Live Truck Questions
 

Hey,

I'm working on setting up my Mountaineer as a live truck....er....SUV. I've installed a generator and a mini studio (the typical video and audio mixers, monitors, decks, etc.) in the trunk, and pretty much the only thing I'm missing is a method of linking up to the studio.

Actually, I'm not even missing a method of linking--I have a Part 15 compliant microwave transmitter, which is the problem. Of course, being Part 15 compliant, we can get all of a couple hundred feet.

I'm looking into a solution for a better link. I'm actually looking at getting a more powerful microwave transmitter and an FCC license, but I have no idea where to start here. I can't seem to find transmitters through Google. Any ideas where to start here?

The other method I'm looking into is to use a broadband connection to send the signal back to the studio. This may be a better solution, any thoughts? Also--I seem to recall reading about another station that did this (New York, maybe?) I've lost track of the article--but if anyone knows where it is, I'd love to know!

One last thing--if anyone has a better method than either of those--let me know! Thanks in advance for any help here!

Hey Eric,

Good for you for attempting to tackle this venue. It's a very smart idea as this job is a very difficult one to fill, and as a consequence very well paid.
Every "engineer" I've known in my 22 years of television experience have earned their satellite experience through the military. But hopefully trends have changed and your learned skills will see you through.

Many blessings,

Stephanie

Microwave & Broadband Solutions
 

What good is a microwave for your application if it only transmits a few hundred feet? When I was working with Comcast back in the early 90s, I remember using a portable back pack system microwave system. This was the typical 12"x10" transmitter box rackmounted in live trucks but was portable with a handle and a conical twist and lock antenna. The transmitter simply docked to a tripod plate and then to a tripod head and was aimed at the tower on the mountain until the studio received clean audio and video. It was about 3-5 watts and had a range of about 100 miles with an unobstructed line of site. I believe it cost about $30,000 back then. What was so cool about it was that it had a small portable battery which meant that you could be anywhere (on foot) within the radius and transmit live audio/video back to the station!

Broadband is the future but right now wireless broadband's upstream data rate is still just too slow as allowed by the power gods. It's somewhere between 150K to 200K. I looked into this a while back and it was somewhat affordable at around $10,000 for a self deploying dish system and then the $200.00 per month service as opposed to the typical $750,000.00 SAT truck. It does no good if it takes ten years to uplink though. Of course you could hook up to a broadband land connection, such as any hotel, etc., but then that limits your mobility if the activity is remote.

Strata - like what we used
www.mrcbroadcast.com/products/prd_indx.htm

Wireless Video Solutions - perform a wireless video search if this link doesn't resolve
http://www.markertek.com/ProdList.as...search=0&off=0

Satellite Broadband Solutions
www.datastorm.com
www.skycasters.com

Thanks for the advice!

You provided some useful links. Being a local access station, cost is a huge issue, but on the other hand, range isn't--if we can get 4-5 miles, we're in really good condition.

I'm under the impression that there are transmitters available that can get us around four miles without requiring an FCC license. Any suggestions on a transmitter of this type?

Just check the Markertek link for reasonably low cost UHF wireless solutions.