Simulcast of stake conference

[jepeneter-p40]

What's wrong with the EJ-10? The only thing I've noticed is that it doesn't have enough gain for some applications. The EJ-8 allows you to get the volume higher. Both have hum switches. The EJ-10 also interfaces with the phone line. I don't think the EJ-8 does.

I will admit that my feelings about the EJ-10 are not scientifically based

It was nice to take advantage of the potentiometer on the EJ-8 (which isn't there on the EJ-10) to help us make the adjustments we needed.

[russellhltn]

It was nice to take advantage of the potentiometer on the EJ-8 (which isn't there on the EJ-10) to help us make the adjustments we needed.

Maybe I'm getting my models confused. All the boxes I've seen have that adjustment.

[thedqs]

If they are refering to the volume control then yes, both models do have that.

[alphabeta-p40]

Don't know if this is the correct thread, but we just had our last stake conference at the Apline tabernacle. Our stake is now too big. However, we were told that the Alpine Tabernacle is able to send audio and video over the internet (sounded like what was described in the tech talks). Naturally I thought we could broadcast from the tabernacle to our stake center when we have our next conference in September.

Does anyone know if this is accurate information?

--
Aaron

[gpal-p40]

In reading through this thread and having attended the Tech Talks in Salt Lake in January, I have noticed that there is a detail not mentioned that I think useful. Stake Conference is an event that only occurs for 2 hours twice a year. Other events in a stake that may make use of the connectivity would likely not increase usage much. It would seem to me that this detail could be an advantage. I will admit that there is much I do not know about the church satellite system, but I would think that in somewhat the same fashion that it is use now to connect regional conferences, it could also be use on the stake level. The difference being that the transmitter and receiver equipment would need to be portable enough to be shared among a region or group of stakes. Each building would have the support wiring permanently installed along with the mounts for the dish antenna. An antenna mounting base could also be installed at each facility that would maintain the azimuth and elevation setting for the local coordinate. Transmitters and receivers may be interchangeable between facilities to make it possible for those speaking to be located at different facilities in the stake if circumstances require for a particular conference session. Setup could hopefully be as simple as placing the electronic hardware on the location, making the connections and turning it on. Any further configuration could be communicated through the satellite transponder. Scheduling of conferences and other events could be coordinated such that only a cost effective number of transmitters and receivers would be needed. Satellite transponder bandwidth would be used throughout the day on any given Sunday. After a meeting the equipment is packed up in their shipping containers and sent to the next meeting location.

I realize I have made several assumptions in this description, but the point is, with some attention to utilization and sharing, some more expensive options may turn out to be economically feasible.

[thedqs]

Great idea, although I believe that when the church does those activities where it is remote broadcasting, they bring a satellite transmission truck with them, it sends the signal to the conference center and the conference centers relays it into the stream and then the stream is sent to the satellite. So only one stake conference could happen at a time and also the entire part of world the world serviced by that satellite (the entire region) could see the stake conference.

Also these satellites are not owned by the church but by a broadcasting company and each stake would need to get permission to use them along with many pieces of documentation saying that they are capable to support and follow the FCC regulations on public broadcasting transmission. (Which is the problem with any transmitting source that sends a signal. It must be approved and is regulated by the FCC (In the USA) or the ICU (worldwide)).

The benifits of broadcasting though is that many can receive it from one source without burdening the server. Also you have a larger bandwidth and if you have the equipment can get it in HD.

And getting to alphabeta's question. If the Apline Tabernacle has an Internet connection that services it then yes you "technically" can transmit conference over the Internet. The Alpine stake might even have the equipment to set that up (Camera, Audio Mixer, and computer), you should ask your Stake Tech Specialist.

[russellhltn]

Stake Conference is an event that only occurs for 2 hours twice a year.

