Boston-based New England Cable News (NECN) is using Telecast Fiber Systems' CopperHead fiber optic ENG/SNG camera transceiver for live coverage of local events, such as presidential visits, college graduations, sports and news conferences. The CopperHead captures video/audio signals by multiplexing two-way ENG/SNG camera signals onto a fiber cable. Greg Roehr, NECN chief engineer, says the network supports "a lot of live programming, and this fiber equipment has allowed us to deploy a single system with a single reel to send all of the signals we need between our truck and a live position."
Among the events NECN covered with the CopperHead are President Bush's speech at this year's Yale University graduation ceremony and the Pan-Mass Challenge bike race for charity. The network's satellite truck operator confirms the CopperHead's ability to perform at a distance of over 4,000 feet using four strands in the same bundle, looped end-to-end.
