[cma-l] Radio Link Transmission systems

[Richard Berry]

We also use the 1.5GHz option. We encode at the studio-end as well, which means we have access and control of those systems if we need to. The downside is when the studio goes down the back-up system is unprocessed. It’s been solid and reliable over the past 6+ years of operation and whilst there is a very slight delay it is possible to listen off-air when presenting.

Richard

From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk [mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of Two Lochs Radio
Sent: 01 June 2016 13:08
To: The Community Media Association Discussion List
Subject: Re: [cma-l] Radio Link Transmission systems


Hi Jonathon

"Cheap" tends not to go with "reliable" unfortunately!

I would say the most reliable and trouble-free is an SHF (1.5 GHz) analogue link, but the gear costs £1000-£2000 at each end, plus a licence of about £200 pa. VHF is also possible, but the antennas are big, the licence much more expensive, and they are prone to interference both from the city and from sporadidic long-distance propagation.

The cheapest is a 'wi-fi' style network (IP) link, preferably a 5.8 GHz point-point link. The gear for the actual link is around £60-90 each end for a short link like yours, and, if you licence it properly, £50/year for a licence. However, you also need gear to encode and decode the audio as well. This could be software running on existing or old PCs or could be dedictaed boxes that can cost £100-200 each.

One key difference between the two options to note is that if you are using an analogue link you would usually have the stereo encoder and RDS units at the studio end of the link and send a composite signal ready for transmission on the link. If you use a digital link you usually need to have the stereo encoding and RDS at the transmitter end, because the link software usually sends only plain stereo audio.

A nice by-product of the digital link option is that you get a netwrok connection to your transmitter site which can have all sorts of other uses (monitoring/remote control, surveillance, Internet access at transmitter, etc).

An advatage of the analogue link is that it is pretty much plug-and-play, whereas with the 5.8 GHz digital link you need to have someone who knows their way around setting up wireless routers, IP addresses etc and the encoding/decoding software - there's a lot more scope for it stopping or suffering from the computer equivalent of 'knob twiddling'!

Alex
On 01 June 2016 at 12:06 Jonathan Pinfield <jonathan.pinfield at bcbradio.co.uk> wrote:

Hi all



We’re looking for cheap and reliable solutions to get our “on-air” output from our studios in Bradford city centre to our transmitter site a couple of miles away. We’ve got line of site from the top of our building to the transmitter site.



Please let us know cost effective & practical solutions that work for you.



Thanks



Jonathan Pinfield

Broadcast Manager – BCB 106.6fm


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