SEATTLE—The death of the ENG van market has been predicted, by this writer and others, for at least 10 years. The thinking has been that portable bonded cellular liveshot equipment would make live trucks unnecessary.

A look around the marketplace shows several news truck builders busy as ever, though most of their vehicles are not the behemoths of the past.

STILL NEED A WORKSPACE

“The death of ENG vans hasn’t happened,” said Tom Jennings, president of Accelerated Media Technologies (AMT) in Auburn, Mass. “The ENG vans have evolved from what they were a few years ago. They’ve gotten smaller, and lighter, and they’re primarily SUV based.”

A live truck does more than just carry equipment, according to Stephen Williamson, director of sales at Frontline Communications in Clearwater, Fla. “You still need a workspace. If you’re on a story all day, you need a workspace out of the weather. There’s still quite a demand for live trucks.”

Jennings said microwave-equipped news trucks are on the decline. “Even as the IP microwave systems have started to proliferate, television stations and networks are looking at microwave and the high cost of infrastructure, high cost of maintaining that infrastructure,” he said. “Although cellular bonding costs are high, they’re not as high as maintaining an entire infrastructure of microwave.”

One of AMT’s recent news vans was built for Savannah, Ga.’s ABC affiliate, WJCL-TV. “The truck is a small format, K150 van that’s minimal,” said Jennings. “It’s got racks that are MVP Power System, and it’s got a TVU cellular bonding system in it. And that’s the entire truck. There are maybe five pieces of equipment in it, in the entire truck.”

Bonded cellular connectivity doesn’t work everywhere so KA and KU satellite systems, with small dishes can fill in those gaps.

Another new AMT truck with both cellular and satellite connectivity was built on a Ford Explorer for KECI in one of America’s smallest television markets, Billings, Mont.

“Montana is one of those areas where there is no infrastructure and there is very limited microwave,” said Jennings. “There’s almost no cellular, probably less than 50 percent of the state. So this truck combined a cellular bonding system with a KA band satellite dish and electronics. When they had the wildfires this past summer, this truck could go places that no other station in the market could go, and they’re getting unbelievable coverage up there and unbelievable connectivity.”

CALL IN THE MONSTER

As the recent hurricanes and resultant flooding have illustrated, sometimes it takes more than a standard live truck to do the job. Call in the Monster Truck.

Frontline built just that for Houston’s KTRK on an F250 crew cab pickup truck, including a three-inch lift kit and a customer modular body on the bed.

“We wanted the truck bed to serve as a mount for the IP over KU antenna system,” said Williamson. “It also serves as a storage area for a full length, 500-pound capacity slide out tray. That provides great storage for cable reels, cameras and grip gear that they need to use. We also installed a roof rack to hold the, support the bonded cell antennas and the LED lighting for exterior illumination.” A Dejero EnGo system provides cellular connectivity.

There are two cameras in the front passenger seat: one aimed out the front of the truck, and one aimed at the passenger seat, according to Jeff Steel, engineering manager for Frontline. “That allows the news crew to do reports while the truck is being driven,” he said. “There’s a handheld controller in the front seat that allows them to switch between the two cameras. So that they know which camera is on-air, there are two monitors also in the front seat.”

Steel pointed to a lesson learned by some of those covering the Las Vegas mass shooting, when truck-mounted cellular live gear was not easily removed from news trucks. “That story went very mobile and some of the trucks were locked in a parking lot. They had a need to get out of there but weren’t able to do that.” The EnGo system on KTRK’s truck can be quickly removed and deployed on the back of a portable video camera for run-and-gun coverage.

ENG vehicles can also be engineered to be more than liveshot platforms. More and more stations are adding state of the art weather equipment like WHIO-TV in Dayton Ohio, which recently launched its Storm Tracker 7.

The weather gear includes a weather station to read current conditions, live Doppler Radar access for storm tracking in the field, access to multiple forecast data models and weather display graphics. It feathers six cameras for a 360-degree view of live, real time, driving conditions, and connectivity from a satellite dish and LiveU. For an eye in the sky, the vehicle provides a drone launch pad.

