Mid-November’s Danish elections went to air from the streets of Copenhagen using a cellular diversity newsgathering system to support 13 wireless cameras from a total of about 100 news cameras covering the event.
At the heart of the wireless coverage was a Link Research-based COFDM wireless network with three fixed receive sites built by the company’s Danish distributor Minitech. The cellular approach supported seamless operation for news cameras across cell boundaries over an 8.7mi-wide swath of Copenhagen. Coverage of the elections may have been single biggest news event to be captured this way in Europe.
In the field, 13 cameras were equipped with Link wireless camera systems. Signals received at the cellular receive sites were multiplexed together and sent to the Danish Broadcasting Corp. Link's L1280 and L1290 fiber-optic extender systems were used, which allowed cameras to roam freely around the Danish parliament building. Link L2100 receivers were located at the main outside broadcasting (OB) site for easier monitoring and control in the OB truck.
Nine wireless cameras were used at election venues to get live outside pictures. Two RF cameras on motorcycles also were used to get interviews and to follow the action around the area outside the parliament buildings. One motorcycle used a handheld Panasonic P2 ENG camera fitted with a Link XP transmitter and a 1W amplifier. The other transmitted to a repeater car, receiving and transmitting at 5W into the network.
Besides the complete mobility the cellular diversity network allowed, the approach also permitted the Danish Broadcasting Corp. to avoid sending a news helicopter out for election coverage from the area, which let the broadcaster avoid potential airborne problems because of the close proximity of Copenhagen Airport to the city’s center.
For more information, visit www.linkres.co.uk.