To avoid any signal interruption or loss of signal to the Blackhawks' fan-cam operations, the team turned to Nucomm's CamPac2 camera-mounted transmitter and Newscaster DR2 diversity receiver to provide 22,000 crazed hockey fans at the United Center with images displayed on the large video scoreboard.
As the Chicago Blackhawks skated into the Stanley Cup Finals, the expanded national and international television coverage meant an increase in RF clutter. Sergio Lozano, senior director of scoreboard operations at the United Center, said he wanted to make sure that fans' in-house experience was not compromised by the loss of traditional camera positions because of the added television broadcasts. They had to figure out different ways to get other shots on the video board, including live shots of fans in the stands.
The CamPac2 wireless camera system is compact and simple to use yet sophisticated enough to handle a wide range of applications including ENG, portable camera mounting for sports production, helicopter and UAV links as well as portable, mobile video and data links.
The CP2 is a tri-band-capable unit that operates in the unlicensed 5.8GHz band, as well as licensed 6.4GHz and 7.1GHz bands without the need of any hardware changes.
The Newscaster DR2 diversity receiver offers "intelligent" block downconverters (BDCs) that communicate to the DR2 receiver to control various operating modes. By using the ability to block downconvert the received high frequency signals to UHF band signals in the 150MHz to 850MHz range, the DR2 now has the ability to remotely extend its antennas to 1000ft (using Belden 1694A cable), complete with DC power from the receiver as well as other modes of operation.
By having the option to choose from two different versions of BDCs for the Newscaster DR2, these units can transmit and receive a wide range of frequency bands, from 1.99GHz to 7.1GHz depending on customer requirements, making these units truly world class products.
