Summer Internship Program (SIP) 2011 Report

ALL INDIA RADIO BROADCASTING

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of

Bachelor of Technology In Electronics and Telecommunication

Guide: Mr. Ashok Kale 09421053428

Submitted by: Abhinav Shandilya

Symbiosis Institute of Technology, Lavale, Pune Symbiosis International University, Lavale Campus

Acknowledgements

It is my proud privilege to acknowledge with deep sense of gratitude and devotion, the keen interest rendered to us by revered employees of ALL INDIA RADIO. I am also very thankful to our training guide Mr. Ashok Kale (A.E.) and all the concerned and non-concerned instructors and members as well as the university who gave us a chance to learn a lot in the form of summer training. Without there support, it would have been difficult job to successfully complete the training. I want to thank the Department of Electronics and Telecommunication of the Symbiosis Institute of Technology and especially Dr. Narayan Pisharoty for giving me permission to commence this program in the first instance and to do the necessary research work.

Introduction

All India Radio (abbreviated AIR), officially known as Akashvani is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936[.It is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan the national television broadcaster, today. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks in the world. Their headquarters is at the Akashvani Bhavan, New Delhi. Akashvani Bhavan houses the drama section, the FM section and the National service.

SERVICES AIR has many different services each catering to different regions/languages across India. One of the most famous services of the AIR is the Vividh Bharat i Seva (roughly translating to "Multi-Indian service"). Vividh Bharati celebrated its Golden Jubilee on 3October 2007. Vividh Bharati has the only comprehensive database of songs from the so termed "Golden Era" of Hindi film music (roughly from 1940s to 1980s). This service is the most commercial of all and is popular in Mumbai and other cit ies of India. This service offers a wide range of programs including news, film music, comedy shows, etc. The Vividh Bhart i service operates on different MW band frequencies for each cit y as shown below
External services: The External Services Division of All India Radio broadcasts in 27 languages to countries outside of India, primarily by high powered short wave broadcasts although medium wave is also used to reach neighboring countries. In addition to broadcasts targeted at specific countries by language there is a 'General Overseas Service' which broadcasts in English with 8 hours of programming each day and is aimed at a general international audience. The External broadcasts were started on October 1, 1939 by the then British Government to counter the propaganda of the Nazis directed at the Afghan people. The first broadcasts were in Pushto beamed to Afghanistan and the then North West Frontier Province. Soon broadcasts were started in Dari, Persian, Arabic, English, Burmese, Japanese, Chinese, Malay, French etc. The External Services today broadcast in the 27 languages (16 foreign and 11 Indian languages) with a total program output of 70.25 hrs. per day (on MW & SW).

The AIR station where I did my training is based in Pune, with main studio at Shivajinagar, AM and FM station at Hadapsar and Sinhgad area respectively. The main objective behind this training was to study the various sections of radio broadcasting in full technical details which includes studios, microphones, consoles, codec, STL, transmitters etc. The broadcast of a program from source to listener involves use of studios, microphones, announcer console, switching console, telephone lines / STL and Transmitter. A broadcast studio is an acoustically treated room. It is necessary that the place where a programme for broadcast purposes is being produced should be free of extraneous noise. Low level mixing system may look economical since it requires one single pre-amplifier for all low level inputs, but quality of sound suffers in this system as far as S/N ratio is concerned.

This report consist details of major sections starting from Radio station which is divided into subsections like consoles, microphones, STL, satellite receiver, acoustic treatment of studio walls, etc to 100KW AM and 10KW FM transmitter respectively.

Overview of Radio Station

Consoles are the main component in the radio station. Control room is the place where all features of programs are controlled before sending it to the transmitter for broadcasting. It means the proper programs of appropriate level, the clarity of sound, noise level etc. are monitored before broadcasting. Monitoring & selection of the proper program to be broadcasted is selected through switching console. Switching console is the main component in the control room. Signal is routed through distribution amplifier while passing from the control room. The purpose of the distribution amplifier is to provide multiple outputs at the same level from single input.

Mainly playback studio is used for announcing a program & rest studios are chiefly used recording live & however we can use them as playback in emergency. Main component of playback studio is announcer console. Here input is through mike (-7db) & record players (0db), output is at +4dbu after internal processing. Output signal is selected by fader (variable attenuator) & leads to jack panel, after repeat coil 7 & 4db pad. Repeat coil is 1:1 transformer used for safety purpose to protect one circuit from another circuit fault by separating them electrically. A +4db pad is provided so that input to switching console is 0db.

