It’s what I do for a living, and it’s where I get the most enjoyment, in helping people solve their issues, and making plans for better working systems! So, I thought this month it is good to talk about this a little.
The purchase and installation of any system is half the work, it’s often the most visible half. But like a car; new, it’s shiny and has all the latest features that can be shown off, but if you don’t take care of it, it gets worn, tattered around the edges and with more regular stops at the local mechanic. The same can be said for any system that is in constant use!
So as a supports’ person there are quite a few things I look out for, all with an eye of trying to reduce the pain and effort of the crew onboard a vessel.
From the moment of choosing the right system, I already plan in how much time a system will take me to support. And if it takes me an hour to work on it, I know that an engineer who has 20 other things on his mind will take 5 hours to do so. So, my goal here is to ensure that the engineer has the support he needs to reduce this time as much as possible.
A training course in the AV & IT system helps, but like any other piece of machinery, if you don’t exercise what you have learned, it quickly goes into the dark hole of your mind. And every system on every boat is particular. It has its own specialities, and different demands depending on the owner and guests. It’s personal and peculiar!
As such, I place value, high value on installations that are.
- Cleanly installed (so you don’t have to weed through the wires to see if that connector is correctly plugged!)
- That the drawings are understandable, that the abbreviations used make sense, that you can get the big picture as well as the detail!
- That instructions are in place for accessing hardware and making changes where needed
- That you have a contact list of calling support, when something really has gone wrong
- And that a system is secure, so that an IT keen kid that’s onboard as a guest can’t break in, into your system and cause havoc that you’ll spend hours trying to clean up!
And of course, that you have a maintenance plan in place. Is the system getting its annual clean-up, air vent cleared, filters blown out, batteries changed? The list can go on.
Every year the IT side of equipment onboard is increasing. With more and more entertainment toys being asked for, Television and Radio moving into the streaming world, and operational systems being connected for maintenance purposes. Equipment has become near dependable on being connected, and thus become so much more vulnerable not only due to bad management, but also due to external cyber threats (which I stress, 95% of the time is due to user negligence or inexperience!!).
What do you need as the engineer who has been tasked to take care of the AV & IT system?
- You need a clear overview of your system.
- You need to understand to differential what the control element is, what are your audio and video sources and how they flow to the TV or speakers.
- You need to understand where and how the Wi-Fi sits within the LAN and how it connects to the WAN.
- You need to understand what changes you need to make from being alongside in the harbour, to close to shore, to out on the open water.
- You need to understand what and where to troubleshoot, to eliminate the doubts and locate the fault (reason of it not doing what you want it to!) quickly.
And you need to know where the limit is of your knowledge, so that you do not spend wasted time on something that a supports person can sort for you quickly and painlessly!
This article was written by Tim Gorter, Virtual AVIT ETO, www.teletechnics.com.
I provide a Virtual AV/IT ETO support, and I am looking out to helping you in any technical requirements, to make sure you get the best out of the AV & IT system onboard. I want to make sure you understand how it works, and that it works as advertised. Call for an AV & IT health check, more on teletechnics.com
By Tim Gorter, AV/IT/Wi-Fi Virtual AVIT ETO
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