[CentOS] live audio feed via telephone link

Thu Mar 26 00:00:58 UTC 2009
Frank Cox <theatre at sasktel.net>

On Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:32:07 -0700
Scott Silva wrote:

> If the radi station has phone lines, they should be able to get something like
> a T1 or fractional part. Much more reliable and more bandwidth.

I don't think it's available there.  Even the next-nearest town has only
dial-up Internet.  The nearest location that has real dedicated Internet
service available at all is the location that I'm looking to move the signal out
to.

 > Or look into a  microwave or satellite link. 

As always, cost is THE factor.  I have no idea how much a 24-hour satellite
link would cost but I suspect it might be more than a phone line.  Based on my
(very limited) experience with tv satellite dishes around here, they don't seem
to perform very well when it's -50 degrees outside and blowing snow.  Some
years back I had to go out and try to beat ice off of a dish a few times in
those conditions and didn't really enjoy it all that much.

> I don't think you will be able to compress a
> radio signal enough to fit over a dial line without a lot of loss. You would
> need several lines multiplexed together for a decent sounding broadcast.

Well, that's what I'm looking into.  I remember listening to streaming audio
over a 14.4 modem way-back-when which wasn't great quality but modems have
gotten a lot faster than that since, too.  I don't know enough about it (yet)
to be aware of exactly what can be accomplished.

> There are many point to point links that will cover 40 miles (65 km).
> I don't know how far you have to go.

That's another thought.  The station's antenna is on top of a hill but for
protection from the elements and whatnot, the studio is down in a
valley (i.e. a hole). They currently use a microwave link to send the signal up
the hill from the studio, so I'm not sure how feasible that would be to get a
point-to-point solution going, but it's worth looking into. Do you have any
recommendations for hardware that might work?  I just checked, and Google Maps
tells me that the distance is 52.3km.

I've been talking to the station manager for quite a while about doing
something to get their signal online, but the stumbling block has always been
how to get the signal out where you can get an Internet connection.  I just had
this dedicated phone line idea last week; if it (or something else) will work,
then I'll be able to provide him with a set of costs that he can take to
his board of directors, and we'll see what happens after that.  The phone
company is working on a proposal for me so I'm now trying to get the rest of it
figured out.

-- 
MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Melville Sask ~ http://www.melvilletheatre.com