In jack panel various connection are provided, of all studios & six of R.N. frequencies. We can interlink them or connect to switching console through bars. Recording room is for recording & editing of various programs. Switching console is similar in function as announcer console but output of this is send to transmitter after equalized line amplifier. Now signal is send to transmitter by coaxial cables, also both ends are connected to repeat coil.

In transmission, station signal is again fed to equalizer line amplifier & then to 14db pad, then 6dbu signal is fed to limiter (6dbu), then a 6db pad. Now signal is fed to transmitter.

STUDIO CHAIN IN AIR STATION

Normally the program originate from a studio centre located inside the city/town for the convenience of artists. The program could be either live or recorded. In some cases, the program can be from OB spot, such as commentary of cricket match etc. Programs that are to be relayed from other Radio Stations are received in a receiving centre and then sent to the studio centre or directly received at the studio centre through RN terminal/telephone line. All these programs are then selected and routed from studio to transmitting centre through broadcast quality telephone lines or studio transmitter microwave/VHF links.

STUDIO CENTRE
The Studio Centre comprises of one or more studios, recording and dubbing room, a control room and other ancillary rooms like battery room, a.c. rooms, switch gear room, DG room, R/C room, service room, waiting room, tape library, etc. The size of such a centre and the number of studios provided depend on the program activities of the station. The studio centre in AIR are categorized as Type I, II, III and IV. The number of studios and facilities provided in each type are different. For example a type I studio has a transmission studio, music studio with announcer booth, a talks studio with announcer booth, one recording/dubbing room and a Read Over Room. Type II has one additional drama studio. The other types have more studios progressively.

BROADCAST STUDIO
A broadcast studio is an acoustically treated room. It is necessary that the place where a programme for broadcast purposes is being produced should be free of extraneous noise. This is possible only if the area of room is insulated from outside sound. Further, the microphone which is the first equipment that picks up the sound, is not able to distinguish between wanted and unwanted signals and will pick up the sound not only from the artists and the instruments but also reflections from the walls marring the quality and clarity of the programme. So the studios are to be specially treated to give an optimum reverberation time and minimum noise level. The entry to the studios is generally through sound isolating lobby called sound lock. Outside of every studio entrance, there is a warning lamp, which glows Red when the studio is ON-AIR. The studios have separate announcers booths attached to them where first level fading, mixing and cueing facilities are provided.

Studio Operational Requirements

Many technical requirements of studios like minimum noise level, optimum reverberation time etc. are normally met at the time of installation of studio. However for operational purposes, certain basic minimum technical facilities are required for smooth transmission of programmes and for proper control. These are as follows:

Programme in a studio may originate from a microphone or a tape deck, or a turntable or a compact disc or a R-DAT. So a facility for selection of output of any of these equipments at any moment is necessary. Announcer console does this function.

Facility to fade in/fade out the programme smoothly and control the programme level within prescribed limits.

Facility for aural monitoring to check the quality of sound production and sound meters to indicate the intensity (VU meters).

For routing of programmes from various studios/OB spots to a central control room, we require a facility to further mix/select the programmes. The Control Console in the control room performs this function. It is also called switching console.

Before feeding the programmes to the transmitter, the response of the programme should be made flat by compensating HF and LF losses using equalised line amplifiers.(This is applicable in case of telephone lines only)

Visual signalling facility between studio announcer booth and control room should also be provided.

If the programmes from various studios are to be fed to more than one transmitter, a master switching facility is also required.

MIXING
As already mentioned, various equipments are available in a studio to generate programme as given below: y y y y Microphone, which normally provides a level of 70 dBm. Turntable which provides an output of 0 dBm. Tape decks which may provide a level of 0 dBm. CDs will also provide a level of 0 dBm.

The first and foremost requirement is that we should be able to select the output of any of these equipments at any moment and at the same time should be able to mix output of two or more equipments. However, as we see, the level from microphone is quite low and need to be amplified, so as to bring it to the levels of tape recorder/ tape decks.

Audio mixing is done in following two ways: i) Required equipments are selected and then outputs are mixed before feeding to an amplifier. This is called low level mixing (Fig. 2). This is not commonly used now days.

