ORION, Ill.—WQPT has deployed a new Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark 27.5kW Parallax UHF transmitter and is on air serving the Quad Cities area of northwestern Illinois and southeastern Iowa.

WQPT, licensed to Western Illinois University, is a PBS member TV station. Its new HPTV-PRLX-U16 27.5kW transmitter consists of a single rack cabinet equipped with 16 UHF Asymmetric Broadband Doherty final amplifiers, Comark said.

The Parallax transmitter was delivered with dual Exact-V2 ATSC exciters (in main/standby configuration) and a liquid cooling system. Comark also supplied a new RF mask filter system and interconnected coax feed into the facility’s existing RF channel combiner, it said.

The company managed the shipment, offloading and placement of the new equipment into the existing broadcast facility. After the mechanical installation of the new transmitter system was completed, Comark field engineer turned on the new transmitter, performing the complete proof-of-performance testing towards the end of March 2021.

“We are happy that the final phase of a year’s long project has been completed and our viewers are able to get a stronger signal from WQPT’s two channels,” said Dawn Schmitt, interim general manager. 

More information is available on the company’s website.  

SOUTHWICK, Mass.—WHRO-TV, the Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association pubic broadcaster serving Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News, Va.,  deployed a Comark 68kW Parallax UHF transmitter this summer as part of its TV spectrum repack work, Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark has announced.

The station’s new HPTV-PRLX-U42 68kW transmitter, upgradeable to ATSC 3.0, consists of three rack cabinets each equipped with 14 UHF Asymmetric Broadband Doherty power amplifiers. The transmitter has dual Exact-V2 ATSC exciters (in main/standby configuration) and a liquid cooling system, the company said.

The company supplied the complete RF system, which includes Constant Impedance Filter (CIF) technology and high-power external hybrids for combining each of the transmitter’s PA cabinets. Comark managed shipping, offloading and placement of the new equipment in the station’s transmitter facility, it said.

The transmitter was needed to meet the station’s Phase 9 spectrum repack deadline. While mechanical work was completed in late March to meet the phase deadline, COVID-19 delayed the station’s actual transition till July 3. Comark assisted the station in turning on the new transmitter and performed complete proof-of-performance testing in late June, it said.

“COMARK worked with the management of WHRO to provide a complete solution for their repack requirements,” said Joe Turbolski, company vice president of Sales and Marketing. “The new transmitter installation was a tight fit into the existing facility, so we performed a detailed site survey and system design to ensure there were no surprises during the mechanical installation.”

More information is available on the company’s website.

SOUTHWICK, Mass.—Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark has released to Parallax All-In-One (AIO) DTV transmitter designed for stations not repacked in the reallocation of TV spectrum and those desiring to roll out NextGen TV service.

Parallax AIO is a simplified, compact version of the Parallax liquid-cooled, solid-state DTV transmitter introduced in spring 2015. It is intended for medium power DTV applications and is designed with the complete liquid cooling system and RF filtering inside the transmitter cabinet rather than being external subsystems, Comark said.

As a result, on-site installation time is reduced. A field engineer simply connects the transmitter’s RF output to the transmission line and two cooling hoses to the outdoor heat exchanger, the company said. 

The transmitter can be equipped with three to eight power amplifiers in a single transmitter cabinet to deliver between 5.4 kW and 13 kW total power output (TPO). The transmitter’s power amplifiers use the latest asymmetric Doherty LDMOS FET devices, which provide broadband high efficiency operation and the equivalent output power in ATSC 1.0 (8VSB) and 3.0 (OFDM).

The Parallax AIO’s RF system is fully contained in the transmitter rack cabinet. It accommodates either six- or eight-pole variations. The system also offers a motorized RF output switch and liquid-cooled station load with a switch fully integrated into the transmitter’s controls, Comark said.

Hitachi-Comark has published a video overview and demo of the new transmitter on YouTube.  

More information is available on the company’s website. 

ATLANTA—Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) operates a state-wide PBS TV network using nine full-power DTV stations and a handful of low-power translators. All but two of our high-power stations were already using high- band VHF channels prior to the FCC repack, so it was reasonable to assume most of these stations were safe from having to move from the pre-repack channels to new ones. 

