FAIRFAX, VA, APRIL 4, 2016 —When CNN kicked off what is sure to be a historic election year with its special, AC360: Guns in America: Obama Town Hall, the program’s RF coordinators, Jetwave Wireless, a leading provider of wireless communication equipment/services for broadcast productions and live events, relied on equipment from Wisycom to ensure there were no signal related misfires.
Held at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, the wireless requirements for an event of this magnitude are always high pressure, requiring close attention and veteran knowledge, which is the reason producers reached out to Jetwave Wireless. Lead RF Engineer and Jetwave Wireless owner Jim Dugan provided all frequency coordination and distributed antenna systems for the special.
“The green room where we ‘wired’ President Obama for the event was quite far away from the actual event main stage, and it was critical for the audio team to know exactly when the President was ready for the show,” says Dugan. “To accomplish this, we employed the Wisycom MAT288 Programmable RF Combiner. This allowed us to have several sets of antennae supporting our RF rack by putting a set on the main stage area and also out in the lobby hallway a few hundred feet away near the President’s green room. Thanks to Wisycom, we were also able to create another coverage area by deploying only the antenna and not redundant hardware.”
Dugan and his team also used the antenna distribution to support the wireless intercom systems, ensuring that the audio and stage manager’s communications were covered for both areas. The team only had about three minutes from the time the President and all his security teams arrived to get him wired with a mic and go live.
“It was critical that we were confident that all the audio would be working perfectly before President Obama walked on stage,” adds Dugan. “Wisycom’s MAT288 allowed us to have that assurance. It’s such a simple but brilliant design concept for production wireless. The MAT288 independent antenna gain control was also used to bring up RF gain on the remote sites. It’s the only device on the market that has adjustable gain and Antenna On/Off switching all controlled via a laptop. I wouldn’t want to do any event without having Wisycom in the rack.”
About Wisycom
Wisycom is a designer and builder of the most sophisticated RF solutions for broadcast, film and live production, renowned for their durability, flexibility, reliability, practicality and cost-effective price points. Wisycom’s design process is driven by attention to detail, customer feedback and ultimate quality, from the selection of components to the manufacturing process, which takes place at the company’s Italian plants. The company prides itself on serving as a technical advisor and partner to every customer. From custom design to evaluation and dimensioning of systems, the Wisycom team stands by its customers through every step of the process. For more information, please visit www.wisycom.com.
