Chapter 2: Technology I: Setting up a studio space

From Community Radio - User Guide [http://web4all.in web4all]

Chapter 2

TECHNOLOGY - I DESIGNING THE STATION & STUDIO SPACES

In an ideal world, members of every community would be able to build their own CR stations to suit their own unique and specific requirements. But it’s not an ideal world, and CR stations often have to adapt to whatever spaces are available to it – usually a rented or community donated pre-built space that may not entirely meet the station’s needs.

This makes understanding the station’s design and infrastructure doubly important, because it means we have to be clear about each of the adaptations we may have to make – why we need to do it, and how best to do it in order to make it meet our requirements. Let’s start by looking at some basic issues we need to address while setting up a community rardio station.

Section A: Siting the CR station

There are four primary criteria for selecting a site for your CR station:

1. Local geography and terrain;
2. The physical distribution of the community your station will be broadcasting to;
3. The strength of the radio signal you will be transmitting;
4. Local noise levels

Of these four considerations, the primary consideration is easy accessibility by the members of your community: The very essence of a CR station is that members of the community should be able to participate in the process of making programmes. So it won't do to have the station in a place where only a few of your listeners will be able to access it. Many CR stations work out of spaces close to the village panchayat or community center. Others are set up near local crossroads or market places. Think about all the members of your community when you decide a site for the station. Ideally it should be a place which all sections of the community can access: Young and old, men and women, able bodied and physically challenged.

Having said that, we also have to ensure that there isn't too much noise around the CR station itself. Your recording areas and working areas may need to be comparatively noise free to ensure good audio quality. A noisy

marketplace, for instance, may force you to adopt much more extensive measures to isolate yourself from the noise than usual.

In most cases, the antenna/mast and the station are located in close proximity to each other for a variety of technical considerations. Since FM radio transmission is line of sight, the transmission can only reach areas that can electronically 'see' the transmitting antenna. This means we must choose a site that does not have too many natural or man made obstacles in the path of the radio signal - that is, it would be preferable to not choose a site where a hill, mountain or high-rise building could prevent some of our potential listeners from hearing the station's broadcast.

The line of sight principle, however, can present some direct benefits as well: CR stations generally have transmitters of limited output, as they are meant to service smaller areas - but selecting a good site for the station can maximize your transmission range. Just as standing on a tall hill can give you a commanding view of the surrounding area, placing your antenna at a high vantage point can increase your effective range, and let you broadcast to a larger audience.

Remember that these are just a few points you need to consider while selecting the site for your CRS: There's always a trade off between all these criteria, and a site that may be excellent from the point of view of one of these criteria may fail miserably on another. You will have to weigh your options and select a site which combines as many of these qualities as possible. Also keep in mind that the spaces and sites a community is able to create or develop for a CRS are often more a matter of convenience and ready availability

than any of these considerations - though it would be nice if the community as a whole can be sensitized to these issues so that its members can weigh possible options before taking a decision.

Section B: Defining the spaces

There are three types of spaces that a community radio station generally needs:

1.A broadcast studio: This is the primary studio space for the station, the place where the programme audio is broadcast from and the programme presenter (or compere) sits. This space is often used as the 'live' studio, from where audio is played out to the transmitter, and where one or two person interviews can be conducted by an interviewer.

For more on equipment for a broadcast studio, see Chapter 3/Section I: 
The Broadcast Studio on Page 39

2.A production studio: This is the space where recordings can be done, and programmes edited and refined for later broadcast. The production studio is usually equipped with a sound booth or recording floor, where sound can be recorded in carefully controlled conditions.

For more on equipment for a production studio, see Chapter 3/Section II: 
The Production Studio on Page 49

3.Office space: Somewhere where we can meet visitors who visit the station, and where the people working at the CR station can work together on production related or administrative tasks.

For more on office and telecommunication equipment see Chapter 6: 
Telecommunication & Other Ancillary Equipment on Page 77

A small CR setup may actually have a single space that fulfills all these functions, and that's perfectly all right. The most common approach for middle level CR stations is to have a single space setup that combines the functions and necessities of both studio spaces - including a small recording floor - with a separate office cum meeting space.

If you have more funds and access to more space, you might like to define clearly demarcated spaces for all three; and there's really no limit to how large and well equipped each of these spaces can be.

