WAYNE, N.J.—KOAA, the Cordillera Communications-owned NBC affiliate serving Colorado Springs-Pueblo, Colo., has essentially replaced its Verizon mobile hotspots and LTE modems with JVC’s ProHD Portable Bridge wireless cell uplink for live ENG.
The station began using JVC ProHD cameras with built-in stream capabilities in 2013 and added the company’s Portable Bridge units this summer, according to a JVC press release issued today.
The integrated high-gain antennas and bonded cellular redundancy that are part of the Portable Bridge offer a big improvement over a single streaming link, says station chief engineer Quentin Henry in the release.
“It’s our morning crew’s favorite tool,” says Henry. “They use it for everything.” One favorite application of the station’s multimedia journalists is for live shots from a camera mounted to a tripod in the backseat of a car while the reporter narrates a weather or traffic shoot from the driver’s seat, says Henry.
Most often, the setup is used with a single camera. However, KOAA has live streamed multiple cameras for coverage of certain events, he says.
The Portable Bridge also serves as a secure high-speed hotspot, making it possible for the station’s MMJs to connect mobile phones and laptops to the internet.
Henry is not yet ready to mothball the station’s live ENG and SNG trucks; however, the Portable Bridge has been a real boon to the station’s newsgathering workflow, he says.
“It doesn’t have a monthly operating cost except for the data you use,” he says, adding that the Portable Bridge “gives us more tools in our toolbox.”
