NAB Broadcast Engineering Tutorial For Non Engineers 1999

NrAt
A BROADCAST
ENGINEERING
TUTORIAL
for
ENGINEERS
2nd Edition
4/11k
Preface
Many times, people without engineering backgrounds need

to have a general understanding of broadcast engineering
issues. This is true for broadcast managers who come from
sales, finance or programming backgrounds, for lawyers
who work with broadcast clients, and for members of the
financial community who deal with the broadcasting
industry. It is also true for engineering trainees who have
no engineering experience but who want to develop a
knowledge base from which to launch a broadcast
engineering career. This book is written for all of these
people. It describes the engineering aspects of broadcast
facilities in very general terms with the goal of providing
non -engineers with enough knowledge about broadcast
engineering to enhance the work they are doing in their
respective fields.
In this second edition, new material has been added to

explain digital television technology, and to further explain
the digital audio formats that have rapidly become
commonplace in radio broadcast studios.
A Broadcast Engineering Tutorial for Non -Engineers

ii
We hope that the information in these pages will help to

further their understanding of our trade, and thus enhance
their ability to perform the broadcast -related functions of
their jobs.
NAB Science and Technology Department

April, 1999
National Association of Broadcasters

111
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
PART I: THE STUDIO 3
Radio Stations 4
Analog Tape Players/Recorders 5
Digital Audio Tape Players/Recorders 17
Compact Disc Players 19
The Mixing Board 21
Telephone Hybrids 25
Microphones, Headphones and Speakers 25
Computers 32
Digital Audio Basics 34
Sampling Rate 39
Bit Rate 40
Compression 41
The AES/EBU Digital Format 43
Distribution Amplifiers and Servers 45
Audio Processing Equipment 47
Emergency Alert System Equipment 58
Television Stations 60
NTSC Video 61
The Horizontal Blanking Interval 68
The Vertical Blanking Interval 70
ATSC Video 73
Pixels 76
Compression 79
Frames 82
Frame Rate 88
Interlacing 90
Multicasting 91

iv
Ancillary Data 95
DTV Audio 96
Timing 101
Audio -Video Synchronization 106
Video Tape Recorders 109
Character Generators 116
Television Cameras 117
Chroma Key and Matte Systems 120
Video Mixing Board 122
Distribution Amplifiers and Routing Switchers 124
Emergency Alert System Equipment 126
PART II: THE STUDIO -TRANSMITTER LINK 129
PART III: THE TRANSMITTER SITE 135

The Stereo Generator 141
Subcarrier Generators 143
The Exciter 159
The Power Amplifier 170
The Transmission Line 172
The Antenna 174
The Remote Control 184
PART IV: REMOTE BROADCASTING

FACILITIES 187
PART V: FCC TECHNICAL RULES 191
Conclusion 201
Index 203

1
Introduction
In its most general form, a broadcast station consists of two

basic facilities: the studio complex and the transmitter.
The studio complex is the place where the programming
that is broadcast by the station originates. The transmitter
is the device that actually broadcasts the programming
material out over the air. In between the two is a hard-
wired, or wireless, connection called the studio -to-
transmitter link.
Part I of this book will cover the studio. It will describe the
various pieces of equipment that are found in a typical
broadcast studio, and it will explain how they work
together. Part II will cover the studio -to -transmitter link, or
STL. It will explain the different types of STLs and what
Part III will cover the transmitter site -

the advantages and disadvantages are to using each one.
including the
transmitter, transmission line and antenna. It will describe
the modifications that the transmitter makes to the program
material received from the studio in order to transport this
material to receivers at distant locations. Part V gives a
general overview of the Federal Communications
Commission's technical criteria for allocating broadcast
channels.

2
All three types of broadcast facility (AM, FM and TV) are

covered in this book. When there is little technical
difference between two facilities
case with AM and FM radio studios
together.
-
as, for example, is the
they will be covered
And now, on to Part I.

3
Part. I: The Studio

4
Radio Stations
Many people may find it easiest to understand the operation

of a radio station studio if they compare the studio setup to
that of their home stereo. Generally speaking, the operation
typical home stereo -

of a radio station studio is very similar to the operation of a
with the primary differences being
1) there is generally a lot more equipment in a studio setup
than in a home stereo, and 2) the studio setup allows the
program material from multiple inputs to be mixed together
and then output as a combined signal, while a home stereo
usually only permits a single input source to be sent to the
speakers, headphones, recorder, etc. at any particular time.
The following is a list of some of the equipment that one is

likely to find in a radio studio:
'I Cart ("cartridge") players/recorders

Ni Cassette players/recorders
CD players
Ni Computers
Ni Digital audio tape players/recorders
-Ni Distribution amplifiers
Headphones
Ni Microphones
Ni Mixing boards

5
Ni Reel-to-reel players/recorders
"I Speakers
'i Telephone hybrids
In many modern radio studios, analog equipment has been

replaced by new digital equipment because the digital
equipment is more reliable and generally permits more
efficient use of a station's resources. As we review the
technical characteristics of the various pieces of common
studio equipment, we will start with analog equipment --
which was heavily used in the past and is still used in many
studios today -- and lead into digital equipment -- which is
in many studios today and will be in all studios of the
future.
Analog Tape Players/Recorders
Cart, cassette and reel-to-reel players/recorders all have one

major thing in common: they all use magnetic tape as the
medium on which audio information is stored. Each of
these devices has a different aspect that makes it
particularly suitable for certain applications. A cart (short
for "cartridge") machine, is especially useful for playing
short "programs," such as commercials and songs. A
portable cassette machine, because of its compact size, is
particularly useful for recording audio in the field, such as

6
news interviews. A reel-to-reel machine, because of its

long lengths of easily accessible recording tape, is most
useful for recording and playing back long programs, and
for editing program material.
The type of tape used in a tape player/recorder varies from

machine to machine. Cart machines have tape cartridges
which contain a single loop of tape that is created by taking
a piece of tape and connecting its ends together with
adhesive tape. (The adhesive tape used to perform this
function is called splicing tape, and the act of cutting and
taping magnetic tape is called splicing.) The advantage to
having the single loop of tape is that it never has to be
rewound -- it always rotates in the same direction. When a
recording is made on a cart, cue tones are placed on the tape
by the recorder at the exact point on the tape just before the
place where the program material is to be recorded. Cue
tones are tones that are recorded on a separate part of the
tape from the main audio information as illustrated in
Figure 1.

7
left channel
tape
right channel
edges
cue channel
Figure 1: Cue Channel on Stereo Cart Tape
The cue tones are detected by the cart machine when it is

playing back the tape, but they are not audible. During
playback, when the cart machine hears these cue tones, it
stops playing. Playback can then be restarted by pressing
the "start" button. The great advantage to this system is
that the disc jockey, or board operator, who is playing the
commercial, or song, or whatever is on the tape, only has to
worry about starting it. A button is pressed to start the tape
and, once its audio has finished playing, it recycles itself all
the way back to the beginning of the audio again and stops,
ready to be played the next time it is needed. No stop or
rewind buttons ever need to be pressed.
A slightly more advanced type of cart machine puts another

cue tone on the recorded tape at the exact end of the
recorded material. When this cue tone is detected during
playback, it signals the cart machine to start the tape in

8
another cart machine. In this manner, a group of cart

machines can be hooked together and used to play a series
of commercials, or songs, back to back with perfect timing.
The human operator needs only to start the first cart.
Most people are very familiar with the operation of a

cassette deck, so we will not spend too much time
describing it here. We will, however, go over some of the
details of noise reduction technology, which plays a
particularly important role in cassette decks.
A cassette deck basically operates in the same manner as a

reel-to-reel tape machine, with two important distinctions.
The first distinction is that in a cassette system the two reels
(the supply reel and the take-up reel) are encapsulated in a
small plastic cassette. The second distinction is that
cassette tape is narrower, and plays and records at a single,
generally slower speed than reel-to-reel tape. (Reel-to-reel
machines used in broadcast facilities usually permit the user
to select from multiple tape speeds.)
The narrower tape in a cassette, and its generally slower

speed, make cassette recordings generally noisier than
reel-to-reel recordings. In order to combat this noise,
manufacturers have:

9
1. developed tape coatings that increase the maximum

level of the audio that can be stored on magnetic tape,
thus increasing the dynamic range of recorded material;
2. introduced bias signals to the recording/playback

process to overcome distortion at low signal levels; and
3. developed noise reduction (equalization) circuits -- the

most widely recognized of which are the various
Dolby ° circuits.
Tape coatings
The type of magnetic coating used on a recording tape is

important because, in general, the more magnetic the tape is
the higher the maximum signal level that can be stored on
it. Increasing the maximum signal level that can be stored
on the tape allows audio material with a greater dynamic
range (difference between the loudest and softest audio
levels) to be stored on the tape.
Tapes that use coatings with chromium dioxide (Cr02) as

the magnetic material were the first big coating -related
breakthrough in noise reduction technology. Cr02 tapes
have better high -frequency performance and lower noise
than tapes with simple ferric -oxide coatings. Later, pure
metal particles began being used to produce ground metal
powders for coating tapes. This development enabled even

10
greater signal levels to be stored on a tape without

distortion, and further improved the dynamic range of
recorded material.
Bias
The material on a recording tape is magnetic, and the tape

head that transfers the audio material to the tape is a
magnet. When the magnet (tape head) first applies its
magnetic field to the tape, the magnetic particles on the
tape are a little resistant to begin moving. Once they begin
moving they move smoothly - but for a small fraction of a
second when the magnetic field is first applied, particularly
if the magnetic field is not very strong, their movement is a
little rough and unpredictable. This poses a significant
problem in recordings where the signal level being recorded
is soft because the rough, unpredictable movement of the
magnetic particles in the weak field results in a recording
that sounds distorted to the human ear.
In order to overcome this weak signal distortion problem, a

bias signal is added to the recorded material. This bias
signal is an inaudible tone, typically at a frequency around
100 kHz which is way above the range of human hearing,
and its purpose is to increase the strength of the magnetic
field created by the recording head in order to insure that
the magnetic particles on the tape will move smoothly and

11
predictably, even when the audio being recorded is at a low

level.
As one might imagine, the amount of bias required to

insure that the particles on the tape will move smoothly and
predictably varies from tape type to tape type. Generally
speaking, Type I ("normal") tapes require the least amount
of bias, Type II ("chrome") tapes require more bias, and
Type IV ("metal") tapes require the most bias. (Type III
was used to refer to tapes with dual -layer coatings, one
chrome and one normal (ferric). These types of coatings
are generally not used very much.)
Although the above generalizations regarding tape type and

the amount of bias required are true, it is also true that the
amount of bias required varies widely among tapes of the
same type. For this reason, most tape decks include
bias -adjusting circuitry. This circuitry is usually inside the
tape deck and not user controllable, though some tape decks
do provide external user controls. If too much bias is used,
high frequencies (treble) will be somewhat muted and the
recording will sound dull. If too little bias is used, high
frequencies will be amplified and the recording will sound
tinny.
Because the tape head only needs to alter the orientation of

the magnetic particles on the tape when recording, selecting

12
a biassetting is only necessary when recording. There is no

need to select a bias setting during playback.
Equalization (EO)
One of the inherent characteristics of the tape recording and

playback process is that, when a tape is played back, the
audio at the lowest and highest frequencies will not be as
loud as it was in the original material. To correct this
problem, equalization is employed. In essence, the highest
frequencies are amplified during the recording process so
that they end up being recorded on the tape at a level that is
higher than their "natural" level. Then, during the playback
process, these same frequencies are suppressed, but to a
lesser degree than they were originally amplified. This
way, when the normal reduction in the higher frequencies
occurs during the playback process, the end result is an
audio signal that sounds like the original material. The
lower frequencies are not given any special treatment
during the recording process, but they are amplified during
the playback process.
To illustrate this concept, let's imagine a hypothetical

signal using an arbitrary signal strength scale of 0-5, with 0
being the softest audio and 5 being the loudest. If, in the
original material, the level of the lowest and highest
frequencies is 3, then without equalization they will be

13
played back at a level of 2 (see Figure 2). In order to

compensate for this loss of 1 unit of signal level during the
playback process, the highest frequencies are amplified
during the recording process to a level of 5. Then, during
the playback process, they are suppressed to a level of 4
which, when accompanied by the inherent loss of 1 unit of
signal level in the playback process, results in a played back
signal level of 3. The level of the lowest frequencies is
simply amplified during playback to restore them to their
natural level of 3. The recorded and played back signal
levels in a system using equalization are illustrated in
Figure 3.
record level playback level

5- 5-
4- 4-
3 3-
signal signal
level 2- level 2
noise
o-
low medium high low medium high

frequency frequency
Figure 2: Example of Recording Process with No

Equalization

14
record level playback level

D-
4
3 3
signal signal
level 2
level 2 -
noise
o
low medium high low medium high
frequency frequency
Figure 3: Example of Recording Process with

Equalization
In practice, the amount of equalization used is specified by

a time constant of either 70 or 120 microseconds (,us).
Recording with a 70 /..is time constant will result in more
amplification of the higher frequencies, and playback using
a 70 µs time constant will result in greater suppression of
the higher frequencies. In essence, the smaller time
constant means that the equalization circuitry reacts to the
higher frequencies faster, resulting in a greater degree of
equalization.
The reason that the higher frequencies are amplified during

recording and the lower frequencies are not has to do with

15
tape hiss. The hiss often heard on a tape recording consists

of higher frequencies. By amplifying the higher
frequencies in the audio before they are recorded to tape,
the difference in signal level between the recorded material
and the hiss is increased. This way, when the level of the
higher frequencies is reduced to some degree during
playback, the level of the hiss will be reduced also. The
difference between the audio signal level and the hiss, or
other noise on the tape, is called the signal-to-noise ratio.
The larger the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, the better the
recording sounds. A low S/N ratio will result in a
recording that sound "hissy."
Dolby® noise reduction technology is a sophisticated form

of equalization. Dolby A uses amplification during
recording and suppression during playback in the manner
described above except that Dolby A technology operates
over the entire audio range -not just the lowest and
highest frequencies. Dolby A was originally developed for
the professional recording industry. Dolby B circuitry is a
less complex - and therefore less expensive -
version of
Dolby A. It operates primarily at higher frequencies.
Dolby C is an enhanced version of Dolby B which covers
more frequencies and uses a larger signal boost during
recording. The larger signal boost during recording means
that there is more signal suppression during playback,

16
resulting in a greater reduction in the level of extraneous

noise.
Well, that concludes a rather thorough overview of noise

reduction technology and how it relates to analog tape
recording. Let's continue on now with the third and final
-
type of analog tape machine found in many broadcast
facilities the reel-to-reel.
As mentioned earlier, a reel-to-reel machine basically

operates in the same manner as a cassette player/recorder,
except that it uses wider (1/4 -inch versus'/s-inch) tape which
can move at different user-selectable speeds, and the two
reels are not encapsulated in a plastic cassette case as they
are in a cassette system. The wider tape, and the ability to
move the tape at faster speeds, make reel-to-reel recordings
less noisy than cassette recordings. The other major benefit
of a reel-to-reel system is that its easily accessible tape
enables smooth editing of program material through the use
of splicing. If, for example, an interview has been recorded
on reel-to-reel tape, and parts of it need to be cut out due to
time constraints, or appropriateness of content, then the part
of the tape which is to be left out of the final product can
simply be cut out, and the remaining portions taped
together with splicing tape. This process is not possible
(or, at least certainly not practical) when cassettes or carts
are being used.

