We regret having to take this decision, but given the low adoption rate of the feature by customers, as well as the high cost of Davicom’s royalty payments to the HDMI Licensing Authority, we had to go in this direction. In addition, the performance obtained from this output port was less than what we normally expected from our Davicom products.

In the unlikely case where you are using the HDMI output port on your Davicom Cortex 360 unit, you must not upgrade your firmware beyond Version 6.10.xxx as this will disable the HDMI output.

Since the HDMI Royalty payments have been made on all Davicom Cortex 360 units sold before March 28^th 2024, these products can continue to use the HDMI feature. They can also be repaired and updated, as long as the update does not go beyond Firmware Version 6.10.xxx.

If you are not using the HDMI output, and never plan to do so in the future, you can obviously update your firmware to whatever version is desired.

We apologize in advance to any customer adversely affected by this decision.

Please contact Davicom Support if you have further questions or concerns.

The post Removal of Digital Video (HDMI) Port from Davicom Cortex 360 units appeared first on Davicom Exchange Support Portal (DEX).

I’ve got some confessions. I’m not an engineer. Not even a little bit. I don’t have years of radiocommunication experience or an impressive advanced technical degree. I’ve been told that I do learn quickly at least. Oh, and I had never even heard of the NAB before this year… Phew, I feel better getting all that out in the open!

Getting Ready

After about a month at the office here in beautiful Quebec City, I was asked if I’d like to represent Comlab and Davicom at the biggest broadcasting industry event of the year in Las Vegas. I said yes, of course. So started several weeks of industry research, product research… and research to figure out what the heck the NAB even was. John, Louis-Charles, Andrew and everyone else here at the office patiently answered my questions, suggested topics to study and generally tried to make sure that I wasn’t going to embarrass myself and the company. Their time was well spent and their mission was a success- as far as I know!

View overlooking Le Chateau Frontenac and the St. Lawrence river in Old Quebec City in the fall.

How it started

We arrived late at night a couple days before the show started. It wasn’t too late LV time but it was very late EST and I was looking forward to a nice soft bed after a long travel day.

Of course, that wasn’t the hand that I would be dealt. There was a problem with my room- and the hotel was booked-up. This led to a rushed search for another room and a late-night walk through the neon lit Las Vegas streets dragging all my luggage behind me like in a movie. I checked-in to my new room and ‘’enjoyed’’ the soothing sounds of a nearby nightclub until just before dawn. It could only get better from here- I hoped.

The iconic ”Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas” sign.

DEX Breakfast 2022 (at the High Roller Wheel House)

This was my first DEX breakfast and I felt prepared; but still somewhat unsure of what to expect. No one was completely sure what to expect this year. This was our first event since COVID, it was a very uncertain year as far as the entire NAB was concerned, and we were deviating from the normal and popular DEX breakfast format.

We usually ask members of our community to share the creative ways they use the power and flexibility of Davicom products. Everyone really seems to look forward to this. Who doesn’t like to see new ways to use their tools to make life easier? This format also gives our Davicom community a way to bounce ideas, win congratulations, and to just socialize and network a bit. Would everyone miss this more structured approach or would they enjoy the relaxed welcome back that we planned?

This year, we really wanted to provide a place to see friends and colleagues who had been kept distant by travel and gathering restrictions. We planned for Louis-Charles Cuierrier and Radica’s Alan Brown to give short presentations on what Davicom had been working on for the past two years and then break to give people time to say hi.

I was given a few tasks but the most daunting was to introduce myself. I’m usually pretty comfortable with public speaking. I really should be at this point! But I had to address a group of industry professionals, all of whom were more knowledgeable and experienced than me- by far (remember my confession?). Oh yeah, and I had to do it at 8 AM in Vegas. I assumed that, for a lot of people, 8 AM in Vegas was not the same as 8AM at home! I wasn’t anticipating a lot of energetic and smiling faces happy to meet the new guy…

The DEX Breakfast was held at The Wheelhouse at the base of the High Roller observation wheel at the end of The LINQ Promenade.

The Convention Floor

Our booth was well positioned in the hall and surrounded by friendly exhibitors. The people to one side were from Arkansas and the people across the aisle were from Texas.  I spent a lot of time in both states when I was in the military and while I was studying at LSU. We chatted when there was time and they answered my questions and told me stories of how the NAB and the industry have evolved.

