For truly large backup power or to power a system for many hours or days, a generator is required. We could spend the next week covering aspects of generators, but if you take away anything from this series of articles on backup power, remember this: Designing and installing a backup power system is best left to the experts.
Sure, you’ll need to know some basics, system designs, trade-offs and principles. But when it comes to mounting that behemoth and connecting the system to your power grid, get some help. Let’s begin our discussion on generators with some basic terminology. more…
At the broadcast summits Broadcast Engineering conducts, I’m continually amazed at how busy the attendees seem to be. Even during intensive training sessions, keynote speeches or other activities, everyone seems to be talking to at least one person either live or on the cell phone, reading e-mail on a handheld or laptop, or checking the watch to see if they are late. These men and women are multitasking to the max. But, I wondered, how did our predecessors manage their broadcast stations and projects without being connected 24/7 to the Internet, cell phone and laptop? more…
In the last column, you were introduced to types of backup power, including dual AC feeders, UPS systems and generators. We then reviewed the three basic types of UPS systems:
• Passive-standby (offline, relay-switched and battery-powered, available in .5kVA to 5kVA sizes)
• Line interactive (provide voltage regulation and filtering, available in .5kVA to 5kVA sizes)
• Double conversion online (capable of 10kVA and more, similar as above except that the primary power path is through an AD/DC and DC/AC converter)
Finally, the article provided some guidance on the selection of UPS technology based on application. There are three basic levels of UPS backup protection: Level 3, Level 5 and Level 9. Each level provides increasingly clean, regulated and sophisticated power for the load. With this as a background, let’s continue the discussion by looking closer at what is inside a UPS. more…
The National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) announced that it had made available $44 million to help analog low-power, Class A, translator and booster stations make the conversion to digital.
On May 12, the NTIA announced the start of the Low-Power TV and Translator Upgrade grant program to help operators of analog low-power TV stations upgrade their analog facilities to digital broadcast capacity. There is $44 million available over two similar programs, so let’s examine both of them. more…
With this series, we’re going examine backup power applicable to television stations, video production houses and other content provider facilities. These facilities share at least one common theme: the requirement for constant, reliable, 24/7 power. While other businesses, especially retail, can tolerate power outages, content providers are often sources for both entertainment and safety information. If a thunderstorm rolls through a community, knocking out the power to the local hamburger joint, few care. However, television stations, cable systems and others need to stay on the air, providing sometimes critical, even life-saving, information. Let’s see how that can be done. more…
The headline was, “Democrats seek financial rescue of minority-owned broadcasters.” My first thought was: Here we go again . . . another bailout. Not surprisingly, the headline led to an article describing a move by House Democrats to force the Treasurer Department to prop up what the left sees as minority-owned businesses just needing the same kind of helping hand they’ve already given Wall Street. You know, free taxpayer money.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-SC, is the key man charged with getting President Obama’s banker, TurboTax Tim Geithner, to take “decisive action” to extend special credit privileges to minorities who want a bigger play in the broadcast arena. more…
This series on reducing a facility’s power consumption has focused on those areas most easily modified to save on power costs — the HVAC system and lighting — all beginning with an energy audit.
There are, however, other areas an engineer may want to consider. Let’s look at a couple.
Disk drives
Let’s begin our examination with hard disk drives. What used to be kilowatt-consuming devices, today’s individual HDD draw relatively little power. However, as video files get larger, the need for ever-increasing storage is obvious. Fortunately, drives are smaller and faster than ever. And, that trend will continue. more…
Last week, the employees of this company (Penton) began a “furlough” of one day per week for the next four months. Basically, the company is shutting down on Fridays. Employees were told to enjoy the extra time with their families.
Yep, enjoy that extra time off, maybe take the kids to Disneyland or something. Whoops, don’t forget to take into account the accompanying 10 percent cut in pay you’ll experience. more…
If you’ve already started replacing your standard incandescent lamps with Compact Florescent Lamps, more commonly known as CFLs, you are well along the path of saving electricity. Let’s examine some of the reasons CFLs are being required and how they can safely be deployed in your facility. more…
There were plenty of 3-D demonstrations at this year’s NAB convention. Now there’s an actual non-movie implementation.
The soon-to-be-released game Resident Evil 5 will be available in 3-D according to the game’s manufacturer. The PC version, available later this fall, will require an Nvidia GeForce 3-D Vision card and 3-D glasses. Unlike other games, which claim to be 3-D, this game’s images are generated as actual 3-D imagery, not as converted images. However, Nvidia says you better have a powerful computer to run the 3-D game.
After you buy the game, the additional hardware can set you back another $200 for just the GeForce Vision kit with glasses. Or, you can buy a bundle with a Vision-ready monitor for $600.
Broadcast Engineering editorial director Brad Dick offers his thoughts and insights on the changes in the industry. For more, check out his monthly Editorial in Broadcast Engineering magazine. To start up a conversation on about one of Brad's posts, visit the Forum.
For truly large backup power or to power a system for many hours or days, a generator is required. We could spend the next week covering aspects of generators, but if you take away anything from this series of articles on backup power, remember this: Designing and installing a backup power system is best left to the experts. 
