a three-year expiration date of January 2021. On Aug. 4, 2020, Potter requested six months of additional time in which to finalize construct the translator due to construction delays caused by COVID. The Media Bureau agreed and extended the permit to July 4, 2021.

But according to the bureau, Potter Radio did not file a required covering license by that date and as a result the permit expired.

[Read: LPFM Sees Call Sign Deleted After Unauthorized Broadcasting Claim]

Later that month, Potter filed a petition asking the bureau to reconsider cancellation of the construction permit. The bureau treated the request as a waiver and agreed to reinstate permit, giving Potter until August 13 to file a covering license. Potter did so on August 2.

But when a permittee fails to file a covering license application on time — as required by FCC Rules — and instead continues operating, the commission considers it an act of unauthorized operation. In this case, the unauthorized operation lasted almost a month, giving the commission the authority to hold the party in question liable for willfully acting without a license and thus liable for a forfeiture penalty.

The FCC’s forfeiture policy statement establishes a base forfeiture of $3,000 for failing to file a required form and an additional $10,000 for operation without authorization. The commission also has the authority to raise or lower that amount as it sees fit. Based on the Media Bureau’s review of the facts and circumstances, it issued a $7,000 base forfeiture before again reducing that forfeiture to $3,500 because as Potter Radio is providing a secondary service as a translator station.

As a result, Potter Radio is required to either submit the $3,500 forfeiture or file a written statement seeking reduction or cancellation.

 

The post For Willfully Operating Without a License, Permittee Handed $3,500 Forfeiture appeared first on Radio World.

Progressive Concepts said it has been named master distributor and service center for North America by Italian broadcast equipment manufacturer RFE.

The product line includes RFE FM broadcast transmitters. The new DS Series FM Broadcast Transmitters uses sixth-generation LDMOS technology with color touchscreen control, built-in stereo encoder and Cosmic Four-Band Audio Processor. Ethernet and AoIP connectivity support worldwide remote control and networking.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

The DS Series is available in power levels of 30 W, 50W, 100 W, 300 W, 500 W, 1 kW, 2 kW, 3 kW, and 6 kW. They are FCC and CCIR compliant and come with a two-year warranty.

Cosmic is a new audio processor made by RFE.

“This hardware component will be included as a standard feature in our FM transmitters, for audio signal control and stereo signal generation (A/D and D/A acquisition and conversion),” the company said. “This means higher audio quality and less distortion.”

Cosmic uses a DSP microprocessor to assure audio quality and extremely low distortion of 0.01%, the company said.

Extra “audio treatment algorithms” for the processing include AMC Automatic Modulation Control, in which the average deviation value is kept constant within preset limits in order to avoid annoying “overmodulation”

Peaks, as well as SFP Selectable Filter Profile, with which a drop-down menu lets you select four preset audio equalization profiles: Bass Enhancer, Hi Lift, Crystal Voice and Club.

Progressive Concepts is based in Illinois. Demos of RFE products are available.

Send your new equipment news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

Info: www.progressive-concepts.com or mailto:sales@progressive-concepts.com

 

The post Progressive Concepts Inks Deal With RFE appeared first on Radio World.

An image from the clearinghouse site shows the claims process. See the original at https://cbandrpc.com/resources.

The Relocation Payment Clearinghouse LLC is now accepting C-Band relocation claims through an online portal.

The RPC is responsible for collecting, reviewing and distributing payments associated with the relocation, as required by the Federal Communications Commission. This includes those who opted for the lump sum payment option.

“The RPC is ready to accept and review claims,” said Frank Banda, RPC program manager, in the announcement.

“If you have received your email invitation, we encourage you to set up your claimant profile as soon as possible. Setting up your profile and providing the requested information through our Coupa portal is the first step in requesting a lump sum payment or making a claim for reimbursement of actual relocation costs.”

This is the latest in a series of steps related to the FCC’s repurposing of the C-Band (3.7–4.2 GHz) by moving satellite operations to the upper portion of the band (4.0–4.2 GHz) and making spectrum available for other uses through auction.

The RPC website has information about how to establish a profile and submit a claim.

RPC LLC contracted with accounting firm CohnReznick LLP, law firm Squire Patton Boggs, satellite expert lntellicom Technologies Inc. and cable/broadband expert Reed Strategy LLC to perform the duties of the clearinghouse.

Across all users including radio, there are approximately 20,000 registered earth stations in the contiguous U.S. that are classified as incumbents for purposes of the C-Band transition, according to the FCC.

As of May, approximately 1,500 earth station operators, some with multiple licenses, had taken the “lump sum” election, according to data from the FCC. Those licensees that did not accept that option were able to work with their satellite provider or recoup justifiable filter, dish and labor expenses from the clearinghouse, for expenses associated with the transition or relocation.