17
Digital Audio Tape Players/Recorders
Digital audio tape (DAT) players/recorders are sort of a

cross between analog tape equipment and compact disc
players. DAT equipment offers significant advantages over
analog equipment because its underlying digital technology
enables it to record and play back audio that is not as noisy
as audio recorded on analog equipment. From a playback
perspective, DAT equipment is not quite as desirable as
compact disc equipment because DAT tapes are subject to
wear and tear and will eventually wear out whereas
compact discs wih never wear out, if they are properly
cared for. However, from a recording perspective, DAT
equipment has a tremendous advantage over compact disc
equipment because it is much less expensive to make a
DAT recording than it is to make a CD recording for the
-
one -recording -at -a -time purposes of the typical broadcaster
and many recordable CDs cannot be used for
re-recording, whereas DAT tape can be erased and recorded
over just like analog tape.
The reason that DAT tape's digital technology makes it less

noisy than analog tape is that the digital coding on a DAT
tape makes extraneous noise on the DAT tape virtually
invisible to the DAT equipment. Figure 4 provides an
example of why this happens. Basically, as long as the
amount of noise on the tape is not so high that it prevents

18
the DAT player from distinguishing between high and low

signal levels (ones and zeros), the signal read off the tape
will be a series of ones and zeros. As shown in Figure 4(a)
and (b), the digital audio signal read from the tape will be
the same series of ones and zeroes even if the amount of
noise on the tape increases, as long as the noise level does
not increase to the point where the player cannot accurately
determine whether a symbol is a one or a zero (Figure 4(c)).
With an analog tape, the sequential noise level increases
illustrated in Figure 4 would each further degrade the audio
that is reproduced by the player- a drawback which is, for
the most part, overcome by the digital coding.
(a) (b)
--------------------------- - k It is too hard

to distinguish
between is
and Os
because the
noise level is
(c) too high.
Figure 4: How a Digital Signal Relates to Noise

19
While digital audio tape offers improved audio

performance over analog tape, it is still subject to the same
wear and tear that plagues analog tape. This includes such
things as having the tape machine "eat" the tape due to
malfunctions with the tape turning mechanics in the
machine, or problems with the tape cassette itself. It also
includes stretching of the tape, which happens over time
and generally more often with longer tapes (i.e., ones that
have longer playing times)
Compact Disc Players
Compact discs (CDs) are, to date, the most reliable media

for storing digital information. The reason is simple
a compact disc, the digital information is permanently
on -
etched, or carved, into the plastic that makes up the CD. It
cannot be erased by passing through a magnetic field like
the information on a recording tape can, and really the only
way to damage the information on a CD is to physically
damage the CD itself by breaking it or severely scratching
it. Small scratches on a CD are often not a problem for
most modern CD players used in broadcast facilities
because the players are able miss a few is and Os here and
there in the digitally recorded audio and still accurately
reconstruct the recorded music. They are able to do this

20
because the digital data on the CD actually contains more

digital bits than are necessary to encode the audio
information. These additional bits are added, in a specially
coded manner, to enable the CD player to accurately
determine what the correct value of a missing or damaged
piece of digital data is. This system of adding these
additional bits is called an error correction system. An
error correction system is only capable of fixing errors in
the data up to a certain point. If there are too many missing
or damaged pieces of data, even the error correction system
will fail and the CD will skip or stop playing.
The other thing that helps to make a CD so durable is the

fact that it is not subject to any wear and tear during the
playback process. A CD player reads information off of a
CD by shining a light (a laser) on it and analyzing the
reflections of this light that are caused by the CD. Because
there is never any mechanical contact between the laser and
the CD, there is no wear and tear on the CD. A magnetic
recording tape, on the other hand, is subject to a lot of wear
and tear because during both playback and recording it is
being dragged over the tape head.
Some CD players used in broadcast facilities have both

analog and digital outputs. If the station's audio system is
analog -based, then the analog outputs can be used to feed a
signal into the mixing board. If, on the other hand, the

21
station's audio system is digitally -based, then the digital

outputs can be used to feed information into the mixing
board. In a digitally -based audio system, digital outputs
from a CD player are generally more desirable because they
allow the station to avoid installing an analog -to-digital
(A/D) converter between the CD player output and the
mixing board input. This is advantageous because, in
general, every time an audio signal has to go through a
conversion process it is degraded to some small degree. So,
it is desirable to keep the number of conversions to a
minimum.
The Mixing Board
The heart of a radio studio -the thing that allows several
-
program sources to be fed simultaneously to the transmitter
is the mixing board, or console. A basic mixing board is
simply a device that has multiple signals being fed into it
from different program sources (such as a microphone, a
CD player, and a tape player). The mixing board allows its
operator to combine (mix) the signals from the various
inputs to produce a single output signal that is a
combination of the various input signals. Figure 5
illustrates the basics of mixing board operation.

22
CD player 2 cart 1
cart 2
CD player 1
phone hybrid
4 . . 4
network feed
00 CO 00 00 00 00 CO 0e
mic 2 mic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 board output
Figure 5: Illustration of a Basic Mixing Board Setup
The mixing board functions in a manner that is very similar

to a home stereo system. In a home stereo, various program
sources (such as a cassette deck, a CD player, and a
turntable) are connected to a single amplifier. The user
must then select which one of the sources to amplify at any
given time -a selection which is often made by choosing
a single button to press from a series of buttons on the front
panel of the amplifier. A mixing board also connects
several input sources to a single amplifier. The big
difference between a mixing board and a home stereo,
however, is that the mixing board allows the user to select
multiple input sources (simultaneously) selection -a
which is usually made by choosing one, or more, buttons to
press from a series of buttons on the front panel of the
mixing board.

23
To illustrate the significance that the ability to mix multiple

inputs plays in producing an on -air radio program, consider
the sequence of events that occurs when a radio announcer
introduces a song. The announcer talks into the
microphone to describe the song that is about to be played.
While the announcer is talking, the select switch on the
mixing board for the microphone input is selected, and the
microphone is "potted up." (The phrase "pot up" is derived
from the name of the electronic device used to control the
level of the selected signal in many mixing boards -a
potentiometer, or variable resistor.) At the same time, the
select switch for the device that will play the song (e.g., a
CD player) is also selected and potted up, though no audio
is coming from the CD player because it has not yet been
started. When the announcer is finished introducing the
song, the start button for the CD player is pressed and the
music begins playing. At this point, the select switch for
the microphone is deselected, or turned off, and the mixing
board is no longer mixing any signals
amplifying a single signal (the CD player).
-it is simply
The above is just one example of how a mixing board is

used to produce an on -air broadcast signal. There are many
others using all different kinds of input sources, and even
other scenarios involving the two input sources described
above. For example, many radio stations believe it sounds

24
better to the listener when the music from the CD player is

actually started before the announcer has finished
introducing the song. This helps to insure that there is
absolutely no silence, or "dead air," between the
announcer's introduction and the actual start of the song.
The importance of the mixing board becomes apparent

when one considers what it would be like to introduce a
song, and begin playing the song, using a device like a
home stereo system that allows only one input to be
selected at a time. Using such a device, the announcer
would have to select the microphone, introduce the song,
then simultaneously deselect the microphone, select the CD
player and start the CD playing. Such a system would
certainly result in an on -air signal that sounds choppy and
unprofessional with lots of "clicks" and "pops."
Well, by now you should be comfortable with the image of

a mixing board as an extra fancy amplifier like the ones
used in many home stereo systems. The outputs of the
various audio -generating devices (CD players,
microphones, tape players, etc.) are connected to the inputs
of the mixing board, and the output of the mixing board is
sent to the studio monitors (speakers) and off to the
transmitter for broadcast.

25
Telephone Hybrids
A telephone hybrid is a piece of equipment that converts

incoming audio from a telephone line into a "line level"
signal that can be fed into a mixing board, tape recorder,
etc. It also converts a "line level" signal coming out of a
mixing board into an audio signal that can be fed over the
phone line.
Telephone hybrids are essential pieces of equipment for

stations that do a lot of on -air talking to people who have
called in. The hybrid allows the DJ or talk show host to
hear the caller through the mixing board without having to
pick up a telephone handset, and it allows the caller to hear
the DJ or talk show host speaking through the microphone
connected to the mixing board. By using the hybrid, the
broadcaster ensures that only the caller's voice is of
"telephone quality," while the DJ or talk show host's voice
remains of "broadcast quality."
Microphones, Headphones and Speakers
Microphones, headphones and speakers will all be covered

together because they all perform very similar functions.
Microphones convert sound waves created by human

26
voices, instruments, or other things, into electrical signals

which can be fed into a mixing board, or another electronic
device. Headphones and speakers take electrical signals
and convert them into sound waves which can be heard by
the human ear.
The electrical signal produced by a microphone is of a very

low level, and it needs to be fed into a microphone
preamplifier before it is mixed with other studio audio
signals. In most cases, the microphone preamplifier is
included inside the mixing board, so no additional
equipment is needed. Care must be taken to insure that
only microphones are connected to the microphone input on
a mixing board. Connecting a device with a high output
signal, such as a CD player, to the microphone input on a
mixing board will overload the mixing board input and
might cause damage.
While each different model of broadcast microphone is

designed a little bit differently, they all have generally
similar design principles. All microphones have a surface
that, when impacted by a sound wave, causes a
corresponding change in the properties of an electrical
circuit. To illustrate the design principles that apply to
broadcast microphones, let's consider the designs of three
different microphones that are commonly found in

27
broadcast use
the condenser.
- the dynamic moving coil, the ribbon and
In the dynamic moving coil microphone a drum -like

surface called a "diaphragm," is impacted by the incoming
sound waves and it moves up and down in a corresponding
manner. The back of the diaphragm is connected to a metal
coil which slides up and down over a magnet. This sliding
of the coil over the magnet causes an electrical signal to be
created in the coil. This electrical signal is a reproduction,
in electrical form, of the sound waves that hit the
diaphragm. The ends of this coil are connected to the plug
on the end of the microphone and can be fed from there into
a mixing board.
coil
microphone
output diaphragm
signal
magnet
Figure 6: Dynamic Moving Coil Microphone
The ribbon microphone operates using essentially the same

principle of the dynamic moving coil microphone that -
28
an electrical signal will be produced in a wire which is

moving through a magnetic field. In the ribbon
microphone, a very thin piece of metal foil (the ribbon) is
suspended in a magnetic field in such a manner that
incoming sound waves impact the ribbon and cause it to
move back and forth in the magnetic field. This movement
of the ribbon within the magnetic field causes an electrical
signal to be created in the ribbon which is an electrical
reproduction of the sound waves that hit the ribbon. The
ends of the ribbon are connected to the plug on the end of
the microphone and can be fed from there into a mixing
board.
microphone
output ribbon + magnet
signal
Figure 7: Ribbon Microphone Design
The condenser microphone operates using a different

principle than a dynamic moving coil or ribbon
microphone. The operation of the condenser microphone is
based on the operation of a capacitor. A capacitor is an

29
electronic device with two leads which allows electricity to

flow from one lead to the other at a varying rate, depending
on how easily the material between the two leads allows
electricity to pass. In the condenser microphone, incoming
sound waves strike a diaphragm which is situated in front
of a metal plate called the "back plate." Together, the
diaphragm and the back plate form a capacitor. The ability
of the material between them (air) to allow electricity to
pass is dependent on how far apart they are. So, if
electricity is applied to the circuit in a condenser
microphone, the flow of this electricity will vary in
proportion to the capacitance of the capacitor, which itself
will vary in accordance with the sound waves hitting the
diaphragm. In this manner, an electrical signal is produced
at the microphone output which is an electronic version of
the incoming sound waves that are hitting the diaphragm.
The main advantage of the condenser microphone is that
the capacitor circuit is much smaller and lighter than the
magnets used in the dynamic moving coil and ribbon
microphones. For this reason, lapel, or clip -on
microphones are typically of the condenser type.

30
back plate diaphragm
microphone
output
signal
4
4
iI
Figure 8: Condenser Microphone Design
A speaker, as one would imagine, operates in basically the

exact opposite manner of a microphone. In a speaker, an
electrical signal (of a much higher level than the one that
comes out of a microphone) is fed into a metal coil located
-
in a magnetic field. This metal coil is attached to a
lightweight surface called the yes, you guessed it -
diaphragm. The changing electrical signal in the coil
causes it to move back and forth in the magnetic field and,
because the coil is attached to the diaphragm, this causes
the diaphragm to move back and forth too. It is the
diaphragm's movement against the outside air that creates
the sound waves which can be heard by the human ear.
These soundwaves, of course, correspond to the electrical
signal that is fed to the speaker through the speaker wire.

