AMP Visual TV select ETL's RF solutions for live coverage at Le Mans and FIFA Confederations Cup

"Every person at ETL is proactive and competent. New projects are easy to start and follow, from the initial quote up to delivery. Each RF component, filter and combiner, could be customised to fit exact requirements of the customer, with all parameters discussed before production to ensure each item received matches perfectly to the customers desire. Working with ETL was a great choice and I have already recommended them to others within the industry."

Pierre Chenot, Technical Engineer, AMP Visual TV.

The Situation

AMP Visual TV is a French production company which has been operating for 30 years. As a specialist in TV coverage, AMP Visual TV provides services throughout the production process for live programs.

It covers RF activities in the domain of athletics, cycling, sailing and motor sports with their extensive European fleets of Outside Broadcast (OB) vans & forty studios in the Paris region.

The company is globally renowned for its sports coverage using their assortment of digital wireless audio transmissions, RF motorcycles, certified aircraft and helicopter kits, RF OB vans and flyaway receivers.

The Task

With numerous sporting events happening within Europe, AMP Visual TV required several solutions for a range of issues. These included the combining and splitting of signals for ground and aircraft relay operations, filtering out interference from GSM and GPS signals, extending their RF coverage area and reducing carrier noise levels on their existing system.

AMP Visual TV contacted ETL Systems to collaborate in defining the technical specifications of products to improve their RF activities. With 30 years' experience operating within the industry, ETL were able to offer potential improvements on designs for AMP Visual TV.

The Solution

After consultation and careful consideration of AMP Visual TV's RF requirements; ETL Systems recommended using L-band to C-band passive splitters/combiners from their RF components range to deliver splitting and combining of signals.

For AMP Visual TV's need to filter GSM carrier and GPS signal rejection on Receive (RX) and Transmit (TX) feeds, custom RF component filters were designed and manufactured.

To improve carrier noise on the current system and provide extended frequency range to distribute antenna signals to several receivers, a 16 x 32 Valiant L-band Switch Matrix was chosen for its RF routing flexibility.

The Result

AMP Visual TV were able to incorporate ETL's products in to their systems, which enabled successful live coverage of several major sporting events.

The passive splitters/combiners were deployed to combine two receive antennas on one receiver for on the ground operation and to split the transmit signal into two power amplifiers and TX antenna.

This set-up was used for a blimp broadcasting solution at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and several cycling events. ETL's custom filters and Valiant Matrix were successfully used at the 24 hours of Le Mans; endurance sports car racing event.

As a result of implementing ETL systems Matrices and components the overall noise level on AMP Visual TV's existing system was reduced - a positive outcome for the broadcasters.