One last 2023 update on WOAS-FM upgrades:

Perhaps you have tuned in to our website and wondered why the sound is so thin on the audio . . . let me condense this the best I can.  Our server decided it was beyond its shelf life right after we had a big power outage in the area.  Oh, the backup battery kept everything running, but the computer OS decided it had lost the will to live – it even resisted our techie Preston’s valiant attempts at live support.  Preston set up a new server for us and then went on paternity leave (congratulations on the new addition to the family, Preston!).

Once we got all the cogs in place, the audio feed was not getting to the server – long story short, a computer chip on our broadcast board had failed but even with a replacement unit, the signal has been weak and unreliable.  The far off, tinny sounding audio you have been hearing is coming from the microphone on our webcam – and we all know how high quality those mics are, especially picking up the sound of music (from a boombox) that is is bouncing off a glass window.

After too much time chasing this ghost in the machine, we did a little brainstorming.  This board was installed in 1999 and has served us well.  It was, however, subjected to a lightning strike that blew out the side of the board feeding our studio monitors and headphones (as well as the building’s fire alarm system, at least one staff laptop, and the football field score board).  That was a little $600 fix we were able to do with our ‘in-house’ electronic genius on the job – right Tyler?  Reviewing the problem described above, we realized that lightning strike damage can take some time to surface and board design has advanced much since our Arrakis 1200-10 board was first installed.  It is time to go whole hog and replace it.

Thanks to the generous people who helped us fundraise our new BEXT transmitter, we have sufficient funds still left to purchase a new Arrakis H-10-LED broadcast board.  I am happy to report the stars aligned today and even with the school going on Christmas break after today, we were able to process the order.  I will leave it up to Jim Bradley and Al Harrison to clean up the little issues that come along with changing to the new board!

So there you have it – we are looking forward to getting listeners a better quality audio stream on the website ASAP.   In a ‘It’s a Small World’ spin, it turns out the sales rep at Arrakis we have been dealing with is also named Allen Harrison.  Okay, everybody sing, “It’s a small world, after all’!

Season’s Greetings and a Happy New Year to you all.  A recap of our 2023 adventures can be found in  From the Vaults:  Thank You 2023 – KER

 

Top Piece Video:  As long as we are in the LAST MONTH OF THE YEAR, I will leave you with one of my mother’s favorite tunes – Kingston Trio’s Last Month of the Year