31
coil
speaker
input diaphragm
signal
magnet
Figure 9: Typical Speaker Design
Headphones operate in a manner that is essentially the same

as the manner in which speakers operate, the main
difference being that the electrical signal levels fed into
headphones are not as strong as those that are fed into
speakers and, of course, the physical elements of a
headphone speaker are generally smaller than those of a
loudspeaker.
The unique thing about headphones, speakers and

microphones is that, no matter how many revolutionary
changes occur in broadcast equipment design, these devices
will always operate in an essentially similar manner. While
it may be possible to convert all of the other audio signals
running around a broadcast facility to digital pulses
headphones, speakers and microphones will have to retain
-
their analog design because, at least as far as the

32
evolutionary eye can see, human voice and human hearing

will continue to be in analog form.
Computers
Well, speaking of converting the audio signals in a

broadcast facility to digital pulses, this is certainly the trend
in modern radio facilities. Nowadays, many radio stations
have most of their prerecorded music, commercials, etc.
stored on computer hard drives. The continually increasing
size of these hard drives, and their continually decreasing
cost (on a per megabyte basis), have made this possible.
There are many advantages to converting a radio station's

studio facilities to digital technology. One such advantage
is that digital recording material can generally overcome
noise in the audio path better than analog recording
material. Another advantage is that hard disk -based digital
recordings are easier to automate than analog tape
recordings because disk -based systems can be run by a
single computer program on a single machine, whereas
tape -based systems require the coordinated operation of
multiple machines through the use of cue tones. Yet
another advantage is that a computer system is subject to
less mechanical wear and tear than a tape -based system, so
it is more likely to have longer periods of time between

33
mechanical malfunctions than a tape -based system. Also,

disk -based systems make log keeping much easier because
the computer that controls the system knows when it has
played a song, or a commercial, or whatever, and it can
automatically create and print its own program log.
When a radio station uses a disk -based audio system, there

are still two places where audio material must remain
analog. The first, as mentioned above, is at all of the
microphone inputs and speaker/headphone outputs. Human
voice and human hearing are still analog and therefore
require analog mies and analog speakers and headphones.
The second is at the output of the transmitter. All of the
broadcast radio receivers that listeners are using today are
designed to receive analog radio (AM or FM)
transmissions. So, the final signal that comes out of the
transmitter must still be analog. Using equipment that is on
the market today, it is possible to have a DJ's voice
converted to digital immediately after leaving the
microphone and have it remain in digital form until after it
has been fed into the transmitter, which then produces an
analog output signal based on the digital input.
Some radio stations have converted partly to computer-

they may have all of their commercials stored on a
computer, but still receive an analog satellite feed. In these
situations they will need to use a mixing board that is

34
equipped with both analog and digital inputs. There are

several such mixing boards on the market today. The
standard format for the digital input signals on these boards
is usually the AES/EBU digital format. "AES/EBU refers
to a standard format of digital bit transmission adopted by
the Audio Engineering Society and the European
Broadcasting Union.
Digital Audio Basics
There are three basic concepts that one needs to understand

in order to have a good basic understanding of digital
audio. These are resolution, sampling rate and bit rate.
The resolution of digital audio is the precision with which

the digital signal, at any particular instant in time, matches
the original analog material from which it was created.
Resolution, like many aspects of digital systems, is
measured in bits. The higher the number of bits (and thus
the resolution), the more accurately the digital signal
represents the original analog material. For example, 16 -bit
audio more precisely replicates original analog material
than does 8 -bit audio.
One of the keys to understanding digital resolution is

understanding the relationship between the number of bits

35
of data in each digital sample and the amount of resolution

that each sample has. On the surface it might appear that
16 -bit digital resolution is twice as good as 8 -bit resolution.
This is not the case, however. In reality, 16 -bit resolution is
256 times as good as 8 -bit resolution.
To understand why this is so, let's consider an example.

Let's imagine that we have a thermometer that can read
temperatures in the range 0°-127°. If we only have one
digital bit to represent the reading from the thermometer -
that is, one bit of digital resolution - then a logical way to
digitally code the temperature from the thermometer would
be to say that the digital bit is a zero whenever the
temperature is below 64° and it is one whenever the
temperature is at or above 64°. Clearly, this is not a very
accurate representation of the actual temperature reading
from the thermometer.
If we have two digital bits to represent the reading from the

thermometer then we could assign a specific digital bit
combination to four different temperature ranges. The bit
combination '00' could represent temperatures below 32°.
The bit combination '01' could represent temperatures from
32° to 63°. The bit combination '10' could represent
temperatures from 64° to 95°. And, the bit combination
'11' could represent temperatures above 95°. Note that
going from one bit of digital resolution to two bits of digital

36
resolution doubled the number of temperature ranges that

could be represented digitally, and thus doubled the
accuracy of the digital representation of the temperature
reading.
If we were to add yet another bit of digital resolution to this

system then temperature ranges could be represented
digitally as follows:
Digital Bit Combination Temperature Range
000 0°-15°
001 16°-31°
010 32°-47°
011 48°-63°
100 64°-79°
101 80°-95°
110 96°-111°
111 112°-127°
Going from two bits of digital resolution to three bits

doubled the accuracy of the digital representation of the
temperature reading once again.
Clearly, there is a pattern here. Each time a single bit is

added to the digital representation of the temperature
reading the accuracy with which the digital representation

37
depicts the actual temperature doubles. This makes perfect

sense, when you think about it, because each digital bit has
only two possible values -0 and 1. So, when a single bit of
digital resolution is added to a system all of the previous
digital codes can still be used - let's say they represent the
same things they did before the new bit was added but now
they represent them when the new bit is `0' - and an entire
new set of digital codes becomes available that is equal in
size to the one that existed before the new bit was added -
in this example all of these new codes would be the ones
that existed before the new bit was added but now with the
new bit included and set to the value of `1.'
It should now be clear why 16 -bit digital audio represents

the original analog material with 256 times more accuracy
than 8 -bit digital audio. Following the pattern we just
discussed, 9 -bit digital audio would be twice as accurate as
8 -bit audio, and 10 -bit audio would be twice as accurate as
9 -bit audio. Continuing all the way up to 16 -bit audio we
would find that the accuracy of 16 -bit audio is equal to the
accuracy of8-bit audio x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2,
which is another way of saying the accuracy of 16 -bit audio
is equal to the accuracy of 8 -bit audio times 256.

38
Sample point
Audio
signal
level
time
Figure 10: A Digital Sample of an Analog Audio Signal
Whether the resolution of the digital sample is 8 -bit, 16 -bit

or whatever, each individual sample represents the level of
the audio signal at a particular instant in time. Sampling an
audio signal is a lot like sampling the thermometer in the
example we just discussed above. Probably the biggest
difference between sampling an audio signal and sampling
a temperature reading is that the audio signal changes value
much more rapidly. For this reason, the audio signal must
be sampled much more frequently than the thermometer in
order to provide an accurate digital representation of the
original information.

39
Sampling Rate
The sampling rate is the rate at which digital samples are

made of the original material. The more often the original
material is sampled, the more accurately the digital
reproduction represents the original material.
Sample points
Audio
-
signal
level
ime
Figure 11: Periodic Digital Samples of an Analog

Signal
Figure 11 shows an analog signal being sampled at some

regular interval. Figure 12 shows the same analog signal
being sampled twice as often. As can be seen by
comparing these two figures, the more often a signal is
digitally sampled, the closer the series of resulting sample
points represents the original signal.

40
Sample points
+
Audio
signal
level
illlIIIIhuilIIliíinilIhiIh
time _>,
Figure 12: More Frequent Digital Samples of an

Analog Signal
There are three common sampling rates that are often used
for digital audio. These are 32,000 samples per second,
44,100 samples per second, and 48,000 samples per second.
Usually these sampling rates are referred to simply as
32 kHz, 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz, respectively. Digital
compact discs have a digital sampling rate of 44.1 kHz.
Bit Rate
The bit rate necessary to transport a digital audio signal is

directly related to the digital resolution of the digital audio,
and its sampling rate. Using the digital resolution and the

41
sampling rate for compact discs, for example, we can

calculate the bit rate necessary to transport CD audio.
CD digital resolution: 16 bits/sample/channel

x CD sampling rate: 44,100 samples/second
CD bit rate per channel: 705,600 bits/second/channel
x 2 stereo channels: 2
Total CD bit rate: 1,411,200 bits/second
There are eight bits in each byte of data on a computer disk.

So, in order to store one second of compact disc stereo
audio on a computer disk 1,411,200 = 8 = 176,400 bytes of
disk space is required. A typical three minute long song
would require 176,400 bytes x 180 seconds =
31.752 megabytes of disk space.
Compression
In order to conserve disk space, and also to make it possible

to send digital audio signals through channels that are not
capable of carrying all 1,411,200 bits per second from a
CD, a technique called compression is used. In order to
compress a digital audio signal some of the digital bits in
the audio signal are discarded, and the remaining bits can
be encoded in a manner that reduces the total number of
bits needed to transmit the audio.

42
The reason some bits can be discarded when compressing a

digital audio signal is that the audio they represent cannot
actually be heard by the typical listener. For example, if a
very loud tone is accompanied by a very quiet tone on a
slightly different audio frequency, in most cases the human
hearing system will not even recognize the existence of the
quiet tone. Therefore, the digital bits used to represent the
quieter tone can be discarded without perceptibly altering
the audio.
After all of the bits representing audio that generally cannot

be heard have been discarded, special digital coding
techniques can be used to further reduce the bit rate.
Because there are just about as many digital audio
compression systems as there are companies that make
digital audio equipment, there are many different ways that
coding techniques are used to reduce the data rate necessary
to transmit digital audio. It is beyond the scope of this
book to discuss all of these, but one general example of
how coding can be used to reduce bit rate will give you an
idea of how this is possible.
Let's say that the numerical values associated with

individual digital sample points in a segment of audio are:
5, 12, 7, 9, 5, 12, 7, 9, 5, 12, 7, 9, 5, 12, 7, 9, 5, 12, 7, 9

43
It is possible to represent this series of values by simply

transmitting each individual value, and in fact this is how a
compact disc system works. It is also possible, however, to
simply transmit 5, 12, 7, 9 followed by the instruction
"repeat four more times." In this manner, the amount of
data necessary to transmit a long series of repetitious digital
values can be reduced.
The AES/EBU Digital Format
As mentioned earlier, the AES/EBU format is a

standardized format for transporting digital audio
information from place to place in a broadcast studio. It is
the most common standard used for this purpose in the
radio broadcasting industry.
Basically, in order to get digital audio information from one

place to another in a radio station studio, a stream of digital
bits must be carried - usually through a cable - from the
originating point to the receiving point. In order for the
device receiving the bits to understand which ones belong
where, a standardized format for transporting the bits must
be defined. This is what AES/EBU does.

44
In the AES/EBU format the stream of digital bits is

organized into 64 -bit long segments called frames. Each of
these frames is further broken down into two sub -frames.
Sub -frame 1 carries the digital audio information for audio
channel 1, and sub -frame 2 carries the digital audio
information for audio channel 2. In the vast majority of
radio stations broadcasting music the two sub -frames
correspond to the left and right channel of the stereo audio.
The AES/EBU frame structure is illustrated in Figure 13.
I Device Frame 7 Frame 6 I

Device I
I sending I receiving
AES/EBU Right Left Right Left I AES/EBU
I bits data data data data I bits
I I
Figure 13: The AES/EBU Format
AES/EBU is not a file storage format. It is a standardized

format for transporting digital audio from one point to
another. There are many different digital audio file storage
formats, almost as many as there are manufacturers of
digital audio storage equipment. Typically, when a digital
audio file is retrieved from a hard disk and sent, say, to a
mixing board, the playback device (the hard disk -based
system) reads the file from the disk, formats it into an
AES/EBU data stream, and sends it out through a cable to

45
the mixing board. The mixing board then receives the

digital audio through an AES/EBU-compliant input port.
Of course, in order to make use of the AES/EBU format,
the sending device must be capable of sending data in this
format and the receiving device must be able to receive this
format.
Whether a radio station is using a hard disk -based system,

or a completely analog studio system, after the audio
program material leaves the mixing board, and before it is
delivered to the transmitter, there are several important
pieces of equipment that it travels through. This equipment
can be broken down into three categories: distribution
amplifiers and servers, audio processing equipment and
Emergency Alert System (EAS) equipment.
Distribution Amplifiers and Servers
Distribution amplifiers (or DAs, as they are often referred

to) are relatively simple pieces of equipment which take an
electronic signal and distribute it to several places. They
are a necessity in an analog broadcast studio because a
particular signal will generally only come out of a mixing
board via one particular output connection and this single
connection, by itself, cannot be used to feed multiple pieces
of equipment without harming the output signal or, worse,
damaging the equipment.

46
As an example of why a DA is needed, consider a typical

radio studio setup where the DJ talks on the air to people
who have called in over the phone, and records some of
these conversations for later rebroadcast. In this situation,
the output of the mixing board needs to be fed through a
telephone hybrid into the telephone line so that the caller
can hear what is being transmitted over the air through the
phone line. In addition, the output of the mixing board
needs to be fed into a recording device so that the
conversation between the DJ and the caller can be recorded.
Finally, the output of the mixing board also needs to be fed
to the transmitter for broadcast over the air. The function
of the DA in this scenario is to take the single output signal
from the board as an input and resend it, at its full original
strength, to all three locations.
DAs can also be used to feed the output of a mixing board

in one studio into the input channel of a mixing board in
another studio. Or, they can be used to feed multiple
recording devices (such as a cart recorder, a reel-to-reel
recorder and a cassette recorder) in a single studio.
A studio that has been completely converted to a hard disk -
equivalent of a DA - called a server -

based digital format will need to have the computer
for the same
general reasons that a DA is needed in an analog studio.

47
Servers are the devices that allow, for example, everyone in

an office to share a single copy of a word processing
program over a computer network. Similarly, they can also
allow multiple recording devices to share a single hard disk
version of a song in a radio studio.
The major difference between a server and a DA (other

than the fact that the server receives and sends digital
computer signals and the DA receives and sends analog
audio signals) is that the server is also a storage device.
Songs, commercials, newscasts and all other types of audio
segments used in a broadcast facility can be stored on a
server for later recall by whatever playback device wants to
use them. In addition, the server can be used for "live"
retransmission of a digital signal as it receives the signal. A
DA, on the other hand, is only capable of sending out audio
that it is receiving.
Audio Processing Equipment
The purpose of audio processing equipment is to create a

"signature sound" for the radio station, or at least to take
the "plain old audio" that comes from the microphone, CD
player, tape machine, etc. and enhance it in order to make it
sound better. Audio processing is as much an art as it is an
engineering science. Some stations do a lot of it and
employ several different pieces of equipment in the process.

