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WHAT'S NEW

March 13, 2008
NRB 2008

It was great to see many of you at NRB this year.   At the same time, I have to say it’s nice to be home.  Frankly, I’m thrilled to be able to take a walk and not get lost . . . indoors!

At the convention, we held four successful demonstration sessions, three for stations, one for program creators.  It was a joy to watch the “light come on” as those who listened realized the ease of installation, options for use, and the power of the AMR-100 receiver.

Next Steps
The process for shipping will start with station’s agreeing to our “End User License Agreement” (EULA).   Our EULA is a standard agreement, which ensures the receiver will be used for the purposes we’ve intended and in keeping with our software license.  A signed EULA will trigger the shipping of a receiver to each qualified station.

As of the NRB, we have more than 600 receivers ready to ship.  The balance will follow in short order.

Receivers will be shipped with a “quick start” guide.  That document is located at: http://www.amb-os.com/pdfs/Quick_Start.pdf.  The full receiver manual  is also available at: http://www.amb-os.com/pdfs/INSTALLATION.PDF.

Installation
We’re urging stations to connect the AMR-100 to the Internet (through your local area network [LAN]).  When you do, upon installation, the receiver will “report home” to signal it has been installed correctly and is now ready to receive programming.

More importantly, when the receiver is connected to the Internet, it can utilize the Amb-OS “back-fill” feature which automatically repairs files which were not received in their entirety.  When the AMR-100 is connected to the Internet, stations can remotely control the receiver across the Internet which is useful where a studio-transmitter link is used to transport satellite signals back to the studio.

Lastly, when the receiver is connected to the Internet, we can perform remote diagnostics to assist in the troubleshooting and repair of any receiver.

AMR-100 Application
Stations can install and use the AMR-100 in two basic ways:

  1. As a simple playback device directly to the air.
  2. Transfer the file across the local area network (LAN) and copy the file into the automation system.

Let’s look at these two features and the advantages/disadvantages of each:

AMR-100 as an Audio Source
The receiver has four audio ports which can be used in the following ways:

  1. four mono outputs
  2. two stereo outputs
  3. one stereo and two mono outputs

These audio ports can be routed to the station’s routing switcher or the automation equipment or the mixing console.  Also, there are digital audio outputs which mirror the first analog audio output.

The station can create a playlist via our Web site interface or on the receiver itself which will play a program based on:

  1. a specific time of day
  2. a relay closure from an automation system or a button being pressed by an operator
  3. serial data interface with the station’s automation system
  4. any combination of the above

The AMR-100 can also send a relay closure back to the automation equipment to signal the end of a file or a spot break.

If you were at NRB, you would have seen a demonstration of the powerful “Right Play” feature.  This is useful for those times where a station loses power.  Upon the resumption of electricity, the receiver picks right up where it is supposed to be, as though nothing ever happened.  For instance, if a 25-minue program started at 10:00, and the power failed at 10:04, and then was restored at 10:09, the program would pick up exactly where it should be so that the program ends at 10:25, just as it would had the power not failed.

Using the AMR-100 as a playback source has these advantages:

  1. It’s the simplest installation
  2. The station can schedule playback at any time (or times) it wishes
  3. The clock on the receiver is fully synchronized with the Unity4000 receiver
  4. A station can program the file to play back at the same time the file was being streamed via the Unity4000 and “simulate” the audio feed
  5. This gives the station the option to avoid recording at all, or time-shifting their recording process to a more convenient time.

AMR-100 as a Transfer Site
Another option for using the Amb-OS receiver is as a “store-forward” device.  Each program will be sent only to those stations which have been “permissioned” to receive the program. 

Once the feature is there, the station will use Amb-OS provided software to move the file from the receiver over to some networked folder.  At that point, the automation equipment can “sniff” for new files and import the audio automatically, or it can also be executed manually.

Dates Are Important
For your information, there are at least six dates we use associated with every program.  Here’s a list of those dates and their importance in this process:

  1. The file creation date – This doesn’t change.  It could be months before the air date or hours.  We’ll use this date to keep track of which version of the same file might be the newest.
  2. The file upload date – After the file is created, we’ll upload it to our Amb-OS server
  3. The file transmission date – This is the date when the program file is sent via satellite to the group of stations permissioned for the file; this could be several days before the station needs the file
  4. The file viewing date – This is the date when the station can ‘see’ the file on their receiver; Focus on the Family, for instance, has chosen to not allow stations to see their program until midnight of the broadcast day; this is so that any last minute changes can be made without concern that the old file has already been downloaded by the station
  5. The program air date – This is the actual date the program should air; this date is also part of the program file name (see below)
  6. The file kill date – Typically, this will be one day after the air date; the receiver will perform maintenance by deleting expired files

File Naming Convention
Essentially, the file will be uploaded to our Amb-OS server using a common file-naming convention.  The party responsible for uploading the file must abide by this naming rule as it ensures the reliability of programs being correctly delivered. 

