LINCS GROUP FM – A COMPLETE AoIP SOLUTION WITH AEQ TECHNOLOGY 25/09/2019
ALL AoIP solution with FORUM IP Split and NetBox 32 MX Routing Matrix
The Lincs FM Group is one of the UK’s leading commercial radio station operators, comprising of eight stations across Yorkshire and the Midlands - covering towns from Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, Wakefield and Hull in the North, to Rutland in the South, and Lincoln, Skegness and Grimsby in the East.
Each station has built a large and loyal audience by informing and entertaining listeners with a mix of great music, local and national news and quality competitions and features.
When Lincs went shopping for its 6 new studios and as they were moving out of their previous Doncaster Headquarters to a new location they also took the opportunity to renovate their previous equipment and go AoIP for their new Studio Complex. The new facilities are housing Dearne FM, Lincs FM, Ridings FM, Rother FM and Trax FM plus their news Studio that is providing the local news for all the prior stations.
The management, and after looking into different solutions and service providers, decided on going with Broadcast Radio.com and their team of experts. Broadcast Radio made a proposal for an integer solution in DANTE AoIP with Myriad 5, Play-out and scheduling automation solution, AEQ Forum Split IP consoles and a central Routing Matrix NetBox 32 MX.
The AEQ FORUM IP Split Consoles are using DANTE AoIP Network signals only with the exception for the Microphone inputs that are the only “local” inputs for each console. Typically all the studios are using a total of 5 Microphone including the DJ or Presenters microphone.
The remainder of the signals are exclusively in DANTE and are concentrated to/from the NetBox 32 MX. This latter has a dual role in providing a 64x64 channels programme and antennae matrix at the same time as it is also interconnecting all the studios in the network allowing for the unlimited signal sharing. The NetBox 32 MX counts on both Analogue and Digital AES3 in and outputs to connect equipment that are non native IP Audio devices such as Off air tuners, Satellite downlinks and News agency feeds, etc…
The flexibility of this installation allows for all the signals in their network to be shared with any studio. Routing and summing of all the network signals is accomplished through the NetBox 32 MX that can run simple Salvoes or complex Macros. These can be executed either manually, automatically through schedules or through remote triggering from for example any Mixing console or the Myriad 5 Play-out automation system. This latter is taking full advantage of the Virtual GPI/O system that is implemented in the AERQ equipment with IP Connectivity. The NetBox 32 MX also offers an ample set of Alarms that also can trigger Routing/Matrix or Virtual GPI/O actions based upon for example Audio thresholds. Level monitoring is also possible since the Real-Time-Control Software for the NetBox 32 MX provides the possibility to create bespoke VU-Metering views for the Stations critical channels.
Broadcast Radio took the lead on this project together with Lincs FM groups Technical management with Andy Langford, the groups Broadcast Engineer.