There were times that I was left alone to answer questions about our products. Everyone was very understanding if I referred to Louis-Charles, told them that I’d have to get back to them, or asked them for more detail if I was unsure that I understood a question. No one made me feel unhelpful or unwelcome and I really couldn’t have appreciated it more. It was time to exhale- I hadn’t even realized that I was holding my breath.

On the last day, we celebrated by trying out the Tesla Loop on the way out of the convention center and then having dinner at Louis-Charles’ favorite LV restaurant- again. Lol

Shaun Owens and Louis-Charles Cuierrier (Left to Right) of Davicom at The NAB Show 2022

Verdict

I know that I left the section about the DEX breakfast unfinished. It turned out that I had worried for nothing. I was impressed by how welcoming everyone was and I did fine with my introduction. I think that I avoided all vocal pauses or embarrassing slips of the tongue! On the floor, no one made me feel like an imposter, interloper or tourist. I felt like a welcome member of the community.

My first NAB experience was great. I got to meet a lot of people in the industry, many that I had already heard of by name. I gained greater exposure to the ecosystem of products and companies with which I’ll be working and I got to enjoy a little of Vegas at the same time. A special thanks to the Inovonics crew and everyone at MNC software. I look forward to NAB 2023 and I’m excited to show off some of the new things that we’re working on right now!

I left for Las Vegas thinking that I had found a special company in Davicom. A unicorn. One that was willing to accept someone new to the industry, mentor them, and welcome them to a real work family. I returned to Quebec City knowing that what I had actually found was a special industry. One that is willing to do all those things and more! Thank you and I look forward to seeing you again or meeting you at the next NAB. Come by the booth and say hi.

Coaster collection from the Yard House on The Linq Promenade, near the site of the DEX breakfast.

Getting to know you

Did you attend NAB 2022 or others? If so, what’s your favorite part?

Have you never been to NAB but want to go? What do you look forward to seeing or doing?

Do you know Louis-Charles’ favorite Las Vegas restaurant? I gave you a really strong hint!

Please comment below. I look forward to reading your replies!

The post Wide-eyed and Green, NAB 2022 appeared first on Davicom Exchange Support Portal (DEX).

I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who submitted their units and photos for our contest. We received submissions from around the world, which isn’t surprising given the fact that the sun never sets on all Davicom units. 

We are proud to see our products still working tirelessly after 19, 20 even up to 22 years. This is a nice exploit in today’s fast paced world of cheap electronics and short product lifecycles. Actually, it isn’t too surprising since each generation of Davicom products is designed and supported to last over 10 years!

THE WINNER!

The winning contest entry is from Yoann Des Ponts at Arsenal Media.

His Davicom MiniMAC unit (yes, we called them MACs back then, but that’s another story) was manufactured in November 1998 and is still in operation at CKLD-FM in Thetford Mines, Quebec, Canada. It is running firmware version 2.42.5 and as of June 30^th, it had an age of 22 years and 7 months! Yoann and Arsenal Media will be receiving their prize in a few weeks. It’s one of our newest babies, a 3^rd generation Davicom Cortex 320 unit that Yoann will be able to introduce to its Grandpa, the MiniMAC. Just to put things in perspective, Grandpa only had a phone, a fax and a VT-100 terminal. In addition to the phone and FAX, the new kid has InstaModbus, SnapSNMP, TikTok-I/O and is constantly checking the network for Internet access (sound familiar? :-).

SOME RUNNERS-UP

1999-03-30, 267 months, 22.3 years

Coming-in at just a few months younger than our winner is a MAC8 installed at a 40W CBC AM site in Beaver Creek, Yukon. . It was manufactured in March 1999. Thanks to Jason Byers of the CBC for submitting the photos.

1999-05-25, 265 months, 22.1 years

Here is a MAC8 manufactured just 2 months after that, in May 1999, and installed at the studios of CKCR-FM in Revelstoke, BC.

Thanks to Larry King of Bell Media for submitting the photos.

2000-05-12, 253 months, 21.1years

This MAC24 is installed on a large Shively combiner with ERI antenna at the top of the IDS Center in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. This standby site is co-owned and operated by many of the FM signals in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Minnesota market.

