Flyaway Made Simple
It's a challenge every SNG field operator knows about. You get to your location in the worst of weather--blinding snow or drenching monsoon--and you have to set up a flyaway earth station quickly. In such inhospitable conditions, you do not want to waste time fumbling with equipment connections.
For these challenges, Gigasat has come up with a new quick-connect SNG flyaway called the MVT. It consists of just two pieces: an outdoor RF head and an indoor control unit, connected by a single triax cable (up to 100-meters in length).
Inside the environmentally-hardened MVT RF head--no need for a protective shipping case for this unit--is a 180 watt integrated transmitter. It includes 70 MHz to L-band and L- band to Ku-band upconverter stages, plus a TWT amplifier. The MVT RF head is designed to dock directly to Gigasat's FA series of flyaway antennas: these are available in diameters of 0.9, 1.2, 1.8, 2.4, and 3.7-meters. As well, the MVT RF head is equipped with a conventional waveguide output flange, so that it can connect to other manufacturer's satellite antennas.
When packaged with an FA 1.2-meter antenna, the MVT system only comprises three units to carry. Moreover, as mentioned earlier, the MVT RF head does not need a hardened traveling case. Neither does the MVT indoor control unit.
"Basically, this innovation takes the integration of system components to the next level," comments Gary Moore, Gigasat's director of sales. "In addition, the MVT RF head's display provides the user with full control of the unit's power output and frequency. You can also access these functions using the indoor control unit from up to 100-meters away. In war situations, having this kind of distance matters."
Beyond the MVT, Gigasat is seeing a lot of demand for 2.4-meter flyaway SNG units. "The reason is bandwidth demand," Moore says. "News organizations want multiple channel feeds out of areas like Afghanistan where they're staying put for a long time. In such situations, a lot of power is required for uplinking. There is no substitute for antenna gain in this regard, which is why larger antennas are now back in vogue." Gigasat's 2.4-meter antenna, which breaks down into three boxes, weighs about 220 pounds, or about the same as an older 1.5-meter model. Soon to hit the market is a 3.7-meter flyaway antenna.
Connecting SNG From Afghanistan And Iraq
Since 1993, Loral Skynet has been providing satellite backhaul services for SNG. "We began with Telstar 401, when the SNG business was primarily analog," says Rich Currier, Loral Skynet's executive vice president of engineering and technical operations. "Since then, we've worked hard to help our customers and SNG equipment suppliers make a smooth transition to digital."
From an SNG standpoint, today's high demand areas are Afghanistan and Iraq. Naturally, getting video out of either country is no small feat: it is even harder during times of conflict.
Fortunately, Loral Skynet has Afghanistan and Iraq covered. "We have two satellites providing coverage in that part of the world," Currier says, "Telstar 12 and Telstar 10/Apstar 2R."
For SNG in the Middle East region, Telstar 12 is the preferred choice. The reason: sited at 15 degrees W (which puts it slightly west of Portugal), Telstar 12 covers the Middle East with 31 Ku-band transponders. Each transponder is 54 MHz wide and uses a 125 watt TWT as its final amplifier.
In contrast, Telstar 10/Apstar 2R's location at 76.5 degrees E (above the southern point of India) means that it can only access Afghanistan/Iraq with its 28 C-band transponders. Being a C-/Ku-band hybrid, Telstar 10/Apstar 2R is equipped with 16 Ku-band transponders. However, these are aimed at China and Southeast Asia.
Beyond providing satellite coverage, Loral Skynet also coordinates SNG uplink schedules for its customers. "We work very closely with broadcasters sending SNG crews into this region," Currier says. "Our engineers help them set up a frequency plan, provide link analysis if requested, and ensure that, once they're onsite, their backhaul out of the region is as reliable as possible."
Given the current pace of world events, the coming months should see opportunity for service on Telstars 12 and 10 to the SNG crews providing coverage of activities in the Middle East.
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