BE Sponsors HD Radio Seminar in Philly

Experts discussed separate antenna systems and high versus low-level combining for the analog and digital signals during an HD Radio seminar sponsored by Broadcast Electronics. In Philadelphia to coincide with the NAB Radio Show, BE held the latest in a series of workshops on HD Radio.
Richard Hinkle, BE’s Director of RF Engineering, and John Abdnour, BE’s National Accounts Manager, presented the pros and cons of each combining method and discussed the latest developments in separate antennas for analog and digital FM. Representatives from ERI, Shively and Dielectric also presented antenna technologies. ERI fielded questions and discussed the company’s prototype dual-input FM antenna for transmitting both analog and digital FM signals that RW Online reported on earlier.
About 45 broadcasters attended the seminar, according to BE. Some engineers discussed their conversion experiences. Cris Alexander, the Director of Corporate Engineering for Crawford Broadcasting, discussed the details of converting WPWX(FM) to HD Radio using a BE FMi transmitter package to transmit HD Radio into an antenna system shared by both analog and digital. Talmage Ball, Vice President of Engineering for Bonneville International, discussed the results of on-air testing using a BE HD Radio transmitter in a separate antenna setup as compared to high-level combining.
“This year’s crowd seemed to be more interested in the nuts and bolts of HD implementation,” said Abdnour.
The seminar was the 30th HD Radio seminar held by Broadcast Electronics.