 

The post C-Band Clearinghouse Opens Its Claims Portal appeared first on Radio World.

The National Association of Broadcasters has released a letter concerning protocols for the upcoming show, Oct. 9-13.

In the letter signed by NAB EVP & Managing Director, Global Connections and Events Chris Brown, he said “we will require all attendees and participants to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination.”

He added, “We think this is a positive step in reducing the spread of COVID-19 and will provide further details on implementation as well as other safety measures under consideration.” The letter did not address protocols issued at the end of July.

Brown cited consultations with “health and safety experts, gathering feedback from a range of exhibitors and attendees, and review of the safety measures recommended by national and local health authorities, including Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak’s important announcement this week regarding large events.”

Sisolak announced that large venues could eschew a mask requirement in exchange for COVID vaccination proof.

The NAB looks to be following the lead of the CES which earlier in the week announced a vaccination requirement for its show in January.

The Audio Engineering Society, with its annual show co-locating with the NAB Show, has also announced a similar vaccination requirement policy, excerpting the NAB letter in its announcement.

 

The post NAB Show Will Require Vaccination appeared first on Radio World.

The organizers of California Public Radio Day are bringing it back for a second year.

The effort aims to raise awareness and financial support for public radio. The date is Thursday Aug. 26.

“After a successful inaugural year, California Public Radio Day is returning with 30 stations coming together to commemorate the day,” they said in an announcement. Thirteen stations participated last year.

“In the single-day celebration aimed at creating awareness for the vital public service public radio brings to the community, stations across the state, from San Diego to Arcata, will collectively encourage listeners to support their local stations.”

California Public Radio Day will take place on August 26. On social media the campaign uses hashtag #CaliforniaPublicRadioDay.

The organizers said events of the past year have only underlined “the importance of access to trustworthy public media for everyone in our communities.”

Participating stations are Cap Radio (Sacramento), DubLab (Los Angeles), KALW (San Francisco), KAZU (Monterey Bay), KCBX (San Luis Obispo), KCHO North State Public Radio (Chico), KCLU (Santa Barbara), KCRW (Santa Monica), KCSN (Northridge), KDFC (San Francisco), KDVS (UC Davis), KFCF (Fresno), KISL (Avalon), KJCC (San Jose City College), KKJZ (Long Beach), KMUD (Redway), KPBS (San Diego), KPCC (Pasadena), KPFA (Berkeley), KPFK (Los Angeles), KQED (San Francisco), KRCB (Santa Rosa), KUSC (Los Angeles), KVCR (San Bernardino), KVPR (Fresno), KXLU (Loyola Marymount University), KXFM (Laguna Beach), KZSC (Santa Cruz), KZYX (Mendocino), UCLA Radio (UCLA).

 

The post Aug. 26 Is the Second “California Public Radio Day” appeared first on Radio World.

LBA Group has hired Juan Macias as its chief technology officer.

He is former lead senior RF engineer with American Tower, senior broadcast consultant for the FCC repack and lead RF designer for Malaysia’s AIM/IoT infrastructure, the company said.

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]

“Macias brings over 20 years of experience in the radio frequency field, with an iNARTE Certification as a Telecommunications Senior Engineer and as an IEEE Senior Member,” LBA wrote in its online announcement.

“Originally from Mexico, Macias had been involved in multiple RF, GPRS, GSM, CDMA and IoT projects worldwide for Iusacell and others.”

Among his jobs will be “developing new offerings in the escalating 5G world to position LBA as a leading resource for 5G RF safety and compliance, IoT, DAS and other evolving technology areas.”

Send People News announcements to radioworld@futurenet.com.

 

The post LBA Group Hires Macias as CTO appeared first on Radio World.

David Oxenford

Attorney David Oxenford blogs often about developments in the U.S. radio industry, and he has thoughts about the just-completed FCC auction.

He notes that almost a third of the available channels drew no auction interest at all, as we’ve reported, and he wonders if the results say something about the FCC’s local ownership rules.

Ninety-seven channels were sold, but 42, including four AM stations, went unsold in the auction. The commission will raise more than $12 million from the auction, but $9 million of that is from just two FM CPs in particularly desirable areas.

“The 42 channels that were unsold range from channels allotted to small communities in states like Wyoming or Alaska that were predicted to serve very few people, thus having opening bids as low as $750 that no one was willing to meet,” Oxenford writes on his blog, “to channels in somewhat bigger communities including channels in New York state and Colorado that had opening bids of $75,000, indicating that they would serve a substantial number of people, but the prices were apparently deemed too high to justify for companies looking for a business return.”

