Elgin, Illinois (August 12, 2008) - - Linear Industries Inc., a leading manufacturer of low and medium power television broadcast transmission equipment, today announced that New Press & Gazette Company (NPG Broadcast) has selected Linear’s Advanced TV series of ATSC TV transmitters for its transmission facilities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico and Oregon. The purchase is to supplement existing analog and digital transmission into remote communities served by NPG over the air LPTV translators. Installation of the new transmitters will begin in August 2008 and be scheduled for completion by mid 2009. The powers of the transmitter vary from 10W to 2000W in both the UHF and VHF band.
The Linear Advanced TV series represents the state of the art in solid state ATSC UHF transmission. The Advanced TV series of transmitters uses ultra reliable LDMOS transistors and industry leading exciter pre-correction software that provides unparalleled performance. The Advanced TV line has common features throughout including individual self contained RF amplifiers with their own cooling and protection and each transmitter has SNMP RS232 remote control interface, soft start and power factor correction systems. Inside the exciter the very latest software technology has been applied to the implementation of digital pre-correction and modulation and also a unique technology for oscillator phase stability, providing greater signal to noise and modulation error ratio performance. The amplifiers are hot- pluggable slide-in modules which helps reduce operating costs. The easy to use monitoring software allows access to all necessary data to rapidly evaluate equipment operational status.
Jim Dechant Director of Technical Operations NPG Broadcast Group said “We made the initial choice based on the Advanced TV series price point, and then our engineers tested the product and verified that it provided excellent performance figures, was mechanically very solid and technically sound. We have a large and diverse network of transmission sites, some can only be accessed during summer months, so we were looking for not only the most cost effective solution, but one that could provide the reliability we need. We were pleased to hear that all support and service is from Elgin IL, which is conveniently located near the Chicago O’Hare airport. The transmitter is assembled in Elgin, and we were quite impressed at the immediate delivery offered on almost the entire range. Linear can provide the entire power range from a few watts to five thousand watts of power, in both analog and digital; this is the perfect product line for a network like NPG”.
Gustavo Figueiredo, President and CEO of Linear Industries commented “We are proud to be the supplier to such a prestigious organization as the NPG Group, a leading media organization and major broadcast network. We at Linear are pleased to receive this vote of confidence from NPG and its affiliates. The Linear Advanced TV line is a new product in the US market but once NPG saw the sort of performance the new Linear exciter provided in terms of shoulder, MER, EVM and SNR, we knew that it would make their supplier selection a lot easier. Add also the rugged design and the impressive surveillance features and it is a package that really is difficult to beat”.
Linear Industries Inc the operating subsidiary of Linear is an established manufacturer of television broadcast equipment. The corporate headquarters is located in Elgin Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), and the marketing and sales headquarters is in Ellicott City MD, (a suburb of Washington, DC). Linear have been in business for more than 30 years, the company has developed a leading position as a technologically advanced high-quality producer of transmitters used by television stations around the world.
The News-Press & Gazette Co., or NPG Co., stretch back to the days of the Wild West in St. Joseph, Missouri, with the publication of the first Gazette in 1845. Headquartered in St. Joseph, the company has been owned and operated since the 1950s by the Bradley family, now in its fourth generation. Still going strong in the newspaper business, the NPG family has grown to include cable, internet, broadcast and commercial printing operations, spanning several states. This diversification provides a solid foundation for growth. For more information go to www.npgco.com.
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FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Perry Priestley, VP of Sales & Marketing
email: perry.priestley@linear-tv.com
