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Sine Systems
- Thread starter grich
- Start date
That would be a bad thing IMHO.grich said:
Does anyone know anywhere else to repair sine(s)?
Unfortunately, there were deaths in the family that contributed to the demise of Sine.
I think the other half of the equation was that Sine was behind the times when it comes to some products. The RFC1/B is an awesome dial up remote control. Bulletproof. But with transmitters having web servers in them, lots of other options for remote controls that log automatically and can email and text you, the RFC1/B was lacking in features for a modern transmitter site. If you put one in now, most likely it's running in parallel with another remote... not really a cost effective option. At the very least, an ethernet interface with built in web browser that plugged in to the RFC1/B would have been a good start, and would have made configuration a lot faster, with the ability to save and restore entire sites.
Things like a telephone time and temperature unit also became fast obsolete when everyone has a GPS enabled phone that gives you the exact time, the temperature and forecast anywhere in the world, and just about anything else you can think of.
It's sad to see them go, but it's also a reminder that just because your products were cutting edge 20+ years ago doesn't mean you stop innovating. If Orban, Omnia or Wheatstone were like Sine, we would still have 8100's, Cutting Edge Unity's, A500 boards and an equalized 15k pair running up to the transmitter.
I will miss the Three Stooges sound effects though. I would always laugh when a transmitter called me and went "nyuck nyuck woo woo woo BONK" and then told me about a serious problem. Made it easier to deal with at 3am!
I think the other half of the equation was that Sine was behind the times when it comes to some products. The RFC1/B is an awesome dial up remote control. Bulletproof. But with transmitters having web servers in them, lots of other options for remote controls that log automatically and can email and text you, the RFC1/B was lacking in features for a modern transmitter site. If you put one in now, most likely it's running in parallel with another remote... not really a cost effective option. At the very least, an ethernet interface with built in web browser that plugged in to the RFC1/B would have been a good start, and would have made configuration a lot faster, with the ability to save and restore entire sites.
Things like a telephone time and temperature unit also became fast obsolete when everyone has a GPS enabled phone that gives you the exact time, the temperature and forecast anywhere in the world, and just about anything else you can think of.
It's sad to see them go, but it's also a reminder that just because your products were cutting edge 20+ years ago doesn't mean you stop innovating. If Orban, Omnia or Wheatstone were like Sine, we would still have 8100's, Cutting Edge Unity's, A500 boards and an equalized 15k pair running up to the transmitter.
I will miss the Three Stooges sound effects though. I would always laugh when a transmitter called me and went "nyuck nyuck woo woo woo BONK" and then told me about a serious problem. Made it easier to deal with at 3am!
That's a great perspective...it hurts, but I needed to read that.WNTIRadio said:
WNTIRadio said:
But not everyone has one of these super dyno-whopping transmitters and still need contact closures and analog sampling. Looks like I'll be ordering more of the Broadcast Tools remotes then.
No, but it's nice to be able to see the ol' CCA on the web too. Have one with a MAC hooked up to it, and I can view everything online or dial in. Plenty of analog sampling and closures. Ditto for another site with an ARC Plus. And another with a BTools WVRC-8.
By not recognizing or realizing the importance of web access, email/text alerts and how everything is networked, Sine probably lost a lot of business. I LOVE the RFC1/B, but hadn't bought any in the past 8 years due to the more advanced feature set on other offerings. And a lot of the transmitters they went on are anything but whizz-bang.
rfburns said:
Actually, the WVRC-8 does have a clock and calendar. It holds a fair number of events, too. I think it's around 100+. As long as you have a reliable connection to an NTP server it works fine. The only issue comes if the NTP server is unavailable in which case the events don't run because the WVRC won't keep time without active NTP.
The RFC-1 used a timing loop, so the accuracy varied depending upon how much work the CPU was doing. The time between ticks could vary quite a bit. That's why the clocks on some of the Sine controls were considered drifty and had to be set often.
When we designed our remote control product, we wanted better accuracy than a simple timing loop could provide. We also wanted the box to keep time without a network connection, so we chose to use a RTC chip with a 32.768kHz crystal to keep time. We also used a very large cap to back up the RTC so it'll keep time during a power outage lasting several days.
Still, the amount of functionality crammed into the 68HC11 on the RFC-1 is amazing. The efficiency of the coding is extraordinary. It was brilliant.
WNTIRadio said:
That's all well and good, IF you can get internet access at your transmitter site. Half of my sites, AT&T laughed at me when I asked about internet feeds.
Bengalsfan said:
It's also often a lot less expensive to pay for a phone line than Internet service, even when it is available. Still, it's my distinct impression that phone lines are the secondary interface method for at least 90% of the remote controls that we sell. When one comes back for service, it's rare to see that the default vocabulary has been changed, yet in almost every instance, the Webserver has been fully configured.
At most sites, Internet is possible via 3G/4G networks, even if not by traditional methods. There are routers and even phones that will give a wired connection from a 3G/4G network.
I have one of those little Verizon USB 3G things at some sites where the wired internet isn't an option. Plugs into the Cradlepoint router, run an external antenna if you need the extra signal strength and it's done. With the diversity built in to cell sites, it's rare that it will go down completely. Would I run programming over it? No. But it works fine for remote control.
I still configure both voice and web server if I have both.
At the risk of pi**ing someone off, does anyone know of a place to get Sine RFC repairs done? I have 2 wounded ones here
Dan
Dan
Michael Patton <[email protected]>
The units are not hard to repair, unless the main chip is zapped. Simplicity has its advantages.
The units are not hard to repair, unless the main chip is zapped. Simplicity has its advantages.
Thanks for the info. Now that I think about it, I think Mark Persons does too. like I said, I have 2 to get serviced
Thanks
again
Dan
Thanks
again
Dan
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