Radio Nippon Co. Ltd. station JORF/????? established a complicated mix RPU/ISDN network for its coverage of the Hakone Ekiden relay marathon.
The AM station is the official radio broadcaster of the two-day student marathon, which runs from Tokyo to Hakone and back, a distance of 120 kilometers each way; 2008 was the 84th running of the race.
To handle its live coverage, JORF/????? set up temporary RPU receiving sites along the marathon route with an ISDN audio codec to send audio to the broadcasting center which switched the appropriate audio source at the correct time to send it to the JORF/????? master control room via ISDN
During its testing phase, the complicated setup experienced occasional ISDN dropouts, so two Sonifex DHY-03 telephone hybrids with a simple telephone line connection were installed as a backup. Twice during the 2008 race, ISDN dropouts necessitated use of the DHY-03s.
The Sonifex hybrids were sold and supported by Maple Audio Technology Corp.