48
Other stations do less and might only have a single piece of

processing equipment. Most stations, particularly
commercial ones that are competing with other stations for
listeners and advertising dollars, do at least a moderate
amount of audio processing.
From an engineering standpoint, the purpose of audio

processing is to maintain the level of energy in the station's
audio to within a specified range. Usually, this is done on a
frequency band by frequency band basis. The best way to
understand how it works is to imagine an equalizer similar
to one you might have with your home stereo or car radio.
An equalizer, as those familiar with them know, is designed
to amplify, or suppress, the level of signal within particular
portions of the audio frequency band. Increasing the level
of higher frequency signals, or decreasing the level of lower
frequency signals, will make the audio have more "treble."
Decreasing the level of higher frequency signals, or
increasing the level of lower frequency signals, will make
the audio have more "bass." What sets typical broadcast
processing equipment apart from a normal equalizer is that
the amount of equalization performed by the broadcast
processor is dynamic (i.e., it changes with time) and it is
usually a function of the program material.
Let's consider an example of how a broadcast audio

processing system might work. For this example we will

49
assume that the processing equipment works over three

different frequency bands -- low (bass), mid -range, and
high (treble). Let's say that the station using this equipment
wants the on -air signal to have as high a level (volume) as
possible in all three bands. In this situation, the processor
will be set to increase the signal level in each band.
In a home stereo system, increasing the signal level across

all frequencies is very simple -
the level (volume) control
for each frequency is turned up. In a broadcast audio
processing system, however, things are a bit more
complicated. This is due largely to the fact that FCC rules
limit the level (volume) of the transmitted audio.
The volume of the transmitted audio is very important to

most stations. Although some will do it for other reasons,
the primary reason that most radio stations use audio
processing is to increase the loudness of their signals.
Many broadcasters believe that a signal which sounds
louder will be perceived by the listener as being stronger
and therefore better. The secret to making a broadcast
station sound loud is to increase the level of the softer
portions of the program material, and decrease the level of
the louder portions of the program material, to the point
where the output of the audio processing equipment is kept
at as constant a level as possible. The reason that keeping
the output level nearly constant is important is because the
A Broadcast Eaigineering Tutorial for Non -Engineers

50
radio station must remain in compliance with the FCC's

modulation limits.
Modulation increases and decreases with the level of a

station's program material. The stronger (i.e. louder) the
program material is when it is fed into the transmitter's
exciter, the greater the modulation level of the transmitted
signal. (See Part III for a description of the transmitter and
the exciter.) In fact, the modulation level of a broadcast
signal can basically be thought of as the volume level of the
signal.
Generally speaking, the FCC sets a maximum limit on

modulation for two reasons. First, it helps to insure that
one broadcaster's signal does not interfere with another
broadcaster's signal and, second, it helps to insure a
reasonably similar level of audio from all stations,
providing a generally stable listening environment for the
audience.
Let's get back to our example of making a radio station's

signal sound as loud as possible. There are several pieces
process -
of equipment which are typically used in the processing
namely equalizers, compressors/expanders,
limiters and clippers. These pieces of equipment are
generally installed in a station's air chain in the order
shown in Figure 14.

51
audio from mixing board
compressor /
equalizer -1> limiter Fw
expander
to transmitter
Figure 14: Processing Equipment in a Typical Air

Chain
Although shown as separate pieces of equipment in Figure

14, the equalization and compression/expansion functions
are often performed by the same piece of equipment.
Equalization is needed to perform the actual boosting of the
signal level over the appropriate frequency range (in our
example, the entire frequency range). Compression is
needed to ensure that the boosted signal does not exceed
the FCC modulation limit. Expansion is needed to ensure
that low-level (quiet) signals, such as background noise and
electronic hiss, are suppressed and not amplified to the
point that they become annoying. A limiter is needed to
further suppress any peaks in the signal that still exceed the

52
FCC modulation limit after compression, and a clipper can

"chop off" any excessive peaks that make it out of the
limiter. Let's look at some pictures that illustrate what
happens during each step in the audio processing process.
FCC modulation limit
audio
level
low band mid band high band

(bass) (treble)
Figure 15: Unprocessed Audio
Figure 15 illustrates the signal level (volume) of an

unprocessed audio signal across all audio frequencies. The
simplest and most intuitive way to increase the loudness of
this signal is simply to increase the signal level (turn up the
volume) across all frequency bands using an equalizer. The
signal that results from this action is illustrated in Figure
16. (A station that, for example, is interested in having

53
more bass in its signal might increase the lower frequencies

to a greater degree than the higher frequencies.)
FCC modulation limit
audio
level

(bass) (treble)
Figure 16: Amplified (Louder) Audio with No

Compression or Expansion
By looking at Figure 16 we can see that simply turning up

the volume of the audio produces a major problem for a
radio station - overmodulation. All of the signal that lies
above the dashed "FCC modulation limit" line in Figure 16
will cause the radio station's signal to exceed the
modulation (i.e., volume) limit specified by the FCC. This
overmodulation might cause the station's signal to interfere
with the signals from other broadcast stations. Another,
somewhat more subtle problem that is caused by simply

54
turning up the volume of the entire signal is the

amplification of lower level (softer) signals which, in many
cases, are likely to be just background noise or electronic
hiss. The "valleys" in the signal shown in Figure 16 are the
areas where this might be a problem.
In order to satisfactorily correct these two problems, the

station must do some compression and expansion of its
audio. Specifically, it must use compression to reduce the
audio signal's level at those points where it exceeds the
FCC's modulation limit, and it must use expansion to
decrease the signal's level at those points where the signal
is so low that it is likely to only contain background noise
or electronic hiss. An illustration of where compression
and expansion might be used is provided in Figure 17.

55
FCC
modulation compression occurs here
limit 1 + +.
1 +
audio
level

(bass) (treble)
(a)
FCC
modulation expansion occurs here
limit
i_-
audio
level

(bass) (treble)
(b)
Figure 17: Amplified Audio with Compression and

Expansion

56
It is worth repeating here that broadcast processing

equipment differs from a typical equalizer found in many
home stereo systems because of the ability of broadcast
processing equipment to automatically adjust the amount of
compression, expansion, etc. that it is doing based on the
program material. A home equalizer will always suppress a
signal at, for example, 1 kHz, if it is set to do so, while a
broadcast processor will suppress a signal at 1 kHz only if
the signal is above the "threshold of compression." (The
threshold of compression is the signal level above which
the compressor will reduce the signal. Similarly, the
"threshold of expansion" is the signal level below which
the expander will reduce the signal.)
In addition to equalizers, compressors and expanders, there
broadcast audio chains -

are two other devices which are commonly found in
limiters and clippers. Limiters
and clippers are both essentially compressors which, to
varying degrees, compress the audio signal more
aggressively than a "plain" compressor.
A limiter is typically used to take the peaks that still exist in

a signal after compression and knock them down further.
This is sometimes necessary when, after compression, a
signal still has peaks in it that are high enough to result in
overmodulation and a violation of FCC rules. A clipper is
generally used as a last resort to "chop off' any remaining

57
peaks of overmodulation after the signal has passed through

both the compressor and the limiter. A clipper, if not used
correctly, can cause severe distortion to a signal because it
literally clips the peaks off- it does not "softly adjust" the
peaks like the compressor and limiter.
Although the configuration of processing equipment

described above is a typical one, it should be noted that
equalizers, compressors, expanders, limiters and clippers
can be used in a variety of configurations. As we said
earlier, audio processing is as much an art as it is an
engineering science, and some "artists" may prefer to use
only certain pieces of processing equipment.
Well, that about covers audio processing. As we mentioned

earlier, after a radio station's program material leaves the
main mixing board, it will generally travel through three
types of equipment before being fed to the transmitter.
These are distribution amplifiers or servers, audio
processing equipment (all of which we just covered) and
EAS equipment. Now, on to EAS equipment.

58
Emergency Alert System Equipment
The Emergency Alert System, or EAS, was first

implemented on January 1, 1997, replacing the old familiar
Emergency Broadcast System (EBS). The EAS is the
communications network that has been designed by the
Federal Government to allow the President to quickly and
efficiently speak to the entire nation in the event of a
national emergency.
Although the primary function of the EAS is to provide a

means for issuing national alerts, it has to date only been
used for its secondary purpose -- providing state and local
officials with a means of alerting local communities about
local emergencies like severe weather, chemical leaks, and
fires.
From an engineering standpoint, the way EAS operates is

relatively simple. As shown in Figure 18, an EAS
encoder/decoder is installed in a station's air chain in such
a way that it can interrupt the flow of normal programming
to the transmitter in order to insert an emergency message.
(A station's "air chain" is the path that its on -air program
material follows from the program source to the
transmitter.)

59
monitoring
assignment #1 ssignment #2
Y
EAS decoder I
program source 1
from studio transmitter
EAS encoder
Figure 18: EAS Equipment in a Radio Station Air

Chain
The EAS decoder is constantly monitoring the

transmissions from the two sources that it has been
assigned to monitor. These two sources are usually either
other broadcast stations or NOAA Weather Radio. The
reason that the decoder is required to monitor two sources
is to help insure that it will still receive an alert message if
one of its monitoring assignments happens to be off the air.
If an alert is received by the EAS decoder, and it is a type of

alert that the station using the equipment has determined
should be on the air, the EAS encoder will break into the
station's air chain and put the alert on the air. Encoders can
be programmed to do this automatically, or they can be

60
programmed to require a person to manually interrupt the

station's programming.
Television Stations
The program material produced in a television studio is

basically the same as the program material produced in a
radio studio - except, of course, for the addition of a video
video signal sounds like a relatively simple task

some respects, it is. However, the video signal does
-
signal to accompany the audio. On the surface, adding a
and, in
significantly increase the complexity of a television studio

over that of a radio studio. The main reason for the added
complexity is the need to insure that the video and audio
signals in a television studio remain in synch, and that all of
the video switching equipment is timed correctly. We will
cover these two aspects of a television studio in greater
detail here, and we will build a solid foundation for
understanding video timing issues by learning about how a
television picture is created. We will not, however, go over
all major audio components of a television studio because
the audio equipment used in a television studio is generally
very similar to the audio equipment used in a radio studio
(although the typical TV studio setup usually involves the
use of mostly "live" audio sources while the typical radio
studio setup usually involves more prerecorded audio

61
sources). For a review of studio audio you may read the

preceding sections on radio station studio facilities.
Now, let's begin by learning about the standard video

signal used in an analog television studio -
NTSC video.
NTSC Video
"NTSC" refers to the National Television Systems

Committee - the committee that, decades ago, designed the
standard for today's analog television transmissions. A
new, completely digital television standard has been
developed by the Advanced Television Systems
Committee, or ATSC, and it will gradually be implemented
in television stations in the years to come.
NTSC video signals are, in reality, a rapid-fire series of still

pictures that are projected on a television receiver at a rate
of 30 pictures per second. Each of these pictures is called a
"frame." This rapid-fire series of still pictures creates the
illusion that the picture on the TV is moving.

62
Figure 19: Series of Still Pictures that Create Illusion of

Motion
Figure 19 provides a simple example of a series of still

pictures which might be used to create the illusion that a
ball is bouncing across the screen.
In the NTSC system, each video picture frame is painted on

the television screen, from top to bottom, one horizontal
line at a time. There are 525 horizontal lines in each frame
(483 of which form the actual picture), but they are not
painted in successive order (i.e., 1, 2, 3 ..., etc.). Instead,
all of the odd -numbered lines are painted first, followed by
all of the even -numbered lines. This process is called
interlacing.

63
field A-1 field A-2
.001""4
r.\
frame A
Figure 20: Two Interlaced Fields for Each NTSC

Frame
The two images that are created during the interlacing

process (the picture with only odd -numbered lines and the
picture with only even -numbered lines) are called "fields."
There are two fields for every frame, as illustrated in Figure
20. Since the frame rate is 30 pictures per second, the field
rate is 60 fields per second, or one field every 1160th of a

64
second. The odd- and even -numbered lines are interlaced

together to form the complete picture. Interlacing is used
because it helps to eliminate flickering of the TV screen.
How? Well, the best way to answer this is to look at what
would happen if interlacing were not used.
As we noted earlier, there are 30 frames of video per

second. This means that each individual line on the TV
is true in both interlaced and non -interlaced situations

at least it would be if there were such a thing as
-
screen is updated, or "refreshed," 30 times per second (this
or
non -interlaced NTSC video). If interlacing were not used,

then each picture frame would be painted on the screen,
from top to bottom, in its entirety, and would then be
followed by the next picture frame, and the next one, and so
on and so on. The effect this would have on the overall
picture is best illustrated by isolating two adjacent lines of
video on the TV screen. For our example, let's randomly
pick lines 137 and 138. On a non -interlaced screen lines
137 and 138 will be refreshed at essentially the same time.
(Line 138 will actually be refreshed a very tiny fraction of a
second after line 137, but this extremely small time
difference is not relevant as far as understanding the
difference between interlaced and non -interlaced screens is
concerned.) After lines 137 and 138 are refreshed, they are
refreshed again 1130`h of a second later. To the human eye,

65
it appears as though the area on the screenencompassed by

lines 137 and 138 is being refreshed 30 times per second.
On an interlaced screen line 138 will be refreshed 1160`h of

a second after line 137 because the first field (the
odd -numbered lines) are refreshed during the first half of
each 1/30`h of a second frame, and the second field (the
even -numbered lines) are refreshed in the second half of
each frame. Because, at a normal viewing distance, the
human eye cannot distinguish between lines 137 and 138,
the net effect of the interlacing is to make it appear that
both lines are being refreshed 60 times per second -
when
in fact each individual line is only being refreshed 30 times
per second.
The refresh rate is very important because, if the rate is too

low, each line on the screen will have noticeably started to
fade from the screen before it is refreshed, causing the
screen to flicker. Increasing the refresh rate (or, in the case
of NTSC interlacing, creating the appearance of an
increased refresh rate) helps to reduce flickering.
To review, in an interlaced NTSC television picture, each

of the lines in the picture is still refreshed 30 times every
second. However, to the human eye, the interlacing makes
it appear as though the screen is being updated twice as
often, or 60 times every second. What makes this possible

