Press Release
Huddersfield Hospital Radio Re-equip With Sonifex S2 Mixers
29th July 2009
Words: 479
Huddersfield Hospital Radio, also known as 2HR was established in 1953 and broadcasts primarily to the patients in the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary in the UK. It has approximately 40 staff who are all dedicated volunteers.
Trevor Horn has been a member of Huddersfield Hospital Radio for 26 years and has occupied the position of Studio Engineer for the last 6 years. He is responsible for purchasing studio equipment and recently bought
2 x Sonifex S2-10 channel digital I/O analogue radio broadcast mixers in a split configuration.
The S2 is used for live broadcasts of music and requests shows. Broadcasts are made to the patients using the hospital media system Monday to Friday from 7pm to 10pm and from 10am at weekends. Between those hours of live broadcasts there is a 24 hour computerised service available to patients. There is also a link with the football stadium where the local sports team provide live commentaries to the infirmary on all home football and rugby matches. There are also links to the local community as these commentaries are relayed to special seats for the visually handicapped at the stadium.
Trevor said: “Having looked at a few mixers we decided on the Sonifex S2 having seen it at the Hospital Broadcasting Association conference in Leeds. The quality and layout of all the controls plus the reliable name of Sonifex were the deciding factors in buying the S2.”
As part of the installation, Trevor also purchased the Sonifex S2 Solutions studio U-shaped furniture and a SOL-T12 desk-top rack-pod commenting: “The installation and the ease of connection to our equipment meant that we were only off air for 30 hours and the backup and technical support from Sonifex has been excellent throughout.”
The Sonifex S2 uses the latest technology components to offer digital audio quality with analogue reliability in a modular format. It has a number of features which make it ideal for use in community based projects. First of all, it’s very simple to use with automated control of speaker muting and on-air and mic-live sign switching and fader start of ancillary equipment such as CD players and automation systems. For internet broadcasting the S2 has simultaneous analogue and digital outputs with an S/PDIF digital output which can be connected directly to the soundcard of a PC for internet streaming.
There are a wide range of input and output channels and the mixer is built to the customer’s specification, allowing the flexibility of configuring the mixer for any radio application whilst minimizing the costs involved. The S2 has 2 main audio buses, allowing broadcasting on the main PGM bus and simultaneous recording on the AUD bus, with bus output selection on each module.