In Broadcast - June 2015 - 40


40

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 5 - Issue 6 | June 2015

InStudio

ETL Systems' RF Equipment
Utilised By BAE Systems Australia
E

TL Systems, a global designer and
manufacturer of Radio Frequency
(RF) distribution equipment for
satellite communications, has provided
BAE Systems Australia, the largest
defence contractor in Australia, with
customised RF amplifier component
units.
These amplifiers have been designed
for X-band and KA-band antennas for
a Ground Station in outback Australia

The CST-BAE-AMP-1033 at work

that will receive signals from the
Wideband Global SATCOM system.
"The amplifiers form part of a new
Ground Station that will give the
Australian Defence Force the ability
to communicate globally with its
deployed units," said Graeme Bent,
BAE Systems Australia's Director Land & Integrated Systems. "The ETL
equipment is designed for use in the
harsh environment and performs to
specification with high input power."
ETL's new customised amplifier
component compensates for RF signal
loss in a system and has been designed
in an IP 65 rated outdoor unit, which
can be mounted close to or on the
antenna. It is supplied with waterproof
N-type connectors, making it resilient
against harsh weather. The model
provides RF input signal monitoring,
is inline powered and has a high 1dB
gain compression point for high power
applications. Optimum signal quality is
ensured with a low noise level of 10dB.
"We pride ourselves on not only
providing the most resilient and
reliable equipment, but also on our

ability to custom design solutions
for each customer's needs.
70% of our largest orders
in 2015 were specifically
engineered to meet customer
requirements," said Dominic
Overton, Components Sales
Executive at ETL Systems. "With 25
years' experience in designing awardwinning equipment, ETL is recognised
internationally for its superior
quality and professional one-to-one
service. Reliability, resilience, and RF
performance are the core customer
requirements which drive ETL's
product innovation and development."
In addition to BAE Systems Australia,
significant orders from ETL's extensive
range of RF products have been placed
by major buyers in Asia, Europe and
North America.
ETL brought an extensive range of RF
products to this year's CommunicAsia
exhibitions, following orders from
Grus TV in Hong Kong, Precision
Technologies in Singapore, Paradise
Communications in Indonesia, as well
as a major Thai satellite operator.

ETL Systems' CST-BAE
AMP-1033

New RF products
available to view include StingRay RF
over Fibre link indoor and outdoor
units, with hot-swap RF over fibre
modules, for short distance links (up to
10km) between satellite dishes and the
teleport.
The Dextra series of L-band splitters
and combiners, which are available in
four, eight and 16 way configurations;
the ultra-compact 128 x128 L-band
Vulcan Matrix, the 64 x 64 Vortex
Matrix, and Alto variable gain line
amplifiers, including four, eight and
sixteen module options that can be
remotely controlled via Ethernet and
web browser interface.

Dutch Broadcast Provider Equips
OB Truck With Lawo Systems
D

utch Outside Broadcast (OB)
service
provider
United,
headquartered in Hilversum, the
Netherlands, has installed a Lawo
mc²56 audio mixing console as the
centerpiece of its new OB16 truck. The
move sees the company follow a series
of other broadcasters and production
companies operating multi-camera
Outside Broadcast and studio services
in adopting Lawo technology, giving
Lawo's mc² consoles a 70% share of
OB vehicle operations in the European
market. Local distributor, LDM
Audiovisual Systems, based in Lint,
Belgium, made the delivery and has
carried out the console configuration
for United.
The desk's core is housed in its own
rack and integrates its own DSP with a
Nova73 compact core, which is also a
large audio router - making the audio
mixing console a very advanced system
controller. The router is equipped

with MADI, allowing the simultaneous
transfer of up to 64 audio channels
over a single fibre-optic link. This
signal capacity has reduced the wiring
that would otherwise be required
in the vehicle, and eliminated much
of the conventional assembly and
soldering.
The truck's Riedel Artist Intercom
System is connected to the Lawo
audio distribution architecture via
MADI, providing high-quality audio
throughout. In addition to the mc²56
consoles, LDM installed L-S-B's Virtual
Studio Manager (VSM) in OB16. This
software provides overall control for
central automation of all systems in
the vehicle, integrating the video,
audio and intercom router, and also
the multi-viewer. The operators at the
15 different workplaces can select their
specific visualisation. The system's
buttons are LCDs that dynamically
display signal labels - with the VSM

control system these can be set, saved
and recalled for any situation e.g.
changing the order of the cameras.
Previously, this required changing the
setup and re-configuration, plus renaming the tally signals. Now this can
be programmed centrally, making the
workstations very flexible. Even though
the vehicle is with United, LSM can, if
required, configure the system from
any location.
The digital infrastructure of the unit
provides a high degree of flexibility,
requires less cabling and offers many
more possibilities than a 'conventional'
setup. This means that productions
that used to require several days of
preparation and rehearsal can now be
scheduled tightly, and completed in
a single day. This required a different
approach and interior design of the
vehicle.
LDM also supplied its new Lawo
V_pro8 video processing and routing

Lawo's mc²56 audio mixing console is the
centerpiece of United's new OB16 truck

unit for the installation. The V_pro8
has eight 3G HD-SDI video embedders
and eight processors, and sample
rate-converters, as well as an 8x8
matrix with extensive video processing
capabilities.
United
provides
full-service
broadcast facilities and ranks among
the top three largest service providers
in the Netherlands. It operates several
TV OB vans, ranging from small
vehicles to a large satellite OB van,
capable of 30-camera production. The
camera department produces major
sporting events, and has worked on
football events including the European
Championships and World Cups, the
Olympic Games, game shows, music
concerts and other live events to be
mastered by multicam.
http://www.inbroadcast.com http://www.etlsystems.com/ http://www.etlsystems.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxZ_NR_64Fs
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