Thus a simple setup for a single room CR station could be like like the one shown in Fig 2-2 (below).

The single room acts as both broadcast and production studio, or multipurpose studio, and is also used to store the studio materials and equipment. Realistically, this space should be at least 12 feet long and 12 feet wide: Any smaller, and it would really be cramped!

A two or three room CR station setup (Fig 2-3) on the other hand, gives us a little more flexibility to arrange our spaces. It could still have a single studio space that combines the production and broadcast units, but could include a separate space in which to meet people and run the administrative functions of the station.

A still more complex CR station setup could resemble something like this:

In this kind of setup, the main office and reception lead to the studio spaces, but can be kept quite separate in operation. More importantly, it means the production studio can carry on with its work of preparing features and 'canned' (pre-recorded) programmes for broadcast while programme hosts continue playing out programmes and doing the live programmes from the broadcast studio.

Section C: Important considerations while setting up the spaces

Besides deciding the broad separation of your station and studio spaces, there are some important additional considerations to keep in mind. Thinking about these in advance helps to make operation and utilization of the station facilities and studios easier, even while it helps us keep everything orderly and easy to maintain.

1.Dust free atmosphere The primary concern with all studio spaces is keeping them dust free and clean. Dust and grime are the worst enemies of sensitive broadcast and production equipment - and a major portion of the defects and breakdowns that happen in studios could be avoided with simple dust proofing and preventive maintenance.

For more information on maintenance see Chapter 7: Planning for 
Maintenance & Management on Page 91

The doors leading to the studio spaces should fit well, and should be kept closed (if not locked) whenever possible. You may have to equip some or all of the doors with rubber gaskets in order to make them dust proof. Since the studio spaces are likely to be entered and used frequently by members of the community, it's probably also a good idea to build a work ethic and a system where everyone can be inspired to treat the station spaces as their own, and keep them neat and clean in much the way they would their own homes. (Strategically placed signs all around the office and within the studio may play a useful role here - inspire people to help keep dust out!)

Dust free also means leaving all street shoes outside - a shoe rack for this purpose is probably a good idea - with people in the studios either in socks or barefoot. Some stations like to keep separate sets of slippers that are used exclusively within the studio space.

Spaces that are used for CR studios are often not designed for a radio station type setup, so they often have inconvenient doorways and windows. If you are faced with multiple entrances and exits, it is wise to plan your space in a way that allows you to use one of the doors as the primary access point. Similarly, windows can be bricked up or otherwise built over to close the space or - and this is usually much nicer - sealed with double pane glass, so that dust stays out even while the light can still come in. Double glazing also plays a dual role for acoustic treatment (see below).

2. Air conditioning

Air conditioning is by no means mandatory or even necessary for a CRS: If your CRS is built around low cost cassette recorder based equipment, or hardy solid state memory devices, it may be totally unnecessary to aircondition the studios. Simple precautions like having an insulated terrace, or housing your CRS in old-fashioned double walled or thick-walled highceilinged buildings may be an equally effective solution to keeping equipment cool and protected. If your station is situated in the hills, or by in a coastal area, the weather conditions may be temperate enough to dispense with air conditioning.

However, depending on the local weather conditions and the kind of equipment that you have invested in, air-conditioning on some scale may have to be considered. If we seal all the windows in order to keep the studio(s) dust free, then air circulation and ventilation inside the studio spaces can be a problem. So let's just say that if the outside temperature and dust conditions warrant it, and if you can afford it, it may be wise to invest in air conditioning units for the studio spaces, both in the interests of keeping the spaces cool and so that there is some filtration of the air inside. (More complex setups could include an air filtration unit, but that would be a luxury for most CR stations.)

Where they are required, the best ACs for studio use are split air conditioners, where the blower unit is in the studio, but the condenser and the fan unit, which make most of the noise, are safely outside the studio. A professional and expensive setup would probably dispense with individual AC units altogether, and set up a central ducted AC system, with a cooling tower on the terrace or in the grounds outside the station - but that is a prospect that should only be considered if you have a lot of funds at your disposal, and a very large space with a number of rooms and studios.