66
is the fact that the human eye generally cannot perceive the
fact that two adjacent lines on the video screen are being
refreshed at different times when there is only a period of
1/60`" of a second between their respective refresh times.
Because the eye cannot perceive the difference in refresh
times, each half -screen refresh (odd- or even -numbered
lines) has nearly the same effect on the viewer as a full
screen refresh, the effect is to create the appearance that the
full screen is being refreshed twice as often, or 60 times per
second. Increasing the apparent refresh rate causes screen
flicker to be reduced.
Readers who are familiar with computer equipment will

know that non -interlaced monitors are the viewing screens
of choice for many computer users. You may be asking
yourself then, if interlaced video is so good, why do so
many computers have non -interlaced screens? Well, the
answer turns out to be cost. In a computer system, it is less
expensive to implement a non -interlaced display than it is
to implement an interlaced display. This is because, in a
computer system that uses a non -interlaced display, a single
block of memory can store the information for the entire
screen, and the entire contents of that block of memory can
be transferred to the screen 75 times every second (or more,
or less, depending on what the video refresh rate is). In an
interlaced system, on the other hand, additional memory
and/or control circuitry would be necessary because the

67
odd -numbered lines would have to be painted first,

followed by the even -numbered lines. There would either
have to be two separate blocks of video memory (one for
odd -numbered lines and one for even -numbered lines) or a
more complex procedure for only transferring half of the
lines in a single block of memory to the screen followed by
the other half. In either case, the cost of implementing an
interlaced system is greater than the cost of implementing a
non -interlaced system when it comes to the number of
memory chips and circuitry required.
Computer makers have the option of producing non -

interlaced systems because the amount of video information
that can be transferred from a computer to its monitor is
large enough that a full -screen, non -interlaced refresh rate
can be achieved which does not result in screen flicker. In
other words, an entire computer screen (both odd and even
lines) can be updated at a typical rate of about 75 times per
second because enough video information, at a high enough
rate, can be fed from the computer to the monitor to make
this happen. In the NTSC television channel, on the other
hand, only 30 frames worth of video information can be fed
to the screen every second. This is because the amount of
video that can be sent to an NTSC television screen is
restricted by the size of the NTSC television channel, which
is 6 MHz wide. It is also restricted by the fact that 30
frames of video per second was pretty much the best that

68
available technology could do in a 6 MHz channel when the

NTSC standard was defined.
Before we go on to discuss the importance of video timing

and audio -video synchronization in a television studio, let's
finish our discussion about the basics of NTSC video by
learning about methods for including additional, non -video
information in an NTSC video signal.
The Horizontal Blanking Interval
As we have already learned, there are 525 horizontal lines

of information in an NTSC video signal, 483 of which carry
the actual picture information. The lines that carry the
picture information are painted on the screen in a top -to -
bottom manner with all of the odd -numbered lines being
painted first followed by all of the even -numbered lines.
The electron gun inside the cathode ray tube (CRT) is the
device inside the television receiver that actually paints the
video picture. It shoots a beam of electrons at the back of
the video screen in a left -to -right, top-to -bottom manner
(odd -numbered lines first, even -numbered lines second).
Each time the electron gun's beam reaches the right edge of
the picture screen it must stop and then move back to the
left-hand side of the screen in order to start painting the

69
next line. If the electron gun were to remain on during this

entire process, it would end up painting a line of video on
the screen and then immediately painting a streak right
below the line of video while it retraced its path back to the
left-hand side of the screen. In order to prevent this from
happening, the electron gun is turned off after it reaches the
far right-hand side of the screen and it remains off until the
beam is positioned back on the left-hand side of the screen
and ready to begin painting the next horizontal line. The
period when the electron gun is off while it is retracing its
route over the screen is called the horizontal blanking
interval. The horizontal blanking interval is a very short
period of time, significantly less than it takes to actually
paint one horizontal line of video on the screen.
line of video
is painted
ti- 4
r
a-
beam shuts
off, then
returns to
left side
(horizontal
blanking
interval)
Figure 21: The Horizontal Blanking Interval

70
The Vertical Blanking Interval
As one would expect, the same concern about putting a

streak on the screen must be addressed when the electron
beam finishes painting the bottom line of video and needs
to be repositioned to the top left-hand corner of the screen.
During this operation, the beam is once again turned off
guessed it - -
while it is retargeted toward the upper left corner. This
period when the beam is turned off is called yes, you
the vertical blanking interval. It takes a lot
longer for the electron beam to reset itself from the bottom
right-hand corner of the screen to the top left-hand corner
than it does to reset itself from the right-hand side of one
line to the left-hand side of the next. While the horizontal
blanking interval is significantly shorter than the time it
takes to paint one horizontal line, the vertical blanking
interval lasts for about the same amount of time needed to
paint 21 horizontal lines on the screen. Because of the
additional time in the vertical blanking interval, it is much
easier to use it to transmit auxiliary information than it is to
use the horizontal blanking interval.

71
first line of .. beam shuts

information off, then
in next field returns to
top left
corner of
screen
last line of (vertical
information blanking
in a field 1 interval)
Figure 22: The Vertical Blanking Interval
Because the vertical blanking interval lasts essentially as

long as the time it takes to paint 21 horizontal lines on the
screen, the time during the vertical blanking interval is
referred to as if it were horizontal lines on the screen. It is
customary, for example, to refer to "line 21 of the vertical
blanking interval" or "line 19 of the vertical blanking
interval."
One thing that leads to confusion for some people is the

fact that all 21 lines of the vertical blanking interval are
transmitted before each field. (Remember, afield is only
half of the lines in a frame -
either the odd or even ones.)
This makes sense, if you think about it, because it is at the
end of each field that the electron beam must reset itself
from the bottom right-hand corner of the screen to the top

72
left-hand corner. The reason this leads to confusion is that

each field consists of only half the horizontal lines on the
(VBI) contains all of its 21 lines

numbered VBI lines.
-
screen (odd or even), but each vertical blanking interval
not just odd or even
The Federal Communications Commission has specified

what type of auxiliary information can be transmitted on
various VBI lines. A summary of the FCC's requirements
is as follows:
Lines 1-9 Vertical synchronization information only

(needed to insure that the TV receiver
knows this is the end of one field of video
and the start of the next)
Lines 10-18 Test, cue and control signals;
with prior FCC approval) -

telecommunications (or other applications
e.g., control
signals could be sent from a network to local
affiliates to alert the affiliates to the fact that
a local commercial break is coming
Line 19 Ghost canceling signal only
(used by receivers equipped with ghost -
canceling circuitry to reduce "ghosts"
caused by the simultaneous reception of
multiple versions of the same TV signal
usually due to signal reflections)
-

73
Line 20 Test, cue and control signals;

telecommunications (or other applications
with prior FCC approval)
(see above)
Line 21 Closed captioning only
(descriptive text used by hearing impaired
persons)
ATSC Video
ATSC is the Advanced Television Systems Committee,

which adopted a standard for digital television transmission
in 1995. This standard was subsequently adopted (with the
exception of the video formats portion) by the Federal
Communications Commission in 1996.
Like NTSC video signals, ATSC video signals are a rapid-

fire series of still pictures that are displayed by a television
receiver. That is about as far as the similarity goes,
however. ATSC signals can have different aspect ratios
than NTSC signals. They also have more, or about the
same number of horizontal lines per screen (whether it is
more or about the same is a choice available to the
broadcaster transmitting the ATSC signal). The rate at
which ATSC pictures are painted on the screen can also
differ from NTSC. And, ATSC video is transmitted in

74
blocks of compressed digital data, instead of in a -
continuous stream of analog data like the NTSC signal.

Finally, while the audio that accompanies an NTSC video
signal is essentially of the same technical format as the
audio from an FM radio station, the digital audio that
accompanies ATSC video is of a dramatically different
format from that used in radio broadcasting.
The ATSC signal is a stream of digital bits that is created

by an ATSC encoder and delivered to the television
station's transmitter at a rate of 19.39 million bits per
second (megabits per second). In order to appreciate how
fast this data rate is, consider the fact that a 56K modem for
a personal computer - generally considered the state of the
art today - has a data rate of only 0.056 megabits per
second. Thus, it would take nearly 350 56K modems to
handle the same amount of data that a single piece of ATSC
equipment can handle.
The signal that is actually routed around the television

studio and used for editing, recording, etc., can be one of
various video formats - and in fact many stations will likely
continue to use their NTSC equipment in the studio through
the early stages of digital television implementation. The
only requirement is that, in order to broadcast an ATSC
digital television signal, the station must have an ATSC

75
encoder that is capable of encoding the signal format used

by the station's studio equipment.
The bits in the ATSC data stream are organized into

188 -byte blocks. The first byte of each block is used for
synchronization. This synchronization byte is needed to
clearly identify when a new block of data is beginning so
that the device receiving the data stream can properly
decode the data. Because one of the 188 bytes in each
block of data is dedicated to synchronization, there are only
187 -bytes per block available for actual video, audio and/or
ancillary data. The data rate of the actual video, audio
and/or ancillary data (often referred to as the payload data
rate) is 187/188 x 19.39 megabits per second, or
19.28 megabits per second.
synch synch synch

byte byte byte
187 bytes of audio, 187 bytes of audio, 187 bytes of audio,

video and/or video and/or video and/or
ancillary data ancillary data ancillary data
Figure 23: The ATSC Data Stream

76
It is worth mentioning here that, although the information

data rate of an ATSC signal is 19.39 megabits per second,
the data rate of the digital television signal that is broadcast
from a DTV transmitter site is much higher. This is
because additional data must be added at the transmission
point in order to have enough error -correcting information
to fix all of the damage caused to the digital signal as it
travels from the transmitter to the receiver. We will discuss
this more in Part III.
So, we now know how the ATSC data stream is formatted,

but what exactly is the information it is carrying? We will
explore that next.
Pixels
Chances are that you are already familiar with the concept
of a pixel. A pixel is a dot on a video screen, the smallest
component of a video image. Pixels have become very
familiar to most computer users because the resolution of a
computer screen - i.e. the level of detail on the screen - is
usually defined in terms of pixels. Some typical computer
screen resolutions defined in terms of pixels (horizontal and
vertical) are 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768. The more
pixels there are on the screen, given a fixed monitor size,
the more detailed or cleaner the image.

77
The pixel is also the smallest component of an ATSC video

image. One of the high -definition ATSC video formats
has, from top to bottom, 1080 horizontal lines across the
screen. Each of these lines contains 1920 pixels. You will
recall from the section on NTSC video that the analog
television system being phased out in the United States has
only 525 lines per frame of video, and only 483 of these
contain viewable information. It is easy to understand
where the term high -definition television comes from when
you consider that a 1080 -line ATSC video frame has more
than double the number of horizontal lines of an NTSC
video frame.
4:3 16:9
NTSC oir ATSC ATSC
video image video image
Figure 24: 4:3 and 16:9 Aspect Ratios
There are several reasons that the two aspect ratios, 4:3 and
16:9, were selected for the ATSC standard. The 4:3 aspect

78
ratio was selected because it is the same aspect ratio used in

NTSC video, and there are a tremendous number of
archived television programs in this format. The 16:9
aspect ratio was selected because it had already gained
acceptance in other parts of the world as a compromise
between the motion picture industry's desire for as wide a
screen as possible and the manufacturing costs of
tube -based displays. About 80% of motion pictures are
shot at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, which easily fits into a
16:9 screen with negligible use of letterboxing.
(Letterboxing is a technique used to fit a video image onto a
television screen, without altering the aspect ratio of the
original video image, by blacking out the top and bottom
portions of the television screen.)
Each line in an NTSC video picture is a continuous stream

of video information. Each line in an ATSC video picture
is a series of discrete pixels. Because an ATSC video
image is a series of discrete pixels, it can be manipulated by
computer circuitry at both the transmitter and the receiver
more easily. Most importantly, video can be compressed at
the transmitter and decompressed at the receiver - this is
what makes digital television (DTV) using the ATSC
standard possible.

79
Compression
Compression is an extremely important aspect of the ATSC

video signal. In fact, as we just noted above, compression
is so important to ATSC video that, without it,
high -definition digital television would not be practical.
Put quite simply, to compress digital video means to take a
complete digital video signal, throw away unneeded parts
of it, and encode the remaining parts in a manner that
reduces the total amount of data required to store or
transmit the video. The process of discarding unneeded
components of the video signal, and encoding what
remains, is performed by a computer program called a
compression algorithm. "Algorithm" in this context is just
another way of saying "computer program."
The compression algorithm used for ATSC video is very

complex. Because it is not necessary to understand exactly
how it works in order to have a good understanding of
ATSC video we will not try to explain it here. Such an
explanation would likely require an entire book by itself.
We will, however, briefly discuss two basic principles of
compression in order to provide a general understanding of
how it is possible to reduce the amount of data in a video
signal without noticeably degrading the video.

80
The first basic principle of compression is the elimination

of unneeded data. Basically, data is unneeded if, once
discarded, the viewer cannot tell that it is gone. How can
data be discarded without the viewer noticing? Well, the
secret lies in the fact that digital video cameras and their
associated recording equipment are capable of "seeing"
more than the human visual system can detect. For
example, a digital video recording system is capable of
recording the amount of brightness and the amount of color
in a picture very accurately. It turns out, however, that the
human visual system is generally less sensitive to the
amount of color in a picture than the amount of brightness
(i.e., certain changes in brightness are easier for the human
eye to detect than certain changes in color). For this reason,
some of the most detailed color information in a digital
video picture can be discarded without changing what
human viewers will actually see.
The second basic principle of compression is the efficient

coding of the remaining video. The best way to understand
how video data can be coded in a more efficient manner so
as to require less data overall is to use an example. Let's
assume that a particular video image has a red horizontal
line 100 pixels in length extending across the screen. The
uncompressed video data for this image might include
instructions like this:

81
print pixel 1 in red


However, the compressed video data for this image might

include instructions like this:
print red pixel

repeat 99 more times
While the type of compression that is used in ATSC video

is much more sophisticated than this simplistic example,
one can see from this example how it is possible to more
efficiently code raw video data in a manner that requires
less data overall to transmit the video image but, at the
same time, does not degrade the video image.

82
Frames
As noted earlier, ATSC video signals, like NTSC video

signals, are a rapid-fire series of still pictures that are
projected on a television receiver. Each of these still
pictures is called a frame.
There is a major difference between NTSC video frames

and ATSC video frames. In NTSC video each frame is,
from a technical design standpoint, identical to the one
before it and the one after it. That is to say, although the
video data (the picture) carried in the frame changes from
frame to frame, the design of each frame itself remains
constant. The odd -numbered horizontal lines of video are
transmitted first, in successive order, followed by the even -
numbered lines. This format remains constant for all
frames in every NTSC video stream.
In the digital ATSC video stream there are three distinct

frame types used to carry video: intracoded frames,
predictive coded frames and bi -directionally predictive
coded frames. These are generally referred to simply as
I -frames, P -frames and B -frames. The reason there are
three different frame types for ATSC digital video is that
using three different types of frame permits further
compression of the video signal, thus reducing the amount

83
of disk space needed to store it, and the amount of radio

spectrum needed to transmit it.
Figure 25: I -Frame
An I -frame can stand by itself, without accompanying

P -frames or B -frames. It is intracoded, which means that
the only data compression coding done to it is within its
own borders. Thus, when an ATCS video stream is
decoded, an I -frame can be decoded by looking only at the
data within itself. Intra is a Latin prefix that means
"within."

