I was hearing drones, and rumors of drones, but someone’s gotta pay the bills. The theme of transmission this year was economics: low power consumption, Doherty technology efficiency, and reliability. As always, site monitoring and control were also topics of discussion at the booths.
TRANSMITTERS
Pedro Villabona and Alexandro Cabrera from Rohde & Schwarz demonstrate the company’s transmitter control console.COMARK COMMUNICATIONS showed the compact LPTV-8000 and DCX Paragon UHF transmitters. Also shown were the E-Compact Series with Doherty solid-state amplifiers, the latest 50VDC LDMOS, and air cooling, Exact ATSC and DVB exciters, and the solid-state, liquid-cooled UHF DTV PARALLAX for medium-and high-power.
DEKTEC introduced its DTU-315 USB-3 universal portable modulator, which supports all-bands and all standards and is agile from 36 to 2150MHz. The DTU-315 operates in the UHF/VHF band and L-Band.
GATESAIR demonstrated a new compliance and monitoring solution with cloud-based monitoring expert Qligent to prove the viability of monitoring in the cloud for TV services coming into and out of the transmitter, with extendibility well beyond the RF building.
The company also showcased the 1RU Maxiva Ultra-Compact standalone low-power translator/on-channel gap filler systems for UHF and high-band VHF stations, featuring four power levels; as well as the Maxiva Multi-Compact, a high-density, 19-inch rackmounted UHF/VHF transmission system available in N+1, N+2 or N+1+M+1 redundancies.
LARCAN, part of the UBS Group (UBSAxcera-Larcan). showed Cool-Dock, MXi Series, Frontier and Transcoder.
NAUTEL featured its expanded NT Series low-power digital UHF TV transmitters. The compact systems feature Optipower efficiency, seamless input switching, built-in instrumentation, remote control/monitoring via Ethernet and support for major digital transmission standards.
ROHDE & SCHWARZ showed the THU9 UHF high-power transmitters, which feature 46-percent efficiency using Doherty technology, scalability and flexible configuration. The company also dem-oed the AVHE 100 integrated headend solution for encoding and multiplexing.
RVR ELETTRONICA unveiled the Gold Digital Video TV Modulator, supporting multiple digital output standards including: DVB-T/H, DVB-T2, DMB-T/CMMB, ISDB-T and ATSC.
TEAMCAST showed the Vortex 1RU rack modulator/exciter specifically designed for integration into new or existing TV transmitters with either ATSC 1.0 or ATSC 3.0. Also shown was the Twister, a 1RU modulator/exciter, which supports DVB-T/T2, T2 Lite and ISDB-T/TB.
ANTENNAS &I TRANSMISSION LINES
GatesAir demonstrated a new compliance and monitoring solution with cloud-based monitoring expert Qligent.ALDENA TELECOMUNICAZIONI featured their panel superturnstile UHF antennas and high-gain log-periodics.
DIELECTRIC demonstrated the 20 kW low-loss liquid-cooled mask filter that’s band-tunable over U.S. Channels 14–51. It also supports ISDB-T non-critical and DVB-T non-critical masks over the same frequency range.
ERI (ELECTRONICS RESEARCH INC.) highlighted its temperature-compensated UHF bandpass filters for 8-VSB or COFDM applications. Also shown were UHF bandpass filters with ratings from 100 W to 40 kW, ERI’s temperature-compensated VF Series VHF bandpass filters for 8-VSB or COFDM. and the LAL Series UHF TV slotted array antennas.
JAMPRO showcased their all-polarization UHF broadband medium-power panel antenna, along with their JVD-U and JCD-U UHF broadband antennas that feature marine brass and aluminum construction. The JAT-U UHF superturnstile antenna, which offers low wind-loading while providing broadband response was also demonstrated.
FACILITY CONTROL
BURK TECHNOLOGY showed its Arc Plus Touch remote control, with touchscreen, Web, mobile and dial-up access to sites. Also on exhibit were the ARC Solo, a simple transmitter remote control for small installations; the Climate Guard and Plus-X EM-32 environmental monitors; and the AutoPilot graphical management system.
SINE CONTROL TECHNOLOGY unvield its new Power-Clamp Series 10 ultrahigh capacity surge suppressor, featuring a surge rating of 200,000 amps.
STACO showed the StacoTap microprocessor-controlled tap switch voltage regulator that works in dusty and damp environments. They also unveiled the 350 W-21 kW UniStar SCLI9024, a single phase, on-line double conversion emergency lighting inverter, featuring efficient AC emergency power, “full-light” output and a small footprint.
SUPERIOR ELECTRIC showcased the Stabaline uninterruptible power supplies that provide true online double-conversion technology and are available for single and three phase applications. Rack and floor-mount models with capacities for 1,000 VA to 400 kVA were available for review.