Thanks to UNSWP’s Brian Gullikson for submitting the photos.

2001-02-01, 244 months, 20.3 years

In service at Heart, Hertfordshire, UK this MAC16 unit was installed in Feb 2001 at what used to be the studios, but is now an unmanned site. Thanks to Radica’s Tim Foulsham for submitting the photo.

2002-03-21, 231 months, 19.3 years

This MAC System was installed to monitor the VHF radio network of a public safety agency in Newfoundland & Labrador.

2004-10-15, 200 months, 16.7 years

This MAC32 is installed at CKLW-AM in Windsor, Ontario. Thanks to Darrin Drouillard of Bell Media for submitting the photos.

Davicom has manufactured thousands of remote site management units over the past 28 years. We continue to develop, manufacture and support new generations of site management products that stand guard on broadcast transmitter & public safety repeater sites, keeping listeners informed and citizens safe around the world. 

The post DAVICOM’S OLDEST UNIT CONTEST appeared first on Davicom Exchange Support Portal (DEX).

Remote site management systems are designed to enhance situational awareness and ensure operational efficiency of remote sites. However, a reliable means of communicating with these sites must be available, and in our always-connected and on-line world, it may be easy to forget that some areas aren’t easily covered by modern communications channels.

This paper presents different types of channels and means of communicating with remote sites.

1. INTRODUCTION

Remote transmitter sites can benefit greatly from the use of intelligent site management systems. These systems continuously monitor and control site equipment while reporting any problems that happen at the site, thereby ensuring better situational awareness and quicker response times. Finding an available means of communicating with remote sites via an independent channel can sometimes pose a problem, but several options can be available. Some of these options are presented and explained below.

1.1. DIAL-UP

The use of dial-up telephone lines is still possible in regions where this service is available. Your remote site management system must include a dial-up modem, or have it optionally available. If the telephone service is provided via a VoIP (Voice over IP) link, attention must be given to the dial-up modem’s performance over these types of lines.  

If data communications is not reliable over the dial-up connection, you can always fall-back to using DTMF control and vocal-responses from the remote site management system, as long as this functionality is supported in your system.

1.2. WIRED INTERNET

Most urban areas are covered by wired Internet services, but broadband deployments are slowly spreading to suburban and rural areas as installation prices decrease. Delivery can be via DSL lines, cable or optical fiber networks. Ensure your remote site management system can connect directly to this IP link, or at least pass through a site router/switch. If redundancy is important, pay attention to the type of connection used to transport the IP service. For example, a DSL IP connection uses the same line as the dial-up telephone system, so it affords no redundancy in case of line failure.

1.3. Short/medium Range unlicensed Microwave links

If a line-of-sight exists between the remote site and a base site (where wired IP is available), then wireless microwave links can be used quite effectively at ranges of up to 30 km. These systems operate at frequencies of 900, 2400 or 5000 MHz and companies like Ubiquity (https://www.ubnt.com )make a full range of IP-over-microwave products that allow quick, low-cost and easy deployment of IP capability at a site. Since this service is license-free, one disadvantage is that the link can be affected by interference from other license-free systems nearby. Changing antenna polarization can sometimes help in these situations.

1.4. IP OVER cellular

Different generations of cellular technology offer different bandwidths of IP networking, so ensure that your remote site management system can operate over low bandwidth connections like those offered by 3G technologies if that is what is available. LTE (4G) connections should be fine. Wireless routers from companies like Cradlepoint, Sierra Wireless, Advantech and others work very well in these situations. Pricing for IP over cellular data has become surprisingly affordable.

1.5. VHF/UHF Radio Links

In areas where unlicensed microwave links cannot be used, it is also possible to backhaul site data over a VHF or UHF point-to-point radio link. These links use radios from companies like Kenwood, Icom or Motorola that have built-in serial data ports (RS-232).  Maximum data rates in these cases can be as low as 2400 bits/second, so ensure that your remote site management system can operate with this connection speed. Radio licenses will be required for these systems.

1.6. Satellite IP

If a site is very remote and no other land-based technologies are available for network connectivity, then several satellite-based solutions exist today. One of these solutions is the BGAN system operated by Inmarsat (https://www.inmarsat.com/service/bgan/ ). BGAN, which stands for Broadband Global Area Network, offers low, medium and high-speed bidirectional Internet service in all areas of the globe. A coverage map is shown below.