[Read: iHeart Snags a Sacramento FM CP in FCC Auction]

“This lack of interest may also say something about the FCC’s local radio ownership rules.”

Oxenford said he has been told that parties would have been interested in bidding on channels that went unsold but “because of the FCC’s ownership limitations, they were precluded from owning those stations. So instead of providing new service to the public, these channels will lie fallow, providing service to no one.”

He notes that comments on whether changes should be made to the FCC’s radio ownership rules are due Sept. 2 in the commission’s latest rule review. Some broadcasters want the FCC to lift the subcaps that limit how many stations one company can own in a market.

“The results of this auction may well be instructive on the issues that the FCC will be considering,” Oxenford wrote.

“In comments filed in 2019, parties talked about stations in their smaller radio markets that are essentially nothing but a transmitter and a computer — providing no real local service — when local owners who do cover the issues of importance to local communities are precluded from using these channels to provide new services, as the ownership rules do not permit such ownership.”

“There are still broadcasters who want to serve local communities, and as recent congressional activity has suggested, a recognized need for such local services,” he writes.

Read his blog.

 

The post Spectrum? Who Needs Spectrum? appeared first on Radio World.

The radio technology marketplace is hit by the global shortage of chips. Mark Lapidus talks about why you should reach out to friends right now. Michael Saffran thinks radio is guilty of virtue signaling.

Also, the wireless mic industry debates WMAS technology; the NAB and SBE have raised some caution flags.

And in Workbench, a noise-cancelling mic for sports remotes that would make MacGyver proud.

Read it now.

The post Inside the Aug. 18, 2021 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.

Getty Images miragec

Quite a few devices in my broadcast technical environment report alerting information by email. I and others have come to depend on these alerts as what my Ops Manager Eric Thomas refers to as “the rhythm of life” as far as the radio station is concerned: pattern changes, tower lights on, like that.

In many cases these alerts come from old-school email origination clients without the ability to authenticate themselves.

These devices need a mail transfer agent or MTA that simply trusts and forwards, something you would never expose to the open internet. In addition, providers like Gmail and vtext have a variety of ways to detect and reject emails that are suspicious. It’d be nice if my mail was accepted without complaint or being bounced.

Like many firms of size, our company email has been SaaS outsourced to Microsoft 365, which requires meaningful email client authentication. The various broadcast devices I need to serve would never play nicely with an MS or Gmail directly. The system I want must live inside the private address, protective firewall environment of the corporate IT department. And it would be nice if it didn’t cost much.

This article takes you through the build process step-by-step for a send-only MTA. All it does is route alerts from your various non-authenticating devices to real-world email providers on the outside. It will not and should not receive mail.

Almost Anything Will Work

To begin the project, I found an old mid-tower Dell box in the recycling bin at the office. So my core system was free. So far so good. My application is low stress and almost any x86 castoff will work.

I updated the BIOS using the Dell tool and installed a 250-gigabyte flash drive. It could easily have been smaller, but it’s what I had. The box already sported a mighty 4 gigabytes of RAM. When this machine shipped it had Windows 7 Pro on it. It still had the hologram license sticker. Vintage 2013, Intel Core i3. Old, unsuited for office use, but more than good enough for this.

The next step was to load Ubuntu Linux 20.04 Desktop on it. Download a copy at ubuntu.com. The 2.7 GB download is an .iso file for which you’ll use your favorite DVD burner application to copy onto writable disk media or a thumb drive. Connect the box to a network segment that provides DHCP. Boot your boneyard PC from the media you created and install. If you see the choice, elect the “minimal” install. This skips the usual office desktop applications which aren’t needed for this.

Write down your username and password choices (because if you don’t, you’ll be repeating the install). Then open a terminal with CTRL-ALT-T key combination and make your first use of “sudo” which means, more or less, “super user do.” From the terminal you can invoke administrative privileges this way, needed for installation and configuration.

From now on, things you are expected to type will be bold, like… sudo apt upgrade, which will install the latest patches in case they aren’t in the .iso you downloaded. You might as well start from the latest and greatest. Everything is lower-case and yes, case matters. Do not type any punctuation marks. Answer “Y” when prompted and watch the process.

Next is the utility for remote terminal access… sudo apt install ssh, giving you the same terminal functions by IP address using an app like putty.exe. Check from another machine to confirm access via SSH. You can discover the machine’s DHCP assigned address with… sudo ifconfig which will probably complain that you need net-tools. Might as well add those using… sudo apt install net-tools.

You now have a generic Ubuntu Linux install. And for the record, this could probably be a Raspberry Pi just as easily as the scrap pile Dell I am using.

