WFAE/WFHE to Get BE XPi 10 in Preparation for Tomorrow Radio

Non-commercial WFAE(FM), Charlotte, N.C. placed an order for Broadcast Electronics’ HD Radio transmission equipment, including BE’s XPi 10 exporter for generating HD Radio at the studio in preparation for multi-channel broadcasting. The station expects to turn on the IBOC in February.
Using grant money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and also PTFP funding, WFAE will acquire two BE Fmi HD Radio transmitters with BE FXi 60 digital FM exciters for HD Radio conversion of WFAE 90.7 FM in Charlotte and its repeater station, WFHE 90.3 FM in nearby Hickory, N.C.
Each station also will get a new BE XPi 10 exporter unit in anticipation of secondary audio services becoming available at a later date.
“We’re trying to get as many steps down the road toward NPR’s Tomorrow Radio as
we can,” stated WFAE/WFHE DOE Jobie Sprinkle. The station will use the exporter to get its second audio stream and PAD data to the transmitter sites.
Broadcast Electronics’ XPi 10 exporter has built-in HDC codec and signal generation for multiplexing main and secondary audio at the studio. Instead of transporting analog audio and both digital channels separately at full bandwidth, the broadcaster will use XPi 10s to multiplex all programming content into a single, streamlined transport from the studio and over the STL to the transmitter site.
For transmission, WFAE 90.7 FM has on order a BE FMi 201 HD Radio transmitter and BE FM 35T single-tube transmitter for a dual-input configuration of both analog and digital signals into a panel antenna. On order for its repeater station is a BE FMi 703 HD Radio transmitter to transmit the analog and digital signal into an existing antenna.
In anticipation of new datacasting services, the public broadcaster also plans to upgrade itsAudioVault for compatibility with ContentDepot, a new content delivery system to be implemented in 2005 by NPR’s Distribution division.