Users purchase a BGAN terminal and then select the appropriate data package from BGAN. Davicom units have been operating over BGAN links for nearly 10 years in all corners of the world.

2. CONCLUSION

Different means of communicating with remote site management systems were presented. Dial-up data, dial-up vocal, Internet, cellular data, unlicensed microwave, VHF/UHF radio, and satellite links were enumerated and explained.

One last point to consider when deciding what type of channel to use is the bandwidth limit of the channel. This bandwidth has to be larger than the bandwidth required by the remote site management system. A remote system with a small, adjustable or selectable bandwidth offers more flexibility for selection of the backhaul channel.  

3. About Davicom

In the mid 1990’s, Davicom started producing and commercializing the first generation of its Remote Monitoring and Control Systems. From the very beginning, these unique systems were designed, developed and maintained with a single objective in mind: to provide the broadcast and telecommunications industries with a low-bandwidth, intelligent and trusted monitoring and control system for their remote transmission sites.

Over the years, new capabilities were added to maintain the product’s position as an industry innovator. From initial VT-100 terminal communications, through the addition of fax & voice capabilities, the units have evolved to the present secure-Internet version with SNMP V3 functionality, iOS/Android App support and smart-functions for adjustable bandwidth communications.. Davicom systems are used worldwide by industry leaders in broadcast, public safety and land mobile radio to help maintain the integrity and operational efficiency of their networks.

The post Backhaul Communications for Remote Sites appeared first on Davicom Exchange Support Portal (DEX).

Remote site management systems are designed to reduce maintenance personnel’s workload and ensure operational efficiency of remote systems. However, if they are not properly set up or versatile enough, they can actually increase workloads by generating an abundance of false, or nuisance alarms. This can lead to increased operating costs and eventually a mistrust of the remote management system by maintenance technicians.

Fine tuning different alarm parameters and applying techniques such as de-glitching delays, signal averaging, hysteresis and intelligent alarm muting can go a long way towards ensuring a system is operating optimally and is trusted and appreciated by site maintenance personnel.

1. INTRODUCTION

Remote site management systems are required by law in certain industries, and not in others. They are nevertheless generally recognized as being essential to the efficient operation of remote communications installations. If not properly installed, or adjusted, or if the right system is not used in a particular installation, these remote management systems can actually reduce operational efficiency by sending false alarms. These false, or nuisance alarms will greatly reduce the usefulness of the remote management system and can eventually instill a mistrust of the system in technical personnel, which could even go as far as alarms being ignored. Having a system that “Cries Wolf” too often can be disastrous when a real alarm or emergency occurs. Nobody likes being awoken needlessly in the middle of the night.

There are ways of ensuring that all alarms sent will be important ones and at severity levels that are proportional to the required remedial action. In this paper, we will present several means of attaining this goal of minimizing false alarms while still maintaining optimal site monitoring and control capabilities.  Techniques like de-glitching delays, hysteresis, software filtering, alarm aggregation, intelligent input qualification and alarm redirection will be explained.

Once you have read this paper, you will be able to recognize sources of false alarms and you will be familiar with methods for minimizing them.

1.1. DE-GLITCHING DELAYS

In many installations, the electrical system may be subject to fast transients and noise caused by switching equipment on and off. A fast-starting electric motor is one example of a device that can cause glitches on the network, and consequently on electronic equipment connected to it. These glitches can cause spurious alarms as shown in the figure below.

Adding a 2-second de-glitching delay avoids alarms that could be triggered by electrical motor start-ups, power relay switching etc. as shown below.

The delay should be adjustable to minimize glitches while capturing valid alarm conditions that can occur. An adjustment range between 1 second and several minutes, in order to account for various input conditions, will allow for best optimization.

For example, an audio silence of several seconds is probably ok (to account for pauses in speech and/or music), but an alarm is surely warranted after 20 to 30 seconds of silence.

1.2. HYSTERESIS

Monitoring a noisy input signal that varies closely around a trigger level, can cause multiple alarm on-off cycles as shown in the figure below.

