ETL Systems enhance race-day coverage for Australian Turf Club at Royal Randwick Racecourse

The Australian Turf Club (ATC) - formed in 2011, as a merger between the Australian Jockey Club and the Sydney Turf Club, is responsible for all four metropolitan racecourses in Sydney, Australia.

Known to be one of the world's most desirable destinations for thoroughbred racing, events and hospitality, its portfolio of racecourses includes Royal Randwick, Rosehill Gardens, Canterbury Park and Warwick Farm.

Australia's longest standing racing venue, Randwick Racecourse, has been a part of Australian culture for over 150 years. With almost 500,000 people attending Sydney racecourses annually, the venue is true to the hustle and bustle of the city it is located in and is the epitome of high quality.

With events broadcast live internally within the venue and across Australia, high quality, fast transmission is essential.

Unfortunately, the old, copper cabling solutions that had serviced the venue for years, were decreasing in efficiency, appearance, and had become outdated at the venue.

ATC approached ETL Systems' partner, Lumina Broadcast Services Australia (Lumina BSA), for a quick and easy solution to upgrade its network from the old, unsightly copper cabling, that facilitated the crucial RF camera antennae.

After working with Lumina BSA to develop a tailored solution, ATC decided that ETL Systems L-band over fibre StingRay units would be installed and tested within just a matter of weeks.

Housed in an IP65 weatherproof enclosure, the compact transmitter/receiver duo are easily mountable on to any pole or wall, portable and discreet. The ETL SRY-Tx-B2-404 transmitter and ETL SRY-Rx-B2-404 receiver units provide fibre link range of up to 10km.

Four pairs of the units were successfully trialed and installed at the venue before a fifth pair was added to facilitate a second RF camera. All five pairs of transmitter/receiver duos were mounted on level three of the grandstand, which is the main area of the racecourse. Being installed in this location provided the units with the perfect line of sight of the venues barrier stall camera to film the start of the races, as well as the presentation camera directly below.

The deployment of the ETL Systems transmitter/receiver StingRay units by Lumina BSA, resulted in a vast improvement in video quality, with the venue recording much higher and less noisy RF levels, resulting in very stable, high-quality coverage from the RF Cameras.

The versatility of the system means it has not only been used in the venues main grandstand, with Colin Telfer, Technical Manager of Broadcast and RF at ATC Randwick, able to secure the transmitter/receiver duos to a rack mounting system and utilise them elsewhere in the venue.

Staying true to the history and high-quality nature of the venue, the sleek, compact design in combination with the high-functioning and enhanced quality transmissions from the units is comparable to none, with the ETL Systems products beating three other brands to the punch.