The file name includes segments in the following order:

  1. Ministry code (four characters)
  2. Program code (four characters)
  3. Air date (MM-DD-YY format with numbers separated by “-“)
  4. Number of segment and total segments (eg..01 (first segment)-03 (total number of segments))
  5. Version designation (if any) such as “CM” for “Commercial”, “NC” for “Non-Commercial”, etc. (This designation is not necessary if you do not produce more than one version of the program.)

Each segment of the file name is separated by the underscore “_” character.

So, an example file name would be:
            FOTF_ODY5_03-10-08_01-03.MP2

This is a program from the ministry Focus on the Family (FOTF), the Adventures in Odyssey Daily (ODY5) program, release date is March 10, 2008 (03-10-08), there are three segments to this program and this one in particular is segment one (01-03).  NOTE: The date values are separated by a dash “-“ as you would find in a standard date field.

A partial chart of Amb-OS ministry and program descriptors can be found here.

Powerful Hardware
Another significant advantage of the AMR-100 is its ability to create and transmit live streams as needed.  The receiver has the same ability to customize/localize live streams as it does with pre-recorded programs.

If you’re interested in broadcasting an event via satellite, we’d love to speak with you about doing so quite easily.  We’re not restricted to windows where time is available on the satellite.

Contact Numbers
Please feel free to call or email any of us:
Jim Sanders
1.949.681.7631
Richard Becvar
1.651.631.5047
Steve Reinke
1.719.548.4677


February 1, 2008

We've found patience is more than a virtue . . . it's a requirement when it comes to deploying a new technology.  But I'm pleased to say, it's worth the wait!

A couple of quick updates.

Our development team (Dick Becvar, Steve Reinke, Jim Sanders, Ken Van Prooyen) met in Kansas City to finalize our development path and confirm expected roll-out dates.  There are no more hardware or firmware issues outstanding.  And the good news, there are 425 receivers built and ready to be shipped. As a result, we've got a good handle on remaining steps and our timeline:

1)     Mid to late March - Receivers are shipped to radio stations
2)     April & May - The AMR-100 and Unity4000 are running side-by-side
3)     June 1 - The legacy channels for FSN and AIR are shut down

Also, if you're coming to NRB, please join us for one of four sessions designed for stations on the installation and operation of the AMR-100:

March 9, Sunday        
3:30PM – 4:20PM              
FOF/Briargate Suite
March 10, Monday        
9:30AM – 10:20PM            
FOF/Briargate Suite
March 10, Monday        
10:00AM – 10:50AM         
Ambassador Suite (Presidential “A”)
March 11, Tuesday       
2:00PM – 2:50PM              
Ambassador Suite (Presidential “A”)

The suites are usually all together.  The Ambassador suite is in the "Presidential Section" which is upstairs (mezzanine level above the ballroom) in the convention area.  The Focus on the Family/Briargate suite is usually nearby. Steve Reinke will be leading these presentations while Dick and Jim will be joining him to help field questions and issues.  We'll have approximately 30 minutes of presentation followed by about 20 minutes of Q&A.  We're aiming to keep these sessions to NRB-friendly 50 minutes. Specifically for ministries who are on FSN or Ambassador's satellite channels (AIR), we've scheduled a separate time to update you on our software and hardware progress.  It's been scheduled for:

March 10, Monday        
3:30PM – 4:20PM              
Ambassador Suite (Presidential “A”)

Then, lastly, please be sure to register your interest on http://www.amb-os.com  if you have not already.
Thank you for your continued prayer support as we move forward! Praising The Lord for His un-merited Grace & Goodness!

Jim, Dick, Steve and Ken

January 8, 2008

The Amb-OS development effort has been continuing at a rapid pace over the last months.  Beta receivers were fielded in early December with 3 ministry partners, Focus on the Family, RBC Ministries, and Ambassador, daily transmitting programs for testing.  In addition to the store/forward content a full term live stream is being tested. 

Beta test efforts this month are centered on enhancement of the software components of the platform and bringing on line redundant hardware at the uplink.

We'll be meeting as a development team at the manufacturer's site later this month to work out a definitive rollout timeline.  After those meetings on 1/23-1/24 we'll post an on our website www.amb-os.com and at the CR Technical forum (www.crtech.org).  We're also planning to conduct several informational seminars in March during this year's NRB national convention in Nashville.   

We are still planning to have a significant period of time (at least a month) where both the legacy system and the new SFT platform are operational.  More details in our next update..  