Adding Hysteresis creates a dead-zone around the trigger level. This ensures that an input signal must exceed the trigger level to set an alarm, and then it must return below a “reset” level to stop the alarm.

This reduces the number of alarm on-off cycles.

1.3. FILTERING BY AVERAGING

A noisy input signal can lead to multiple alarms as shown below. Using an electronic filter could be one way of reducing these nuisance alarms, but adding a filtering circuit (soldering a capacitor and resistor for example) is not always easy or even possible.  Using a mathematical averaging function is the next best thing. Calculating a running average over a certain number of input samples by adding them together and then dividing the sum by the number of samples will reduce the noise level correspondingly.  If the number of samples in the average is adjustable over a certain range (say 2 samples to 20 samples), the resulting noise reduction can be fine-tuned for different noise and input conditions. Noise can be filtered while not affecting the input signal of interest. The figures below illustrate this averaging operation.

1.4. ALARM AGGREGATION

Since alarms rarely come alone, and since deglitching delays and filtering may all be set to different values to account for the varied characteristics of the inputs being monitored, a system could make many calls to send multiple alarms.

Say the microwave link went down, this would cause audio to be lost at the site input, which would then produce no audio at the site and finally no output from the transmitter.  Up to 4 different alarm calls to site maintenance personnel could result from this fault.

      Hello, this is your site. I have an alarm.

    Hi again, this is your site. I have another alarm.

Oh, hi there, just another alarm to tell you about.

 Yeah, it’s me again, guess what…another alarm.

Being able to add a delay before actually transmitting the first alarm allows the different alarms to be consolidated into a single call.

Hello, this is your site calling. I have this list of alarms to tell you about.

1.5. ALARM INPUT QUALIFICATION

Say you have a power failure at your site. Depending on how you are set up, several subsystems may stop working. The HVAC, tower lights, GPS time sync receiver, backhaul link, transmitter and battery charger may all stop working and set off an alarm.  This means that your site maintenance people, or Network Operations Center can receive 6 or more different alarms, all caused by the power failure.

Having a smart “mute” function or Input Qualifier on all monitored inputs will allow you to mask this multitude of alarms and to only send one alarm, indicating the single cause that is the power failure.

The example above uses the Power Fail alarm to mute other alarms, but any input should be useable to mute other alarms.  Main audio could be used to mute audio sub-channel alarms, and these could then be used to cascade other mute functions. This allows for very flexible and smart alarm muting.

1.6. ALARM REDIRECTION

Depending upon the nature of an alarm, being able to redirect it to the proper resource can be a big time-saver.  For example, if the generator is running out of fuel, why not send the message directly to the fuel supplier instead of to the site technician, who would then have to call the fuel supplier himself? This method doesn’t actually reduce the overall number of alarms, but it does reduce the number of alarms sent to an individual who cannot take direct action on them. The site maintenance technician’s workload is therefore reduced and this frees them up for more important tasks. 

Having a system that can intelligently direct different alarms to different destinations is the key to this method. One way of doing this is by using different alarm-call lists. List 1 can be dedicated to Radio alarms, and be set to call Technician A. List 2 can be dedicated to HVAC alarms and be programmed to call Technician B and so on.

2. Conclusion

Different methods of reducing false alarms and ensuring that a remote site management system is trusted and appreciated by maintenance personnel were presented. De-glitching delays, hysteresis, signal averaging, alarm aggregation, intelligent alarm muting on root-cause and alarm redirection are techniques that are useful to achieve these goals.

3. About Davicom

In the mid 1990’s, Davicom started producing and commercializing the first generation of its Remote Monitoring and Control Systems. From the very beginning, these unique systems were designed, developed and maintained with a single objective in mind: to provide the broadcast and telecommunications industries with an efficient, intelligent and trusted monitoring and control system for their remote transmission sites.

Over the years, new capabilities were added to maintain the product’s position as an industry innovator. From initial VT-100 terminal communications, through the addition of fax & voice capabilities, the units have evolved to the present secure-Internet version with SNMP V3 functionality, iOS/Android App support and smart-functions for reduced false alarm rates. Davicom systems are used worldwide by industry leaders in broadcast, public safety and land mobile radio to help maintain the integrity and operational efficiency of their networks.

The post Reducing False Alarm Rates in Remote site Management appeared first on Davicom Exchange Support Portal (DEX).

