GatesAir has announced that it has delivered what the company is billing as the world’s highest power digital TV solid-state transmitter.
The Maxiva ULXT transmitter, which delivers 80kW of ATSC digital TV power, was shipped to a major market at an unnamed UHF TV station in the U.S.
It replaces an older, less efficient tube transmitter, which will allow the station to cut monthly power and maintenance costs associated with tube transmitters.
“Solid-state transmitters offer superior reliability, however have long been considered cost-prohibitive when exceeding 20kW of power,” said Rich Redmond, chief product officer, GatesAir in a statement. “We’re shattering that paradigm with new compact high-efficiency designs, software-defined modulation, and integrated IP-based transport, monitoring and control to deliver cost-effective over-the-air solutions for very high power applications. These transmitters double down on the upfront cost-efficiency by ensuring low total cost of ownership and environmentally friendly green operation over the course of the operating lifecycle.”
Transmitters should be a hot topic at the upcoming IBC convention in Amsterdam in September as many countries are still making the transition from analog to digital and many broadcasters are looking to replace aging tube transmitters from manufacturers who no longer support older products or have gone out of business.
