The U.S. Open audio feed serves 40 broadcast commentary positions, an interview room accommodating 140 people and a media center with about 400 press positions.
The National Tennis Center for the U.S. Open recently installed a new analog distribution amplifier system to improve audio signals coming from the court, umpire and stadium announcer to the press booths, media desks and interview rooms.
An increasing number of journalists and broadcasters plugging into the existing system with a wide variety of recorders and other electronic equipment caused several issues, including grounding, cross talk and back feed noise. At the core of the problem is the magnitude of the event. The U.S. Open audio feed serves 40 broadcast commentary positions, an interview room accommodating 140 people and a media center with about 400 press positions. The challenge was to accommodate everyone, even those taking the feed with less than professional grade equipment, with a clean, consistent signal.
Network Electronics equipment installed at the U.S. Open includes six FR-2RU-10-2-F frames, 37 DA-AA Distribution Amplifier cards and three PWR-AC 15/5/5/5V redundant power supplies. The result is six-plus channels of distributed audio with no noise or cross talk.
For more information, visit www.network-electronics.com.