We continue to be excited about how The Lord has brought so many talented people together for this project that, we believe, will have a positive impact on the Kingdom!

November 1, 2007
We've received a number of inquiries regarding our AMR-100 receiver in recent days.  We're thrilled there's such interest.  But needless to say, we are not going to make our original target cut over date of November 1st!

Next week, our developers group will conclude our alpha testing in Kansas City.  As we've said before, our desire is to eliminate every possible question mark about the receiver’s operation.  We are close.  Very close.

Once this step is completed, we will sign a purchase agreement which triggers two events: beta testing (real-world installations) and the production of the receivers.

When AMR-100 production starts, we'll ship receivers to stations about 45-60 days later.  After the receivers are delivered, we're planning a significant period during which both systems are in operation, Amb-OS and Unity4000.  At the point we've proven the AMR-100 is in full operation, we'll migrate off the Unity4000.  This will not likely occur until early 2008, a date yet to be determined.

So thank you for your patience.  If you've been wondering where your receiver might be, now you know . . . it hasn't been made yet!  But will soon.

We will use this email address to keep you posted along the way.  You can always check our news page at: http://www.amb-os.com/new.html for the latest information.  We also post messages to the CR-Tech Forum (Christian Radio Technical Forum).  They’re located at http://www.crtech.org, should you wish to subscribe.  It’s a VERY helpful place to obtain seasoned and helpful technical advice.

If you have questions, please feel free to email or call any of us involved in the project.  The location for our contact information and links to our email is: http://www.amb-os.com/contactus.html.

Jim Sanders
President
Amb-OS Media, LLC

October 9, 2007
Effective today, Amb-OS has added a new feature to the Web site.

The home page (http://www.amb-os.com) has a link to "CLICK HERE FOR SELECTED TEST RECEIVERS".  This page displays a map of AMC-3's typical EIRP for North America.  It also shows the five sites which represent the location of five receivers: Irvine, CA; Colorado Springs, CO; St. Paul, MN; Grand Rapids, MI; and Raleigh, NC.

In Internet Explorer (but not in Firefox for now), mousing over these locations will reveal the antenna size at each location.  When clicking on any particular location, an HTML file is opened which reports the most recent receiver performance data (including EbN0) from that receiver. 

For example, the report on the Irvine receiver reflects the fact that at 10:15 AM, the EbN0 has gone down and Bad Blocks and Errors increased.  This is indicative of the fact that Southern California is currently going through the Sun Transit outage.

More importantly, this functionality represents just some of the power of the AMR100 receiver being able to be accessed, if desired, via the Internet while continuing to download and monitor the satellite signal.


October 1, 2007
Update on Amb-OS Performance Testing

Again we assembled here in Irvine, working with the manufacturer and satellite head end to make sure we cross every “T”.  We’ve been hunting down every possible scenario to make sure there are no hidden “features” (I learned “bugs” aren’t “bugs”—they’re “features).  I’m pleased to say this second and final phase of acceptance testing Amb-OS AMR100 has been completed with the receiver proving it will be a powerful tool for stations to receive and rebroadcast programs.  Our next step will be to build a select number of additional units for further field testing which moves us into the beta phase.

For those who’ve asked, we will not make our target roll-out of November 1st for the new receiver.  Again, our objective is to have six to eight weeks time during which you can have the receiver, determine how you’ll use it and then install before we turn off our current DVB/U4K platform.  We’ll also have a Web cast during which time we’ll show the various ways the receiver can be used and/or installed.  Stay tuned for our time line.  I know we’ve been saying that for a while, but we REALLY want to get it right the first time in so far as we can.  So thanks for your patience.

One other note.  Later this week, we’ll have a Web page active on our Amb-OS site which will allow you to view and compare performance of local EbN0 readings from five sites: Irvine, California; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Charlotte, North Carolina.  It’s helpful if you have a question about your own local reception.  The page will captures and reports in real time via the Internet on the fly, the performance of these five receivers—underscoring the power of our satellite-fed, terrestrial reporting system.  It’s very exciting stuff.  When that URL is up, we’ll post here.


August 31, 2007

Update on Amb-OS Performance Testing

August 30th was a rather momentous focal point in the life of our Amb-OS project. Dick Becvar, Ken Van Prooyen, Steve Reinke and Robert Jacobsen were in our Irvine offices to perform "System Acceptance Testing." Steve Reinke has created a 14-page document to ensure we dot every "i" and cross every "t".

There's good news and bad news.

The outcome of the day was less than we had hoped, but has certainly provided us with the information we needed. We evaluated the ability to send (audio) files back and forth around the network, assign live streams to various ports, play and combine audio from files. We issued control commands to various receivers and were able to control the units as we expected. It was all the things we knew the box could do.