Convenient Packages

If you don’t have time to check what you have and don’t want to bother making up cables or doing punch-block wiring, you can always order the /P version of the product.  All the /P packages include:

• A 120VAC to 12VDC power supply
• A screw-terminal I/O board or rack-mount panel with cables
• A temperature and humidity sensor

12VDC Operation

The first point to consider is that all Davicom products can operate from a 12VDC supply. Note that 24 and 48 V options are available, and that the Davicom Cortex360 can operate on any voltage between 10 and 30VDC. 

If you already have a 12VDC supply available, or if your site infrastructure is already set up with 12VDC, then you can skip buying our Power Supply and use your own.

Current requirements for Davicom products, in Amps @12VDC:

Site Wiring and I/O

The second point to consider is that Davicom units all have standard chassis connectors for their Inputs and Outputs. This list shows the connector types:

• DV-Micro: DB-25 F
• DV-Mini: 25-pair, AMP F (Telco)
• DV208/216: 25 pair AMP F (Telco)
• Davicom Cortex320: DB-25 M
• Davicom Cortex360: DB-50F

If you plan to do your own wiring and make up your own cables, you won’t need to order the cables and I/O boards/panels.

Selection Chart

The post New Ordering Guide appeared first on Davicom Exchange Support Portal (DEX).

But what form could this community take? Given that the greatest number of Davicom users in one place could usually be found at the annual spring NAB show in Las Vegas, our best bet was probably to set up a meeting during the show. And that’s what we did. We reserved a meeting room with breakfast for 30 people at the Harrah’s for the NAB Tuesday and sent out invitations.

The success was immediate, and our 1^st Davicom EXchange breakfast took place during the 2015 NAB with a full house!  The 6 presenters showed us the creative ways they were using their Davicom units to make their jobs easier.

Presentation Power Points were posted for the community on the Davicom Facebook Group, but many potential community members were either not on FB, or were wary of this means of exchanging information. When Louis-Charles Cuierrier joined Davicom in 2017, one of his initial ideas was to create a support & knowledge-base web site, but with the launch of our new Davicom Cortex series, this project kept being delayed. In 2019 however, we finally had the time, and a student intern, Julia Ahern became available (full disclosure: Julia is my daughter), so we merged the two concepts, put all hands on DEX and built this web site.

We think that we’ve succeeded in building a world-class customer support site and are very proud of the result. We hope that you will enjoy it and that it will make your job easier.

This year (2020) we will be hosting our 6^th annual DEX breakfast on Tuesday April 21^st at the unique Wheelhouse, located right below the world-famous High-Roller observation wheel in Las Vegas.

And we aren’t stopping there! In the coming months, as the material comes in, we’ll be adding access to the user-forums and discussions. We’re also analyzing the possibility of holding a 2^nd DEX breakfast, but this time during the annual IWCE show in March. Stay tuned!

Your comments are welcome. Please send them to dex@davicom.com

John Ahern

President

The post All Hands on DEX! appeared first on Davicom Exchange Support Portal (DEX).

As is well known in the industry, Davicom’s remote site management products are robust and designed to handle the harsh RF environments often found at remote transmitter sites. One design feature used to attain this “RF robustness” is our integration of flexible RF gaskets into the chassis design of certain products.

The use of these gaskets and other design features allows the DV-Micro to operate reliably in electrical fields of up to 10V/m at frequencies between 30MHz and 1GHz. The flexible metal gasket prevents any RF leakage from being emitted outside the chassis, but more importantly, it also prevents any high RF fields from entering the box and affecting operation of the electronics inside.

Who would have thought that these little gaskets would also serve a purpose during a site fire?

On June 4^th 2017, a fire destroyed KHCB’s Madisonville, Texas FM transmitter site.  Lightning is the suspected catalyst for the fire.

Paul Easter, KHCB’s Technical Director and his engineering team quickly put the site back on the air with a temporary shelter and backup equipment. While cleaning-up the site, Paul noticed his remote-control unit (a Davicom DV-Micro) blackened, but still mounted in its rack. He took it out and brought it back to his Houston headquarters. Even if, on the outside, it didn’t look pretty, Paul decided to try powering-up the unit to see if it was operational. When it did power-up, he decided to try connecting to it and downloading the site’s event log, which he did obtain.