84
I -frame used to
predict P -frame
Figure 26: I -Frame Followed by P -Frame
A P -frame cannot stand by itself. At least some, and

possibly all, of the picture in a P -frame must be predicted
from the most recent I -frame or P -frame. Many video
images lend themselves to this kind of prediction because
they are either static (a still picture), or they involve some
form of predictable motion. The advantage of a P -frame is
that it involves more compression than an I -frame (both
intra- and interframe coding) and therefore helps to reduce
the data rate necessary for transmitting an ATSC signal.
The disadvantage of a P -frame is that it cannot be used, by

85
itself, to create a "freeze frame" image of the segment of

video that it represents.
1 -li amc
B -frame
..,
predicted
from I -frame IIII
and P- frame
B -frame
nu
++seu
'jaIIIl
P -frame
Figure 27: A B -Frame between an I -Frame and a

P -Frame

86
Like a P -frame, a B -frame cannot stand by itself. Unlike a

P -frame, however, a B -frame is predicted from two other
frames, a previous I-frame or P -frame, and a subsequent
I -frame or P -frame. It is a little bit tricky to understand
what is happening with a B -frame because it seems a bit
counter -intuitive that a particular frame in a video stream
could be predicted, in part, from a frame that has not even
made it to the screen yet. That is, how can something be
predicted based on something that has not even occurred
yet?
Well, the trick to understanding B -frames is to understand

that the digital ATSC video stream does not arrive at a
television set and immediately get dumped onto the screen.
The digital ATSC data is temporarily stored, processed, and
then forwarded to the screen. The "store and forward"
process is called buffering, and it is a common practice in
digital transmission. While the video data is temporarily
stored in the receiver, the computer circuitry in the receiver
has an opportunity to process or manipulate it.
The reason that the data must be temporarily stored and

processed is that it needs to be decompressed. You will
recall from the discussion earlier about compression that,
during the transmission process, portions of the original
video stream are discarded, and the remaining portions

87
encoded, in a manner that reduces the total amount of data

needed to transmit the signal. Well, although the
compressed television signal that is transmitted over the air
contains enough information to recreate a video image on
the television screen that appears, to the typical viewer, to
be identical to the original video, the compressed signal
itself does not carry all of the necessary video data. Instead,
it carries instructions that enable the computer circuits
inside a DTV receiver to recreate the image.
This is a good place to point out that the buffering which

occurs inside a television receiver is the reason that there is
a brief delay between the instant that the viewer selects a
new channel and the instant that the new channel appears
on the screen. Also contributing to this delay is the fact
that, in order to begin decoding video from a new channel,
the decoder must wait for the next I -frame to be transmitted
on that channel. This is because the I -frame is the only one
that can stand by itself without any previous frames to use
for prediction - so in order to begin decoding a new stream
of video a receiver must start with an I -frame.
So, back to the B -frame and its place in this process. As

noted above, a B -frame is predicted from a previous
I -frame or P -frame and a subsequent I -frame or P -frame.
For the receiver to be able to construct a B -frame, the two
frames from which it is predicted must be transmitted

88
before the B -frame. So, if three consecutive frames of

video at the television studio have been encoded in such a
manner that the first is an I -frame, the second is a B -frame
and the third in a P -frame, the I-frame will be transmitted
first, followed by the P -frame and then the B -frame. The
receiver will then have the opportunity to receive and store
the information for both the I -frame and the P -frame
(frames 1 and 3) before it has to decode the B -frame
(frame 2).
Frame Rate
Another major difference between ATSC video and NTSC

video is that ATSC video may be transmitted at different
frame rates. Recall from the discussion about NTSC video
that the only frame rate available under that system is
30 frames per second. The limited size of the television
channel (i.e., the limited amount of spectrum available in
which to transmit the video) basically prevented the NTSC
standard from using any frame rates higher than 30 frames
per second. Higher frame rates would have required more
information to be transmitted over the air, which would
have required wider channels.
Because the ATSC standard includes a method for

compressing the transmitted video, more video information

89
can be squeezed into the same amount of spectrum. This

provides several opportunities that were not available with
the NTSC standard. Specifically, it allows bigger pictures
to be transmitted (hence the availability of wide-screen
pictures); higher frame rates (more pictures per second) to
be transmitted; and/or multiple video streams to be
transmitted. We discussed the wide-screen aspect of ATSC
video earlier, and we will get to its multiple video stream
capability shortly. For now, we are focused on the frame
rate.
While the ATSC video signal is capable of being

transmitted at a higher frame rate than NTSC video, it does
not have to be transmitted at a higher frame rate. There are
three standard frame rates for ATSC video - 24, 30 and 60
frames per second. Twenty-four frames per second is a rate
commonly used for film. Thirty frames per second is, of
course, the rate used for NTSC video, and 60 frames per
second is a faster frame rate that further reduces screen
flicker by refreshing the video screen more often. The
more frames per second that are transmitted, the more data
that is needed to transmit, or store, the video signal.
At least for the duration of the transition to digital

television the vast majority of television studios will be
using frame rates of 1000/1001 times the integer frame
rates listed above. They will be doing this to facilitate

90
conversion of NTSC pictures to ATSC (the precise frame

rate of NTSC pictures is 59.94 frames per second), and in
order to avoid problems associated with having multiple
timing signals in a single facility.
Interlacing
Each of the three frame rates in ATSC video can be

employed in either an interlaced or non -interlaced manner.
It should be noted, however, that 60 frame -per -second
video (interlaced or non -interlaced) is not available in
the1920 x 1080 format, and 30 frame -per -second video is
not available in interlaced form for the 1280 x 720 format.
The reasons for this are discussed a bit later. Non -
interlaced video is often called progressive video because
each horizontal line is painted on the screen in order, from
top to bottom, in a progressive manner.
We discussed what it means for video to be interlaced in

the section on NTSC video, so we will not repeat it hear.
The choice of whether to use interlaced video or non -
interlaced video at a broadcast facility is really one of
personal preference. There are many people who will argue
that interlaced video is preferable in many applications, and
there are many other people who will argue that progressive
video is preferable.

91
Multicasting
Combining several different video programs together and

broadcasting them over the same television channel is
called multicasting. This is something that was not
possible with NTSC video in the 6 MHz -wide television
channels in the United States. With digital ATSC video,
however, it is possible to fit several smaller, lower frame
rate video programs into the same television channel that
can transmit a single, wide-screen, high definition program.
The number of different video programs that can be

squeezed into a television channel is dependent on the data
rate necessary for each individual program.
While the interlaced versus progressive aspect of an ATSC

video image is an important aspect of the image, it does not
have much of an impact on the digital data rate necessary to
transmit the image (i.e. 30 frame per second video requires
essentially the same data rate whether it is transmitted in
interlaced or progressive mode). This data rate is mostly
dependent on the frame rate and the screen size of the
video, as well as the subject matter of the video. All else
being equal, larger screen sizes require higher data rates,
higher frame rates require higher data rates, and video with

92
lots of motion and/or scene changes in it also requires

higher data rates.
The basic video formats (screen sizes and frame rates) that
can be used in ATSC video are listed in Table 1.
Table 1: ATSC Video Formats
Screen Size in Pixels Aspect Ratio Frame Rate

1920 x 1080 16:9 24P 3013 30I
1280 x 720 16:9 24P 30P 601)
704 x 480 16:9 24P 30P 30I 6013
704 x 480 4:3 24P 30P 30I 60P

640 x 480 4:3 24P 3013 30I 60P
The reason that there is no 1920 x 1080 format at 60 frames

per second is that the high data rate needed to transmit this
format could not be achieved within the limited amount of
bandwidth (6 MHz) available for television broadcasting in
the United States. Because this format has the largest
screen size, and because transmitting 60 frames per second
requires essentially double the data rate necessary to
transmit 30 frames per second, this combination of screen
size and frame rate would require a higher transmission
data rate than any of the others.

93
The reason that the 1280 x 720 format does not include an
interlaced version at 30 frames per second is that, when the
ATSC standard was developed, this particular format was
seen as a "progressive scan only" format.
Because video transmitted in the 1920 x 1080 format at

30 frames per second uses almost all of the capacity of the
6 MHz -wide DTV channel, when this format is transmitted
it generally cannot be accompanied by any other video
feeds over the same channel. On the other hand, video
transmitted in the 640 x 480 format at 24 frames per second
uses the least amount of channel capacity of all the ATSC
formats. When this format is used it is possible to transmit
multiple video feeds over the same 6 MHz wide channel.
There is no specific formula that can be used to specify

exactly how many video feeds of various formats can be
transmitted over the same channel. This is because the data
rate needed to transmit a particular format is not a constant
number. The reason it is not a constant number is that the
amount of compression that can be performed on a data
stream is dependent on the content of the video
programming. Video that is generally static, such as a still
picture of a station's logo, can be compressed much farther
than video that has a lot of scene changes in it. As we
noted earlier when talking about frames, the way ATSC
video is compressed involves, in part, sending only

94
information about how one frame differs from another

rather than complete information for every frame. So,
because successive frames of a still picture video image
will have no differences between them, very little
information needs to be transmitted to explain to the
receiver the difference between one frame and the next.
One thing that is very important to keep in mind when

considering the multiplexing of several video programs is
that the total data rate for all of the mutiplexed video
streams added together must not exceed the total data rate
available in the DTV channel at any time. For example, a
single DTV channel might be capable of carrying four
different programs most of the time, but if these programs
contain commercials that have a lot of motion and scene
changes in them it might be the case that the single DTV
channel cannot handle a commercial on every single
channel at the same time. Clearly, if the commercials will
all be run at the same point in time, this could cause a
problem. The program might appear fine to the viewer
until the commercials come on at which time the video
would become distorted due to a lack of available capacity
for transmitting all four commercials at once.
It is also worth noting that the ATSC video standard is

based on the MPEG-2 video standard. MPEG is the
Moving Pictures Experts Group, an international standards -

95
setting organization that has developed several standards

for transmitting digital video. The MPEG-2 system was
optimized for transporting then -existing standard broadcast
video sources at a data rate of about 4 million bits per
second. Therefore, a general rule of thumb could be that an
ATSC signal might be capable of carrying between four
and five standard NTSC-quality signals (19 million
4 million = 4.75).
Ancillary Data
When a broadcaster opts to transmit a single standard

definition picture essentially equivalent to its NTSC
programming then that broadcaster will have some extra
data capacity available in its transmitted signal. This
capacity can be used to transmit any kind of data for any
purpose. It could be used to insert supplemental data about
advertised products, to provide stock quote updates, or even
to provide a one-way path for high-speed Internet
downloading. There is one important catch, however, that
has nothing to do with engineering or technology. The
government has imposed a five percent tax on the gross
revenues that any commercial television broadcaster
receives for providing ancillary (not program related) data
services using their DTV signal. These revenues are also
subject to normal income taxes as well.

96
DTV broadcasters do not have to limit their programming

to a lesser -than -high -definition format in order to transmit
ancillary data. The ATSC signal is capable of carrying
what is referred to as opportunistic data. This is data that
is transmitted whenever an opportunity becomes available
in the ATSC signal. For example, if a wide-screen high -
definition program is being transmitted there will still be
times during the program when the data rate necessary to
carry the video information will be reduced. This can
happen, for example, during a commercial when a still
picture of a product is on the screen. Because the picture is
not changing, less data in the ATSC signal needs to be
allocated to update the video. This means that more data
capacity is available.
Before concluding our discussion about ancillary and

supplemental data it is important to note that the ATSC
signal can also be used to carry closed captioning
information, which has a fixed data rate per video program.
DTV Audio
In NTSC television broadcasting the audio transmitted

along with the video is of essentially the same technical
format as the audio transmitted by an FM radio station. In

97
NTSC television, the video signal and the audio signal are
transmitted as two separate entities. In the ATSC system,
however, this is no longer the case. As discussed earlier,
the ATSC system involves a singlle signal that is a
continuous stream of data packets. Each individual data
packet can carry audio, video and/or ancillary data. It is up
to the ATSC receiver to sort them all out.
The packets of audio data in an ATSC signal conform to a

system developed by Dolby Labs called AC -3, a specific
version of which is incorporated into the ATSC standard.
Most people refer to ATSC audio simply as "AC -3" audio.
The AC -3 system offers many improvements over the audio
system used with the NTSC television system. One of
these is that, because it is a digital system, static is virtually
eliminated.
The AC -3 system provides six channels of surround sound.