Having said that, air conditioning, while attractive in the hot and dusty conditions that are common across much of South Asia, has its own downside - and it can be a serious downside:

1. ACs require a regular mains power supply - if your station is in a power poor area, or has regular power cuts or 'brown-outs', it could render an investment in ACs pointless.

2. ACs consume a lot of power and are expensive to run. If your wiring is not up to the mark, and you cannot afford a big power bill, ACs are a bad idea. The wiring will have to be of good enough grade to take the load an AC places on it, often 1500 - 2000 watts or more.

3. ACs need maintenance too - It's not enough to simply install an AC and use it whenever you want. You have to plan for a regular maintenance schedule for the unit, and keep it in good running order, which adds to your maintenance related expenses and responsibilities.

3. Acoustic treatment

When we record sound, it's always a good idea to record the sound as cleanly as possible - that is, we try to record the sound as faithfully as possible, with no unnecessary background noise and as little echo or reverberation as possible. By reverberation - or reverb, as it's more commonly known - we mean the hollow sound that you hear when you speak or make a noise in an empty room: The sound bounces off the walls all around you, and reaches your ears a fraction after the original sound reaches you, giving it the 'hollowness' or echoing quality. (Anybody who has ever whistled or hummed a few snatches of a song in a bathroom knows this as the

'bathroom effect': The hard tiled surfaces in a bathroom emphasize the effect quite a bit.) As human beings, we are able to discount the reflected sound in our brains, but machines cannot do this - and the sound a microphone 'hears' in a room with a lot of reverb can quite ruin the recording.

We increase the clarity of the sound in our studios by acoustically treating the space: Simply put, this means we prevent outside sounds from getting into the space (sound proofing), and we find ways to keep the reverberation of our studio space down.

There's always a debate about the acoustic treatment part of studio set up: How much of a priority should it be for a community radio setup? There is no easy answer to this question, except to say that it depends on your choice of spaces and the availability of funds. Personally, I would say the cost or size of your setup should not be an excuse for poor audio quality or production values, so you should try and make the best use of local expertise, your research and your creativity. A CR setup can afford to make more compromises and can afford to deal with less stringent recording needs than a commercial station; but a sense of application can achieve a lot, as we will see.

a. Sound proofing: The first step to acoustic treatment is the isolation of the studio from outside noises. And the first step to achieving that is to set up your station and studio space in a quiet locality as far away from busy thoroughfares as possible, while remaining within the community. (This is usually easier in a rural area than in a town or an urban area, but if you look hard enough, you should be able to find a space that is less exposed to outside sounds.)

The other way to soundproof your studio is to have multiple surfaces with air trapped between them.. For example, it's usually a good idea to have a set of double doors at the studio entrance, if that is feasible. (At the very least, a thick, well fitting door with rubber gaskets around the door edges should be possible, with some help from a good carpenter.) The air trapped between the two doors in a double door system (a 'sound lock') keeps outside sounds from traveling through. Studio doors should preferably be fitted with a small glass panel - like a porthole - at eye level, so that one can peer in before actually entering, in case a recording or broadcast is taking place.

It helps greatly to have thick outside walls - 9 inch thick load bearing walls are great - and if the studio isn't part of a wall-to-wall construction setup where the next building or house physically shares the same wall, that's great as well. Studio windows that open to the outside should ideally be sealed and double glazed. This means we have to install two window panes of glass that are at least 5 mm thick, with about 5 - 8 cm of air in between, like this:

Note that the two glass panes are angled slightly with reference to each other - this is so that any sound that enters the outer pane doesn't end up being reflected repeatedly between the two panes, causing them to rattle or buzz. It's also a good idea to ensure that the channels the glass panes rest in and the frames holding them in place are padded with thermocol or a thin strip of rubber.

b. Cutting down the reverberation: Now that we've cut out the outside sound, it's time to explore how to cut down the reverberation in our studio space. Reverberation treatment is especially vital for the spaces within the station where the microphones will actually be used - the recording booth or stage, for example.

A professional grade studio, if you have the funds for it, would use fibreboard, coirboard or gypsum panels, along with glasswool. Some studios use a variety of angled wooden surfaces attached to the walls to control and manage the sound reflections. Floors and ceilings in a professional studio may also be built of absorbent materials like cork, mounted on a shock absorbing frame supported on a dampening cushion of springs or rubber runners. This kind of acoustic treatment needs to be installed by an expert, and is usually quite expensive, being charged on a square foot basis.

