Listeners to the ICQ Podcast where I appear monthly as a Presenter probably heard me say that I was successfully treated for a highly aggressive prostate cancer (adenocarcinoma, Gleason 8) almost two years ago at the Mayo Clinic. While in Rochester for two weeks, I had a lot of time in bed recovering from the […]

Radio World Buyer’s Guide articles are intended to help readers understand why their colleagues chose particular products to solve various technical situations. This issue focus on antennas.

With the largest privately-owned portfolio of broadcast towers in the U.S., Vertical Bridge is seeking opportunities to add value and strengthen its position. The company said it does so by maximizing the performance of its assets, through the latest technology, resulting in measurable benefits to radio and TV stations that use its towers and improving operational efficiency across the sector.

Consolidation has resulted in the development of master antenna and combiner systems that can accommodate multiple broadcasters. Many stations are adding backup master systems to protect valuable on-air systems. 

The master backup plan came into action on a Vertical Bridge tower in Cedar Hill, Texas. Installers from Tower King raised a Dielectric RingMaster auxiliary system to radiate FM and HD Radio signals for 10 stations serving the Dallas-Fort Worth market. 

Vertical Bridge sought similar redundancy to legacy antenna systems in most major markets that have the flexibility to immediately switch to a backup if the main master has an issue. 

“The RingMaster series offered the perfect auxiliary solution,” Joe Meleski, vice president of broadcast towers leasing for Vertical Bridge, said.

Dielectric’s RingMaster antennas use a blend of RF technology to result in an adaptable side-mount solution. The half-wave-spaced antenna arrays are able to reproduce the quality of full-bandwidth FM through optimized wavelength spacing, the company said. 

The opti-spaced design positions the antenna elements with half-wave and full-wave spacing to improve bandwidth.

The Cedar Hill RingMaster system includes two 12-bay antennas with a “left- and right-hand” design with five frequencies fed into each side. 

The right-hand DCR-U12CD supports FM signals KZPS, KSPF, KJKK, KVIL and KHKS.
The left-hand HDCR-U12D supports FM signals for KSCS, KPLX, KDGE, KRLD and KMVK, with additional bandwidth for HD Radio signals.

Dielectric also supplied the master constant impedance combiner, designed to support 10 Class C FMs. Its HFSS simulation software was integral in developing antenna designs suitable for the DFW market.

Thousands of optimizations were produced using HFSS to present a range of patterns, ensuring the most effective configuration was chosen for the auxiliary systems. 

“Everything we did here, from the building, its generators, HVAC systems and the redundant RF system on the tower, is state-of-the-art,” Meleski said. 

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