One of these six channels is a "low frequency effects"
channel which provides low frequency audio to a
subwoofer speaker that enhances certain on -screen events
like rockets taking off and trains passing by. Because of
the very limited audio frequency range carried over the
"low frequency effects" channel this channel requires a lot
less data to convey its audio information than the other,
"normal" audio channels. For this reason, many people
refer to the low frequency effects channel as only a tenth of

98
a channel, and they refer to the overall ATSC audio system

as a 5.1 channel system. Other people might refer to it as a
5 +channel system in order to accentuate the difference
1
between the low frequency effects channel and the other

channels.
The 6 channels of ATSC audio are intended to be heard

through speakers generally positioned as shown in Figure
28.
center
oleft
IIIIl
TV
right
left
0low
o
right
surround surround
frequency
effects
Figure 28: Living Room Layout of Surround Sound

System

99
In addition to the six (or 5.1) channels of surround sound

audio, there are a number of other supplemental optional
features available with AC -3. These include channels for:
information for the visually impaired

information for the hearing impaired
dialog
commentary
emergency information
voice over information
The Visually Impaired (VI) service is a single audio channel

used to describe the video scene that it accompanies. Its
purpose is to allow visually impaired people to "watch" a
television program by receiving periodic audio updates of
the on -screen activity, and it normally will accompany the
basic (mono, stereo or surround sound) audio service.
The Hearing Impaired (HI) service is a single audio

channel than contains only dialog, and this dialog may be
processed for improved intelligibility by hearing impaired
viewers. It is intended to be received simultaneously with
the basic (mono, stereo or surround sound) audio service so
that the viewer will hear an emphasized version of the
dialog for better intelligibility, while still hearing some of
the music and effects. Closed -captioning information,
which can also be provided for hearing impaired viewers, is

100
transmitted as video data and not as part of the AC -3 audio

service.
The Dialogue (D) service is intended to carry only the

program dialog, without any of the music or sound effects
that might be present in the program. This audio service is
intended to accompany another audio service, the Music
and Effects (ME) service, which contains only the music
and effects from the program and not any dialog. The
reason for having these two separate services available is to
enable multiple language versions of the same program to
be broadcast. Using this method, a viewer theoretically can
receive the video and accompanying music and effects, and
then select between the different languages available over
the Dialogue service. Because of the complexity involved
in creating several separate dialog signals to accompany the
same music and effects, this combination is not expected to
be used very often.
The Commentary (C) service, like the Dialogue service, is

intended to accompany the basic audio service (mono,
stereo or surround sound, including music, effects and
dialog). It allows commentary to be included in a program
that "talks over" the main program audio. The digital data
stream that makes up the Commentary service includes
digital instructions that can lower the level of the main
audio when commentary audio is present. In this manner it

101
can be assured that the commentary audio will be

intelligible over the main audio.
The Emergency (E) service permits the insertion of

emergency messages into the audio stream. Whenever an
emergency message is present an ATSC receiver will stop
playing other audio and play the emergency message. Once
the emergency message has finished the other audio will
resume.
The Voice-over (VO) service serves exactly the same

purpose as the Commentary service, except that the
Voice-over service takes precedence over the Commentary
service. That is, if Voice-over audio and Commentary
audio are both present, the volume of the Commentary
audio can be reduced by digital instructions in the
Voice-over data in order to ensure that the Voice-over
audio is heard above the Commentary audio.
Timing
Well, now that we have an understanding of television

video, we can begin to understand the importance of timing
in a television facility.

102
You may have heard the expression "timing is everything."

Well, this often -used expression may very well have first
been uttered by a TV engineer. Timing is a very important
aspect of TV engineering, and nowhere is the importance of
timing more evident than in a television studio.
The reason that timing is so important is really very simple.

If you have two video signals arriving at a switch, and they
are not timed correctly, then whenever you switch from one
video signal to the other there will likely be a noticeable
"bounce" or "jump" in the output video signal. As an
example of why this occurs, consider the two video signals
pictured in Figure 29. Note that each new field in Signal 2
starts midway through a field in Signal 1 (and vice versa).
If the output of the switch is carrying Signal 1, and the
switch is changed at the point designated by the arrows to
cause the output to carry Signal 2, then only half a field's
worth of video will be available from Signal 2 before
another vertical blanking interval is encountered. The
result is, at the output of the switch, the entire second field
in Signal 1 will be displayed on the TV set followed by
only the second half of the second field of Signal 2. This
will be followed by the complete third field of Signal 2, and
the complete fourth field, and so on. Each field gets
displayed correctly except for the half field from Signal 2
that gets displayed immediately after the switch.

103
Signal 1 Signal 2 Output
IFM1
switch
made
here
gl
41>
1-72
Figure 29: Example of Improperly Timed Video Switch
Because the half-field problem happens so fast (within

1160`h of a second) it does not appear to the naked eye as
much more than a "bounce" or "blip" in the output video
signal. As video problems go, this is not the worst thing
that could happen. (For example, complete loss of video
video product -
would be much worse.) However, little bounces in the final
just like "pops" and "clicks" in audio

104
switching - make a broadcast seem unprofessional to the

viewer, so they need to be avoided.
The way to avoid timing problems like the one illustrated

above is to make sure that all of the input signals to a video
switch are timed identically (i.e., that each one of the input
signals has a vertical blanking interval arriving at the
switch at exactly the same time. A correctly timed Signal 1
and Signal 2 are illustrated in Figure 30.
Signal Signal 2 Output
Pi
rim H
14
rill
14
Figure 30: Example of Properly Timed Video Switch

105
How does one insure that all of the video signals arriving at
a switch are timed exactly right? Well, there are basically
two methods for achieving this. The first is to insure that
all of the video sources that are feeding into the switch
(cameras, video tape recorders, character generators, etc.)
are sending vertical synchronization information at exactly
the same time, and that the cables connecting the switch to
these video sources are exactly the same length. The
second, and more common method for addressing the
timing issue in modern television studios is to use the
genlocking circuitry which is included in most modern
television studio equipment. Genlocking circuitry enables a
video device, such as a camera, video tape recorder, etc., to
lock its synchronization pulses to (i.e., synchronize them
with) synchronization pulses received from another device.
Typically, this "other device" is a master synch generator, a
single synch pulse generator that provides synchronized
synch pulses to multiple pieces of equipment. Genlocking
each piece of equipment to the master synch generator,
ensures that each of the synch pulses coming from each
piece of equipment will, themselves, be synchronized.
Once it is known that the synch pulses coming from each
camera, video tape recorder, etc. are synchronized, then
ensuring that these signals are synchronized when they
arrive at a video switch is simply a matter of ensuring that

106
the cables from the various pieces of equipment to the

switch are the same length.
Audio -Video Synchronization
The term audio -video synchronization refers to the fact that

the audio in a television program (e.g., a spoken voice)
must match up - or be synchronized - with the video
picture that accompanies it (e.g., a person's mouth
movements). This is not a trivial engineering task -a lot
of effort goes into maintaining synchronization throughout
a television station.
The industry practice for audio/video synchronization

stipulates that a television audio signal should never be
more than 25 milliseconds (25 thousandths of a second)
ahead of, nor more than 40 milliseconds behind, its
associated video signal. In order to insure that their
facilities meet this requirement, television broadcast
-
engineers will often use a device, like the ones alluded to
above, known as a delay. Delays come in two forms
audio delays and video delays. The decision about which
one to use is based on which signal (audio or video) is
leading the other.

107
If the video signal is leading (ahead of) the audio signal

then a video delay can be used to bring the two signals into
synch. If the audio is leading, then an audio delay is
needed.
A delay is simply a device that takes a signal (audio or

video) as an input and stores it for a very brief moment
before sending it out. Even if a television studio is well
synchronized without the use of any delays, it is usually
very important to have an audio delay unit and a video
delay unit on hand and available for use anyway, in case a
signal being fed into the studio from outside is out of
synchronization and needs to be corrected. Figure 31
illustrates a situation where an audio delay would be
needed to correct an incoming signal.
audio 55 msec
behind video
satellite
audio 30 msec
behind video
audio 55 msec
behind video network
remote van 25 msec audio lag

30 msec audio lag
Figure 31: Example of Audio-to -Video Synchronization

Problem

108
In Figure 31, a television signal is being sent from a remote

newsgathering van back to a local studio, and then from the
local studio through a satellite to a TV network facility
where it will ultimately be fed to the entire country. In this
example, the audio sent from the remote van is
30 milliseconds behind the video from the van, which is
close enough to conform to the industry practice and not be
distracting to the viewer. The audio and video signals are
then fed into the studio facility which, itself, produces a
25 millisecond delay in the audio with respect to the video.
While both the remote van and the studio, by themselves,
conform to the industry practice, when added together they
produce a signal that is out of compliance with industry
practice, and which will be noticeably out of synch to the
viewer. The audio that ultimately arrives at the network
studio is 30 milliseconds + 25 milliseconds, or
55 milliseconds behind the video. In this case, a video
delay would be needed to delay the video by at least
15 milliseconds in order to bring the entire system into
compliance with industry practice and avoid noticeable
synchronization problems on air.
Throughout our discussion on timing and synchronization

we have alluded to various video input devices such as the
video tape recorder (VTR), camera and character generator.
It seems appropriate, therefore, to wrap up our discussion

109
about the engineering aspects of television studios with an

overview of the video recording and playback equipment
that is commonly found in today's television studios.
Video Tape Recorders
Video tape recorders, or VTRs, are a lot like their audio

counterparts. They all use magnetic tape as the media on
which the program material is stored, and different types of
machines can use tapes with different types of magnetic
coatings on them. The magnetic tape is sometimes stored
on open reels, while other times it is housed in plastic
cassettes. VTRs, like their audio counterparts, also come in
both analog and digital form.
On a typical video tape, there are four or five channels of

information recorded. One is the video picture information,
two more are the left and right audio information, a fourth
is the control codes, and the fifth is the time code (though
time code is sometimes recorded in the video signal as part
of the vertical blanking interval).
It should be pretty obvious what the audio and video

channels are used for, so we will not discuss them in much
detail here. It is worth noting, however, that the video
information takes up, by far, the most amount of space on

110
the tape. Typically, the video information is recorded in a

wide band in the center of the tape and the audio
information and control codes are stored towards the outer
edges.
The control codes on a video tape are most often used by

the VTR playing back the tape to signal other devices that
they are done playing. In the same manner that audio cart
machines are hooked together in a radio studio, a series of
VTRs can be hooked together in a television studio to
automatically play back their tapes in a rapid-fire sequence.
This is a very important function of these machines because
commercial breaks have a specific amount of time allotted
to them, and the recorded commercials that are played from
the tape machines are designed to fit exactly into these
breaks. If each successive playback machine is not started
right on cue, it might result in the last commercial in the
break not having enough time left to fit in -not to
mention the fact that not starting each tape right on time
will look sloppy to the home viewer.
The standard time code used in television video tape

recording is called SMPTE time code. SMPTE time code
was developed by the Society of Motion Picture and
Television Engineers (SMPTE), and it is a digital code that
is recorded on the video tape which identifies how many
hours, minutes, seconds, and video frames have passed

111
since the beginning of the recording. SMPTE time code is

very useful in editing applications because it allows a
person who is producing a single video tape from two or
more pieces of recorded material to identify the exact frame
where dubbing of the first tape onto the recording device
should stop and dubbing of the second tape onto the
recording device should begin. SMPTE time code also has
many other useful purposes. It can, for example, also be
used to synchronize a separately recorded audio recording
with a video recording.
Due mostly to the large amount of recording that news

crews do in the field, cassette -style VTRs are the most
widely used today. Digital VTRs, where the audio and
video information are stored on the tape as a series of is
and Os, have become very popular in large part because they
allow a recording to be copied from tape to tape many times
(up to about 30) with very little degradation of the program
material. The following paragraphs provide an overview of
the most common VTR formats in use today.
1 -inch C format
The one -inch, C format VTR is an analog recording and

playback device which uses one-inch wide videotape that is
stored on open reels. This format permits storage on
videotape of three audio channels, one video channel, one

112
control channel, and one synchronization channel in the

manner illustrated in Figure 32.
second audio channel

first audio channel
video channel
control channel
synchronization channel
third audio channel (can be used for time code)
Figure 32: Storage of Information on 1 -inch C Format

Videotape
D-1 format
The D-1 format VTR is a digital recording and playback

system which uses 19 -mm wide videotape stored in cassette
cartridges. There are three standard cassette sizes for the
D-1 format-L, M and S (for "large," "medium" and
"small"). L -size cassettes hold up to 76 minutes of
information, M-size cassettes hold up to 34 minutes, and

113
S -size cassettes hold up to 11 minutes. In the D-1 format,

both audio and video information are recorded in the wide
center stripe on the tape, and the cue, control and time code
information is stored on narrower outside tracks. The video
information in the D-1 format is stored in component form.
(Remember, this means that instead of a single composite
signals -
video input signal there are three separate component
in this case one monochrome signal and two
other signals carrying the color information.) An
illustration of where information is stored on a D-1 tape is
provided in Figure 33. All of the information stored on a
D-1 tape is digital.
cue channel
audio and video channel
control channel
time code channel
Figure 33: Storage of Information on D-1, D-2 and D-3

Format Videotape

114
D-2 format
The D-2 format VTR, like the D-1 version, is a digital

recording and playback system which uses 19 -mm wide
videotape stored in cassette cartridges. The three major
differences between the D-2 format and the D-1 format are
that the D-2 format uses composite video instead of
component video, the cassettes used in the D-2 system are
longer, and the tape used in the D-2 system is coated with
ground metal powder instead of metal oxide. (Recall from
the section on audio tape recording earlier in this Part that
tapes coated with metal powder are generally better than
tapes coated with metal oxides because they enable signals
to be stored on them with less distortion.) The three
standard cassette sizes for the D-2 format are L-size
(208 minutes), M -size (94 minutes), and S -size
(32 minutes). In the D-2 format, like in the D-1 format,
both audio and video information are recorded in the wide
center stripe on the tape. However, as noted above, the
video is stored in composite form instead of component
form. Cue, control and time code information is stored on
narrower outside tracks. An illustration of where
information is stored on a D-2 tape is provided in Figure
33. As with the D-1 tape, all of the information stored on a
D-2 tape is digital.

115
D-3 format
The D-3 format is essentially the same as the D-2 format

except that it uses' -inch tape instead of 19 mm tape.
One-half inch is equal to 12.7 mm, so the' -inch tape is
narrower than the 19 mm tape. The narrower tape and
smaller cassettes of the D-3 format enable the equipment
associated with it to be of a smaller size and lighter weight.
This makes D-3 equipment particularly useful for electronic
news gathering (ENG) and other applications that require
the use of portable VTRs.
M, Betacam, M -II and BetacamSP formats
The M, Betacam, M -II and BetacamSP formats use 1/2 -inch

videotape to record component video information in analog
form. It was the success of these small size VTR formats
that led to the development of the D-3 format.
Digital Betacam, DVC Pro formats
These are the digital successors to the small size VTR

formats like Betacam.