DNS Stuff

The process beyond this point requires two prerequisites:

1. You need a real registered host.domain hostname for your machine. Maybe you have a domain (and access to DNS records to assign its address and other attributes), or for a few bucks, just buy a name. If you buy one, make sure the name registrar provides DNS hosting. Most do for small operations like this.

1. You’ll need an actual registered (static) IP address, at least initially, to facilitate the creation of certificates and mail encryption keys, required for delivery to name brand mail service providers. Don’t worry, your MTA will retreat to the safety of a private address (i.e., 10.x.x.x, 172.16.x.x, 192.168.x.x) inside a proxy once it’s set up. But to get the needed badge of validity, it must stand on the street corner of the real internet for a few minutes.

Start with the prerequisites by choosing a name for your newly configured box. I suggest mail.your_domain_name.com. Obviously, replace “your_domain_name” with your domain name. If you chose some other name during OS install, don’t panic. Use the inbuilt nano Linux text editor to change it: sudo nano /etc/hostname. Replace the text as appropriate with the new hostname. Do the same with /etc/hosts: sudo nano /etc/hosts.

Commands are along the bottom edge of the little nano text editor. CTRL-O to write, RETURN, then reboot.

Using the config tool provided by your domain DNS host, create an A record using the full hostname you gave the mail server. Associate it with the public, registered IP address you will use temporarily. Create an MX record pointing to the same hostname.

Keep in mind that DNS records may take a bit of time to propagate across the internet. I suggest leaving the records you create permanently in place, even though they won’t point to the eventual resulting system anymore. Some mail providers check to see if your hostname is a real box.

Now let’s install the MTA software: sudo apt install mailutils.

When you eventually get a choice dialogue box, choose “Internet Site,” which is the default. Then tab to OK. If it asks for a system mail name, it’s the same name you gave the server you are installing on.

To do what we want, Postfix will require a bit more configuration. Proceed to the text file /etc/postfix/main.cf: sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf.

You’ll need to locate a few lines of the file for editing, so this would be a good time to test out the CTRL-W command in nano to find, first: mydestination = $myhostname, your_domain_name, localhost.com, localhost.

Substitute your domain name as indicated. $myhostname is a variable set earlier in the file by a “myhostname =” statement. Might be good to check that info is correct, but Postfix usually gets this right on install.

Then find… mynetworks =  and change it to read mynetworks = 10.0.0.0/8 172.16.0.0/12 192.168.0.0/16 to allow all the ranges of non-routable private addresses. These are the mail originating devices allowed to use your MTA for outbound messages.

The example config I show gets the whole universe of private IPv4 addresses. If you wish, you can restrict down to the individual device by using a complete address and /32 as the CIDR mask. Or anything in between. This is your gatekeeper. Let paranoia be your guide.

At this point save your changes to main.cf and restart postfix to allow the software to read the changes: sudo systemctl restart postfix.

Testing, testing…

Let’s test your server from the terminal (CTRL-ALT-T) with… echo “This is a test of email” | mail -s ” This is the subject line of the test” your_email_address.

Some receiving domains will probably accept the mail. Outlook.com (MS 365) might, but it’ll probably show up in junk or clutter. Vtext.com (Verizon email to text conversion) probably will as well and display in cellular text. Google Gmail won’t accept it at all; it’ll get bounced. So there is more to do. Time to enable encryption, certificate validation and transport layer security (TLS).

Meanwhile, take a look at the logging that Postfix provides, as it will tell you exactly what happened in the interaction with any outside service. Linux provides a nice utility to look at the last few lines of a log file and even monitor it as lines are added: sudo tail -f /var/log/mail.log (note: your install may name this log file differently, but it will be in the folder /var/log). Also notice that the -f argument makes the utility display new lines as they are appended in real time. You can have more than one terminal instance open at a time, allowing you to watch what happens with the gmails of the world in real time.

Next up is the authentication piece that real email services will be looking for from your MTA.

Let’s get the needed credentials from the free Let’s Encrypt folks. Consider making a contribution to their efforts. sudo apt install certbot.  As always, press “Y.”

Then sudo ufw allow 80. This tells the UFW firewall to open a port for HTTP. The command should answer with confirmation that it opened the port. Certbot’s process will reach out and “Let’s Encrypt” will reach back over port 80 to confirm the host presence at the address claimed, using the DNS records you created. But certificate information doesn’t include IP address directly, so a later move to a private address inside the firewall shouldn’t break anything.