Fig. 2 Low level mixing Low-level output of each equipment is pre-amplified and then mixed. This is called high level mixing. (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3 High level mixing Low level mixing system may look economical since it requires one single pre-amplifier for all low level inputs, but quality of sound suffers in this system as far as S/N ratio is concerned. Noise level at the input of best designed pre-amplifier is of the order of 120 dBm and the output levels from low level equipment 70 dBm. In low level mixing, there is signal loss of about 10 to 15 dB in mixing circuits. Therefore, the S/N ratio achieved in low level mixing is 35 to 40 dB only.

High level mixing system requires one pre-amplifier in each of the low level channels but ensures a S/N of better than 50 dB. All India Radio employs High level mixing.

Announcer Console

Most of the studios have an attached booth, which is called transmission booth or Announcer booth or play back studio. This is also acoustically treated and contains a mixing console called Announcer Console. The Announcer Console is used for mixing and controlling the programmes that are being produced in the studio using artist microphones, tape playback decks and turn tables/CD players. This is also used for transmission of programmes either live or recorded.

The technical facilities provided in a typical announcer booth, besides an Announcer Console are one or two microphones for making announcements, two turn tables for playing the gramophone records and two playback decks or tape recorders for recorded programmes on tapes. Recently CD and Rotary Head Digital Audio Tape Recorder (R-DAT) are also included in the Transmission Studio.

Control Room

For two or more studios set up, there would be a provision for further mixing which is provided by a control console manned by engineers. Such control console is known as switching console. Broad functions of switching console in control room are as follows: y Switching of different sources for transmission like News, O.Bs. other satellite based relays, live broadcast from recording studio. y y y y Level equalisation and level control. Quality monitoring. Signaling to the source location. Communication link between control room and different studios.

RECORDING ROOM

A block schematic of a typical recording room is shown in figure 12. Two numbers of CTRs and two numbers of Push Button switches have been shown. Outputs from various studios and switching consoles have been given to multiple pads 1,2,3 and 4. Outputs from the multiple pads are wired to PB switches. Three numbers of receptacles for cassette outputs have been provided. Transformers T1 and T2 transform the output impedance of the cassette recorder to 600 ohm. The output of CTR # 1 is wired to PB switch # 2 through MP # 6. With this arrangement output of CTR # 1 can be recorded on CTR # 2. Please carefully note the impedances and levels at various points. Red and green lamps are provided on the control panel for indications from and to control room and studios.

DUBBING ROOM

A block schematic of a typical dubbing room is shown in figure 11. The arrangement is similar to the recording room except that an additional tape deck and a mixer unit have been provided. This arrangement allows mixing of programmes.

Loud Speakers

A loudspeaker performs an opposite function to a microphone, i.e. it converts electrical signal into sound wave.

Moving Coil or dynamic loudspeaker

It consists of a permanent magnet and a voice coil for carrying audio signals. Voice coil is having a few turns of wire, wound on paper, plastic or aluminium former. It is attached to a peper that radiates sound. The coil is suspended with the help of spider, made of flexible material. Spider permits forward backward motion but no lateral motion.

When audio currents from an amplifier flows through the coil, it produces a magnetic field around the coil. This field is at right angle to the field of permanent magnet. The two fields attract or repel each other, depending on the position of the permanent magnet. The voice coil and the cone assembly move corresponding to the audio currents. The resulting cone vibrations produce air pressure variation in correspondence with the audio signal.

In hi-fi applications two or more speakers are used to cover the full audio range. To reproduce high frequencies, it is common to attach a dome of fabric or plastic material to the coil than to the cone, thus forming a dome tweeter. Low frequency speakers known woofers are of large size. The middle range speakers are called squeakers.

Speaker Impedance

Normally such speakers are designed with impedances of 2,3,5,8,9,16,32 ohms. When several speakers are connected in parallel as in the case of column units then their phase must be checked. This is done by feeding currents from a Torch cell through a switch. While switching it on every time the position of the cone is watched whether it is moving inwards or outwards. In fact all the cones should behave identically so that their outputs are together. Whenever any cone movement is to be reversed its connections at the terminals may be interchanged to get the sound output in phase.

The matching of the loud-speakers impedance with the output impedance of a monitoring amplifier is important. This is done by suitable series parallel combinations in the speakers to approach the amplifiers impedance. If the permanent magnet has become weak or the paper cone is torn off, the loudspeaker may be replaced. By listening to poor quality, the ears lose the discrimination of good and bad quality programme. Therefore, monitoring speakers should be the best available.

