First it was a Broadcasters Breakfast with ERI, they laid out a really nice setting and then got down to business. They had the story of KJAV and the new Chief who found the tower about ready to fall. ERI worked with the station to take down the old one and put up a new one in just a few weeks. They showed video of how different tower are taken down with controlled falls and how they make sure the TX building is not damaged. Very interesting.
Then I went by their booth and asked if they would help with a video I am thinking of on guyed towers. They were very cooperative and I hope to use ERI to make sure I don’t make any mistakes in the tutorial.
Later in the day a seminar about Cel Phone ENG. I know they have been doing this for at least a year or two now but it has really grown now. They talked of a news piece covered by ABC with both a Truck and a Cell Pack and when it started sooner than expected the Truck was not ready and it was covered with just a Cel Pack. Other events have been covered on moving trains even.
The 3G networks can be hard to get thru as more and more smart phones are used and latency is a problem, thats why multiple cel phone network adapters are used (lots of Rabbit Ears as I call them). But even with 4G it will fill up too. Even with great compression it’s still a lot of data to move over something designed to get you your Google map or update your phone Apps. They see a combination of Cel Networks and WiFi as an answer when the system can use both at the same time to off load some of the data. Panasonic is even working on a ENG camera with LTE networking built right in.
One company, TVU, is working on a backpack with both Cel Network connectivity and ASI out to feed a remote truck so both can be used as needed.
Stopped by the FEMA booth and they had a little model of a Primary Entry Point facility. Very interesting and something I will go into more detail later on.
I met Steve Mareen of RF Specialties Group over at the Hitachi / Linear booth where I met the guy who is going to setup one of their exciters at my transmitter next week. They want to show it off working on a real high powered transmitter and I agreed to let them do in. They tell me it should take all of 1/2 hour to get it going. I will report on this next week.
Before that I was over at the Thomson booth and talked with Michael Roosa our salesman and Richarad Fiore Director of Transmission & Mobility about their new exciter the ATSC 8000 which I was told the story of a station that wanted to increase it’s power level from 40KW to 50KW as I recall but pushing the tube that much made correction so difficult that after several exciters were tried only the ATSC 8000 had the correction range to get the job done.
I walked over to TeraDek and saw how small they make the SDI to Cel Network adapters now little bigger than a paperback book. They also make one that uses WiFi to stream to a local laptop or to iPads for remote monitoring. Pretty cool.
Time to get out to the show for an early start on the last day and then it’s back home.
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Blackberry has announced that it’s latest version of OS allows for the control of FM radio hardware in the cel phones. They have already put an FM radio in their Curve 9360 and 9380 phones. This is a big step forward and what NAB as been asking for to help expand the role of EAS during emergencies when the Cel Phone system is down or over worked. By having FM radios built right into a device that almost everyone has, then with a single broadcast from an FM station tens of thousands of citizens can be kept up to date during emergencies.