Now let’s create a certificate that identifies this server as within the domain you’ve placed it in and provide a public key to go with the private key that’ll be stored on this host. sudo certbot certonly –standalone –rsa-key-size 4096 –agree-tos –preferred-challenges http -d your_domain_name (those are double dashes, by the way).

When complete, you should see this:

 

If it doesn’t work, check your DNS configuration, or maybe just wait a while and try again. When it completes, pay attention to certificate expiration.

Now let’s tell our server where the keys are kept. Back to the postfix config file we go:

sudo nano /etc/postfix/main.cf.

Under # TLS parameters find:

smtpd_tls_cert_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem

smtpd_tls_key_file=/etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key

 

and change it to:

smtpd_tls_cert_file=/etc/letsencrypt/live/your_domain_name/fullchain.pem

smtpd_tls_key_file=/etc/letsencrypt/live/your_domain_name/privkey.pem

 

Finally, to further satisfy Gmail, add the line: “always_add_missing_headers = yes”.

Save, exit nano then restart postfix: sudo systemctl restart postfix.

If all went as described (it should have), then you have a mail transfer agent. Any mails from your devices, pointed to the private address the server has, will be forwarded to whatever mail service is indicated.

Finally, you can disconnect from the public internet (the registered static IP), bring this server inside the firewall and give it a private address.

Use the desktop “settings” tool to change the IP. So long as port 25 is open through the firewall, you are all set. Just point your various reporting devices to that same private address and watch the alerts flow.

If it doesn’t work, check your DNS configuration or maybe just wait a while and try again. When it completes, pay attention to certificate expiration. In my case, using GoDaddy DNS, I had to assign the IP address to my machine that is associated with the your_domain_name DNS entry. Your DNS provider may work differently. The error messages that certbot sends are helpful for Googling.

Now let’s tell our server where the keys are kept. Back to the postfix config file we go.

# Raspberry Pi differences:

1. Enable SSH terminal access using the raspi-config tool
2. net-tools are already installed in the Raspi Lite .iso
3. Use raspi-config to change the hostname
4. mailutils does not include postfix when pulled from the raspi repositories. sudo apt install postfix

It doesn’t take a lot to create a functioning MTA out of equipment already on hand. Having that functionality will ensure that important status and warning messages get through, which will make the engineer’s job easier and provide for faster responses to anomalies.

The post A DIY Mail Transfer Agent appeared first on Radio World.

Dear Radio World,

The advice that appeared at the end of a March Workbench column about resetting a generator fault remotely is something I discourage strongly.

Besides clearing the fault and possibly the run-time and error logs, cycling the DC power to the controller may also clear the real-time clock and reset the exercise timer, and may leave the generator in an offline state until the clock and timer are manually set.

As stated in the tip, you have no idea why it faulted in the first place. Attempting a restart without an inspection or a person present could result in catastrophic damage to the genset, a fire (if there was a fuel leak), or even harm to a technician who might be working on the unit and could have even been the cause of the fault or shutdown.

If there was a mechanical failure, running the engine without repairing the damage first could make things even worse.

I bet a generator technician reading the tip would cringe. Of course your local generator sales person would love to take this opportunity to sell you a new generator.

My own home standby generator, a Kohler 14RESA, resets just the clock and exercise timer if the battery is disconnected; the run-time and error logs are maintained in nonvolatile memory. But it won’t run until those two items are set. For safety reasons they tell you to disconnect the incoming AC power as well as the battery whenever you service the unit, but I find it more convenient to do neither of those things but just press the OFF button when doing the annual maintenance (oil, spark plugs, and filter changes).

Radio World welcomes letters to the editor about any article or relevant radio industry issue. Email radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line.

The post Letter to the Editor: A Genset Reset Rethink appeared first on Radio World.

Several organizations that push for diversity and civil rights are urging Congress to reinstate the minority tax certificate program.

“Supporting these pieces of legislation would eliminate barriers and create new opportunities for women, people of color and socially disadvantaged individuals to own local TV and radio stations,” they wrote to congressional leaders.

The letter supports H.R. 4871, the Expanding Broadcast Opportunities Act of 2021 introduced by Reps. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and Steven Horsford of Nevada, and S. 2456, the Broadcast VOICES Act, introduced by Sens. Gary Peters of Michigan and Robert Menendez of New Jersey. All four are Democrats. Menendez has been pushing for reinstatement since at least 2008, when he introduced a similar bill.

The bills would authorize the Federal Communications Commission to reestablish what would now be called a Diversity Tax Certificate Program.

Individuals who donated broadcast stations for the purpose of training socially disadvantaged individuals in the management and operation of stations would be eligible for a tax credit equal to the fair market value of the station.