Headphones

Headphones basically work on the same principles which are applicable to loudspeakers. However, with headphones the acoustical loading is achieved by intimacy of the ear units to the ears. Thus even very small units are capable of providing very good bass performance. Most headphones used for high quality applications are either moving coil or electrostatic. Headphone impedances range from 4 to 1000 ohms. Specifications of a stereo headphone type EM 6201 (Philips) are given below:

Frequency range Matching impedance Maximum input

20 to 20 kHz 4 to 32 ohms 0.1 watt.

MAGNETIC TAPE RECORDING, EDITING AND PLAYBACK

INTRODUCTION

Magnetic tape recording system has got many special features, which makes it unique in Sound Broadcasting, Television and Computer field. These are :-

I.

Instant and simultaneous replay during recording.

II.

The recording medium i.e., the magnetic tape can be used again and again after erasing the previous recordings, which generally takes place along with the recording of the new program.

III.

The editing is simple and accurate. physically cutting the tape.

This can also be done electronically, without

These facilities combined with excellent quality and reliability has made magnetic recording system very popular in the field of entertainment and all direct recordings are first done on magnetic tape. The System The magnetic tape recording system may be studied under three sub-systems :

I.

The magnetic system comprising the magnetic tape plus record, replay and erase heads.

II.

Tape transport system comprising the two spooling motors, the capstan motor, the brake mechanism and the control cum interlock system.

RECORDING PRINCIPLES

The magnetic material used in recording is magnetic oxide of iron Fe2O3 and Fe2O4 or a suitable mixture of the two with small quantities of the oxides of Nickel and Cobalt. This is mixed with suitable adhesives, plasticizers, fillers etc. and applied in the form of an extremely smooth, even and thin coating (0.4 to 0.6 mils) on to a PVC backing (1.0 to 1.5 mils thick). This magnetic coated tape has a remanance of about 500 to 1000 gausses, coercivity of about 300 to 500 oersteds. The permeability is rather low (5 to 10). This tape gets magnetized when it comes in contact with a recording head with audio frequency signal currents flowing through the head windings, and as it passes on forward, retains the magnetism induced, due to the magnetic properties of remanance and coercivity. Thus if the tape is moved across the head at a constant speed of V cm/sec. and the signal current is of frequency "f" Hz, the signal current variations in time, will be recorded as magnetic intensity variations along the tape length. Thus a single cycle will be recorded on a tape length V/f cm. This is called recorded wavelength and will be given by P! v . f

So in tape recording, we really record wavelengths and from a recorded wavelength any frequency signal can be obtained by running the tape at play back speeds different from the one at the time of recording. Normally, the record and replay speeds are exactly the same for a faithful reproduction of the recorded signal. For a fixed frequency audio signal pure tone, the magnetic conditions on the so magnetized tape can be approximately depicted in the form of

recorded wave lengths condition of an array of half wave bar magnets placed end to end along with the tape length

THE ERASE PROCESS

Erasing the previously recorded signal is essential for using the tape repeatedly. A satisfactory method for this is to feed the erase head with a high amplitude signal of about 100 kHz and the tape passes over this erase head before it passes on to the record head (see fig. 6). In this arrangement every part of the tape passes the erase head gap (about 15 mil) and is subjected to about 200 cycles of alternating magnetic field, starting from low value at the start of the gap, increasing to saturation value in the middle of the gap and again steadily dropping to low value of the field, as the tape leaves the gap. These repeated magnetizing cum de-magnetizing cycles erase the signal completely and leave the tape in completely unmagnified form similar to a virgin tape without a magnetic history. We note that for effective erasure, the magnetic material should be subjected to about 100 to 200 alternating magnetic cycles. On erase head this is achieved by a current of about 100 kHz frequency as the tape stays in the erase head gap for a very short duration about one millisecond. In contrast, we use the line current of 50 Hz in bulk erasure and the whole of the magnetic tape remains in the magnetic field for about 2 to 3 seconds to complete the erasure with the same result.

MAGNETIC TAPE

Before we conclude the discussions on magnetic recording system, some knowledge about the magnetic tape qualities and defects are considered essential for professional grade sound

recording and reproduction. Some important mechanical and magnetic properties are given below for guidance.

Tensile Strength

The tape should stand a steady pull of 3.5 Kg. Wt. and impulse load test of 100 gm. falling from a height of 250 mm.

Elastic Elongation

Residual elongation should not be more than 0.3% for a steady load of 1 Kg. Wt. for 24 hours.

