Puts Company in a stronger position to handle spectrum repack orders
By: Keith Pelletier

After three years of planning and preparation, we’ve opened our new Lewiston, Maine facility just in the knick of time. The TV spectrum repack is clearly heating up, and we need the extra space to meet customer demands and new orders for repack antennas.

With 33,000 square feet of space, our Lewiston facility gives us the ample factory floor space, outdoor test pad and bay doors required to build and test these large antenna systems. To date, we’ve delivered 1,814 technical proposals for new UHF repack antennas, and officially received orders to build 217 antennas.

The outdoor test pad enables us to perform extensive testing to ensure that the new antennas are in compliance with customer requirements prior to shipping. With an airport and hotels nearby, and easy access from I-95, the Lewiston facility is a convenient location for customers that want to come by and checkout their new UHF antennas before taking delivery.

At the official ribbon-cutting ceremony, held in early December 2017, our customers and partners toured the new Lewiston facility, which includes a conference room, break-room and offices. Our other key product lines—VHF TV and FM radio antennas, filters and combiners—continue to be based at our Raymond, Maine headquarters, 25 miles south of Lewiston.

To further prepare for the repack, we’ve hired 55 new employees and negotiated with our key suppliers to make certain they can supply the raw materials we need for manufacturing. These supplies include: hundreds of steel and aluminum poles, thousands of feet of copper to fill transmission line orders, as well as Invar, Teflon and roughly 30,000 flanges to produce complete UHF antenna systems.

With our advanced antenna design and manufacturing processes, expanded staff, and new Lewiston facility, we’re now well positioned to handle the challenges of the spectrum repack business.