[Read: NAB Gives Thumbs Up to Minority Tax Bills]

The joint letter is from the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, the National Urban League, United States Black Chambers, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Hispanic Federation.

“From 1978 to 1995, when the diversity tax certificate was instituted, it was an effective mechanism for bringing more people of color into station ownership,” they wrote.

“During this time, broadcast ownership by people of color increased by more than 550%. The elimination of the diversity tax certificate in 1995 disproportionately affected that rate. According to data from 2017, women make up less than 6% of broadcast TV station owners, and people of color account for less than 3%. Similarly, women own just 7% of broadcast radio stations, and people of color own less than 3%.”

 

The post Minority Advocates Speak Up for Tax Certificate appeared first on Radio World.

PreSonus has launched its new Revelator io24 USB-C audio interface, designed for both recording and streaming.

The unit is built around high-headroom mic preamps, a two-channel loopback mixer, and extensive processing with the aim of providing professional-sounding results for streaming, podcasting and music production.

The Revelator io24 sports a pair of analog mic/instrument/line inputs with PreSonus’ XMAX-L microphone preamps which can be stereo linked, as well as two balanced 1/4-inch line outputs, a headphone output, professional metering, and zero-latency monitoring. Users can record up to 24-bit, 96 kHz audio to the included Studio One Artist or other recording and production software.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

The Revelator io24’s loopback mixer allows users to add backing tracks to live stream performances or conference in a Zoom caller to a podcast. With two dedicated stereo channels for loopback audio on Mac OS or Windows, users can simultaneously mix and record the audio from two different applications, along with the two analog input channels.

Each input channel can be processed using PreSonus’ Fat Channel DSP, which provides a high-pass filter, 4-band parametric EQ, compressor, gate and limiter. Effects include detuner, vocoder, ring modulator, filters and delay, while a dedicated reverb bus is also available.

Revelator io24 locally stores two presets per channel, and eight more factory presets can be loaded from PreSonus’ Universal Control software. Revelator io24 comes with Studio One Artist and Studio Magic Suite, which includes Ableton Live Lite, various virtual instruments and effects plug-ins, and more. The interface is currently available for $179.95.

Send your new equipment news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

Info: www.presonus.com

 

The post PreSonus Revelator io24 USB-C Interface Debuts appeared first on Radio World.

Sample screen of Audacy app

Two companies with significant radio assets have announced a digital content distribution partnership. Audacy signed a deal with Urban One under which the latter will provide live and on-demand audio content to the Audacy digital platform, including Urban One’s 57 radio stations.

Corey Podolsky, VP of business development for Audacy, described Urban One in the announcement as “a power player in the audio space” and said the agreement underscores Audacy’s own “unwavering commitment to amplifying diverse voices and delivering premier audio content to the communities in which we serve.”

Audacy, the former Entercom Communications, said its app now has more than 2,000 stations including its own 230 outlets. The app also includes podcasts and other audio programming. It is available on the Apple Store and Google Play, and via social media channels.

 

The post Urban One Joins Audacy App appeared first on Radio World.

“CES will be in person in Las Vegas in January 2022, and we will require all attendees to be fully vaccinated.”

That’s according to Gary Shapiro, president/CEO of the Consumer Technology Association.

“We have seen a spike in cases due to the Delta variant, which is severely hurting the unvaccinated population,” Shapiro wrote in a blog post today.

“Yes, there are breakthrough cases for the vaccinated, but many of those have few or no symptoms at all. And of the vaccinated getting the Delta variant, only a tiny percentage are hospitalized.”

“We prioritize the safety and security of CES participants.” Shapiro called it a “major decision” to require vaccinations.

“We are also assessing proof of a positive antibody test as a requirement and will share more details on this later. Importantly, we will continue to follow state and local guidelines and recommendations by the CDC and will announce additional protocols as we get closer to the show.”

Shapiro said that the past 18 months have been “a roller coaster of emotion” for him as a CEO “as I work to lead by example and make decisions that will have positive effects.” He described the difficult decision not to do last year’s event in person and the need to lay off employees last year because of the pandemic.

“We all play a role in stopping the spread — requiring proof of vaccination for CES 2022 is one way we can take responsibility on our part.” He said those who choose not to attend will be able to experience the show online.

In a separate email to the show community, Veronica A. Lancaster, vice president, Standards Programs, said the requirement to provide proof of vaccination will affect all attendees, support staff and exhibitors’ staff.

“CTA decided this based on today’s science which shows that vaccines offer us the best hope for stopping the spread of this pandemic. … While we are still more than five months from CES 2022, we want to communicate this decision early to give you time to plan. CTA is also assessing the acceptance of proof of a positive antibody test as an alternative requirement and will share more details on this later.”

