HAVANA — At RadioCuba, we are enthusiastic users of WorldCast Systems’ equipment for signal monitoring and remote control and have been for many years. More recently, we have been using the knowledge and experience we have built up using this equipment to roll out turnkey monitoring and control projects for broadcasters in other countries, particularly in Venezuela.
NETWORK
As the state radio and TV broadcaster for Cuba, we operate a network of more than 800 transmitters nationwide, reaching 99 percent of the population. Since 2003, we have managed this network from our national control center, which seeks to monitor the quality of signal and operations throughout the country. Our monitoring architecture is built upon the Audemat AM Monitor, FM Monitor and TV Monitor units (formerly known as Goldeneagle) from WorldCast Systems. For the automation and remote control of our transmitter site network, including many unattended sites, we use the Audemat Control Modular (formerly known as IP2Choice). The Audemat Broadcast Manager software is used to aggregate the information from this vast network of devices and provide a single management interface to supervise and control all sites.
VENEZUELA
Our team of specialists have installed and operated this network for several years with support from the WorldCast team, and we felt that we had enough experience that we could aid other broadcasters. Having carried out broadcast projects in countries such as China, Angola, Mali and Surinam, RadioCuba is experienced in international projects.
One of the more recent projects was for Radio Nacional de Venezuela, a fellow state broadcaster. As part of the expansion of their AM transmitter network, they recognized the need to ensure that the new network was adequately monitored and controlled. RadioCuba proposed a turnkey solution that included the creation of a national control center, similar to our own, enabling nationwide supervision and control.
We scoped out the project and its requirements and selected the Audemat AM and FM Monitors as the key platforms for their nationwide radio signal monitoring.
Once configured, the units require little to no user intervention, operating quite autonomously, and we like the range of quality monitoring capabilities. For RNV’s remote control network, we again used the Audemat Control Modular. Besides our familiarity and experience with the unit, there are several key advantages to the Audemat remote control devices over the others that we considered.
One is that the Audemat units come with their own ScriptEasy software. This enables us to generate or “script” our own programs and ensure that the site operates as we, or in this case, RNV, wish. For example, we can establish back-up and failover procedures that initiate automatically upon conditions that we predetermine. All the tools are provided so, with some training, the operators can be independent with the equipment.
CONTROL
With the Audemat Control Modular, we were able to establish a professional network to remotely manage and control all the transmitters throughout the RNV network as well as several other broadcast units that were located on the transmitter site. We also used the Audemat units to monitor and act upon environmental variables at the transmitter site.
Following on the success of the RNV installation, we carried out a similar turnkey installation with another Venezuelan broadcaster, REDTV. We installed an AM, FM and TV monitoring network, and for the remote control network, we used the Audemat Control Silver, as well as the Modular unit. The Control Silver is a compact, DIN rack-mountable unit that is suitable for smaller sites with less associated equipment; it still offers ScriptEasy so the functionality we need is there.
Overall, we find the WorldCast Systems’ monitoring and remote control equipment reliable, fully-featured and professional. We value the modularity and versatility in terms of number and type of connections together with the range of variables that can be monitored and the ability to combine data from multiple sites nationwide in one intuitive interface.
With our confidence in this equipment high and our own monitoring and control network established as a center of excellence, we at RadioCuba are now working to share this expertise with other broadcasters.
For information, contact Tony Peterle at WorldCast Systems in Florida at (305) 249-3110 or visit www.worldcastsystems.com.
