WNUV-DT, a Sinclair-owned station in Baltimore, has installed the industry’s first fully compliant ATSC Mobile DTV multiplexer and exciter for the new A/153 Mobile DTV Station.
Rohde & Schwarz supplied the gear, including its new SX800, a full frequency agile exciter already used in the newest ATSC and NTSC medium-power air-cooled and high power liquid cooled R&S transmitter systems. It is also available for use in transmitters from other manufacturers, supports all worldwide TV broadcast standards and also can be deployed for ATSC Mobile DTV and SFN networks.
The heart of the system is the new R&S AEM1000 emission multiplexer, which includes the IP encapsulator, a signaling generator and the Mobile DTV multiplexer. The single RU high product fully supports ATSC Mobile DTV and SFN operation and can be integrated into existing installations, leaving the standard ATSC A/53 multiplexer in place.
The R&S AEM100 comes with the SFN function already integrated. This function, which can be optionally activated, makes it possible to supply the ATSC Mobile DTV transport stream from the multiplexer to several transmitters, allowing for simultaneous transmission on the same frequency in SFNs. This allows network operators to address coverage problems to serve more viewers without having to apply for additional frequencies.
The complete ATSC Mobile DTV functionality is configured controlled and monitored using a web browser locally or remotely. All commands for automatic monitoring and for the instrument settings are available over an SNMP interface.