CES has a page with info about health protocols.

 

 

The post CES Show Will Require Vaccinations appeared first on Radio World.

Dear RW,

Cris Alexander’s delightful reminiscing on changes in audio processing (“Air Chains Then and Now” ) brought back memories of when I was hired by GAF Corp. in 1976 to rebuild and manage New York’s Classical WNCN, 104.3 FM.

We started with a blank sheet, and the first thing GAF’s chairman did was to retain the services of the legendary Dick Sequerra to handle all aspects of the audio chain. 

The chairman was an audiophile, and had one of the amazing Sequerra FM1 tuners in his home. Of course, we had one in our main studio as an off-air monitor, too.

As our studios and offices were located in a building on Sixth Avenue, and the building’s foundation went straight down to the Sixth Avenue subway, the studios were built as rooms within rooms, with the inner rooms mounted on rubber dampers that resembled hockey pucks.

Sequerra hired WFMT Chicago CE Al Antlitz to design and fabricate the boards used in each studio. Their performance was far superior to anything available in the marketplace and greatly added to the very clean sound that he wanted to achieve.  

Sequerra hoped to broadcast the way that the BBC did with its Classical channel, requiring the announcers (presenters) to ride gain, with no processing. AFTRA, the announcers’ union, mandated that wasn’t about to happen, so we ended up with the then-new Orban processors, which really were superior to anything else on the market. 

As part of his passion for excellence, Sequerra went into the bowels of Manhattan and rebuilt the telco amplifiers going from our studios to the Empire State Building, unknown to New York Telephone, of course.

After the new Gates transmitter was delivered to our space in the Empire State Building, Sequerra spent three days tearing the transmitter apart and rebuilding it to his specs. The performance was just spectacular! My memory is not absolutely perfect here, but as I recall, with the Orban bypassed, the lines were clean to something in the –90 dB area. 

There is no doubt that Dick Sequerra’s passion and expertise made WNCN the best-engineered FM station in the country. The programming team was led by a Julliard graduate, and the combination made WNCN a leader in the country’s Classical music FM stations.

Thanks for the memories.

The post Letter to the Editor: Air Chain by Dick Sequerra appeared first on Radio World.

This plastic cap was an inexpensive deterrent to insects that would otherwise nest in the feed horn.

Steve Tuzeneu is a longtime broadcast engineer and Workbench contributor, and the general manager and CE of WIHS(FM) in Middletown, Conn.

Steve had a problem: a lost satellite signal; but he was able to track the problem to wasps that had taken up residence in the feed horn.

After removing them and their nest from the throat of the feed horn, Steve wanted to stop them from coming back. Fig. 1 shows Steve’s solution: a plastic cap from a used can of aerosol glue. The cap happens to fit nicely into the feed horn, discouraging any insects from moving in.

Keep this solution in mind, especially if you suddenly lose your satellite signal. As a contractor, I once was called to a station that reported losing its satellite signal every evening at sundown. Yep, you guessed it: Bees had taken up residence; during the day they were mostly away from the nest, but at night they all returned, and their combined body mass was enough to disrupt the signal.

Whether it’s a plastic cap or a cut-down 1-liter plastic water bottle, Steve’s tip will save you a headache and maybe prevent you from getting stung.

 

Analog at the Edge

I got a followup from engineer Dale Lamm about the AoIP EAS adapter we discussed here in July.

“I’ll confess, when I first saw the tip about the AoIP/EAS interconnection, I thought it was an April Fool’s article that was somehow delayed,” he wrote.

Dale Lamm wasn’t sure at first that we were serious with our tip about the AoIP EAS adapter in the June 23 issue.

The CATV F connector adapting to an RJ-45 Ethernet plug was something he had never encountered. A clever engineer from WETA found this adapter and used it to solve a problem that had nothing to do with CATV.

But where did this odd adapter come from in the first place?

It starts with someone who wanted to install a TV set in a room that had nothing in the wall but Ethernet category wiring. There was no RG-6 coaxial wiring in the room.

With a pair of these adapters, you take RF from the CATV distribution amp and send it on one of the twisted pair inside the category cable.

In the room, another adapter takes it to an F connector that is attached to the TV. The 100-ohm twisted pair is close enough to the 75-ohm RG-6 impedance for this to work. Obviously, use a direct category cable connection. Don’t expect to shove RF through a network router!

Looking closely at the picture in our original article, it seems only the first pair is used. Moving consumer S/PDIF to professional AES with this adapter solved a problem inexpensively.