However, a little understanding of how sound waves are reflected by surfaces, along with a sense of invention can achieve a lot: A number of community radio stations use simple low cost techniques to reduce the reverb in the studio.

To start with, it helps to have rooms that don't have continuous walls that exactly parallel each other, because parallel walls create the most echoes. If one of the walls has a staggered construction, with sections that are slightly ahead or behind the other, this can cut down the reverb quite a bit. A simple way to reduce the reflection is to attach something to the walls that reduces the reflection of sound from them. The easiest and simplest way of doing this is to acquire a large number of egg trays, the papier mache trays that eggs are supplied in. If you have enough of these, you can physically paste them over the entire wall, edge to edge, with any strong glue. The indented surfaces and the soft material of the trays absorb and dampen the reflections to a very great extent. (Make sure you treat the trays with a strong pesticide to keep out cockroaches and other bugs).

Radio Muye, Suriname (Caribbean) – note the creative use of rattan panels in the studio for acoustic treatment

Alternative low cost techniques are to paste foam sheet - 1.5" or 2" thick foam sheet is best - across the entire wall surface, and cover it with cloth; or to hang thick double panel drapes - velvet or any other fabric with a thick pile work best - from floor to ceiling, with plenty of folds and ruffles in the fabric to create a varied surface. Remember to put a carpet or dhurrie on the floor, as thick as you can arrange; and to cover the ceiling with acoustic material as well - floors and ceilings reflect sound too!

A studio in Radio Toco, Trinidad & Tobago (Caribbean). This one uses cloth and padding for the walls.

c. The recording floor/stage - control room partition: When we have a single room setup, which combines the functions of both studios, there is usually no separate recording space at all: Interviews, recordings and broadcasts all happen within the same space. If at all there is a separate recording space in this kind of a setup, it is usually if the form of a small booth. This booth may be as small as a closet or cubicle. It generally has a small door on one side and may accommodate one or two people.

On the other hand, when we have the luxury of a separate production studio or a larger dual purpose studio, the studio space can be sub-divided more clearly into a recording floor and a control room, as shown in the three room studio diagram shown in Fig 2-5. In this case, by recording floor, we mean the acoustically treated area where the microphones are actually placed, and where guests or performers actually speak, sing or play their instruments. Ideally this space should accommodate at least 3 - 4 people at a time, and should be paid greater attention from an acoustic treatment point of view.

The control room, then, is the space where the producer or sound recordist sits with his equipment and from where he/she guides the recording process.

In such setups, the partition between the recording floor and the control room is of great importance, as it also needs to be factored in when planning the acoustic treatment of the recording floor. The partition itself could be of

solid brick and mortar, if you want to make it permanent. Alternatively, it could be constructed of a wood frame and plywood, with thermocol or glasswool in the gap between the two sides, for better sound insulation. The door to the recording floor can then be built into the partition with good quality plywood, and equipped with rubber gaskets to provide a good seal.

The greatest attention, though, has to be given to the window in the partition between the two spaces: It is vitally important for the sound recordist or producer to signal the people inside the studio during the recording process, and this window is used for that purpose. It is often quite large, covering a substantial portion of the partition, to allow one to see the entire recording floor and - like the external windows in the studio (if any) - needs to be double glazed, with non parallel panes and rubber or silicone mounted glass panels, to avoid sounds from the control room entering the recording space. It's a good idea to get a few packets of silica gel, a substance that absorbs moisture, and place it between the two glass panels when you fit them in place: This will absorb any moisture that would otherwise condense on the inside of the glass if the weather grows colder.

4. Furniture

Once our spaces are broadly defined, it's time to think about the kind of furniture that we'll need to utilize and operate in these spaces conveniently and comfortably. And the key words to remember here are reconfigurable and hard-wearing.

It may also help to have an accurate idea of the equipment you are going to install - especially the dimensions of mixers or monitors - before acquiring any furniture or asking a carpenter to make them.

It is best to think in terms of furniture that could be mixed and matched in a variety of ways so that we can adapt our setup to different needs. At the same time, we need furniture that doesn't get damaged or scratched easily with use, as we would like to keep our studios and offices looking good for visitors even if they are constantly utilized all through the year.

