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Technology Stocks : Acrodyne (ACRO) is one of two pure plays in the TV -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Robert Florin who wrote (1280)	6/5/1999 1:11:00 PM
From: Mr.G	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1319

From Television Broadcast Magazine PBS Station KCPT Transitions Slowly Acrodyne Transmitter Helps Station Get On The Air By John Merli KCPT in Kansas City is approaching its DTV conversion on a long-range basis, although it managed to be one of the seven pioneering Public Television stations to get a DTV signal on-air by PBS Digital Week in November. According to John Long, Engineering vice president, "Stations can make the transition on an equipment 'renewal cycle' basis. It comes down to a matter of timing and opportunities; seeing it as a series of conflicts or as a series of opportunities." KCPT chose the latter approach. As a member of the PBS Engineering Committee, Long was asked to look into possible transmission applications for the PTV community. One of the first things that caught his eye was a presentation by Dr. Tim Hulick of Acrodyne in late 1997. Specifically, it was the company's Diacrode application, using an ACT (adjacent channel technology) transmitter capable of distributing both NTSC and DTV signals simultaneously. "We were given a lower adjacent channel by the FCC," said Long, "and the first thing we did was ask ourselves 'how are we going to do this?'" KCPT had received a PTFP grant to replace its NTSC transmitter, but they contacted PTFP and asked it to hold off allocating the funds until the station got to see the new table of allotments issued by the FCC in February 1998. This was done to check for possible changes to its adjacent channel, although it was determined that none affected KCPT so they didn't petition for a change. "We worked with PTFP and Chuck Mellone, and that enabled us to make changes in our grant request," Long said. KCPT wrote bid specs to manufacturers and said it would give favorable consideration for helping the station implement a lower adjacent DTV channel. Also, as part of the renewal cycle approach, it asked if any equipment could be purchased now that the station wouldn't have to replace later. The station received three of the five bid offerings from Harris, Comark and Acrodyne; with all three bids basically complying with the KCPT specs. Therefore, in its field research, station staffers paid visits to these companies. However, Long said, "the price points were higher than anticipated, to say the least. As much as $100,000. Harris and Comark had head-to-head bids on a channel 19 NTSC transmitter. It quickly turned into a seller's market, and the prices were high." Consequently, the station decided to look more closely at Acrodyne, and Long said the company was enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with KCPT. Long's renewed interest in the company had a specific goal: "We initially planned to replace only the NTSC side, but then we hit upon the possibility of adding DTV capabilities to a combined Acrodyne ACT unit." He said that Acrodyne offered them a good deal, and after scrutiny by KCPT's management and board, the station used both capital money and the PTFP grant to purchase a combined unit in July 1998. KCPT also got a "technology guarantee" that if it didn't work, the station would receive $100,00 to remedy any problems. The ACT transmitter was delivered to Kansas City by mid-October of last year, in time to provide a digital terrestrial signal by PBS Digital Week in November. But the station continues to use its old antenna--a 19 year-old TFU30J (again, applying the renewal cycle theory). "We swept the antenna system and knew where the roll-offs were," said Long. "We optimized our plant in all directions. We added a short line of 6 1/8-inch line to the bottom of the antenna and tuned for the best response for channels 18 and 19." Yet not everything worked smoothly: Although the DTV signal was good, the NTSC side captured some background noise from the DTV side. Long said Acrodyne quickly removed the corrector boards and was in the process of building new ones in late 1998. KCPT plans to begin airing a few hours a week of DTV programming, most of it feeds from PBS. (Its DTV channel will shadow programming from its main NTSC channel.) Long still considers his DTV channel to be in an experimental mode: "One good thing the FCC told us was that even with our license and an on-air signal, we can do as much or as little as we want until that mandatory on-air date for all public stations on May 1, 2003. That gives us all some time."