The Channel | 2002 | June

21 / 22

22 | the channel
Broadcast Technology
“Historic” DRM shortwave
demonstration
Integrated Defense Technologies, Inc.’s [IDT], subsidiary
Continental Electronics is on the leading edge of shortwave
radio technology.The company successfully demonstrated
that its transmitters are digital ready. The demonstration
underscored the superiority of the Digital Radio Mondiale
(DRM) broadcasting system over the conventional AM
modulation system used in international shortwave
broadcast bands.
The live DRM broadcast demonstration spanned 1,500
miles, from EWTN Global Catholic Network’s mountain-
top radio station, WEWN, in Birmingham, Alabama, to the
floor of the Las Vegas Convention Centre. DRM is an ITU-
recognized digital radio broadcast system for all radio
broadcasting below 30 MHz. The historic event took place
during NAB 2002 in cooperation with Telefunken
SenderSysteme Berlin and the Fraunhofer Institute of
Germany.
“Demo observers repeatedly said that our AM shortwave
signal sounded as clean and clear as local FM” said John
Uvodich, president of IDT Continental Electronics.
The demonstration featured IDT-CE’s 420C 500 kW
transmitter and a Telefunken DRM exciter. Signals were
broadcast across WEWN-licensed frequencies of 5825,
7520, 9975, 11875 and 13615 kHz. Telefunken also
provided the special receiver, which included Fraunhofer
digital decoding techniques. This transmitter is capable of
operation in standard amplitude modulation, controlled
carrier-level modulation or single side band service. From
a central master control panel or from a remote computer
control station, this transmitter delivers full carrier power
at any frequency between 3.90 and 26.1 MHz.
Tektronix
Laboratory Opens
at BBC’s Wood
Norton Training
Centre
Tektronix, innovators of test,
measurement, and monitoring
equipment, has provided video test
equipment to BBC Training &
Development’s Wood Norton Training
Centre for a dedicated Tektronix
learning laboratory. The instruments
will be used in conjunction with
engineering and technology courses
taught at the centre, located in
Worcestershire, UK.
The Training Centre offers industry-
standard studio, post-production, and
location facilities, which can be booked
for classroom-based sessions and
hands-on practice. The new Tektronix
Laboratory features video test
equipment that is used throughout the
industry, including analogue, standard-
definition and high-definition digital
video test instrumentation,
as well as the latest MPEG test
platforms. Students attending
Broadcast Engineering Foundation,
Broadcast Engineering Consolidation,
andTVTechnology 1 and 2 courses will
gain experience in using the equipment
in real situations.
Simon Shute, Head of Broadcast
Training at BBC, said that the
establishment of the Tektronix
Laboratory will benefit both trainees
and the broadcast industry as a whole.
“The dedicated Tektronix facility at
Wood Norton will enable delegates to
obtain first-hand experience of a wider
range of equipment than would
otherwise have been possible.”
Techno chief steps down
Philip Langsdale, chief executive of BBC Technology, has
resigned, reportedly over a disagreement concerning the
future direction of the wholly-owned BBC subsidiary.
Pinnacle “Liquid Field”
survives Angolan helicopter
crash
Pinnacle Systems has revealed that a Liquid FIELD mobile
DV editor survived a helicopter crash in the African bush.
It was part of the kit carried by Vaughan Smith, a reporter
with news agency Frontline, who was in Angola to report
on the war for the BBC. The crash happened at a UNITA
base in the African bush when a tail rotor hit a tree. Happily
everyone came out of the incident unscathed and the Liquid
FIELD carried on working as if nothing had happened.
Smith specialises in war stories, and Liquid FIELD has
become a vital part of his equipment. He first used it in
Afghanistan and since then he has taken it to Kashmir as
well as Angola. Liquid FIELD is ideal for television reporters
as it lets them record, edit and send video clips directly to
the broadcast studio from the field, even under very difficult
circumstances.
Speaking about his experience with the Liquid FIELD,
Smith said: “It is a tough powerful
system that is ideal for this work, as it
gives us enormous flexibility and
mobility under difficult conditions. It is
also extremely reliable as the helicopter
incident proved.”
Smith’s team made history in Angola
as they were the first journalists to see
a UNITA base in 10 years. This story,
which was recorded and edited on the
Liquid FIELD, was shown on the BBC’s
flagship domestic TV programme
“Newsnight”.
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