The office space is comparatively easy to kit out, with a couple of desk spaces (desks with drawers are to be preferred), some comfortable working chairs, a filing cabinet (optional, a shelf or a cupboard will be fine) and wall space where we can hang some pin boards and whiteboards if we need them.

The studios need more attention, especially the broadcast studio and the control room. Traditionally, professional studios use a curved half moon shaped (or broad vee-shaped) desk with the compere or recordist sitting in the inner curve. This kind of a desk allows the compere/recordist to access different pieces of equipment on all sides with a minimum of movement, an important consideration when he or she may be talking into a microphone even while he/she is operating the mixer, CD player or studio computer. But depending on the space you have and the kind of equipment you are using, there is absolutely no reason why any desk shape that fits cannot be used. Just remember that:

(a) The desk should give you some working space along with any equipment on it, so that you don't keep knocking expensive equipment off it every time you move;

(b) Your studio chairs should be sturdy, should not squeak, and should be comfortable enough to be occupied for extended periods of time;

(c) For control room desks, the desk and chair should be oriented in a way that lets the producer/recordist look comfortably into the recording floor space through the window without having to move or get up.

(d) The furniture should give you access to the back panels of the equipment easily to be able to connect and disconnect cables, and so that you can perform maintenance related tasks.

A readymade studio desk with space for mixer, equipment and interviewer

Recording floors are generally equipped with a small 'talk' table, where the interviewer sits with the interviewee(s). This is removable, of course, should we decide to use the space for radio drama, when moving room will be required.

It's also a good idea to equip the studios with plenty of shelf space, open and with doors, to place pieces of equipment, cables, manuals, and related stuff. Expensive equipment may need to be stored in a more secure metal cabinet, or at least a shelf that can be locked. Equipment, especially if you have higher end pre-amplifiers and patch boards, may require the making or purchase of standardized equipment racks that allow you to fit the equipment rack style one above the other. These racks are generally made to standard heights in multiples of 44 mm (44mm, 88 mm and so on) and 483 mm/19" widths. The pieces of equipment designed to fit in them subscribe to the same standard - like this:

5. Electricals

Needless to say, setting up a community radio station means having adequate access to electricity. It also means having to deal with a whole lot of cables and connecting wires - microphones to mixers, recorders to mixers, broadcast studio to transmitter, and so on - running between equipment and from room to room. So it's wise to give this some thought in advance.

While it would be an asset to have someone who has an advanced knowledge of electrical systems and wiring as part of the team, it's not very difficult to grasp the basic electrical setup that we will be required to deal with in a community radio station. Given that we are dealing with expensive and sensitive electronic equipment in a CRS, the value of a stable and risk free electrical supply cannot be overemphasized.

To start with, it's a good idea to see that there are adequate electrical points and outlets in each room, especially the rooms in which much of the equipment is run. Points should generally be of the 3 pin line-neutral-ground type, and electrical switches and points should preferably be from a reputed manufacturer and be certified by a standards organization like BIS. This ensures that the dimensions of the sockets conform to international standards and that loose plugs and switch contacts (which could cause sparking) do not result. Beware of counterfeit goods, which are plentifully available - so don't just go blindly by the brand.

Wiring is the second concern: always check that high grade wiring - BIS marked is highly preferable, as is fire retardant wiring - exists throughout the station. (You may consider getting the wiring done anew if it is of poor grade or undependable). Check that the distribution of power supply across the station is even, especially where multiple rooms are concerned, and that specific wire sets do not take the brunt of the load. 22/7 grade wiring is acceptable for most uses, with 22/4 grade wiring preferred for heavy load points. It is good practice to equip heavy load electrical points with the larger 3 pin sockets (also called Power points or 15A sockets), which accept the corresponding larger three pin plugs. Lesser load points can utilize the smaller 3 pin (5A) sockets and plugs. You can decide where you need to connect what equipment on the basis of the power consumption of each piece of equipment.

While on this subject, you may also like to ascertain whether the supply you have is three phase or single phase, with the former much to be preferred. Three phase connections are more usually available in urban or semi-urban settings, but offer the advantage of being able to distribute the loads you place on the supply across the three phases. (Besides, power tends to be available in one of the phases even in the event of a power cut, which means we can always make arrangements to reroute our supply from the active phase, if this is required.) Single phase, while being perfectly usable, does not permit us these advantages.