The interconnectivity of the system is incredibly complex. We've proven all the parts and pieces do work together flawlessly. That's good news!

One element which did not pass our testing was the use of the relays in the receiver. These are both "input" and "output" relays... allowing stations to trigger some event on the AMR-100 receiver or have the receiver trigger some station event. We've identified the shortcomings and these will be addressed in the next few days. We'll plug away at each element and then re-gather to perform a stem-to-stern test again.

As I said, we're disappointed. However, this is why we test! We don't want any surprises in the field.

Our second phase system acceptance testing will occur on September 17th again here in Irvine. We'll have another update shortly after that with another ConFAQ to follow as well.

Then after that, we'll head into full-steam-ahead production. We're still hopeful we can "cut over" onto the new platform close to December 1st. But I can assure you, we will do so not a day before we're agreed that the system is fully in place and operational.

We'll post a PDF copy of our revised brochure for the system on our Amb-os.com site. You may be getting one or two in the mail through various ministries.

Lastly, thank you for your interest. Thanks, too, for your prayers. This project has been steeped in prayer and chocked-full of very smart people.
I'm confident God has his hand on what we're doing!

We'll keep you posted along the way.

March 19, 2007
AMBOS “ConFAQ” SCHEDULED TO ANSWER S-FTP QUESTIONS

On Thursday, April 5 from 12:30-2:00PM (Eastern) Ambassador Advertising Agency (Irvine, CA) and Focus Satellite Network (Colorado Springs, CO) are hosting a “ConFAQ”—a satellite-fed conference call to address frequently asked questions regarding the “AmbOS” S-FTP delivery system.  “ConFAQ” will be hosted by Jim Sanders, Executive Vice President of Ambassador and founding member of the Christian Broadcasters Consortium and Steve Reinke, Manager of Satellite Services for the Focus Satellite Network.

Interested participants can join in with their questions at: 888.465.6595

 The session will be fed live via FSN’s satellite channels.  A recorded copy of the call will also be available at http://www.amb-os.com.

The new delivery protocol was announced at the February 2007 convention of National Religious Broadcasters in Orlando in partnership with Ambassador and Focus on the Family.     A print version of the Satellite File Transfer Protocol (S-FTP) project brochure is also available on line at the AmbOS web site.


March 5, 2007
“STORE-FORWARD” SOLUTION VAULTS CHRISTIAN RADIO INTO NEXT GENERATION OF PROGRAM DELIVERY

 At the February 2007 convention of National Religious Broadcasters in Orlando, Florida, Ambassador Advertising Agency (Irvine, CA) and Focus on the Family (Colorado Springs, CO) announced “Ambos,” a Satellite File Transfer Protocol (S-FTP), vaulting Christian radio into the next generation of program delivery.

Participating stations will receive a new satellite receiver which contains a fully functional FTP server providing reliable, guaranteed delivery with the ability of the receiver to report via an Internet connection.  As a result, program producers may choose to customize any program locally, every day, with high audio quality.

Radio stations have increasingly asked for programs to be delivered via the Internet.  In 1998, a group of Christian broadcasters joined efforts in a Christian radio consortium to form a common satellite distribution system:  a single receiver from which any of their signals could be captured.  Since that time, Focus on the Family and Ambassador Advertising Agency, along with other broadcasters, worked to develop the S-FTP system to deliver audio files, rather than traditional streamed audio via satellite.  This "store-forward” solution has resulted in the Ambos receiver/server platform.

The Ambos receivers/servers are being provided at no charge to stations carrying Christian radio programming.  Jim Sanders, Executive Vice President of Ambassador a founding member of the Consortium said: “Since the S-FTP receiver/server will reside at the local area network, the transfer speed will be nearly 100 times faster than from remote FTP servers.”

The name, Ambos, represents Ambassador’s entry into a new “OS” or operating system.  But perhaps more appropriate, the term also refers to the platform or pulpit from which the early Christian church would proclaim the gospel.

A print version of the Christian Radio Consortium Satellite FTP Project is available on-line at http://www.amb-os.com.  Or email Jim@ambaa.com.

Ambassador Advertising Agency was established in 1959 to represent and serve major radio ministries in the United States, Canada and around the world.

Focus on the Family, founded in 1977, is a Christian non-profit organization dedicated to nurturing and defending families worldwide. The “Focus on the Family” broadcast has over 1.5 million listeners daily in the United States alone. Focus on the Family has offices worldwide with a total audience of over 200 million.

Ambassador Advertising Agency
1641 Langley Ave.
Irvine, CA 92614
Phone:  949.681.7600