HD ENG adds to long list of challenges for convention frequency coordinator
Aug 5, 2008 8:00 AM
Take more than 50 TV news organizations; hundreds of wireless mics, walkie-talkies and IFBs; dozens of digital camera-back transmitters; a fleet of electronic newsgathering (ENG) and satellite newsgathering (SNG) trucks; a few news choppers; and what do you have?
Besides one enormous RF headache, you have the 2008 editions of the Democratic National Convention in Denver and the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Louis Libin, president of Broad-Comm in Woodmere, NY, and chairman of the Political Conventions Communications Committee (POLCOMM2008), is the point person for frequency coordination of these two mammoth RF undertakings.
“HD Technology Update” spoke with Libin about these challenging RF environments (several firsts for convention spectrum use), his thoughts about HD COFDM camera-back transmitter use at the convention, and a remarkable offer he’s made to the chairman of the FCC regarding testing prototype white space devices.
HD Technology Update: For those who have never had any involvement in a political convention, could you briefly describe RF usage at a convention and the importance of frequency coordination?
Louis Libin: The political conventions are absolutely the busiest event uses of RF of any in the world. The reason is fairly simple: They’re very, very high-profile news events. But aside from just the news, we are dealing with the fact that every single organization there is considered equal rights holders. So, we just don’t have one simple setup for a single network, we have everyone of the networks, as well as many, many other organizations, all having the same rights — the same use of RF.
Additionally, it’s not just ABC, CBS, NBC; it’s FOX, CNN, C-SPAN — the list goes on and on. There are also individual stations as well. All of those stations also have RF use plans.
We’ve made guidelines for use, so we can’t have one single station come in and say they want to use eight wireless mics and three cameras.
HD Technology Update: How does the setup this year compare to past conventions?
Louis Libin: This year is the worst spectrum year ever for all different types of use. For instance, in St. Paul, we are able to use the lower UHF channels and divide them up for walkie-talkie use, IFBs and things like that. In Denver, we are stuck for spectrum because none of the channels in the lower UHF band are available. The FCC has granted us an STA to use business band, and as far as I know, this is the first time that we’ve ever used business band for broadcast-related uses.
We have made very strict, but necessary, guidelines for spectrum use that the networks and stations have all adopted. We also have other types of guidelines that have never been implemented before, such as the number of feet inside or outside that you need to separate the wireless mic from the receiver before you can use the mic. We’ve never had that before. Somebody is going to be only separated by10ft from his receiver; it’s great that they have a wireless mic, but the fact is that they are using that whole channel, and it’s actually putting a signal out that’s going far and has the potential to cause interference.
We have a lot of new guidelines, and we are in a very, very different spectrum situation than we ever have been in before.
HD Technology Update: In this political convention season, HD newsgathering will play a prominent role. Are there any special considerations or concerns on your part as the person responsible for frequency coordination with the new digital COFDM camera-back transmitters that will be used to transmit live HD shots from inside and around the convention centers in Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul?
Louis Libin: Absolutely, we need to know exactly what they are using the link for and the bandwidth used. The bandwidth is a differentiator. If we are dealing with HD using more bandwidth, we need to figure that out so we can make the band plan. We are using so many different channels that every megahertz of spectrum matters to us. So, where we have lots of HD, it’s all new and actually it’s another nice challenge that we have. Not only now do we have analog working in the same world as digital, but now we have digital working in the same world as HD. We have so many variables this political convention season; there’s a lot that people will learn from this event.
HD Technology Update: Where do Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul stand in terms of each city’s transition to the new 2GHz digital BAS channel relocation? Will digital channels be used for shots back to stations and/or backhaul sites?
Louis Libin: The relocation is going to happen just after the conventions. For the most part, we believe all the backhaul will be analog; however, it’s a transition and some people have their equipment already. If they can make the transition in a way that doesn’t impact anybody else, it’s interesting to do. But for us, there are so many more variables at play. For example, there will be the COFDM use outside in addition to the existing links. How does everything work together? We have to be very, very careful.
A lot of the testing was done to see what the impact would be not so much on the STLs and all the other relays, but to see what it would be on the COFDM signals being used just outside the convention centers and, in the case of Denver, also at INVESCO Field, which throws a whole other loop into the equation.
HD Technology Update: What special demands is the final day of the Democratic National Convention at INVESCO Field placing on RF usage?
Louis Libin: The last day of the Democratic Convention in Denver, everything transfers over from the Pepsi Center, about a half mile away, to INVESCO Field, the football stadium. It’s an outdoor field, and it’s a real challenge. It’s going to be a complete breakdown of equipment Wednesday night and a complete build of equipment by Thursday morning when we do our tests at noon.
We are in complete new territory. Nobody has ever done this before. We don’t even know whether all of the equipment will fit in the elevators in the allowed time to switch venues. Logistically, it’s just a nightmare, and we think it will be possible. What we will be doing is testing equipment slowly over the week. For the most part, we are using the same channels we are using in Pepsi that we’re using at INVESCO. But in some cases, we actually had to change because we’re taking interference from other cochannel links that are nearby, since we are outside.
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