According to some accounts, off-air television is fading fast. However, it seems as if someone forgot to tell the public and the transmitter manufacturers. While megawatt ERPs and big sticks may be replaced by gap-fillers, RF is still alive and well. From exciters to antennas, there was no shortage of new products at this year’s NAB show.
TRANSMITTERS
Mike Rosso (L) of Axcera runs through the features of a 6X series liquid-cooled transmitter with Jim Danford of IneoQuest.Axcera traveled to Las Vegas with a sampling of the company’s products, including the 6X series liquid-cooled transmitter that’s designed to operate with digital or analog television standards, including ATSC, DVB-T/T2, DVB-H/SH, CMMB (STiMi), DAB, T-DMB, ISDB-T, ISDB-Tb, NTSC, PAL and others.
Elber SRL was showing the Onedriver and Onecompact lines of low- and medium-power transmitters designed by Onetastic, with power levels between 70 and 340 Watts. Options include on-board GPS, gap filling, Rx SAT, etc. Also showing was the Onetastic-designed OTGPS1U GPS receiver for locking SFNs together.
Harris featured the company’s Maxiva UAX Compact Class transmitter for ATSC Mobile DTV service. This product is designed to provide coverage in areas that are underserved by normal ATSC Mobile DTV signals. Harris was also showing its Selenio media convergence platform for ATSC, ISDB-Tb and DVB-T/T2 terrestrial transmission systems.
Jampro Antennas had a strong presence at the NAB Show. The company has acquired Alan Dick Broadcast and was showing their full complement of economical and flexible television solutions, including DTV and DVB-T.
LARCAN USA displayed their new Cool-Dock Series. These are liquid-cooled, solid-state transmitters with outputs ranging from1.5 kW to 50 kW, for both UHF and VHF service. Also showing was the new Mobile Plus Series end-to-end Mobile DTV transmission system, and the MXi Series digital/analog sol-id-state UHF transmitters with power outputs ranging from 5 Watts to 1 kW and higher.
OMB Sistemas Electrónicos arrived in Las Vegas with their latest television transmitter technology, with models for both analog and digital services. The company’s products range from the MOT 1200 FL BIII 1.2 kW analog model, which is constructed with the latest LDMOS technology, all the way to the 6 kW LDMOS MOT 6000 ATSC unit, which features eight independent amplifier units for enhanced reliability.
RF Central used the show floor to debut its low power DTV transmitter/translator. Units are available in power levels ranging from 1 watt to 5 kilowatts, and the low frequency DTV transmitter features a compact, modular design, full remote management that supports single frequency networks, in ATSC–M/H service applications.
Screen Service Broadcasting Technologies used the NAB Show as a backdrop to show off a newly-enhanced universal multistandard unit that’s officially known as the ARK-6 exciter modular. It accommodates just about any transmission mode, including ATSC, ASTC-MH, DVB-T2, DVB-Tb, NTSC and PAL. Booth visitors could also view the ARK ECHO, an ATSC/ATSC-MH on-channel digital repeater featuring superior echo cancellation. Also featured product was the company’s new two-channel encoder for Mobile DTV.
Teamcast brought along its new MT2 software release for the company’s 2000/3000 modulator products. The MT2 handles both DVB-T and DVB-T2 modulation and features redundant IP inputs, which eliminates a lot of complexity and associated costs.
Perry Priestley (L) of Thomson describes the function of the company's ATSC-8000 exciter/translator to Doug Garlinger of WRTV.Thomson Broadcast showed off their all new ATSC-8000 DTV exciter, that supports VHF, UHF, and ATSC-M/H (A/153) service. Also debuting was the LPTV-8000 low power DTV transmitter designed specifically for ATSC. Booth visitors could also inspect several new mobile products, including the OCDR 8000 on-channel digital repeater, the DTTU-8000 digital TV translator for UHF, the Elite 100 GreenPower transmitter line, the Elite ISDB-Tb transmitter series, and the Elite 10 repeater.
ANTENNAS/TRANSMISSION LINE
Delta Meccanica SRL arrived in town with their 50 W DVB filter, which features double cross-coupling, and a critical/non-critical mask. Also available for inspection were their 2.5 kW and 5 kW dummy loads.
Jampro Antennas featured the JAT-U UHF broadband IV/V antenna for 470 to 860 MHz service. Booth visitors could also view the JUHD broadband UHF panel antenna for both side- or top- mounting. Also displayed were the Prostar JA/MS-BB broadband UHF slot antenna and the RCEC mask filter.
Kathrein Inc., Scala Division brought their 750 10067 antenna to the Show. The unit features broadband UHF (470-862 MHz) design, a 5 kW power rating, a 7.5 dBd gain figure, and a 50 ohm, 1-5/8-inch EIA flange input.
