Each year at NAB, 10 Pick Hit winners are selected by a panel of professionals working in the field. All are industry experts. All selections were made independent of the magazine's editorial staff. The quality of the judging ensures each trophy winner meets the criteria of providing an innovative product that addresses a significant issue in radio technology. These 10 products outshone the rest at NAB2001.

For complete rules governing the Pick Hits selection process, see page 68.

Mixing control surface
Telos Systems

Smart Surface: A control system designed to exploit the capabilities of mixing/routing engines and computer-based audio applications. Bearing a slight resemblance to traditional on-air consoles, Smart Surface provides many familiar controls to operators, while providing new functions. By integrating management of most devices used in the radio studio during on-air or production activities, near-complete control is provided for mixing, routing, playback, recording, editing, phone control, remote (codec) operation and more.
216-241-7225; fax 216-241-4103
www.telos-systems.com; info@telos-systems.com
Circle (209) on Free Info Card or go to www.beradio.com

Mic interface for computer audio
Sound Devices

USBPre 1.5: A complete, portable audio interface for hard disk recording. Designed for USB-equipped Windows and Mac OS computers, USBPre 1.5 adds S/PDIF input and output to Sound Devices' USBPre Digital Audio Interface. USBPre 1.5 includes all the connections required for 24-bit audio acquisition with notebook or desktop computers. Features include: two active-balanced microphone preamplifiers with 48V phantom power, 24-bit A/D converters, instrument DI, line-level inputs, front panel level metering, with headphone monitoring of both analog source and computer audio. USBPre is completely bus powered, eliminating batteries or external power supplies.
608-524-0625; fax 608-524-0655;
www.sounddevices.com; info@sounddevices.com
Circle (208) on Free Info Card or go to www.beradio.com

Master clock systems
Broadcast Tools

Time Sync and Time Sync II: Featuring an SIG LED and relay, furnished as fail-safe for either loss of satellite or power and invalid time, the Time Sync provides three separate GPS time referenced outputs. The first SPDT relay pulses once every 15 minutes. These times are programmed for 13:00, 28:00, 43:00 and 58:00 after each hour. The second SPDT relay pulses at the top of the hour. The final output is an open collector with a 100 ms pulse every second. The Time Sync II provides four separate GPS time referenced outputs. The first three are identical to the Time Sync; the forth output is a 4800-baud, RS-232 serial port providing UTC time in HH:MM:SS format. Both units are supplied with a Garmin 12-channel GPS receiver with embedded antenna. The receivers are supplied with a 15-foot cable, longer cable lengths up to 100 feet may be used. Time Sync II is equipped with an optional RS-485 receiver input, allowing up to 1000-foot separation from the receiver.
877-250-5575
fax 360-854-9479
www.broadcasttools.com
bti@broadcasttools.com
Circle (202) on Free Info Card or go to www.beradio.com

Condenser microphone
PMI Audio Group

C1: A cardioid-only, large diaphagm mic, the C1 is one of three Studio Projects microphones available through PMI. The C1 is a transformerless mic with FET impedance converters, touting good common mode rejection and RF interference prevention. The capacitor element is of the center electrode design, providing an even frequency response over 20Hz to 20kHz. Dynamic feedback at the capacitor element is a technique that eliminates distortion at high sound pressure levels. The capacitor membrane is 6 micron mylar, gold-sputtered, with its voltage polarized by the application of phantom power.
877-563-6335
fax 310-373-4714
www.pmiaudio.com
sales@pmiaudio.com
Circle (205) on Free Info Card or go to www.beradio.com

ISDN transceiver
Telos Systems

Zephyr Xstream: The newest member of the Zephyr family of ISDN codecs, Zephyr Xstream introduces MPEG4 AAC-LD coding, the newest compression algorithm from MP3 inventor Fraunhofer Labs, for Layer-3 audio quality with transmission times so low. Zephyr Xstream is fully backward-compatible with the original Zephyr. Zephyr Xstream is a rackmount-style transceiver specially designed for use with a single ISDN line or other low-bitrate transmission paths. Two-channel flexibility over a single ISDN circuit or two synchronous links can be used to transmit and receive 20kHz stereo audio to and from a single location, or two mono channels to and from separate locations.
216-241-7225; fax 216-241-4103
www.telos-systems.com; info@telos-systems.com
Circle (210) on Free Info Card or go to www.beradio.com

