Workbench: Park It Right Here, Baby!

Supplied that engineers are accountable for fairly considerably every little thing all-around the broadcast facility, I share this strategy from Pastor Carl Wiggins, typical supervisor of WKCL(FM) in Charleston, S.C. 

We have all found concrete parking bumpers that have cracked and fallen apart around time or due to the fact a heavy auto crushed them. 

Soon after obtaining the station’s parking large amount resurfaced and painted, Pastor Carl searched for rubber parking bumpers on Google. These run between $30 and $50. Thanks for their rubber building, they will not tumble aside or disintegrate if a wheel hits it.  

As proven in the photos, you can push a spike by means of the pre-drilled holes to safe the bumper.

These are available from specialised suppliers like Uline, Website traffic Safety Retail outlet and My Parking Signal, as nicely as from Walmart and Amazon.

Click on on image to toggle by way of gallery. 

Mr. Gadget states …

Steve Kruschen is regarded as “The 1 and Only Mr. Gadget.” His internet site features a large amount of attention-grabbing subject issue. 

Responding to Rolf Taylor’s before responses about lubricants, Steve tells us he was a enthusiast of the most properly-identified lubricant till he arrived throughout a can of Boeshield T-9, offered by PMS Products of Holland, Mich. 

Reading through the label, Steve learned the item had been created by Boeing, the respected and reliable plane maker, so he assumed it may possibly be rather fantastic. When he requested his colleague about it, the technician enthusiastically went on and on about how the products is the best things to occur alongside, a very long-lasting and water-resistant lubricant.  

The products is produced less than license from Boeing, which made T-9 for very long-term safety of plane. Its research proved that Teflon, silicone and synthetic sprays did not hold up properly when uncovered to a corrosive ecosystem.

Boeing created T-9 to penetrate deeply into fasteners and fixtures, displace dampness and attack present corrosion. The compound dries to a waxy movie that will lubricate and guard metals for months. It is secure to use on paints, plastics and vinyls.  

Steve utilizes T-9 in all kinds of contexts: on doorway locks and hinges all over the house, on bicycle chains and shifters, on garage doorway hinges and the chain of the electrical opener, on the wheels of suitcases and wheeled carts, on ladder hinges, on electric powered switches, and on resources including saws and drill bits.

He has even applied it to the rubber alongside which electrical power home windows vacation this saves put on and tear on the motor. 

T-9 also guards versus rust spray it on and the item is safeguarded for months. He suggests other well-known sprays and lubes, which include the huge one that we all know by title, go away an oily film that attracts dirt and debris.  

Steve suggests that each individual engineer continue to keep a can of the aerosol spray of T-9 on hand (and if there is a bicycle around, also a 4-oz. drip bottle). Used sparingly, a can or bottle could very last for a few of yrs. 

The product sells for beneath $15. Glimpse for it at stores like REI, Bass Professional Retailers, Typical RV Heart, West Marine, Woodcraft and Performance Bicycle, or on Amazon. 

You can also learn additional about T-9 online or simply call PMS Goods in the U.S. at (800) 962-1732. Permit them know Mr. Gadget sent you. Steve gets no payment for this recommendation. We recognize his sharing this one of a kind lubricant with Workbench viewers.

[Read Another Workbench by John Bisset]

Wi-fi IP 

Exclusive projects engineer Dan Slentz dropped a line to encourage audience to take into account wi-fi IP as a expense-powerful remedy for studio/transmitter hyperlinks.

Dan started making use of Trango for wi-fi streaming for are living information employing Slingbox much more than 15 calendar year back. He also likes Ubiquiti Networks equipment, which he finds to be nicely-designed and expense-efficient. 

My Telos colleague Kirk Harnack posted a video clip in 2016 describing this type of installation look for YouTube for “Livewire+ and Ubiquiti airFiber5 Studio-Transmitter Link (STL) for Delta Radio.”

As you will see in the video, this gear could work nicely for IP-primarily based STLs, or even RPUs exactly where cell assistance is spotty.

Given that mobile devices are initially to fail when swamped in significant emergencies, Dan claims a hefty radio information procedure may find IP-dependent RPUs a affordable, powerful contingency.

Come across suitable data at the Ubiquiti Internet Store.

For remote transmitter internet sites, a wireless IP procedure could possibly be a great backhaul for network digicam security or a world-wide-web spine (and not inclined to line-cutting by vandals). If the backlink operates on a UPS, a power decline won’t take the backhaul down straight away.

Observe that numerous of these methods are unlicensed, so although they are effortless, your frequencies may well be shared. In the 60 GHz array, the inbound links also are a lot more vulnerable to rain/snow interference if you press their boundaries.

Can you ID this mic?

We’ll wrap up with a “blast from the previous,” also furnished by Dan. The accompanying picture show just one of the oldest parts of broadcast equipment he has occur throughout. This was one particular of the to start with microphones utilized by WHIZ(AM) in Zanesville, Ohio. 

Dan found it in a garage practically 20 a long time back but it is of program considerably older his guess is it dates to the late 1920s or early 1930s. The station alone was started in 1924 as WEBE and improved phone letters in 1939.

This was labeled “Western Electric, Iowa, United states of america.” Its “candelabra” foundation was attached to the box on top. There were 4 brass screws on the back of that box of study course, Dan experienced to open it up to determine out why it had so many pins on that Bakelite connector. It turns out that the box also housed two or 3 tubes and electronics for the mic, which seemed like a carbon model this sort of as utilized on old telephones.

Dan despatched the image to some close friends to try out to get much more details about the mic, and straight away started having features to buy it (for countless numbers of dollars)! Instead he took it to WHIZ so they could display screen it.

What do you know about this mic? E mail [email protected]. Also share your own fun tales and vintage machines finds with us.

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