A big thunderboomy rumbled through the lower Keys late last night and early this morning, knocking out electricity to the feed site.
Even though my own uninterruptible power supply kept the scanner, stream computer, and cable modem running nicely for the hour or so that electricity was out, the p.o.s. Comcast cable Internet service went out almost immediately. A call to Comcast confirmed that they have no backup power for their cable infrastructure in Key West, so when the power goes out, the customers are s.o.l.
Despite Comcast's superior downlink speed an order has been placed with Shuddern Bell/BellSouth/AT&T for a DSL line. At least they make an effort to provide service during a power outage, even if it doesn't last quite as long as stated publicly. Power outages are frequent in Key West so it behooves everybody on the island to plan accordingly.
p.s. I locked out the aircraft guard channel that was stuck on a weak carrier. I opened up the aircraft group yesterday, so we shall see how long it lasts. If it becomes too much trouble I'll just lock it out again.
2010-08-25
2010-08-15
Back online
I don't know why, but the feed computer for Bote's Mixer Board and Bote's Wild Feed locked up hard. I was camping this weekend and could not access it remotely, but then I couldn't do anything with it locally either. I had to pull the plug and reset it the old fashioned way.
I gotta get this big UPS outfitted with big batteries and solve all this mess.
Back to normal ops for now, until the next storm rolls through.
I gotta get this big UPS outfitted with big batteries and solve all this mess.
Back to normal ops for now, until the next storm rolls through.
2010-08-08
Bad storms approaching
Severe thunderstorms approach southeast Florida as I type this. They were bad yesterday and knocked out electricity which caused the Broward feeds to go down. Because the uninterruptible power supplies here can't run everything (I discovered yesterday) if it looks like power is about to go out the feeds will go offline.
You will probably hear radio traffic that reveals how bad the storms are on the feeds themselves.
Otherwise, things should be almost normal, except that I can only hear Deerfield on the Wild Feed scanner until I get an external antenna up.
You will probably hear radio traffic that reveals how bad the storms are on the feeds themselves.
Otherwise, things should be almost normal, except that I can only hear Deerfield on the Wild Feed scanner until I get an external antenna up.
2010-08-01
Service interruption for Broward feeds
The Mixer Board and Wild Feeds will be off and on over the coming few days, so please bear with me. I am changing everything around here and outages are simply unavoidable.
If you only get music when you tune in, try back a few hours later because...you never know what you'll hear.
If you only get music when you tune in, try back a few hours later because...you never know what you'll hear.
2010-06-17
Mixer Board vigilance
While I am out of town I would appreciate notice if the Mixer Board feed goes down. I can not promise rapid response, but I'll do my best to get things back online as soon as I know it has crapped out again.
I have been procrastinating at regenerating the original machine that hosted that feed. Since the temporary machine hosts both the Mixer Board and the Wild Feed, something does not agree with SimpleCast which encodes the Mixer Board feed so it craps out every few days. I have covered this up by rebooting the machine when I feel that it needs it, but while I'm away it will likely fail when I have no Internet access. Murphy's Law and so forth.
Sorry about this, but you know how hobbies are. Of course, if somebody wants to donate a million bucks to the cause...
Look on the bright side, you can always listen to Key West action on the Southernmost Feed. WOO HOO!
I have been procrastinating at regenerating the original machine that hosted that feed. Since the temporary machine hosts both the Mixer Board and the Wild Feed, something does not agree with SimpleCast which encodes the Mixer Board feed so it craps out every few days. I have covered this up by rebooting the machine when I feel that it needs it, but while I'm away it will likely fail when I have no Internet access. Murphy's Law and so forth.
Sorry about this, but you know how hobbies are. Of course, if somebody wants to donate a million bucks to the cause...
Look on the bright side, you can always listen to Key West action on the Southernmost Feed. WOO HOO!
2010-06-11
Wild Feed searching
Broward County is finally getting around to rebanding its trunked radio system Real Soon Now. Since the radios must be returned to the radio shop for reprogramming, they are taking the time to change the names and uses of some talkgroups.