Wireless telephone adapter
JK Audio

Dapter One: This little black box converts the 2.5mm headset jack on your cell phone to a modular jack. This RJ-11 jack connects directly to any JK Audio RemoteMix series mixers. You will continue to use your wireless phone to dial or answer the call, but you will use the microphone and headphones plugged into your RemoteMix during the call. Daptor One does not require any batteries or power supply. It contains a mini hybrid circuit that converts the earpiece and microphone signals into a balanced RJ-11 phone line signal. Mic signals from the RemoteMix are sent into the wireless phone, while the earpiece signals from the wireless phone are sent into the RemoteMix Headphones. The hybrid circuit minimizes crosstalk between transmit and receive.
800-552-8346; fax 815-786-8502
www.jkaudio.com; info@jkaudio.com
Circle (204) on Free Info Card or go to www.beradio.com

Digital remote data link
Moseley Associates

Aries 400S: The high spectral efficiency of Aries 400S allows users to send 64 kbps or 128 kpbs data over narrow bandwidth 20 kHz or 50kHz channels. An industry standard V.35 interface provides a seamless connection to an ISDN codec or data multiplex. A built in 300 to 9600 bps service channel is ready to connect to your remote control. Optional IMPEG LII audio modules facilitate the transmission of stereo or mono audio over the link. Features include a frequency range of 330MHz to 512MHz, RF occupied bandwidth of 25kHz and 50kHz, user data rates of 64kbps and 128kbps, and modulation type 32QAM, 16QAM, QPSK. Additional features include XLR female and XLR male audio input connectors, an MPEG Layer II Option and a dynamic range 90dB static encoder/decoder.
805-968-9621; fax 805-685-9638
www.moseleysb.com; info@moseleysb.com
Circle (206) on Free Info Card or go to www.beradio.com

Red steady-state light
Dialight

LED Obstruction Light: Resists aircraft-induced vibration and uses 12.5W. Using Dialight's high-flux LED technology, the 860 Series exceeds the FAA's intensity specification for an L-810 light and can meet its -55°C temperature requirement. An optically designed glass lens provides 360° visibility at 70 cd. Provides transient protection and earth-grounding features in a self-contained wiring compartment.
732-223-9400; fax 732-223-8788
www.dialight.com; info@dialight.com
Circle (203) on Free Info Card or go to www.beradio.com

Digital audio routing switcher
Sierra Automated Systems

32KD: Performs switching, mixing, DSP, IFB and mix-minus functions using the SAS DTDM bus architecture. Fiber-optic interfaces allow multiple mainframes to be linked. Supports analog and digital inputs and outputs on selectable connector panels. System handles serial data and provides contact closures through a GPI. Various control panels are available.
818-840-6749; fax 818-840-6751
www.sasaudio.com; sales@sasaudio.com
Circle (207) on Free Info Card or go to www.beradio.com

Voice editing system
Audion Laboratories

VoxPro PC: PC version includes such features as: a re-sizable sound window that displays 7 to 15 seconds of a recording, ability to import and export .WAV, AIFF, MP3 and other file formats, unlimited undo, unlimited hot keys. Runs on any Pentium II or higher, Win98/ME/2K.
206-842-5202; fax 206-842-6029; www.voxpro.net
Circle (201) on Free Info Card or go to www.beradio.com

The Pick Hits Judges

Bud Aiello, CBNT
Director of Engineering Technology
National Public Radio
Washington, DC

Mark Humphrey, CPBE
Chief Engineer
WPLY-FM/WPHI-FM
Philadelphia

Doug Irwin
Director of Engineering
Clear Channel San Francisco
San Francisco

Andy Laird, CPBE
VP Radio Engineering
Journal Broadcast Group
Milwaukee

Jeff Littlejohn, CBRE
VP Engineering Services
Clear Channel Communications
Cincinnati

Milford Smith
VP Radio Engineering
Greater Media
East Brunswick, NJ

Lang Sturgeon, CPBE
Director of Engineering
Clear Channel Baltimore
Baltimore

Barry D. Thomas, CSRE
President
Media Systems Design
Los Angeles

Scott Whitcomb
Director of Broadcast
Engineering
Activate
Seattle

---

The complete rules can be found on page 68.