Overall Thickness

0.050 mm + 0.005 mm.

Coating Thickness

Max. 0.015 mm min. 0.01 mm.

Smoothness of Coating

Better than 0.001 mm.

Cup and Curl

Tape should be free from coupling and curling defects on visual inspection.

Layer to layer Adhesion

Tape shall show no sticking

SATELLITE RECIEVER

The hub or satellite transmission uplink station is the facility where audio to be transmitted is collected and uplinked to the satellite. The facility consists of an audio encoder/multiplexer, a digital modem, an earth station, an antenna and a network control computer. As an option, a terrestrial link can provide dial up diagnostics and performance monitoring of receiver sites The three major subsystems the remote satellite receiver, includes three major components: - A satellite antenna subsystem - An interfacility link cable - A satellite audio receiver such as ABR202

ACOUSTIC TREATMENT

Good acoustics is a pre-requisite of high quality broadcasting or recording. Acoustic treatment is provided in studios, control rooms, and other technical areas in order to achieve the acoustic conditions which have been found from experience to be suitable for the various types of programmes. In this section problems and design aspects of internal acoustics of a broadcast studio are explained.

a)

Propagation of Sound Waves

Sound waves emanating from a sound source are propagated in all directions. These sound waves are subject to reflection, absorption and refraction on encountering an obstacle. Extent to which each of these phenomenon takes place depends upon the structure and shape of the obstacle, and also on the frequency of sound waves. In close rooms, the sound would be reflected and re-reflected till the intensity weakens and it dies down.

Physical characteristics of sound waves are thus modified in various ways before they reach the human ear. These reflected waves can create echo effect in the room. To achieve the desirable effects of the reflected sound, the dimensions and shape of the room are decided with due care and acoustic treatments are also provided on the various surfaces. b) ACOUSTIC ABSORBERS

Acoustic absorbers are provided on the inner surfaces of the room to achieve optimum R/T characteristics. Different absorbers have different absorption characteristics. No single absorber generally provides uniform absorption over the complete frequency spectrum. Some of the commonly used absorbers are: i) Porous Materials: Mineral wool, glass wool, etc. are members of this class. These materials are very good absorber and are most effective in mid and high frequencies, however, these cannot be used without some facing material. ii) Fibrous Materials: Celotak, insulation boards, perfotiles, jolly-lowtone tiles etc. fall in this category. Absorption of these materials depends upon their softness. Absorption efficiency of these materials depends upon the trapping and dissipation of sound energy in tiny pores. Absorption gets reduced if the surface pores are filled with paints etc.

ii) Panel Absorbers: Panel absorbers are thin sheets/membranes with an air cavity behind. The mass of the panel and the springiness of the air in the cavity resonant at some particular frequency.

Sound Insulation

The unwanted sound or noise in the studios spoils the quality of recorded programmes. Sound insulation of walls doors etc. and layout of the studio building is therefore, decided for acceptable background noise level in the studios. a) Acceptable background Noise Level

It is not possible to specify an acceptable background noise level in the studios as a single weighted figure, because the noise normally present is spread over a wide range. An excessive

noise energy over a small bandwidth could be very disturbing without very much affecting the weighted noise figure. Therefore, the acceptable background noise level is specified as a graph of band level in octave bands against frequency, usually over the range 68 Hz to 4 kHz. These acceptable limits have varied widely between different authorities. In AIR NC 20 curve is followed for studios which corresponds to following values.

Frequency Band (Hz)

Noise Level (db above 0.002 dynes/cm2)

37-75 75-150 150-300 300-600 600-1200 1200-2400

54 43 35 28 23 20

b)

Source of Noise and Sound Insulation

Noise in studios may be either air-borne or structure borne. Background noise in a studio can originate from y y y Outside the building Inside the studio itself and /or Outside the studio but within the building

c)

Noise originated from outside the building

Noise from outside the studio building are mostly due to aircraft, road and rail traffic etc. These noise can be avoided/minimised by locating the studio building in a quiet environment away from the railway lines highways and aerodromes. In case studio centre is located in noisy street, sufficient set-back distance is provided between the street kerb and the main building. Sometimes a multi-storeyed office building is built in between the studio building and the sound source to act as a sound barrier for the studio building.

d)