“Our Storm Center 7 meteorologists have their own live Doppler Radar allowing them to give information minutes faster than others, said Cox Media Group Ohio Market Vice President Rob Rohr said. “With the launch of our new Storm Tracker 7, we can be in the field forecasting and tracking the weather to get even more information about how to keep you and your family prepared and out of harm’s way.”

Not all those who used to build live news trucks for TV station are still in the business. Fred Gerling, president of Gerling and Associates in Sunbury Ohio, said that building remote broadcast trucks for the television business laid the foundation for its current business of building vehicles for local marketing, mobile medical, and mobile command.

“The reason we’ve been so successful there is because we cut our teeth and learned how to do this industry on television trucks,” he said. “Believe me, that is the most difficult clientele that there is to take care of.”

TV news vehicles don’t necessarily end up on the scrap metal pile.

“There does seem to be a place for microwave and uplinks in certain applications, outside the news business,” said Mark Chapman, owner of used equipment dealer Allied Broadcast Group. “There are needs where the satellite frequencies and the microwave frequencies serve and work better, be it in certain weather situations, or in certain geographies, or if there is not a good cell service to tap into. We’ve got people from out of the country who call us about some of these vehicles. We have a client in the Caribbean who bought two uplink trucks from us last year.”

AUBURN, MASS.—Ron Laurence is the new sales director for specialty vehicle provider Accelerated Media Technologies. Part of Laurence’s responsibilities will be to coordinate sales of broadcast vehicles throughout the central and southeastern U.S.

Ron Laurence

Laurence most recently worked as the general manager of Shook Mobile Technology and has more than 14 years of experience in the broadcast industry, according to the AMT’s press release.

“Ron has a strong technical aptitude for the full range of specialty vehicles AMT builds and is highly regarded by his customers, vendors and peers for his attention to detail and his follow through,” said Thomas Jenningers, president of AMT, in the press release.

AUBURN, MASS.—John Wood is joining the team at Accelerated Media Technologies in the new position of director of engineering for ENGensis. Wood brings more than 20 years of experience in ENG and microwave radio communications.

John Wood

Wood joins AMT after previously holding leadership positions at Microwave Radio Communications, Vislink and General Dynamics.

“John brings unique leadership experience in R&D, strategic partnership and wireless networks that will help carry the ENGensis product line forward to even higher levels of functionality and performance, delivering additional reliability and value for our broadcast customers into the future,” said Tom Jennings, president of AMT, in the company’s press release.

AUBURN, MASS.—Accelerated Media Technologies will make its presence known during the 2017 NAB Show with demonstrations of its new ENGensis technology and representation from its Director of Sales Steve DeFala during a planned session.

DeFala will take part in “The Evolution of ENG: Beyond One-Way Legacy Microwave to Bi-Directional IP-Newsgathering.” Moderated by Michael Englehaupt, vice president and CTO of Graham Media Group, the session will feature four speakers tackling specific approaches in using IP transmission technologies, of which DeFala is one. The session will take place on April 24 from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the North Hall Meeting Room 258 at the Sands Convention Center.

At the AMT booth, the company will show its ENGensis bi-directional 2/7 GHz BAS band system. The product handles remote connectivity of bi-directional video and IP data between broadcast trucks and television stations, with the ability to cover ranges over 45 miles with panel antennas. The company will also feature its MultiPlus Vehicle Power system, which employs a 12-28V Mil-Spec high amp alternator, two-four 12V Mil Spec AGM or Lithium batteries, a Premium critical Inverter/Charger and real time LCD control/monitoring system for displaying power load and capacity data. Features of the system include output power of 3.0-8.0kW, integration with OEM Power System seamlessly with no warranty issues or CEL light, full UPS backup and power conditioning and real-time LCD monitoring.