The incoming supply should ideally be routed through an isolator, which allows us to disconnect the entire wiring system from the main supply at any moment) or a large load MCB (miniature circuit breaker, a spring loaded switch system that trips or shuts off the supply if the load exceeds a certain value or if there is a short circuit of any kind). An ELCB (or Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker) is also a wise choice, as it is a device that automatically cuts off the power if there is a short circuit, or if there is an accidental contact - like

A typical three phase electrical isolator unit. The unit allows the connection of three phase wires and the neutral wire.

someone coming in contact with a naked wire, for instance. Each point (or set of points and switches, as the case may be) should then be connected to individual MCBs of an appropriate rating, to enable us to cut off supply to individual problem areas for maintenance. The entire combination of ELCBs, isolators and MCBs should be mounted in a safely sheltered but accessible circuit box somewhere near the entrance of the station: Circuit boxes are available in several readymade sizes in any large electrical market and contain a metal rail system on which individual components can be mounted.

Also check the approved load available from the a/c (alternating current) mains supply: The original paperwork for the electricity connection should contain this information. If not, you can examine the record at the local electricity office. This should usually be given in KW (Kilo Watts, multiples of a 1000 Watts). Compare this with an estimate of the total consumption of the equipment you will be installing. Try and ensure that your 'load' never crosses 2/3rds of the total approved load. (For example, if you have an approved load of 5 KW, try to see that the sum total of all appliances, even the ones that aren't on all the time, doesn't exceed 3.5 KW. You can exceed this self-imposed limit, of course, up to the total rating, but it's a good idea to have some headroom and not strain your wiring too much).

If you feel your load may exceed this or approach your approved load, see if it might make sense to increase the approved load officially and get a greater electrical supply. You will need to apply to the local branch of the

electricity department for this. Please note that rentals for electrical supply are based on KW slabs and that - depending on your location - there may be:

(a) a limit on the maximum approved capacity that you can obtain;

(b) a distinction between residential and commercial connections, with sharply higher rentals for the latter; which may make a difference to your operational budget;

(c) a lengthy application and approval process for the upgradation.

Finally, where electricals are concerned, we have to plan for backup supply: Transmission and production work cannot be interrupted if your primary energy supply fails for some reason. It is therefore wise to invest in a battery based backup system like an inverter, which will at least support the key equipment that cannot be shut down - especially the transmitter. Inverters are also available in various capacities and ratings - the 650 VA, 1250 VA and 1500 VA are the most common. VA is analogous to Wattage, a term we are already familiar with.

Inverters can be acquired in single battery or multiple battery configurations for extra storage. They are charged from the mains electrical supply, so an important consideration, again, is whether there is enough continuous main electricity supply to keep the batteries charged against power cuts. It is also wise to remember that the storage capacity is linked to the cost of the unit, and that the battery units - usually 25 or 27 plate automotive or tubular batteries need to be replaced roughly every two years. (Most of these batteries are of the lead-acid type and need a topping up with distilled water and/or acid at regular intervals. Maintenance free batteries, which need no topping up, are also available, but are more expensive.)

The more expensive - but more independent - backup is an electrical generator set, with a motor which runs on kerosene, diesel or petrol. Available in a variety of ratings from 650 VA to several KVA - the larger ones are run on diesel - they allow you to operate in areas with no power supply at all, or during extended power cuts, but require a continuous fuel supply and regular maintenance. The noise they make - even the sound insulated ones make some noise - and the exhaust gases can also be a concern.

For more on generators see Section B: Generators on Page 229

It's also a good idea to economize by using more energy efficient lighting fixtures (compact fluorescent lamps or CFLs). instead of standard tubelights and tungsten incandescent bulbs, for instance), natural ventilation systems (better insulated walls for heat and cold protection instead of coolers, fans and heaters) and alternative energy supply systems.

A typical CFL bulb. CFLs consume very small quantities of electricity to provide as much or more light than equivalent incandescent (tungsten) bulbs.

Alternative energy systems like solar power (which converts sunshine into electrical energy) or wind power (which uses the wind to move turbines which generate electricity) can be a great cost saving in the long run - and are eco-friendly as well. Though the initial installation costs are often very high, if you can invest in these systems, they are more than likely to pay for themselves within a few years. In places where mains power is very intermittent or suffers frequent breakdowns, these can be very viable systems to consider, as they allow your station to operate without any interruptions of service.

A solar panel array. Typically, a smaller setup would need only a few panels (or a single medium sized panel) to fulfill some of its energy needs.

The last, but not the least, thing we need to remember is to ground or earth the entire electrical supply and wiring of the station.

Practically, this means providing a safe route for the absorption of electricity leaking in the system, as well as a creating a zero potential against which reference electrical voltages in the system may be read. As we shall see later in the manual, this is of special significance for the antenna tower, which is often prone to lightning strikes. But where the station and studios are concerned, grounding is important for two reasons:

a. To allow the ELCB to work, since the ELCB breaks the circuit when it senses the sudden flow of current into the earth through the accidental contact;

b. To prevent leaking currents from damaging sensitive electronic equipment (the shock you sometimes feel from a television or the metal surfaces of any electric/electronic device is usually due to poor grounding); and

c. Poor grounding often leads to a hum that can be heard over the audio cables in the studio, caused by the cyclical nature of the a/c mains supply.

This is often accompanied by electromagnetic interference from the Earth's magnetic field and transmission lines, which can also be addressed by good grounding.

Fig2-10 Grounding equipment is an important consideration for CR stations.Most modern electronic systems are susceptible to faults caused by poor grounding.

Typically, in the absence of a formally wired ground, grounding can be achieved by simply running a wire connected to the ground points of all the power outlets and connecting it to any buried water pipeline made of metal (especially the galvanized iron or GI main water supply lines found in most places.)

A more through professional grounding is to be much preferred, however, and involves the connection of the ground wire to a buried copper conductor plate. The size of the plate is worked out on the basis of the total estimated load on the supply and the plate is buried at a depth which guarantees enough moisture to ensure good conductivity. This is often improved by burying the plate at that depth in a bed of charcoal and salt, which makes for better conductivity; and by leaving a channel or pipe buried alongside to allow the periodic addition of water to keep up the moisture levels.

Again, the importance of good grounding cannot be over-emphasized, as the safety of very costly electronic equipment in the station is dependent on this.

1. Routing Equipment wires and cabling

While designing the spaces and studio setups, it is also important to decide where and how you will route the numerous cables that connect the equipment together. Many of these wires and cables will actually connect different spaces together and we must think about how to organize and route them to avoid tangles and provide for easy upkeep and maintenance and to ensure that the cables are not accidentally damaged during general use, by rats or other vermin.

For more on cables and connectors see Section B: Connectors (Power) on Page 163 
and Section B: Connectors (Audio & Telecom) on Page 166

The first requirement is cable ties, which are flexible binders made of nylon, and available in electrical and computer stores. There are reusable and single use varieties. Cable ties can be used to gather sets of related cables and tie them together; many cable ties have a space for you to attach the tie - and thereby the gathered cables held by the tie - to the wall or to the back or underside of furniture, which keeps things from getting messy and allows easy cleaning. In a pinch, these can be substituted with twists of wire cut to size or stout twine.

A selection of cable ties. The tip is looped around the cables that need to be tied together and through the box at the other end of the tie, which locks the loop in place

The second option is to fit plastic cable channels' or cable trays to walls, just above the skirting, through which cables can be routed to keep them from coiling all over the floors. Cable trays have perforations around their entire length, and a sliding plastic cover, so that we can add and remove cables at will with very little effort.

Where cables pass from one room to another - between the recording floor and the control room, say - we must make special provisions, especially if acoustic treatment of one of the spaces must be respected: Cables must be routed through prepared channels or spaces designed in the partitions, preferably with a system of baffles or a rubber diaphragm around the cables to make an airtight seal.

Professional studios and auditoria are designed with these cable routing exigencies in mind, and include under-floor channels and concealed wall panel fittings for connections and wires. If these are feasible in your spaces, they are excellent methods to keep cables out of the way.

A radio programme being broadcast by Radio Madanpokhara in Nepal. The studio dimensions are small, but the space has been utlilized creatively.