Cell phone remotes
This home-made interface splits the mini jack from the phone into an XLR connector for a mic and a headphone jack.
Plug Before You Crimp
Installing RJ-45 connectors can be a pain, but not if you use connectors that simplify their installation.
Analog testing
Ed Treese shares some notes on his favorite piece of analog test equipment: a pair of headphones.
Taking Pictures
A digital camera can be a valuable tool in your toolbox. Even the camera on a cell phone is better than nothing, but higher resolution cameras can be helpful as well.
Wall-wart Plugs
The Furman PlugLock has metal brackets that are adjustable for various size wall-warts and allows them to be securely clamped in place.
Rack Equipment Protection
Most rack covers block access to the equipment. This station needed to protect the exposed face, but maintain full access. See how a back-of-the-rack device found a new home in the front of the rack.
Satellite Critter Control
Need to keep insects out of the satellite antenna feed horn? A piece of Mylar screen material and a large diameter, stainless-steel hose clamp may be your answer.
Home-brew Dehydrator Upgrade
Coaxial transmission line and antenna pressurization are critically important. Mike Kernen needed to repair his dehydrator system on a budget. He devised a system with greater capacity at half the cost of a new system.
Check the Electrical Power Meter
It's a good idea to compare the power bill information to the actual meter reading once in a while.
PERL Logger
Rob Landry's Perl script records each hour as an MP3 file by capturing the station's Internet stream.
Mine that Light
Working in tight spaces with low light is no fun. Check out this handy device to shed some light on the task.
Weather Protection
Covering a spark gap with a plastic tub saved it from heavy rain.
Online Resources
Check out the Radio magazine Glossary, Rane Pro Audio Reference, Sweetwater Glossary, Stan Coutant's Microphone Site and the James Steele Mic Page.
Unusual adapters
Having the ability to create an adapter on a moment's notice can save the day. Sometimes something unusual -- albeit potentially dangerous -- can save the day.
Cover that wire label
Labeling wires is a common task, and you have likely tried many methods.
Iphone tools
Gary Kline suggested one of his favorite Iphone apps for radio engineers, Islipstick.
Nice PAD
Porting a data stream to an RBDS encoder or HD Radio importer often requires some kind of conversion step. There are commercial products and services to do this, but it can be done in house.
USB audio interfaces
Professional quality audio cards are expensive and many times you have no choice by tto make do with the built-in sound interface from standard PC.
EAS Checkup
One piece of equipment that can be left untouched and unnoticed for some time is the station's EAS encoder/decoder. Don't let it become a quiet problem.
Freeware for audio editing
Wavosaur will multitask like the previous version of Adobe and is compatible with most older Windows operating systems.
Go wireless
When you must have more than one keyboard and mouse, one way to make things neater is to use a wireless keyboard/mouse combination.
Switch N Sense
Many automation systems utilize the Measurement Computing Systems Switch N Sense-8 USB converter box for cue closure inputs.
Mounting Computers
While several methods of mounting various workstations and servers has been addressed before, sometimes a specific computer just won't fit on anything you have. A simple solution is as near as a suspended ceiling.
Reuse Console Button Caps
It is very simple to remove old button legends with a Dremel tool with the 409 cut off wheel.
Sharpen Hand Tools for Longer Life
With the use of a fine needle file more life can be coaxed out of an old wire stripper.
