American Tower Places $3.9 Million Order for TFU-WB Broadband Antennas and Transmission Line

By: Keith Pelletier.

In an effort to be repack-ready, our long-time customer American Tower Corporation has placed a $3.9 million order for TFU-WB broadband, side-mount antennas and transmission line.

To ensure that they would have their own inventory of versatile, cost-effective broadband antennas on hand, ready to benefit their broadcast tower tenants, American Tower ordered 10 TFU-WB antennas, as well as three runs of 1,500-foot six-inch transmission line and eight runs of 1,500-foot eight-inch transmission line. .

“American Tower made a commitment over two years ago to the U.S. TV industry and the FCC to be as prepared as possible for the construction challenges associated with the 39-month repack construction period,” said Peter Starke, Vice President, Broadcast for American Tower Corporation, in Woburn, MA.

As a leading U.S. tower owner/operator, American Tower serves broadcasters by either building new towers or leasing space on one of their more than 40,000 U.S. tower sites.

The reality is that, once the spectrum repack officially begins—likely in the second quarter of 2017—the nation’s TV broadcasters will have only 39 months in which to deploy all the transmission equipment necessary to begin broadcasting on their newly assigned channel frequencies.

As a low cost, side-mount, pylon-type UHF broadband antenna, the Dielectric TFU-WB offers 75% less wind-load and lower overall weight and cost-efficiency than UHF panel antennas. With its high power input, it can handle multiple stations’ transmissions at one time.

American Tower’s search for suitable solutions to repack challenges actually began at the NAB Show two years ago when their executives met with the industry’s top TV RF transmission system vendors to brainstorm potential new transmission products.

At that time, “Our focus turned toward the need for new broadband antennas on our towers due to the limited tower space, limited transition build time and the complexities of the sites,” Starke explained.

Since the TFU-WB antenna can serve as a transitional or interim antenna, this ensures that broadcasters can get their new channels on the air and keep broadcasting without interruption due to unforeseen installation delays.

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