The World Wide Radio Network
NY, USA Office.

After having some problems with codecs and the ability to sustain a POTS modem/codec connection, we were forced to explore other options from the usual codec systems we used.

This is not written to Bash ANY Codec or Company in any way.  There are many fine products and I believe we have a good working relationship with the companies who make them.

Comrex Pots Codecs:

These oldies but goodies are what many call the industry standard; they offer a decent range and delay over a POTS phone line.  But after many areas going to digital phone service, or VOIP phone service, these units can't sustain a connection for more then 7 minutes, and the "max headroom" kind of skitter gets annoying.  We believe this to be a problem related to the phone lines, and error correction.  The Newest unit, the Matrix, makes a marked improvement over previous models, but the line still locks only for a short time at 19.2k if we are lucky - usually at 14.4k... Calls last fewer than 7 minutes with an average call time of 3 minutes before disconnect.

A note about the New Matrix... It has its pros and cons.

Pro - One unit, talks to all pre-existing Hotline/Vector/Bluebox units as well as other Matrix.
Pro - Matrix can be used as a Pots Codec, an ISDN Codec, a Cell/GSM Codec, a Cell/GSM Phone, or a Phone Hybrid.
Con - In Cell/GSM mode, Matrix HAS to go into a Rack-mount matrix.
Con - Comrex never made a Cell/GSM "Rack" model.
Con - You must change modules on the Portable Matrix to use different features.

MusicamUSA/CCS Pots Codecs:

It seems the FieldFone, FieldFone2 and StudioFone never took off like the Comrex products, but they are more reliable at lower baud rates, and have a setting to ignore missing data, where the unit will just take and decode any data it receives.  In this mode, you get missing phrases or syllables, but the units sustain
a connection and can be set at a lower maximum connect rate to keep the modems from re-training.  The audio quality is about the same as the older Comrex units, and these tend to hold the line better under worse conditions.  Most of these units have been retired from the field in place of pre-existing Hotline/Vector/Bluebox/Matrix units.  We still have several in the closet for deployment in "trouble" areas.

Tieline Pots Codecs:

Up for test were the iMix series portable codec and the Commander back in the studio.  These are codecs that several of our sister stations use, and it was time to test them out for us after they came highly recommended.

Setting up the unit was pretty easy, but the mic controls limit certain things, the digital pots take a broadcast to get used to, after the staff got the hang of it, we overcame our learning curve and the units held the line at the best rate out of all our tests.  21.6kbps!

This rate was kept for 3 hours before a re-train down to 19.2kbps occurred.  The units ran overnight at 19.2kbps and were terminated the next afternoon with only minimal skitter...

By far one of the best units we've had to use and let alone on crappy lines, with the added error correction it does add to the overall delay on the round-trip...a few of our jocks complained at the lag time, for a one-way remote, or a live broadcast from a club, I believe this is a great unit, especially since with an upgrade, it can do ISDN as well in the same device.  They are not cost effective, but are a top of the line unit.  We currently only have one set of these, and their main purpose is a pots backup to the STL system.  Good Job TieLineUSA!

AETA Audio Pots Codecs:

These units go back some years and still keep chugging along, though the audio quality is shaped more for voice then music, these are nifty units.  Settings in the software allow for delay and error checking... In a protected mode these can keep the line for hours at a time without even a re-train... A handful of our stations still have these portable units - So, we made a call to what is now ATA Audio to get the updated version. See notes below.

ATA Audio Pots Codecs:

After having some of the old AETA Scoop Reporter codecs around, we wanted to see what AETA/ATA Audio USA has been up to... We explained our situation to Mike and Alvin at ATA and they thought that the slight upgrade was worth a look, I received the literature almost overnight, and said lets do it.

ATA USA is based in NJ, about a 45 minute drive if anything went wrong and I had to knock on someone's door, a nice fact since most of the companies we deal with are not even in the NY/NJ/CT area.  Sent to us were an ATA Scoop EZ (loaded) and a Studio Scoop with ISDN.

A few settings and test calls, and we couldn't get either Scoop to stay locked on a digital pots line, nor on a VOIP line. 

We moved the Scoop EZ to an analogue pots line, and BAM we were in, 21.6kbps locked and dropped and re-trained several times.  After 3 more calls we had the units in "Protected" mode that adds a slight delay due to error correction but no more fallout.  Several test calls and we stayed connected for about an hour to each call, then we did a test call from one studio to another and that stayed locked for 3 hours at 21.6kbps with only several hiccups in the audio I received.  Let it be known, that this audio could have been corrupted from the satellite downlink I was getting the feed from and it was an un-attended connection. 

The final test was test calls to another studio with ATA gear, not owned by our parent company, those calls locked at 19.2kbps - not bad for going across the country.  And, not bad to get 21.6kbps and 19.2kbps on what I consider to be a crappy phone line.

The Scoops' were put to use in several tests and one remote broadcast over the next 2 weeks. Our staff had a good opportunity to play with, test and molest the gear and get used to a few things in the menus.

The Loaded Scoop E-Z, and I DO MEAN LOADED... Comes with a built in POTS Hybrid, POTS Codec, ISDN Hybrid, ISDN Codecs (like 7 different codecs) and a Cell/GSM Hybrid mode.  All one needs to do is pop in the SIM card on this unit and give it power, hell, it can even take power from a Cig Lighter, or batteries!

This is by far the most versatile codec I have used in quite some time, and my co-workers agreed.  It is a marked improvement to the already decent quality of the old AETA Scoop.  It is not a cheap unit, however it's more cost effective then the Tieline products.

Its downfall is that the Cell/GSM mode is ONLY a Hybrid, Not a Codec, quite honestly, the GSM mode sounded near land-line quality and some people I called (as test calls go) thought I was calling from a land-line.  All this while going 65mph down the Garden State Parkway!

The Cell/GSM antenna was a small magnet unit out my passenger's window and slapped on the roof of my car.  The Provider I had chosen for this test was T-Mobile, many radio stations use them, and we are no exception, I had a Cingular SIM as a backup but it wasn't needed, during hours and hours of calls and drive time using this codec as a cell phone I only had 3 dropped calls, that's less then I have with my real cell phone on Verizon Wireless.

At the site of the remote we had some configuration problems as the codec wouldn't synch properly, we later found out that cause there are so many modes on the scoop, we hadn't selected the proper one, another call to main engineering and we went back to (almost idiot proof) G7.22 on the Scoop EZ and BAM remote heaven...

We stayed connected for almost 6 hours on G7.22 from our remote in NJ to a Zephyr in Chicago.  The Studio Scoop got limited use and was a testing platform. On that note, both new scoop units connected fine to our other pre-existing units in the field, something we were very happy about, as some companies are not offering backwards compatibility.

Both units have a limitation that they share with some Comrex ISDN Products - they take ONE isdn line, but can only address one or bonded B channels, if you lock on B1 and not a "bonded" call, B2 goes to waste.  I wouldn't mind seeing the ability to dial out on both

channels and send the same feed to 2 different studios from a remote site, but I am probably in the minority. Another downside to the Scoop E-Z, the signal-strength indicator while in Cell/GSM is not the best that it could have been, however ATA assures me this will be addressed in future software revisions... Their products haven't let us down yet, so I am hopeful that both these issues will be addressed in the near future.

We are looking forward to adding the Scoop E-Z line to our studios in the fall of 2005.

Paul Kelly,
Chief Engineer
The World Wide Radio Network, NYC