As luck would have it, five of the state’s seven VHF stations were repacked and therefore required new transmitters. Two of our stations that operated on UHF channels opted to sell their spectrum and switch to VHF low-band (WJSP and WNGH).

TALKING OUT OUR NEEDS

GPB only had one DTV station in the early phase of the repack (WJSP). We thought air-cooled transmitters would be the best way to move forward so we ordered a 12kW air-cooled unit from Hitachi-Comark for this station on VHF Channel 5. We also looked at the remainder of our station’s requirements for repack, most of which were in the later phases of the process. Upon further discussions with Hitachi-Comark, we chose the company’s Parallax liquid-cooled DTV transmitters to satisfy our remaining requirements.

Hitachi-Comark’s Parallax series offers several advantages, including high efficiency, minimal requirements for in-building air conditioning and low acoustic noise levels inside the transmitter facilities. We ordered the balance of our repack DTV transmitters from Hitachi-Comark and swapped out the original air-cooled transmitter at WJSP for a Parallax liquid-cooled replacement.  All of the Parallax transmitters deployed use a single cabinet design, varying from 4.3kW “V3” (three PA’s) through 15.9kW “V11” (eleven PA’s). Each transmitter is paired with a separate indoor cooling module with dual pumps and an outdoor dual-fan liquid-to-air heat exchanger.

THE INSTALLATION

Field deployments went very smoothly. Hitachi-Comark assigned a program manager who oversaw our entire project from start to finish. First, they performed comprehensive site surveys at all our transmitter facilities to ensure all details were documented prior to actual on-site work. New transmitter equipment and associated accessories were deployed systematically to each repack transmitter site directly from the vendor’s facility. Hitachi-Comark’s installation crews were highly professional and extremely efficient with their on-site work.  

One of our most difficult site locations was WGTV, with a transmitter facility located on top of Stone Mountain Park. The mountain has an elevation of just under 1,700 feet AMSL—great for broadcasting, but difficult and highly dependent on weather conditions to access. Additionally, we could not modify the building to accommodate new equipment.

We installed two new Parallax transmitters (main and standby) in the basement of the building at WGTV. Each transmitter included a separate cooling system for complete redundancy. Speaking of cooling systems, the outdoor heat exchangers needed to be mounted to the roof of the building—three stories above the transmitters. Hitachi-Comark even designed and supplied a custom mounting frame for both heat exchangers, utilizing existing mounting points from the previous analog systems. It was also extremely difficult to route the interconnected cooling system hoses between the outdoor heat exchangers and the indoor equipment.

Even with all these constraints, the team at Hitachi-Comark did a great job. They delivered the equipment on time and on budget. We are glad we chose to work with Hitachi-Comark, and would recommend them to anyone looking for new equipment and field services.

Adam Woodlief has served as the chief technology officer for GPB since 2018. He currently serves on PBS’s Engineering Technology Advisory Committee (ETAC) and is co-chair of the ETAC Public Safety working group. He can be contacted at awoodlief@GPB.org.

For more information, visit www.comark.tv or contact 800-345-9295. 

LAS VEGAS—Comark will return to its usual area on the NAB Show floor, though will have a new booth number this year (C4409), to exhibit its latest integrated technology and software platforms with a particular focus on ATSC 3.0/NGBT deployment.

This includes the Parallax liquid-cooled, solid-state Doherty DTV transmitter that now encompasses UHF, VHF band 3 and VHF band 1. The Parallax system is fully upgradable from ATSC 1.0 to ATSC 3.0 with an implementation of a license file in the exciter, with some units already on the air in NGBT.

Part of Comark’s air-cooled UHF product portfolio is the E-Compact MP series’ new entry, the EC710MP-BB transmitter, offering a compact 1kW DTV transmitter with separate PA and PSU chassis that utilize 4RUs of cabinet space. N+1 hot-swap PSU modules are available. In addition, the transmitter is future compatible with both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0.

Rounding out Comark’s slate of products is the Exact-V2 DTV exciter, an IP optimized exciter platform that is ready for ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 thanks to a DualCast technology that migrates it from 1.0 to 3.0 with a license upgrade.