Starting now and lasting through the weekend Bote's Wild Feed will be in SEARCH mode to pick up any random talkgroups that pop up. Over the weekend most of the traffic is public safety as the dog catcher and garbage man don't work then, so our ears will be spared.
I do have to program in all the hospital talkgroups in order to lock them out as that traffic is mundane, annoying, and sometimes contains private information that should not be broadcast.
Starting now and lasting through the weekend Bote's Wild Feed will be in SEARCH mode to pick up any random talkgroups that pop up. Over the weekend most of the traffic is public safety as the dog catcher and garbage man don't work then, so our ears will be spared.
I do have to program in all the hospital talkgroups in order to lock them out as that traffic is mundane, annoying, and sometimes contains private information that should not be broadcast.
2010-06-10
Server replaced
Well, that was certainly easier than I anticipated!
The failing server has been replaced with zero effort on my part. Much props to the co-location facility that hosts our streams, VirtBiz Internet Services who can be reached at +1 972-485-4125 or +1 866-485-4125 . They sure made it easy for me, as I did not at all relish the prospect of re-installing Icecast one little bit!
The failing server has been replaced with zero effort on my part. Much props to the co-location facility that hosts our streams, VirtBiz Internet Services who can be reached at +1 972-485-4125 or +1 866-485-4125 . They sure made it easy for me, as I did not at all relish the prospect of re-installing Icecast one little bit!
2010-06-08
Server failure
It never fails: as soon as I gussy up the Key West feed, the streaming server takes a dive.
We're told that the server hardware at the co-lo facility is an older box and has several failures creeping up on it. So, over the coming days I will be getting a new server ready. No adjustment to your set is necessary, it will just start working reliably again once the cutover is complete and the DNS entry is updated.
In the meantime, expect more downtime than uptime based on the fact that they got it running a few hours ago, but it's back down again.
We're told that the server hardware at the co-lo facility is an older box and has several failures creeping up on it. So, over the coming days I will be getting a new server ready. No adjustment to your set is necessary, it will just start working reliably again once the cutover is complete and the DNS entry is updated.
In the meantime, expect more downtime than uptime based on the fact that they got it running a few hours ago, but it's back down again.
2010-06-05
Key West feed new antenna
OH YEAH! Bote's Southernmost Feed from Key West, Florida now hears MUCH better.
It is running a 1/4 wavelength high band antenna up on the roof, so it hears the Key West and Stock Island sites of the Monroe County trunked system solid now.
It also hears the UHF fire repeaters for Monroe County which still have some interesting traffic.
I have also enabled the marine bank since Key West is an island, after all. If the Coast Guard encrypted transmissions become too obtrusive I shall lock them out. For now, everything is wide open on the marine bank.
This feed should be hopping now!
Enjoy!
It is running a 1/4 wavelength high band antenna up on the roof, so it hears the Key West and Stock Island sites of the Monroe County trunked system solid now.
It also hears the UHF fire repeaters for Monroe County which still have some interesting traffic.
I have also enabled the marine bank since Key West is an island, after all. If the Coast Guard encrypted transmissions become too obtrusive I shall lock them out. For now, everything is wide open on the marine bank.
This feed should be hopping now!
Enjoy!
2010-05-16
Key West feed antenna
I know, I know, the Key West feed signal breaks up a lot. It's just a rinky-dink little rubber duck antenna screwed on the back of the scanner.
I'm hoping to erect a real antenna if I can arrange all the moving parts involved. If it works out the way I hope, then the public safety trunked system should be rock solid and I might be able to open up the marine bank since there will then be something to hear.
Nothing is certain at this point, but bear with me as I improve the feed.
Thanx.
I'm hoping to erect a real antenna if I can arrange all the moving parts involved. If it works out the way I hope, then the public safety trunked system should be rock solid and I might be able to open up the marine bank since there will then be something to hear.
Nothing is certain at this point, but bear with me as I improve the feed.
Thanx.
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