Doing it with sound AND pictures

AKA: Television!

I am talking about the type of TV you need an antenna for. I have been installing a few of these low-power digital TV transmitters at various places and it is good work.

Anywave MPTV 2.2 KW digital TV transmitter, WCRN Boston
Anywave MPTV 2.2 KW digital TV transmitter, WCRN Boston
LPTV antenna side mounted on tower in Quincy, MA  ERP is 15 KW.
LPTV antenna side mounted on tower in Quincy, MA ERP is 15 KW.

Anywave MPTV unpacking, rolling into the building, Ellenville, NY

This transmitter’s dry weight is about 500 pounds, which was a little bit too much for our appliance hand truck, so we built a ramp. They have a nice set of wheels on the bottom, so they roll into place.

Carrier power after pre-correction files updated

There are a few differences in the way things are done. First of all, there is a different set of acronyms:

  • ASI- Asynchronous Serial Interface, format for MPEG transport stream, max speed 270 Mbps.
  • SDI – Serial Digital Interface – Similar to ASI but can run much faster, up to 12 Gbps.
  • TS – Transport Stream, Encoded video and audio streams into the exciter. Same idea as composite audio input on an FM exciter.
  • TSID – Transport Stream ID, a unique number assigned to each DTV station and encoded with the transport stream.
  • PSIP – Program System Information Protocol, carries program and system data about the transport stream.
  • ATSC 3.0 – recently updated ATSC standard that allows TV stations to do more with their transport streams than before. Will also change the modulation from 8VSB to COFDM.

Then, some things that look familiar are called by different names, BNC cable vs ASI cable… I am a neophyte in the TV world, so there are still many things to learn.

EAS is still EAS, but now there is a locally generated video to go along with the audio.

A while back, some fool wrote their congressman because THE COMMERCIALS ON THE TEE-VEE WERE TOO LOUD, so there is something called CALM Act compliance.

However, at the output connector on the exciter, through the amplifier, filters, directional coupler, etc; it is RF and behaves like RF. Even more interesting; Mr. Doherty’s name is used to describe the RF amp. Doherty amplifier or Doherty modulation was designed by William Doherty for Western Electric in 1936. It was not until Continental Electronics began using it in their AM (317B) and Shortwave (420A) transmitters that it became known broadly. Old things are new again:

Continental Electronics 420A 500 KW Shortwave transmitter, Greenville site B

That picture is from my visit to Greenville, NC in 2017. This is the control console, the transmitter is behind the glass and takes up half the building. It was installed when the site was built in the early 1960s. The new Doherty UHF amplifiers use LDMOS devices, notably the BLF888E in the Anywave units.

Antenna sweep, channel 30 UHF slot antenna, WCRN Boston
Antenna with channel band pass filter, Channel 30 WCRN Boston

The Channel Band Pass Filter is required by the FCC, basically, it ensures that the TV transmitter is staying in its allotted 6 MHz channel. They add phase rotation, as noted above. This is why pre-correction is needed to keep the ATSC signal linear across the entire 6 MHz bandwidth. RF is RF and we like RF.

WMHT’s former analog transmitter

During the digital TV conversion in the US, all broadcast television stations installed new transmitting equipment and antennas.  Most stations ended up on a different frequency than their original analog channel.  In Albany, New York, all of the TV stations moved to a common transmitter site and installed their antennas on a single tower.

home of WRGB, WTEN, WNYT, WXXA, WMHT, and WCWN
Albany DTV tower, home of WRGB, WTEN, WNYT, WXXA, WMHT, and WCWN

For more on the Albany DTV site, check out the NECRAT page: www.necrat.us/albdtv.html

So, what happened to the old Analog TV sites in Albany?

For the most part, after the analog turn-off on June 12, 2009, the sites have sat empty.  Such is the case with the former WMHT site.

Sign outside of former WMHT transmitter building
Sign outside of former WMHT transmitter building

This old sign about sums up the end of analog television.

Former WMHT Comark analog transmitter
Former WMHT Comark analog transmitter
Former WMHT analog transmitter wide shot
Former WMHT analog transmitter wide shot
Former WMHT operator position
Former WMHT operator position

The former transmitter operator desk. The maintenance log is still open. From the looks of things, they opened the circuit breakers and walked away. Everything remains intact from the antenna to the klystrons and exciters. It does appear that the coolant has been drained from the system. Other than that, it seems like the whole thing could be restarted with minimal effort.

Former WMHT Onan DFN 350 backup generator
Former WMHT Onan DFN 350 backup generator

There were two Onan DFN 350 backup generators. With a TV transmitter, running the cooling system after shutdown is vital. The idea here is that both generators in parallel could run the whole station, if one generator failed, then the cooling system would still run and cool the klystrons.

Former WMHT site kitchen
Former WMHT site kitchen
Former WMHT tower, wave guide and WVCR antenna
Former WMHT tower, waveguide and WVCR antenna

The former WMHT tower, which currently holds the WVCR-FM, WXL-34 (NOAA weather radio), and W44CT-D (Three Angles Broadcasting) Low power TV transmitter.

Current site occupants; WVCR-FM and W44CT-D
Current site occupants; WVCR-FM and W44CT-D

These equipment racks and the NOAA weather radio transmitter in the other room are the only active equipment at this site.

WMHT-TV Chanel 17 (488-494 MHz) was signed on 1962 from this site.  The Comark transmitter was installed in 1984.  The station’s analog ERP was 2000 KW visual, 200 KW aural.

It is an interesting site.