Comark also has plans for a full ATSC 3.0 Glass-to-Glass demo where a 1080p60 HDR camera feed will be received live and then fully processed and transmitted through to an ATSC 3.0 enabled DTV set on display. ATSC 3.0 reception via a home gateway for signal redistribution to mobile devices will also be highlighted,

Visit Comark at booth C4409.

To register for the NAB Show, visit www.nabshow.com.

COOKEVILLE, TENN.—Lots of TV towers live on the tops of mountains. In that respect, there’s nothing unique about the location of WCTE’s 800-foot broadcast tower outside Monterey, Tenn., about 10 mile drive from the PBS station’s Cookeville studio over mostly good roads. But when our engineers were having to drop everything and fix issues nearly every day—sometimes more than once—it seemed far too remote.

The trips were wearing us out physically and financially. In addition, we were spending a fortune on amplifiers and the ones we needed were getting hard to come by. The power supplies inside the amps were proprietary and couldn’t be repaired.

We needed something more reliable so last year we took delivery of a new Hitachi-Comark Parallax transmitter. In a week, the site team from Comark had installed the single-cabinet, complete with a new heat exchanger.

MODULAR POWER SUPPLIES

With the new transmitter installed, we’re not driving to the transmitter every day, and operation costs are about half as much as our old transmitter. Our first electric bill was literally half what we’d been spending, resulting in savings of at least $2,000 a month. It was that energy savings that allowed us to replace our old transmitter, though other factors were just as important. One of the biggest-selling points was the fact that Parallax amps have modular power supplies that can be purchased on eBay for about 5 percent of what we’d been paying every time we lost a power supply in an amp.

Since WCTE’s tower facility is located at the end of a road that runs several miles through mountainous woods, power failures are common. The emergency generator always kicks in and there are plans to purchase and install a UPS to carry the whole plant through the moment of failure before power is restored, but the ease with which Parallax recovers from a dip has been beneficial.

The transmitter powers back up within seconds and the web server allows us full control and monitoring from anywhere. We get emails from the Parallax immediately when there’s an issue—in nine months there hasn’t been anything but power company problems—but we can see voltages on each leg, water temperature and flow, error logs... everything you could ask for.

NEW COOLING SYSTEM

After the Parallax was installed, the site’s old transmitter became the backup, and aside from a new three-phase power circuit for the Parallax, the installation of the new cooling system was the only modification needed in the transmitter building. The new cooling system utilizes an indoor tank, further limiting exposure to ice-fall from the tower. The use of flexible hoses allowed for convenient placement of both the tank and the outdoor heat exchanger.

Even the efficiency of the cooling system is surprising. The heat exchanger didn’t run much at all during the fall and winter so I’ll be interested to see how it does in the summer, with the indoor tank and the reduced heat load. It’s gotten up to about 85 degrees outside already this spring, and our air conditioners don’t seem to be having any trouble keeping it cool indoors.

The Parallax has transformed how we work. WCTE only has two engineers, and we were scrambling to move our master control, maintain and operate a production truck and two IT networks and provide technical leadership for the station. When you take into account the cost savings on energy and on our time, it really has made a huge difference.

Craig LeFevre is a 12-year veteran of WCTE with an MBA from Tennessee Technological University and CBTE certification from the Society of Broadcast Engineers. He can be reached atclefevre@wcte.org.

For more information, visitwww.comarktv.comor call 800-345-9295.

SOUTHWICK, MA. — Hitachi-Comark is rushing numerous Comark Parallax and E-Compact UHF transmitters to broadcasters in Puerto Rico so they can accelerate their Spectrum Repack timetable that has been impacted by Hurricane Maria.

The Puerto Rican stations to receive new Comark transmitters include: WNJX, WTIN, WAPA, WVSN, WCCV, WMTJ, WQTO, WJWN, WSJN-CD, and WQSJ-CD. Equipment production is underway, and shipments are expected to reach both repack and non-repack stations in time for their scheduled installations.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, one of the most destructive storms to hit the island, affected DTV broadcasters were facing the prospect of rebuilding their facilities twice over the next year. Earlier this year, the FCC granted their request to accelerate the repack schedule, enabling them to move directly to their new repack channels.