Noise from inside the studio

Noise from inside the studio itself consist of air-conditioning noise due to air flow, the noise from fluorescent lights, from cooling fans in tape recorders etc. Noise due to airflow in the studios is controlled by creating slow diffusions of air. To avoid noise of fluorescent lights, ballast chokes are not mounted with the light fittings in the studio. These are mounted separately in a ballast nitch outside the studio. Cooling fans in tape recorders are generally of low noise type.

e)

Control of air-conditioning and diesel generator and lift noise

Noise due to air-conditioning plants can transfer to the studios as structural borne noise as well as air borne noise. The structural borne noise is avoided by providing the a.c. plants in a separate block isolated from the main studio mook. A structural isolation gap of 75 mm width right from foundation level up to the roof height is provided between the two blocks. This gap is filled with damping materials, such as asphalt, to avoid bridging by stone, cement mortar etc. Wherever

required, only flexible connections are used for linking these blocks for running electrical cables, duct etc.

These plants are mounted on vibration isolation pads and water pipes for condenser cooling are also isolated from the walls with resilient packing materials so that transmission of the vibration to the building is avoided.

To avoid transferred structural vibration through ducts, the main supply and return ducts from the plants are connected to the studio ducts through flexible canvass connection.

To avoid transfer of airborne noise from the a.c. plants, the plenum chamber and the entire length of supply/return duct is insulated internally with sound absorbing materials e.g. glass wool. Also speed of the blower is kept low (about 750 rpm) as the noise at source itself is controlled.

Similarly diesel generator is either installed in this structurally isolated block or in a separate building away from the studio. The generator is mounted on anti-vibration mounting so that vibration due to the same is minimised in the structure.

f)

Sound insulation from footfall, dragging of furniture etc.

Noise due to footfall, dragging of furniture, falling of paper weight etc. are transmitted at long distance as structure borne noise. Transmission of this noise is much more in steel framed buildings than in load bearing structure. Therefore, studios are generally made in load bearing single storeyed buildings.

In case of steel-framed building and/or multi-storeyed buildings, floating construction i.e. box within the box is recommended for broadcasting studios. g) Sound Insulation from adjacent room/corridor noise

High level of programme/ monitoring in adjacent rooms and conversation in corridors may cause leakage of this sound in a studio. This leakage may be due to poor sound insulation of

intervening walls or due to flanking paths.

AM TRANSMITTER 100KW.

Block Diagram of 100kw transmitter

A 100 KW MW transmitter uses only 4 beams power tetrode tube viz CQK-50 in RF power amplifier stage, 2 nos. of CQK-25 in modulator stage 1, 4-1000 in RF stage. The transmitter uses standard class-B high level modulation and the final power amplifier operates in class-D. This transmitter is divided into different stages: RF STAGE Fixed frequency crystal oscillator serves as a main drive source. Two oscillators are provided out of which one stand by. In order to have frequency stability, crystals in the range of

3 6 MHz are used. The oscillator output is a square wave of 5V amplitude and is fed to a solid power amplifier, which is capable of delivering about 200W to the grid of the final preamplifier. The final preamplifier uses 4C*15,000A air cooled tetrode tube. It is a conventional grounded cathode circuit, operating in class C with plate modulation. The screen grid is modulated along with the plate with an audio voltage from a tertiary winding in the modulation transformer. A current transformer & voltage divider step down the RF current & voltage respectively. A comparator to trip the transmitter during high VSWR senses the rectifier RF voltage & current.

AUDIO STAGE The AF input for transmitter is standard 600 ohm balanced impedance. The preliminary stages are all solid state & direct coupled audio exciter contains four power transmitters in series in each channel & is designed to deliver a peak AF output of 200V to the modulator grids. The modulator uses two numbers of 4C*15,000A & is designed to work with no grid current & delivers the required output for 100% modulation of the 100KW carrier.

RECTIFIER SYSTEMS The entire rectifier used in the transmitter for providing DC supplies to the various stages employs silicon diodes. The HT rectifier supplying 5KW to the final RF amplifier & the modulators also uses silicon diode rectifiers.

CONTROL & PROTECTION CIRCUIT An electronic control system is adopted for the transmitter. The system uses Z80 microprocessor. Connectors switch ON the power circuits. Both auto & normal operation are provided, the selection being carried out with a switch mounted on the control panel. Pressing the appropriate push button switching commands carries out individual switching operations & transmitter states are automatically supervised. Two commands are not carried out in certain requirements of interlocking are not through & until such requirements are met. Provisions for visual indication of fault are made. Acoustic alarms in case of monetary over loads supplement the visual indication. The stand by allows the transmitter to be maintained in operational stage up to filament ON. Recycling operations in the event momentary

overload is provided. In case, if cycling take place 3 times in 16 sec. the transmitter is automatically taken in to stand by condition.

