Re: Studio Links 25.9 Mhz FM

On Sun, 15 Jul 2007 12:49:50 -0700, Ron Baker, Pluralitas! wrote:
Interesting. I hadn't heard or heard of these things
before.
There must not be lot of HF STLs.

They aren't STLs, they're remote cuing stations. Rather than carrying
programming from the studio to the transmitter, they're carrying cues to
the announcers at live remotes.

(you wouldn't want to use the 25.9MHz band for a studio-transmitter link,
because of the risk of a skip opening allowing another station's studio in
a distant city to take over your transmitter! Or, illegal "freebanders"...)

I suspect this band is seeing more use recently for two reasons:

- Very large fines for indecency on the air, even if the offender isn't a
station employee, is leading most talk stations to implement a 7-second
delay in most or all programming.

- IBOC/HD radio encoders have an inherent delay of several seconds, which
must be duplicated on the analog signal if the "blend" function of the
IBOC receiver is to work properly.

So, when Joe Blow at the studio hands it over to John Doe on remote... if
John is listening to a radio for the cue... he's going to hear it 2-9
seconds after Joe says it. And there's going to be 2-9 seconds of dead
air before John starts talking.

So a second, analog, parallel cuing path is handy - there's no delay.

This is also why at least one of you heard not-meant-for-air commentary.
Often, the program audio on these cuing transmitters can be interrupted by
someone at the studio, to pass special instructions.

TV stations also often use transmitters in this band. However, the ones
used by TV stations are generally only one watt and mobile, attached to
remote trucks and often using a cheap CB antenna. So they'll be a LOT
harder to DX!

STLs are usually in the 950MHz band.

.

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