(Since most were originally slated for Phase 3 of the FCC’s repack process, they weren’t even scheduled to begin testing until April of 2019, with completion by June 21, 2019.)

[Read: WGBH/WBGY Taps Hitachi-Comark Transmitters for Repack]

On several occasions, Comark sent field teams to the island to survey the broadcasters’ facilities and draft individualized site construction plans to get them on the air on their post-repack channels. Comark also handled program management, shipping logistics, and on-site labor for installation and proof-of-performance testing.

Designed for high-power, broadband requirements, Comark Parallax solid-state transmitters are high efficiency, repack-ready liquid cooled systems offering Doherty performance and a future proof design. They’re available up to 27.5 kW transmitter power output (TPO) per rack cabinet, or up to 100kW with multiple cabinets.

For low-to-medium power requirements, Comark’s E-Compact high efficiency, air-cooled UHF DTV transmitters provide asymmetric broadband Doherty, solid-state amplifier technology, requiring less energy to deliver more power. With its 950W 3RU amplifier chassis, the compact, rugged E-Compact is available in TPO levels from 850 W to more than 10 kW.

While the transmitters will operate in ATSC 1.0, they can be upgraded to the ATSC 3.0 DTV broadcast standard in the future.

For comprehensive news and information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo.

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SOUTHWICK, MASS.—KVIE, the public broadcaster serving Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto, Calif., has ordered a new Hitachi-Comark Parallax VHF Band 3 DTV transmitter for Channel 9, the broadcast transmitter announced today.

Initially, the transmitter will be equipped with 12 VHF power amplifiers, which will provide 17.3kW TPO. To enable a future boost in power output, the transmitter is pre-wired to accept additional PAs that can take TPO to 23.1kW if necessary.

[Read: WGBH/WBGY Taps Hitachi-Comark Transmitters For Repack]

The transmitter will be delivered with a liquid cooling system and dual Exact-V2 exciters in a main-standby configuration, Hitachi-Comark said. The company will manage shipment, offloading and placement of the new unit and remove and dispose of the station’s existing transmitter.

“Comark worked with the management of KVIE to provide a complete solution to replace their existing unit with the latest technology. The transmitter will be delivered with ATSC 1.0 compatible exciters, but the unit is easily upgradeable for ATSC 3.0 as soon as the station is ready for testing,” said Dick Fiore, president and CEO of Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark. 

SOUTHWICK, MA—WGBH Educational Foundation has ordered two new VHF Parallax liquid cooled DTV transmitters from Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark LLC for its WGBH Boston PBS station and the WGBY PBS station in Springfield, Mass. Both stations are in the process of a post-spectrum auction channel repack.

At WGBH, Comark will supply a multicabinet Parallax VHF band 1 liquid cooled transmitter on channel D5. The transmitter is designed for initial operation at 7.5kW TPO but allows for future power upgrades up to as high as 55kW should the station decide to maximize their ERP in the future. The transmitter cabinets will be pre-wired to facilitate a quick upgrade with additional power amplifiers and PA combiners.

In addition, Comark will supply another Parallax VHF band 3 transmitter on D13 for WGBY. The WGBY transmitter will be configured for 1+1 redundancy with a main/standby configuration. Each half of the transmitter can fully supply the required 13kW TPO with custom RF switching between transmitter cabinets. Both cabinets will be pre-wired to accommodate future power upgrades.

Comark will manage all aspects of both transmitter installations including program management, equipment delivery, on-site installation, and proof-of-performance testing. Both transmitters are fully upgradeable from ATSC 1.0 to ATSC 3.0 due in part the EXACT-V2 exciter technology.

[Read: Maryland Public TV Chooses Comark Parallax UHF TX]

“We expanded our Parallax product line from UHF to VHF band 3 and most recently to cover VHF Band 1” says Dick Fiore, President and CEO of Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark, LLC. “WGBH/WGBY has been a long standing customer of Comark for many years, having previously purchased their original UHF DTV rigs from the transition from analog to digital. We are very pleased to be working again with WGBH Educational Foundation on this exciting project.”

