Description
A few months ago I handed over a DeskPi RackMate T1 to my Dad (a now-retired broadcast radio engineer) after we had discussed some of the many applications for a mini-rack.
He built this broadcast engineer's "Dream Mini Rack" (those are my words, not his!). The motivation is he manages 40+ remote tower sites, and each one needs an Internet connection with failover (usually Fiber + Cellular backup), multiple audio sources (usually either satellite or IP audio, sometimes multiple), an audio processing chain, a silence monitor, an exciter, and remote control to monitor all of the above.
This rack has all of that, and is just lacking a transmitter and the fiber/cable router, which would usually be installed by the ISP at the site anyways, and can vary by location.
Using a standardized setup—especially one that fits in the back of a small car—means he can rely on volunteers and not-full-time-engineers to deploy these or to swap out a unit for either failures or upgrades, without having to teach them the intricacies of each device install.
The other motive is for a 'lab' rack—usually a desk or workbench turns into a massive rat's nest when an engineer tests out new equipment. And owing to the lack of actual desk space in radio studios these days (engineers used to get a whole workshop! Now they're lucky to have a roaming cubicle for a day), space is at a premium.
The Video
We published a video going over this rack, and Jeff's initial time rack, on Geerling Engineering. Watch it here: The Engineer's Dream Mini Rack.
My Dad explains the motivation and build a lot better in the video than I can here, which makes sense—he's been in broadcast for over 40 years... and I'm not yet 40, haha!
The Build
From top to bottom:
- Broadcast Tools WVRC-4 Plus remote control unit
- Barix Exstreamer
- Barix Instreamer Classic
- Telos Alliance Axia Analog xNode2
- Broadcast Tools Audio Sentinel +»Web/RJ silence detector with automatic source failover
- Inovonics NOVIA 272 FM Stereo Processor
- Raspberry Pi 5 and CleanBox Pro Dual Channel Level Converter
- Cisco SG110D-08 8-port unmanaged Gigabit Switch (in back)
The Plea
After building this rack, I asked my Dad about some things that could be improved:
- He wanted a taller rack, and since working on this project, DeskPi introduced the 12U T2, which is both taller and deeper—that could also mount a firewall box and more internal power management.
- Since most devices use less than 10W, it would be useful for everything to incorporate PoE (Power over Ethernet), so we could seriously cut down on the AC-DC converters (mostly wall warts, and some giant boxes he's mounting in the base right now). It would also allow for easier UPS power, since a small UPS can still provide the 35W total required for this rack, but not have to supply so many 120V outlets!
- Some vendors' boxes are about 2-5mm too wide to comfortably fit on a mini rack shelf. And while many have full 19" rack ears, none of the broadcast units we used had mini rack mounting options. I designed a 3D Printed mini rack shelf for the Broadcast Tools box (which I haven't uploaded anywhere yet... need to do that!), and it's nice to have hard mounting options... but it would be even nicer if we could buy a $5 or $10 set of mini rack ears for these boxes.