But only on Sundays. Subtract two Sundays a year for General Conference and you have 50 Sundays. The bulk of the U.S. is within 4 time zones. And while a Stake Conference itself is only 2 hours, you probably should plan on total of 3 hours to get setup and tested. I'm thinking there's only about 4 time slots per Sunday leaving us with 200 slots per year. Given each stake does 2 conferences a year, that's only 100 stakes that can be serviced by a single satellite channel. And that leaves nothing for Regional Conferences.

[marstorm-p40]

You might inquire at Pacific Wireless http://www.pacwireless.com/ in Bluffdale, Utah. They have systems which, if you have line-of-sight, might help out. You can stream a lot of data on a closed system. Rumor has it that the church has used their systems building-to-building in California.

Our stake here in Poway CA has such a setup between two buildings. The two buildings have a line of site and are with in 200 yards which is very unusual in CA. We use the data feed for Stake Conferences. The setup works well but the feed did cutout during our last conference. This was the second time to use the radio antenna and it was a windy day, so maybe this had something to do with it. The stake also rents and mounts two high quality remote control video cameras for the telecast.

[gpal-p40]

I have worked through the same numbers you point out. The reason I think this possible is from an experience of a few years back. Our stake center was moved to a different building. Rather than move the satellite dish and receiver it was decided to auction it off and install a new one at the new location. I was the only bidder. With it installed I was able to watch conference and priesthood sessions at home, as could anyone at the time with a C-Band receiver. A few years later our region participated in one of the first regional conferences where several stake centers were connected through the satellite system and the program sourced from one of the stake centers. Elder Holland was the visiting General Authority. On that occasion I thought (the same as was posted earlier) that the program would be available to the entire system, and that I could watch from home. The time for the meeting came and all I could view was static. I verified that my own stake center was indeed receiving a signal. After the meeting I drove to stake center where they were sourcing the program and found the Bonneville Communications Truck there and talked to the operators to learn why I was not receiving the signal on my home system. I was told that all the stake centers were being migrated from the original analog receivers to digital receivers. This change provides the following advantages:

• 7 digital signals can fit in the same bandwidth needed for the original analog signal, and therefore they are now able to simultaneously operate 7 such meeting groups over the same transponder.
• The digital receivers can be configured remotely, to decode the target signal. They are able to control from the "home office" what receivers are able to connect to a particular meeting signal. I clarified with the Bonneville operators that even if I were to have a digital receiver I would still only see static unless it was "enabled" to decode the signal.

On that occasion the program signal was "uplinked" on Ku-Band and retransmitted from Salt Lake City over C-Band to the enabled Receivers.

This proposal is based on the following assumptions:

• This approach does not require any additional bandwidth or satellite transponders beyond what is already established.
• A single transponder can carry 7 separate digital signals
• A reasonably portable, single frequency, plug-and-play up-link transmitter system is or can be developed.
• Only a 30 minute interval is needed between sessions to disable one group of transmitter-receivers and enable the next.
• Stake conferences in need of this resource can be scheduled at non-typical hours such as 8:00 AM, 10:30 AM, 1:00 PM, 3:30 PM, and 6:00 PM.

That all having been said, given 7 channels and 5 time slots/day, 35 Stake Conferences could be fit in a Sunday. Excluding about 4 Sundays per year for General Conference and a couple of holidays, that would allow for over 1600 conferences a year. This equipment could also find use on the General Conference Sundays by placing the receivers in those remote Ward buildings needing this system because it is a long drive to their Stake Center.

Feedback is welcome.

[russellhltn]

7 digital signals can fit in the same bandwidth needed for the original analog signal, and therefore they are now able to simultaneously operate 7 such meeting groups over the same transponder.

Well, the question I have is how has the church purchased their satellite time? Is it by transponder which means they have access to all 7 digital signals or is it by a single signal? It's one thing to use an existing idle resource, it's quite another to have to buy satellite time to carry multiple conferences. I'd be surprised if the church bought that much overcapacity unless that was the only way to do it.

I think the biggest obstacle may be that simple transmitter. The one they dragged over to our place was anything but.