Since a new tower had been erected in 1997 with HDTV in mind, it already featured a broadband RFS panel antenna used to broadcast the analog channel 29 and was capable of accommodating the future DTV channel on UHF 15. The trick after expanding the building and installing the HDTV transmitter was to combine the output of the two transmitters into the common antenna. This may be very common in the top 10 markets, but it is not something common in this market, so we called in people smarter than me to help make it happen.
Continue reading ‘KHOG RF Combiner’
For this facility (KHOG) the gain of the antenna was considerable so that only about 10kW TPO would be needed to meet the maximized ERP level, so the choice of a solid-state Diamond transmitter from Harris was made. The benefits of this choice were that the multiple modules and power supplies allowed for considerable redundancy and fault-tolerance.
Continue reading ‘HDTV Transmitter Installation’
Here is a project I am justifiably proud of. Our corporate engineering management had determined that we were to use a Harris Flexicoder as the core of our HDTV encoding, but outside of that we were to determine what we needed to best integrate it into our facility. Initially, I was not pleased with the choice in encoders as I had seen better performance from the Harmonic encoding systems. However, after getting my hands on more thorough documentation and working with the encoder package that included an integrated ‘Master Control’ module I quickly began to see the potential for the system. I added to our DTV budget, not just the elements needed to encode our studio signal digitally and pass through the network HD signal, but also to monitor and perform simple localized troubleshooting of problems we may (and probably would) encounter in the future.
Continue reading ‘HDTV Encoding Rack Design’
Prior to installing the coming DTV transmitters there had to be a manner in which to get the HD signal to the transmitter. Since we would ultimately have two high-power DTV transmitter sites and they are a considerable distance from the studios, the only practical solution would be to encode the HD signal at the primary studio and then transport the HD bitstream up to each respective transmitter site. Continue reading ‘HDTV Infrastructure’
In order to accommodate the additional transmitter equipment for this station’s HDTV transmitter the building had to be expanded considerably. I was able to include in the budget enough area for a sound-resistant office where maintenance records, spare parts and test equipment could be kept and calls could be made without having to shout over the noise of the two transmitters.
Continue reading ‘KHOG Transmitter Building Expansion’