As it happened, I was visiting Houston to do a presentation at the July SBE lunch meeting, so Paul gave me the unit and I brought it back to the Davicom factory for complete tests and a repair estimation.

Once back at the office, I gave the unit to the production department and asked them to take the unit as it was, and to run the full post-production tests on it, as if it was being shipped out to a customer. Apart from the blackened chassis and semi-melted front faceplate, it passed on every count!

See a video of this unit being powered-up here:

Our theory is that the RF gasket prevented any fire or hot gasses from entering the chassis and destroying the electronics inside. The following pictures show the detail of these gaskets.

All this goes to show that good design costs more, but always adds value, sometimes in unexpected ways!

John Ahern

July 2017

Special thanks go to Paul Easter and to the good folks at KHCB for allowing us to use their pictures and to tell the story of this unfortunate event at their Madisonville site.

The post Burnt DV-Micro is NOT toast! appeared first on Davicom Exchange Support Portal (DEX).

Dear Daddy,

I’m sending you this e-mail because I never get to see you anymore. When I get up for school in the morning, either you’re already gone, or you’re sound asleep because you worked all night at that transmitter site of yours. Come to think of it, that transmitter site woke me up twice last night when the phone rang. I could hear you muttering about all those false alarms you could do nothing about.

When I was little, you explained to me why your work was so important, about how your transmitter site had to always be ready in case of emergencies like tornadoes or hurricanes, about how people counted on you to keep them connected, informed and involved in our community.  I understand that and am proud that you are such an important link in this chain.

I just wish you’d give yourself a chance. This is 2015, why do you have to travel 2 hours to go to a transmitter site when I can control a telescope on the Canary Islands by using my iPod?

So why can’t this transmitter site be controlled and tested from home? Why does it have to keep calling on the phone in the middle of the night and waking us all up? Why doesn’t the site call your boss, Mr Carlson every night to wake him up instead?

Like you keep telling me for my homework: work smarter, not harder. So I Googled “intelligent transmitter remote control” and found this web site from a company called Davicom. They have a box that can control and monitor everything in your transmitter site, and do it intelligently, without sending you all those false alarms. They even have an App to control these sites. I tested it out on the school’s iPad with Mr Nessman in science class and he was impressed.

Now why couldn’t Mr Carlson let you buy this Intelligent Remote Control? I’m sure he’d agree quickly enough if HE was the one being called every night. That Davicom company says that if you save one trip a month to your site, their smart box would pay for itself in one year. And that’s just the money side of things. If you weren’t gone all the time and up every night, you’d be more relaxed and would have time to see how good I am at soccer now.

If you need help, I can send an e-mail to Mr Carlson telling him I miss you and that I think this Davicom box will help you a lot in your job (and let you sleep at night!)

Promise me that if you do save that one trip a month, we’ll go out for ice cream with Mom and Jenny.

Your 14 year-old, loving daughter,

Becky Dornster

The post Dear Daddy appeared first on Davicom Exchange Support Portal (DEX).

Hats off to CCBE for the “IP Networking Technology for Broadcast Engineers” workshop at their 2015 annual conference.

The CCBE has established a relationship with the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), and arranged an all-day workshop seminar. The seminar was presented by Mr. Wayne M. Pecena, of Texas A&M University and sanctioned by the SBE. As recognition of their presence and to complement their career development, all attendees received a certificate. The course also prepared attendees to apply to the SBE to take the CBNE – Certified Broadcast Networking Engineer exam, an important career credential for all those currently working in the rapidly changing field of broadcast technology.

Mr. Pecena gave a most enlightening, and easy-to-understand description of the technology behind TCP/IP Networking, and how it all comes together to allow world-wide communications over the public Internet and private WAN/VPN networks. If you wish to get a handle on this technology and understand what is going on when your computer connects to a remote device, system, or broadcast site, over private and public networks, the complete presentation is available at the link below.

Mr. Pecena has graciously accepted that we publish the download link on our site, and share it with all who are interested. We invite you to do the same.

CCBE 2015 “IP Networking Technology for Broadcast Engineers” >> http://www.sbe.org/sections/documents/CCBE_Sept15.pdf

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