An effective monitoring and control architecture can smooth the repack transition and improve operational efficiency when your new facility is brought on line. Repack is going to be a very busy time for engineering staffs who will be stretched thin planning and executing the many changes associated with rebuilding your entire RF plant while tending the ongoing day to day operations of the station. There is a lot on the line. A good monitoring and control system will let you focus on the tasks at hand while keeping your station on air and automatically alerting you of any problems.  

Easy remote access via smartphone, PC or dial-up connection will keep you in touch with your sites 24/7, wherever you are. You may be faced with the need to switch back and forth between your main and auxiliary sites multiple times during the repack construction cycle. Reliable remote access will allow you to initiate and verify these changes without the need to be on site. 

Email and SMS alarm notifications with one-click hyperlink access to the affected site let you respond immediately to off-air situations or other critical conditions. And reliable, on site embedded processing enables automated functions to run without the need for a PC or a live network connection.

A properly designed remote control installation provides a consolidated view of the entire transmission facility, eliminating the need to separately interrogate multiple pieces of equipment. Accurate knowledge of conditions at the transmitter site reduces windshield time and ensures that the right tools and equipment are on hand if a site visit becomes necessary. Automated reports provide evidence of compliance and can identify long term performance variations before they result in expensive equipment failures.

Brent Clingingsmith, chief engineer for Quincy Media / WGEM, monitors and controls TV and radio transmitter sites across Illinois, Indiana and West Virginia. Brent writes, “The Burk ARC Plus is being used for so much more than just transmitter monitoring. We have barely scratched the surface when it comes to the things the ARC Plus can do, from virtual channels to SNMP monitoring of other connected devices on our LAN such as encoders, decoders, IRDs, probes and security cameras. The mobile connection has been a great option for us and has cut down significantly on down time with transmitters and other broadcast equipment.”

The site management decisions you make during the repack process will have a long-term impact on your business. At Burk Technology, we have been focused on broadcast remote control for over 30 years. We hope you will give us the opportunity to participate in your repack site monitoring discussions. Please call us today at 978-486-0086 x700 or email sales@burk.com for a no-cost remote control design based on your individual site requirements.