AMT will be located at booth C3636 during the 2017 NAB Show.

NEW YORK—Following field trials and documented proof of performance, FCC part 74 type acceptance was given to Accelerated Media Technologies’ ENGenesis bi-directional 2/7GHz BAS band communications system. Now AMT will be highlighting the ENGenesis at its booth during the 2016 NAB Show New York.

Based on the industry standard LTE technology, ENGenesis is designed to incorporate IP architecture to enable high-bandwidth IP bi-directional connectivity of A/V streams, VoIP and internet traffic. The system utilizes a single high-capacity radio channel to support simultaneous bi-directional IP-based video/audio/ data communications. It also offers full remote control of IP devices from a centralized studio and a LTE Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation to support multiple field units.

ENGenesis additional features include more than 36dB front end gain, a transmission range of 80 km, and user and application data priorities to control traffic by field unit, application within a field unit, or both.

NAB Show New York will run from Nov. 9-10 at the Javits Center. AMT will be located at booth 601.

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—As a provider of mobile SNG uplink services, Liberty Uplink delivers high-quality content contribution from the field, regardless of the conditions.

Operational versatility is the key to our success and we rely heavily on our mobile units to provide a variety of newsgathering services. Our current fleet is comprised solely of Accelerated Media Technologies SNG vehicles.

Since our primary area of operation is in the northeast, physical size of an SNG is an important consideration. From Boston to Philadelphia, we work in older cities with limited parking, and have learned that mid-sized trucks provide the best balance between having the room to operate efficiently, yet still retain the kind of mobility required in urban areas.

NECESSARY FIREPOWER
Given the changes in transmission technologies over the past decade, the value of renting an SNG truck today is in its redundant and multi-path-capable services. Broadcasters have begun to routinely utilize bonded cellular, Ka band, and IP-based terrestrial transmission, but when the quality of the feed or the need for redundancy is paramount, there is still tremendous value in “legacy” Ku-band transmission technology.

My partner, Adam Sirkin and I placed high value on looking for an integrator who could provide us with the transmission “firepower” we need, yet be able to package it in a smaller chassis that matches our requirements. When we wanted to replace our oldest SNG truck, we contracted with AMT.

The initial specification and design of an SNG mobile unit is critical when it comes to day-to-day utilization of the vehicle. AMT met our design requirements for ample HVAC, large power-generation capability, and the physical rackspace to house MPEG compression gear and the communications capabilities needed to serve multiple redundant transmission paths, in the smallest possible footprint.

Liberty uses AMT trucks throughout the northeast.ATTENTIVE & RELIABLE
We were satisfied with the guidance and attentiveness to our vendor specific concerns. When one of our truck operators suggested relocating some of the externally mounted scene lamps, AMT was not only receptive, but decided to integrate it in their future production line. AMT’s willingness to collaborate with us on our specific needs has been a great asset.

Service was also part of our decision to retain AMT as integrator of choice. With any mobile platform there are inevitably problems to address, and we have had the benefit of AMT’s service facility as a resource to rely on for rapid repairs when necessary.

On the road, the overall reliability of our AMT vehicles has been excellent. We keep operational costs down with extended service intervals, and are experiencing reduced frequency of repairs. Due to these reductions in operational expenses, our return on investment has been exemplary.

The true value of an SNG vehicle is realized after a few years of remote use. Travelling from hurricanes to blizzards to political events, with temperatures ranging from minus 5 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, our oldest AMT vehicle has turned 85,000 miles with thousands of transmission hours. Since 2012, our Liberty #2 truck has been utilized by more than 30 broadcast organizations for news, sports, and special events coverage. With an election year and a busy news cycle in our midst, we look forward to continued success with Liberty’s AMT broadcast vehicles.

Chuck Ranney is co-owner and chief engineer at Liberty Uplink, Inc. He can be reached atchuck@libertyuplink.com.

For more information, please visitwww.acceleratedmt.comor call 508-459-0300.