Dale’s plant makes partial use of audio over IP but has a lot of gear with analog I/O. He was never a big fan of dongles with twin XLR connectors hanging off the back of a dense array of rack gear. He finds it easier to modify a LAN cable — cut off one end, fan out the four pairs and solder the left/right pairs to a couple of XLRs that plug into the analog gear.

Use some tubing or heat shrink to make it pretty and more durable. Running balanced analog through 10 or 20 feet of unshielded category cable is fine.

[Check Out More of Workbench Here]

If you use the hanging dongle method, you’ll be soldering an XLR at each end of the interconnection. Dale’s method requires an XLR only at the analog equipment end, and results in less wiring congestion. Less dense rack wiring can save time troubleshooting in the future.

Note that LAN patch cables use stranded wire instead of solid if you’re concerned about flexure.

Someday, everything will be AoIP-ready or shrunken into a piece of software inside a server. For now, we all have to deal with analog at the edges of our facilities.

 

Ouch Ouch Ouch
Dale “Squeak” Porray, AD7K, really liked Bill Weeks’ submission about the LED replacement for fluorescent Circline bulbs but says the website link we gave may not have been right in some versions of the story. It is www.mpja.com for Marlin P. Jones Associates.
The site now has over 60 YouTube videos of the products they sell. Squeak has been dealing with them since the 1970s and says they’re a fine company.
Since we also were talking about Cat-5/6 Ethernet cables, watch the site’s YouTube video about the LAN RJ Plug Crimp Tool. It has a built-in cable continuity tester to check cables you’ve crimped, all for under $30. One notable feature is a ratchet release pin, very important!

Once while helping an engineer crimp cables, we took a break, but as we chatted, he inadvertently put his index finger in the jaws of the crimping tool and pressed down. CLICK — the jaws latched. And there was no release.

I drove him to the emergency room to get his finger freed. Since witnessing that, I’ve made sure that any latching pliers or crimping tools I use have a release pin. You can’t be too careful.
Bee a pal! Help fellow engineers by sending in your tips to johnpbisset@gmail.com.
John has spent over 50 years in broadcasting and is in his 31st year of Workbench. He handles western U.S. radio sales for the Telos Alliance and is a past recipient of the SBE’s Educator of the Year Award.

The post Workbench: Invasion of the Bees appeared first on Radio World.

WinMedia has announced that it has expanded its distribution network in the United Arab Emirates in a partnership with Tek Signals, a full-service provider of systems engineering and technology consulting.

Tek Signals will represent WinMedia’s range of broadcasting software solutions for radio and TV to Emirati media and broadcasting customers.

[See Our Business and Law Page]

WinMedia International Sales Manager Jesus Vazquez Miguel said, “Tek Signals is the ideal partner to help us continue expanding our presence in Emirates.”

He added, “In addition to their deep knowledge of the local market, Tek Signals have a solid track record of expertise in the analysis, development, and installation of solutions for media operations. Working with Tek Signals, we’ll be able to make our products and services even more accessible to local customers and reinforce WinMedia’s reputation for excellence in the Emirati marketplace.”

Submit business announcements to radioworld@futurenet.com.

 

The post WinMedia Names UAE Distributor appeared first on Radio World.

Photo: moodyradio.org

The AM radio station formerly known as WMBI no longer has those historic call letters. It officially is now WXES.

That’s just one of the call sign changes reported by the FCC for the month of July, and probably the one involving the most famous call letters.

The station, which airs at 1110 kHz in Chicago, was acquired by El Sembrador Ministries from Moody Bible Institute of Chicago in July. Moody still owns WMBI-FM.

Moody had announced earlier that it planned to sell the AM station, which is considered one of the oldest noncommercial Christian radio stations in the country.

WMBI had been Moody’s flagship dating to 1926, and its call letters referred to the organization’s name. Moody had switched the station to Spanish-language Christian programming in 2012.

Here’s the list of 22 call sign changes in July (PDF).

The post July Call Sign Changes: WMBI Is Now WXES appeared first on Radio World.

Promo image from the Freightliner website

Expanding on its existing relationship with Mercedes Benz, Xperi announced that HD Radio receivers will be available in digital dash displays of Freightliner Cascadia trucks early next year.

Xperi SVP/GM Jeff Jury said in an announcement that the Freightliner Cascadia “will be the first commercial truck to fully implement HD Radio technology in its cab.”

Daimler Trucks North America is the parent of the Freightliner line.

The two companies have worked together before, including in the hybrid radio space. Xperi’s DTS AutoStage system was introduced to the market in the Daimler MB User Experience (MBUX) in the 2021 Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

Xperi says HD Radio technology is now available from approximately 40 manufacturers in about 200 vehicle models and that it is in 75+ million vehicles.

 

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