COOLING & VENTILATION SYSTEM The PA & modulator valves employ forced air cooling. The blower is mounted at the bottom of PA cubicle. Air intake is from the bottom, left hand side of the transmitter through & air filter. The air is ducted to an air chamber, on which valves bases are mounted. The grid components of the PA and modulator valves are mounted in the air chamber. The air at required volume and pressure is forced through the valves providing cooling of the valves. Hot air is let out from top of the transmitter rack. External air ducts duct the air out of the transmitter building. Provision for monitoring the airflow & the exhaust air temp. are provided. These are interlocked with control system of the transmitter. The blower is capable of providing air at 35M/min. at static pressure of 60mm WC. The approximate airflow for individual valves is given below:(a) PA = 10m/min. modulation 1 6 m/min. modulation 1 8 m/min. (b) The blast motor is 3 phase at 415 & is rated for 1HP. The air temperature sensing thermostats should be set at 70 degree C during normal program modulation & 85 degree C while 100% with continuous tone for more than one minute.

AIR FLOW CIRCUIT SAFETY SYSTEMS

(a) Mechanical key exchange (b) Electrical interlocking CRYSTAL OSCILLATOR INTERFACE The RF output from the 2nd crystal oscillator is fed to the RF IN and of the crystal interface PCB. The oscillator A/B select signal in given by the microprocessor based control system.

RF EXCITER The class E type power amplifier is designed to generate 220W of drive power to drive the grid of final RF power stage value 4C*15,000A.

The RF amplifier assembly consists of (a) RFamplifier driver (b) RF amplifier comprising 1 RF 440 power MOSFET impedance matching transformer interface. (c) RF amplifier interface. Switch Mode Power Supplies (SMPS) are used for regulated DC supplies to the 200W RF exciter stage FINAL POWER AMPLIFIER It is a class C power amplifier. It uses 4C*15,000A air cooled tetrode tube. It is a conventional grounded cathode circuit operating in class C with plate modulation. Biasing of valve is done at - 400V. The screen grid is modulated along with the plate with an audio voltage from a tertiary winding in the modulation transformer. A current transformer & voltage divider step down the RF current & voltage respectively. A comparator to trip the transmitter during high VSWR senses the rectifier RF voltage & current.

AUDIO FREQUENCY STAGES Audio signal as comes from the control through PNTs lines having signal level 1 2 db (approximately) is passed through equalizer and level limiter, now it come into audio stage components, firstly high pass filter. The AF input for the transmitter is at 600 ohm balanced impedance. The final stage of the audio exciter contains four power transistors in series in each grid. An overall feedback is employed from the primary of the modulation transformer. The standing feeds for the modulator are kept to the minimum in order to conserve power at low level of modulation, by incorporating a linearity corrector in the audio preliminary stages. The modulator uses 2nos. of 5C*15,000A value & is designed to work with no grid current & delivers the required output for 100% modulation of the 10KW carrier.

High Pass Filter

The audio input from the speech rack is fed to active High Pass Filter. It cuts off all frequencies below 50 Hz. This also has the audio attenuator and audio muting relay. The Hum compensator provides for the introduction of controlled amount of signals at 50, 100 and 150 C/s which can be varied from 0 to 360o into the pre amplifier stage APA 302 so as to cancel the Hum components due to the power frequencies present in the system. This will help to raise the S/N ratio of the transmitter.

AF Pre-amplifier The output of the High Pass Filter is fed to the AF Pre-amplifier, one for each balanced audio line. Signal from the negative feed back network from the secondary of the modulation transformer and the signals from the compensator also are fed to this unit.

AF Pre-Corrector This card corrects the audio for the non-linearity of modulator tubes. It uses an op-amp and switching circuits which will distort the audio for different audio levels, opposite to that of tube distortion.

AF Driver 2 AF drivers are used to drive the two modulator valves. The driver provides the necessary DC Bias voltage and also AF signal sufficient to modulate 100%. The output of AF driver stage is formed by four transistors in series as it works with a high voltage of about -400 V. The transistors are protected with diodes and Zener diodes against high voltages that may result due to internal tube flashovers. There is a potentiometer by which any clipping can be set such that the maximum modulation factor will not exceed.