“WGBH is looking forward to continuing our long relationship with Hitachi-Comark” says Emeric Feldmar, Director of Engineering at WGBH. “We have received excellent products, and support throughout the years. We purchased these Parallax VHF band 1 and band 3 transmitter systems for our WGBH and WGBY facilities that are being upgraded as a result of the spectrum auction/repack with capability to upgrade to ATSC 3.0.”

For more information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo.

SOUTHWICK, MA.—Maryland Public Television has ordered a Comark 75kW Parallax UHF transmitter for its WMPT site serving central Maryland, Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark said last week.

“Comark worked with the management of Maryland Public Television to provide a complete solution for their repack requirements,” said company President and CEO Dick Fiore.

The transmitter consistS of three rack cabinets. Each has 16 UHF Asymmetric Broadband Doherty power amps providing up to 75kW TPO. The liquid-cooled transmitter will be equipped with dual Exact-V2 exciters in a main-standby configuration and an RF mask filter system inclusive of Magic Tees combining each cabinet, the company said.

[Read: Meredith Preps For Repack With Comark Parallax Transmitters]

Comark will manage shipment, offloading and placement of the new transmitter as well as remove the station’s existing DTV transmitter.

For more information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo.

SOUTHWICK, MASS.—Comark is going to be providing its services to Bahakel Communications, after the company signed a Master Purchase Agreement with Comark for new transmitters and services to help with the repack.

As part of the MPA, Comark will help Bahakel install new transmitters and associated services at its six DTV transmitter facilities. Comark will be responsible for providing delivery, program management, on-site installation/proof-of-performance testing and extended warranties on each of the transmitters. Comark is also tasked with providing system design services/site surveys for all of the repack stations to ensure a smooth installation process.

The six stations impacted by the repack and set to receive the new transmitters are WAKA, WBMM, WCCB, WFXB, WBBJ and WOLO-TV.

The transmitter that will be installed at each of these stations is Comark’s Parallax UHF high efficiency unit. Parallax is a liquid-cooled solid-state transmitter that has up to 27.5 kW TPO per rack cabinet, with multiple cabinets able to provide up to 100 kW. It features Doherty technology; vertical high-gain power amplifiers that provide 2 kW per PA module for UHF, 1.6 kW per PA module for VHF band 3; and can dualcast ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0.

SOUTHWICK, MASS.—Hitachi-Comark will ship a new Comark Parallax transmitter to WCTE/Upper Cumberland Public Television in Cookeville, Tenn., in early September. WCTE is a PBS member station that covers the north central counties of Tennessee.

WCTE’s new DTV transmitter will be equipped with eight broadband power amplifiers providing 13kW Transmitter Power Output level. It will be delivered with dual Exact-V2 exciters and a liquid cool system. Comark is handling the shipping, offloading/placement of the transmitter at the WCTE facility.

Additional features of the Parallax transmitter include vertical high-gain power amplifiers that provide 2kW per PA module for UHF or 1.6kW per PA module for VHF band 3; asymmetrical Doherty; hot-swappable between AC and DC; and it is ATSC 1.0 compatible, but is also upgradable to ATSC 3.0.

SOUTHWICK, MASS.—As stations are preparing for the FCC repack, the Meredith Local Group is doing so by ordering new transmitters from Hitachi Comark. The Comark Parallax transmitters are heading to six Meredith stations that are affected by the repack—KSMO, WHNS, WNEM, WPCH, WFSB and WGGB.

Parallax

The Parallax units are DTV transmitters and vary from 10kW to 65kW depending on the stations’ new Transmitter Power Output levels. Comark will deliver each Parallax transmitter with Exact-V2 exciters, which are software upgradeable to ATSC 3.0; liquid cooling systems; and RF mask filter systems. Comark will manage the shipment and offloading/placement of the transmitters to each facility as part of its Master Purchase Agreement. The company will also provide Meredith with system design services/site surveys.

Parallax transmitters are designed to offer up to 27.5kw TPO per rack cabinet; efficiency with wideband Doherty technology; vertical high-gain power amplifiers that provide 2kW per PA for UHF and 1.6kW per PA modules for VHF band 3; asymmetrical Doherty, providing the same power in 8VSB and OFDM; and hot-swap AC to DC rectifiers.

Three of the transmitters are expected to be delivered in 2017.

For more information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo.