Caleb Weiss
DALLAS—I’m the operations/network manager at EICB (Excellence in Christian Broadcasting) TV. We began operations in the late1990’s with our first station in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Our singular purpose was to bring quality Christian television to the people of Coeur d’Alene. Today we operate more than 50 Christian LPTV stations and we have over 100 additional construction permits that will soon allow us to be broadcasting God’s love into additional communities throughout the United States.
When we first got into television broadcasting we wanted to be out in front in terms of technology and use it effectively to share our message. Not long after our first station went on the air we realized that our world was changing and we would soon be moving from an analog broadcasting platform into a digital one. We opted to make the move to digital then by converting existing analog operations and modifying plans for our new stations to include digital infrastructures.
Early on, it was clear that we had a great deal to learn as it seemed there were new equipment manufacturers and new products at every bend. This was particularly true in the area of transmission equipment. We tried products from several providers and for the most part these were okay, but it seemed there were always some issues. This led us to continue our search for a transmission product we could have complete confidence in, and I’m glad we did as our quest connected us with the people at Linear Industries.
DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME
When you’re building out a network of stations such as ours, reliability in a transmitter is really a key issue, as creating a transmitter plant is one of those things that had better be right from the get-go; there’s just not time or budget for mistakes and doovers. This was reinforced on a site survey trip I made in connection with setting up our transmission facility in Atlantic City, N.J. The location was on top of a high-rise condominium complex located on the city’s boardwalk.
We’d had to install an 800 Watt transmitter weighing hundreds of pounds. To do this it was going to be necessary to get the unit to top floor of the building and then hoist it another 15 feet through an air chase to an access floor just below the roof. The doorways were barely large enough to fit the transmitter cabinet and the hoist shaft went straight down. If there was a slip-up the transmitter would fall all the way to the ground 30 stories below. This was one job we didn’t want to think about doing twice! Fortunately, by the time of this installation we’d moved to Linear transmitters exclusively and this gave us the peace of mind that this tricky installation wouldn’t have to be done over.
BUILDING ON SUCCESS
We now have more than 25 Linear UHF digital transmitters installed at our sites and their performance has been exceptional. In the rare instances where we have needed service, Linear’s team has been outstanding. We feel as if the Linear team is part of our team.
Caleb Weiss is the operations and network manager at EICB TV in Cedar Hill, Texas. He may be contacted atcaleb@crosstalk.org.
For additional information about Linear Industries transmission products, contact Hitachi Kokusai Electric at 877-428- 5793 or visitwww.linear-tv.com.
