Locality Switch

Being a fairly small and somewhat closed industry around the world, I’ve found it hard to find some good online resources to help me as a broadcast technician. On top of that, there aren’t any university courses specific to radio engineering, but that’s another story.

However, there are a couple of resources I’ve found around the place which may be of some help. Here’s a few:

Radio Magazine – radiomagonline.com

This free online magazine focuses on radio technology, with a particular focus on the USA markets. It has reviews and tips about every bit of radio equipment imaginable, stories on studio builds, and also an “Engineer’s Handbook”. I’ve always found this site to be very informative and enjoyable to read.

The Broadcaster’s Desktop Resource – thebdr.net

Although all of the articles are in PDF format and require me to download them, The Broadcaster’s Desktop Resource publishes easy to understand articles on a variety of different topics relevant to radio techies.

This Week in Radio Tech (TWiRT) – thisweekinradiotech.com

I was pointed towards this podcast only yesterday. As I write there’s only one episode available, but apparently it will become a weekly thing. That’s good, because the first episode was excellent! It’s hosted by Kirk Harnack, who works for Telos/Omnia/Axia, and even though I’ve only spoken to him through a couple of emails and then heard him on this podcast, he is a very knowledgeable guy. Also co-hosting the show are Tom Ray are Chris Tobin.

It is said you learn something new every day, and today most of my learning came from this podcast. One of the things of interest to me was the EAS system, which is a way of broadcasting emergency messages simultaneously through a group of stations in a geographic zone. I wasn’t aware such a system existed in the USA, but now that I do know, I’m wondering why we don’t have a similar system out here.

Audio Over IP: Building Pro AoIP Systems with Livewire by Steve Church & Skip Pizzi

Okay, this isn’t really a online resource. Hey, I haven’t even read it yet! But I have been promised a copy from the great folks at Axia, and I can’t wait to get a hold of it and read it cover to cover (several times over, I’m sure!). Not having read it myself, here’s a description from Amazon:

Position yourself at the forefront of audio and broadcast studio technology by learning audio over IP. You will gain knowledge of IP network engineering as it applies to audio applications, and then progress to a full understanding of how equipment built on Ethernet and Internet Protocol are used in today’s audio production and broadcast facilities for the transporting, mixing and processing of pro-quality audio. A chapter on integrating Voice-over IP telephony (VoIP) to pro-audio and broadcast facilities is also included.

Radio While Papers – broadcastpapers.com

I must admit, some of the papers available from Broadcast Papers can be very full on, in terms of writing style and content. They can also be very biased towards particular products, as many of these papers have been written by representatives from particular companies. None the less, there are a few good tips to be picked up and some new things to be learned.

The Product Manuals

There is a lot to be gained from reading the manual for different products. Some manufacturers of pro audio gear put tremendous effort into making their manuals informative and very useful. Better still, many are available on the internet. Some of the manuals I have enjoyed are from Axia, Behringer, Comrex, Sonifex, Tieline.

The best manuals not only explain the actual product, but provide background information which helps you understand why things work a certain way.

There we have it, a few resources we have in regards to radio technology. They’ve all been useful for me, and I hope that by sharing them here, you may find something new. If you know of any other handy resources, please post them in the comments below, or email them through to me.

I always love it when someone new comes along and wants to get involved with the technical aspects of our radio station. My positions requires that I be the one doing the majority of training for new techies, which is good because I enjoy passing on my knowledge.

I want to share my experiences on training new techs. Sure, I’m only sixteen myself, and have been doing this for two years. Am I qualified to be training new people? I feel that even though I am only fairly new to the industry, I should be out there on the front line, helping enthusiastic young people to get a start in the industry. I don’t know everything, but what I do know, I want to share.

Firstly, let me make this clear: we are talking about training people with no background in radio. We’re talking about people who are enthusiastic to help out, and want to learn on the job. Also, the things which I mention in this article are very general – your training you do for the new-comers will vary wildly, depending on if they have past experience in related areas (such as IT, or telecommunications). For example, it would be unnecessary to teach a telephone technician how to use a Krone tool, or a system administrator how to use remote desktop to connect to a server.

When I am showing the ‘newbies’ how things run, I generally like to start with the grand tour and explain each piece of equipment, what it does, and how it helps us. This is their induction. I encourage heaps of question asking on their part. Sometimes I even get asked things which I don’t know, which is great, because we can then go and research it.

After they have been through this induction, I like to get them to look over my shoulder as I perform my day-to-day operational tasks. We’re talking about stuff such as file backups, computer updates, re-jumpering connections, updating wiring documentation, etc. All the grass-roots jobs which have to be performed on a regular basis.

It is even benificial to get them to perform some of these tasks after first seeing how it is done. Need some XLR connectors soldered, a hard-drive swapped or a standby transmitter tested? Your junior tech can do that, even if you still have to be there to provide advice. In fact, it is a good idea to always supervise your junior techs until they are confident (and responsible enough not to pull the station off air).

After a while, it’s time to give your junior tech a more permanent set of duties which will keep them involved. Potential duties are:

• Performing weekly computer backups
• Ensuring the asset register is up to date with new equipment
• Checking the faults log for any issues, and either fixing them, or reporting them back to you
• Weekly testing of the standby transmitter, standby STLs, and UPS batteries
• Checking internet usage, and reporting on potential issues
• Performing weekly checks on the status of free hard drive capacity

Those are just a few suggestions, some of which may not even be applicable to your station. Whatever duties your junior techs are assigned, it’s important that they are comfortable with them, but also feel happy. They need to be doing interesting things at least some of the time – if you give them boring tasks 100% of the time, they will probably leave.

It is also a good idea to get them involved with special events or projects, such as outside broadcasts or studio reconfigurations. You want to make sure they feel a part of the team, so make sure they are included on these things. Make sure that there is no discrimination because they are new.

By the way, if you have any suggestions about how to better train junior techs, please send me an email or share a message in the comments area.