The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) are putting TeamCast and Comark to the test.
TeamCast, provider of solutions for Digital Terrestrial and Satellite Transmission, and Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark LLC (referred to as “Comark”), a manufacturer and supplier of DTV transmitters, encoding systems, and associated field services for over 45 years were selected by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) to test their products.
Under an experimental broadcast license from the FCC, the terrestrial station located in Cleveland and owned by Tribune Broadcasting’s WJW-TV will be used by NAB and CTA to conduct a new session of field testing in ATSC 3.0. For this trial, planned for the coming months, an existing Comark Transmitter has been selected and turned-on. The transmitter includes an ATSC 3.0 high-end exciter designed by TeamCast and radiates a 30kW ERP signal on channel 31.
This initiative comes at a perfect time as many US broadcasters are assigned new channels as required in the repacking process associated with the US incentive auction and will be very interested in collecting general performance figures for ATSC 3.0 transmissions.
Eric Pinson, Business Unit Manager and Sales Manager at TeamCast shared that they are proud for having been selected with Comark for this new ATSC 3.0 field test session organized by NAB and CTA, which constitutes a clear recognition of their experience and leadership in supporting early tests and trials for this new emerging standard.
Dick Fiore, President and CEO of Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark LLC added that Comark has been working closely with TeamCast on exciter technology for both ATSC 1.0 and 3.0, having deployed numerous exciters in the field already. He added that the RF performance, reliability and upgradeability of these platforms are already field proven, so that when they were approached to support this extremely important demonstration, it was an easy decision for Comark.
