ROME, ITALY - When Rome-based content and facilities provider H24 Live decided to create a wireless network throughout Italy's capital, it turned to Nucomm's CamPac2 HD/SD COFDM microwave transmitter and Nucomm's Newscaster DR2 diversity receiver for its signal coverage.
This unique application of providing wireless coverage to an entire city consisted of dividing Rome into 14 areas. "For each area we created a radio base station which receives and speaks with the DENG (digital eng) in the field," says Laura Guglielmetti, H24's production manager. "By doing this, we are able to cover the large urban area (including airports) with modified scooters that are equipped with the transmitters. The scooters allow us to navigate around all of the city's traffic and narrow streets quickly and without delay. The reaction times are minimal with the opportunity to completely follow events with wireless coverage which is fantastic."
H24 Live has been working in the field of professional news making since 1991, providing content and facilities to national and international media companies in Italy. Headquartered in Rome and networked to 15 local bureaus throughout Italy, H24 offers a unique combination of high-quality journalism and state-of-the-art facilities to professional national broadcasters. H24 has achieved a wide range of media expertise by providing production facilities and professional support to enable international crews to cover news stories from Italy and the Vatican.
"We chose Nucomm after many tests with other companies," says Emanuele Pascucci, H24 research and development manager. "We needed a solid, robust product that could adapt to heavy work and is known for its reliability in the field. After the first tests we understood that Nucomm's Campac2 was the perfect product for us."
The CamPac2 and Newscaster DR2 are designed to handle the rigors of everyday outdoor use in a variety of conditions as evident by the recent earthquake in L'Aquila Valley. The wireless network and compact mobility allowed H24 to be the first news media on scene transmitting live pictures from the devastating L'Aquila Valley earthquake a few months ago.
"The transmitters are not only used every day in extreme situations such as rain and hot and cold weather, their user-friendly consoles provide easy to understand readings," adds Pascucci. "In situations where there is the presence of great quantities of dust and dirt - as in the recent earthquake that hit central Italy, for example, or where there is a lot of humidity while covering floods, thanks to the very intuitive display installed on the transmitters, any problem was immediately visible."
Intended for wireless camera applications, such as sports coverage and electronic news gathering (ENG), the CamPac2 has quickly established itself as a class-leading product in its field following product launch in 2006. With the recent introduction of a full featured camera control option, the CamPac 2 is ready to tackle any application where traditionally only wired cameras were used. Besides remote iris, and RGB gain/pedestal control, every available camera menu feature is fully functional, including red/green tally and accessed by the camera manufacturer's own remote panel, not a generic one.
"The CamPac2 and Newscaster DR2 are designed with the user in mind," says RF Extreme President Stephen Shpock. "In today's fast-paced broadcast world, there is a need for innovative wireless cameras, especially in light of more and more ENG broadcasts being produced every day. Nucomm adheres to that need. When we designed this system, we knew it needed to be compact and simple for ease of use yet sophisticated enough to handle a wide range of applications including ENG, portable camera mounting, helicopter and UAV links as well as portable, mobile video and data links."
The Newscaster DR2 offers a split box and the ability to receive UHF digital signals in the 150 to 850MHz band. Since the DR2 can receive lower frequency UHF digital signals, the unit works with external block down converters (BDC). The DR2 can be supplied with BDCs that can receive a wide range of frequencies from 1.99 GHz to 7.1GHz, depending on customer requirements. It is outfitted with an integrated COFDM demodulator, an MPEG2 HD/SD decoder, internal power supply, an integrated spectrum analyzer and an on screen display.
The Rome network has been such a success that H24 plans on expanding. "We are creating network coverage in the city of Milan that will also use Nucomm products," adds Pascucci. "In addition, we have launched our new internet-based news service, H24punto.it, which will use the CamPac2 on all the national territory with a flexible satellite system for the transport of the signal up to our master control center."