POWER SUPPLIES:

The transmitters has been provided with the power supplies required for the value circuit as well as transistorized sub units as listed below 1. High Tension power supply 5KV, 6A this provides anode power supply to PA and modulator valves. 2. 750V, 400mA supply, this provides screen voltage to PA value. 3. 750V, 50mA supply, this provides screen voltage to modulator value. 4. -650V supply, this provides grid bias supply to PA and modulator value. Apart from the above, the following power supplies has been provided for the sub units 1. An SMPS unit providing DC voltage which can be set from 25V to 45V for the RF exciter stage. 2. +5V, 5A-/15V, 1A. For the control electronic and interface PCBs. 3. +12V relays. 4. A battery supply with out 12V rechargeable batteries are provided for backup of microprocessor based control in the event of power failure the battery enables the status of transmitters to be stored for two minutes in the event of power failure. HT Power Supply:The HT supply consists of a 3phase power transformer T101 and 3phase full wave rectifier; it provides a DC output voltage of the 5KV at 2136 tap. The HT voltage can be adjusted from 3.5KV to 6KV by the tap changing on the secondary of T101.

Silicon avalanche diodes have been used for rectification. Totally 84 diodes are connected in 3phase full wave connection, each one phase comprising of 28 diodes mounted on 1 mounting plate. A total of 3 such set are mounted on the rear of the PD cubical. Resistors and capacitors are connected in parallel across each diode for the purpose of preventing abnormal voltage due to surges for equalizing the distributed voltage etc. The power transformer used for HT power supply is installed at the rear of PD cubicle, the DC voltage after rectification is filtered by smoothing choke of L102 and capacitors C122 A, B, C. These components are located at the bottom of PA cubicle.

750 DC for PA screen: This supply provides the screen voltage of RF power amplifier tube 4C*15,000A. It employs 3 phase full wave rectifier followed by a choke input filter. The 2 phase transformer provides the necessary AC voltage to the rectifier formed by CR503 to CR514.

FM TRANSMITTER
The FM transmitter family NR8200 for transmitting broadcast signal in band II(FM). LDMOS transmitter based amplifier ensures high output power while requiring only minimum space. The output power ranges from 2.5 kW to max 12.5 kW. Both the power class of transmitter and its name depend upon the number of built in amplifiers.

The NR8200 consists of following units and modules Power Distribution y y y y y y Main Switch Motor protection switches Automatic line fuses Power distributor board Auxiliary power supply Grounding bolt

Transmitter Control Unit y NETCCU y Rack Controller Terminal board y y y Exciter unit Exciter (1or 2) Exciter switch

Output stage y y y y y y y Power amplifier Amplifier Combiner Absorber unit RF connecting cable Directional couplers Spare test interface for customer

RF connector Cooling system y y y y Intake air and exhaust air duct Fan Differential pressure gauge Temperature sensors for exhaust air.

FM Transmitter Specifications

FIG. 1

FIG.2

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

In this sector of training I studied about the overall procedure and objective of the Broadcasting process in elaborate form. All India Radio had provided us all the equipments and apparatus for understanding of each and every section up to its depth. I visited various sections like server and networking room, lines room, control booth, captive earth station etc. After studying these sections I understood their execution and importance for the transmission and reception of the data in All India radio.

The training started was with the server and networking room where I visited and studied about the overall networking procedure and the interconnection between the servers to access the private data as well as public data. The data like news , audio songs etc are available to every server at any instance in any section. Every server is independent to fetch and add the data to them. The servers are connected to each other via bus topology and Ring topology. The next section was Lines room including all the lines containing data decoding and arriving at same room and can be accessed. This data can be further forwarded to the other studios and control room with help of Encoder. These data can also send through the telephone lines in form of Analog data., and further can be received in the digital form. In control booth section the overall control of the signals taken in the consideration. With the help of new technologies and various amplifiers. In the Captive Earth Station I learned the reception and transmission of data in the form of signals via two types of channels cxc and cxs channel a digital and analog form. At AM and FM transmitter station I studied minute technical details of how the signal received from main studio is transmitted all over the designated area. The only constraint that I noticed in this whole transmission process was of non availability of uninterrupted power supply at AM and FM station. And this problem can only tackled by using high power offline UPS. Overall the training process at All India Radio broadcasting was exciting and very helpful in understanding the industrial working process and environment.