116
Character Generators
A character generator is basically a simple computer

system whose capabilities are limited to having characters
typed on its screen from a keyboard, fed to its screen
through a communications port, or read to its screen from a
disk drive. The user can select both the background color
of the character generator's screen and the color of the
characters that are displayed on the screen. In additional to
allowing alphanumeric characters to be displayed, character
-
generators also allow other digital images to be displayed
such as logos.
An example of how keyboard input to a character generator

might be used would be when a news reporter's name is
added to the bottom of the screen during a newscast. An
example of how an external source might supply data to a
character generator through the data port would be when a
warning about a weather emergency is received by a
television station's Emergency Alert System equipment,
and the warning is automatically fed out over the air by
using the character generator to scroll a text message across
the screen.
A typical personal computer may be used as a

character/image generator if it is equipped to output NTSC

117
video signals. The video output on the vast majority of

home computer systems does not conform to the NTSC
standard, but add-on boards are available for adding this
capability.
Television Cameras
The television camera, as one would expect, performs

essentially the opposite function of a television receiver.
Whereas the receiver takes an incoming video signal and
uses it to "paint" a series of rapid-fire still photographs
(30 frames per second, 2 interlaced fields per frame) on the
phosphor coating that covers the inside of the TV screen,
corresponding electric image which has

variations in light level
-
the camera takes an incoming video image, coverts it to a
- instead of
variations in electric
charge -density level, and then scans this electric charge
image to produce an electronic version of the video image.
The device that did the scanning of the image in older
television cameras was called a camera tube, or a pickup
tube. In these tubes, an electron beam actually scanned the
electric charge on the inside surface of the tube to create the
electronic version of the video image. In modern cameras,
the device that does the scanning is called a charge coupled
device, or CCD.

118
The CCD used in a television camera is a pair of electronic

matrices. Both of these matrices have a very large number
of individual charge "cells" on them. Each of the cells in
the first matrix is charged up to a level that is proportional
to the amount of light that is hitting it through the lens of
the camera. All of the individual charges from each one of
the cells in the first matrix are transferred to corresponding
cells in a second matrix which is shielded from light. The
circuitry in the camera then scans the second matrix to
produce an electronic version of the video image.
video
0 scanner 0 signal
lens 151 matrix 2nd matrix

cells have electric copies cells from
charges that mimic 151 matrix 30
image from lens times per second
Figure 34: The CCD Imaging Process
The reason that the charges in the first matrix must be

transferred to a second matrix before they are scanned by
the camera circuitry is that the charges in the first matrix
are constantly changing as the image through the lens

119
changes, so a "snapshot" of the first matrix must be created

in the second matrix to ensure that the correct fixed image
is converted to an electrical signal by the camera.
three CCDs inside of them -

The best -performing CCD color cameras actually have
one to scan the electric
charge image created by the red light coming through the
lens, one to scan the image created by the green light, and
one to scan the image created by the blue light. A three-
CCD color camera will have a prism inside of it which
splits the incoming optical image into three different color
beams (red, green and blue). Each of these beams is then
fed through an additional filter which removes any
remaining unwanted colors from each of the signals. The
purified individual color signals are then fed into their own
individual CCDs. This type of color separation system is
called a three -imager prism type separation system.
red -pass red

red CCD
filter signal
"prism type"
r
color green -pass green
green CCD
separation filter signal
system
lens '
blue -pass
filter
-- blue CCD
blue
L signal
Figure 35: Basic Operation of a Color CCD Camera

120
The three separate color signals that come from the three
separate CCDs are referred to together as a component
video signal. This is because each of the individual colors
from the full -color picture is transmitted as an individual
component. The colors are eventually combined together to
form a single color video signal at which point the single
signal is referred to as a composite video signal (because it
is a composite picture made up of the three components.)
Chroma Key and Matte Systems
Many times it is desirable to combine two video signals in

such a manner that one appears to sit on top of the other.
This occurs quite frequently in weather forecasts when the
weather forecaster is made to appear standing in front of,
for example, a moving satellite picture showing cloud
cover. This effect is accomplished using a chroma key
system, and more sophisticated similar effects are produced
using a matte system.
A chroma key system is a digital effects system which takes

an incoming video signal and replaces every portion of it
that is a user -defined color with the corresponding video
from a second incoming video signal. The result is an
output signal which has combined selected portions of the

121
two input signals. Let's look at the various specific aspects

of a typical weather forecasting set to get an understanding
of how a chroma key system works.
On a typical weather forecasting set, the weather forecaster

stands in front of a large, blank wall that is painted one
solid color, typically blue or green. It is important that this
background color not match the color of any of the
forecaster's clothing, hair, skin, etc. A camera is focused
on the weather forecaster with the wall in the background,
and the video from this camera provides the first input
signal for the chroma key system. The second input signal
for the chroma key system is simply the satellite video
image. The chroma key system is then instructed to take
every portion of the first input signal that matches the color
of the wall and replace it with the corresponding portion of
the second video signal. Since the wall should be the only
thing in the first video signal that is the same color as the
wall, this replacement creates the illusion in the final
product that the weather forecaster is standing in front of
the satellite video. That's why it is important that the
forecaster's clothing, hair, skin, etc., not match the wall, or
those elements would become part of the illusion, as well.
A chroma key system makes the weather forecaster's job a

little bit tricky because the weather forecaster wants to
appear to be pointing to portions of the satellite video in the

122
final product. In order to do this, however, the forecaster

must actually be pointing to places on the blank wall.
Typically, there is a monitor showing the composite picture
of the forecaster and the satellite video somewhere just out
of range of the camera that is focused on the forecaster.
The forecaster looks at this monitor while doing the
forecast to insure that he/she is pointing to the correct
portion of the satellite video.
A matte system operates in essentially the same manner as

a chroma key system -except that the matte system can
replace multiple colors in the first video signal with the
video from the second video signal.
Video Mixing Board
A video mixing board (sometimes referred to simply as a

master control board) performs essentially the same
function as the audio mixing board that was discussed
earlier in the radio section. The main difference between
the two, of course, is that the video mixing board is mixing
audio and video signals instead of just audio signals.
Another important difference between audio mixing and
video mixing, which we have already covered, is the fact
that the timing of the video signals being mixed is much
more important than the timing of audio signals being

123
mixed because switching between two video signals whose

vertical synch pulses are not precisely synchronized will
usually result in a "bounce" in the output video signal.
A good way to think about the mixing and switching of

video signals, in comparison with the mixing and switching
of audio signals, is to think of a completely black video
signal as very quiet (but not completely silent), and a
completely white video signal as very noisy. The reason for
this is that the darker a video image is, the lower the
voltage of its corresponding NTSC video signal and,
conversely, the lighter the image the higher the voltage of
its corresponding video signal. Although the completely
black signal has a low voltage, it does not have zero
voltage. The zero voltage portions of an NTSC video
signal are reserved to the horizontal and vertical blanking
intervals.
Because the low voltage black signal does not have zero
voltage, it cannot be added to another video signal without
having any effect on the other signal. If a completely black
screen and a "normal" video image are combined together,
the result is a somewhat dimmer looking version of the
"normal" video. Conversely, if a completely white screen
and a "normal" video image are combined together, the
result is a brighter version of the "normal" video.

124
Modern video mixing boards allow many different effects

to be used while switching between input signals. These
include wipes, fades and blinds, among others. They also
allow the board operator to create a "picture -in -picture"
effect by inserting one or more video images inside another.
Just as is the case in a radio studio, after a television signal

leaves the master control board there are several important
pieces of equipment that it travels through before being
delivered to the transmitter. This equipment can be broken
down into three categories: distribution amplifiers and
routing switchers, audio processing equipment and
Emergency Alert System (EAS) equipment. We are not
going to discuss audio processing equipment here since it
was covered earlier in the section on radio studios. The
video portion of a television signal is not processed
(compressed or expanded) to any significant degree
because, in an NTSC video signal, the dynamic range
(difference between the highest level of signal and the
lowest level of signal) is a very important aspect of the
signal.
Distribution Amplifiers and Routing Switchers
Usually, the output of the master control board (the

station's on -air program) will be fed into a distribution

125
amplifier which, in turn, feeds several "copies" of this

signal to other parts of the studio. (Recall that a
distribution amplifier allows a single input signal to feed
multiple sources with "copies" of the signal that are equal
in quality to the original.) These "other parts of the studio"
might include recording equipment, or simple monitors for
viewing the outgoing program, and they will usually
include at least one routing switcher.
inputs
outputs
Each output of the routing

switcher can be connected to
any one of the inputs at any
given time
Figure 36: A Typical Routing Switcher Configuration
A routing switcher is a device that has multiple inputs and

multiple outputs, and a user of any particular output
channel can select to have it connected to any particular
input channel at any time. The great advantage of a routing
switcher is that it allows a number of different signals to be

126
- -
fed to a particular place
video mixing board
such as an input channel on a
through only one connection. In
other words, instead of wiring all of the signals going into
the routing switcher directly into the mixing board (which
would take up numerous input channels on the mixing
board) each of the inputs is routed through the switcher and
few output channels from the switcher are connected to the
mixing board, giving the board operator access to all of the
switcher input channels without taking up more mixing
board inputs than necessary.
As is the case with audio systems, there are now video

servers available for storing and distributing digital video
signals. A video server is, basically, a powerful computer
that is capable of receiving digital video signals from video
sources and distributing them to multiple locations. The
major difference between a video server and a distribution
amplifier is that a video server is capable of storing digital
video information on its disk drives for later retrieval while
the distribution amplifier is not equipped to store any video.
Emergency Alert System Equipment
As noted in the earlier section on radio studio equipment,

Emergency Alert System (EAS) equipment must be
installed somewhere in a broadcast station's air chain. This

127
equipment will typically be installed between the output of

the master control board and the transmitter. The only
significant difference between the EAS equipment used in a
TV studio in comparison to the EAS equipment used in a
radio studio is that the equipment used in the TV studio
must have the ability to interrupt both audio and video, or
at least to interrupt audio and insert a video text message
over top of a portion of the normal video.
monitoring monitoring
assignment #1 assignment #2
Y
EAS decoder
audio source
from studio audio r
EAS encoder in
video text transmitter

insertion
equipment p
video
1
video source in
from studio
Figure 37: EAS Equipment in a TV Station Air Chain

128

129
Part II: The Studio -

Transmitter Link

130
The studio -transmitter link, or STL, is the means by which

the program material produced in the studio is transported
to the transmitter for broadcast. If the station's transmitter
is located adjacent to its studios, then the STL might simply
be a cable, or set of cables, stretching from the studios to
the transmitter. More often, however, the transmitter is
located at a remote location, such as the top of a mountain
or tall building. When the transmitter is located at a great
distance from the studio, there must be some means of
transporting the program material over the property in
between. Though nearly any means of transmitting an
electronic signal can be used as an STL, most broadcasters
use one of two primary methods.
The first of these methods is a microwave link. Microwave

STLs involve the installation of a microwave transmitter
and an associated antenna at the station's studios, and a
microwave receiver and associated antenna at the
transmitter site. The antennas used for most microwave
STLs are called parabolic reflector antennas. They are
shaped somewhat like a typical dish antenna but are
generally rectangular in shape.
There are several important issues that stations using

microwave STLs need to consider. One is that the
transmitting antenna at the station's studios needs to have a
good "view" of the receiving antenna at the transmitter site.

131
This means that there cannot be any major obstructions

such as mountains, tall buildings, or even heavy foliage,
between the two antennas which would block, or partially
block, the signal being sent to the transmitter site.
If there are obstructions between the studio site and the

transmitter site which will block the microwave STL signal
to any significant degree, then the broadcaster generally has
three options to consider. The first is to relocate the studio
end of the STL, the transmitter end, or both. This can be
done by actually moving the studio and/or transmitter site,
or by simply moving the STL antennas and making
additional arrangements to get the STL signal from the
studios to the microwave transmitting antenna and/or from
the microwave receive antenna to the transmitter. The
second option is to raise the height of the microwave
transmitting antenna and/or the microwave receive antenna
to that they can each "see" each other over whatever
obstructions are in between them. In some cases, it is
simply not possible, or financially practical, to do either of
these things and the only option left for the broadcaster is to
find a means other than the use of microwave signals to get
the program material from the studios to the transmitter.
The most common means of getting program material to

the transmitter without using microwave transmitting
equipment is to use leased telephone lines. The telephone

132
company is capable of providing broadcast quality links

between studios and transmitters. Broadcasters who use
such links feed their signals into a telephone
company -provided box or boxes at the studio facility, and
they retrieve them from a telephone company terminal at
the transmitter facility. The main advantage of a leased
telephone line is that it enables the broadcaster to get
program material from the studio to the transmitter without
having a line -of -sight path. In most other respects, a leased
line is less desirable than a microwave link.
One of the disadvantages of the leased line is cost. Cost

varies depending on how much capacity is being leased,
and how far it is from the studio to the transmitter, but a
typical stereo connection between a radio studio and a radio
transmitter can run about $200 per month. A microwave
STL system will cost about $10,000 which is about four
years' worth of leased line payments. So, from a long-term
perspective, the microwave link is financially more
attractive than a leased line. (Note that the scales can be
tipped back in favor of the leased line, however, if the
broadcaster must lease additional tower space on which to
install the microwave STL antennas.)
Another disadvantage of the leased line is control in

emergency situations. If, for some reason such as a natural
disaster or a construction accident, the connection between

133
the studio and the transmitter is broken, the broadcaster

using the leased line is at the mercy of the telephone
company repair crew. On the other hand, broadcasters with
microwave STLs have control over their own destinies
when disasters strike because it is up to these broadcasters
to maintain their own equipment.
Regardless of what path the signal takes to get to the

transmitter (simple cable, microwave link, or leased phone
line) there is one other quality of the STL that must be
considered whether it is analog or digital.
If the program material produced at the studio is analog,

and the transmitter accepts an analog input, then an analog
STL can be used without the need for any additional
equipment. If, on the other hand, the program material
produced at the studio is analog, and a digital STL is
employed, then an additional piece of equipment called an
analog -to-digital converter, or A/D converter, is required at
the studio end of the STL. The same is true at the
transmitter end- if the transmitter only accepts analog
inputs, and a digital STL is employed, then a
digital -to -analog converter (D/A converter) is needed at the
transmitter site.
The trend in broadcasting, as in most telecommunications -

related fields, is toward digital equipment. Broadcast

134
studios that have been converted to digital can connect to a

digital STL without the need for an A/D converter.
However, if the data rate of the digital signals used in the
studio is faster than the data rate of the digital STL, then a
device to perform some form of data compression will be
needed at the studio end of the STL. This compression
device takes the incoming digital data stream from the
studios and encodes it in a more efficient manner, thus
enabling the data stream that it sends out to be at a lower
rate than the incoming signal. Some forms of data
compression are lossless, meaning that the original,
uncompressed data stream can be reconstructed in its
entirety from the compressed data. Other forms of
compression are lossy, meaning that some of the data in the
original material is lost for good in the compression
process. The advantage of lossy compression is that it is
generally more efficient (i.e., it permits the compressed data
stream to be sent to the transmitter at a lower rate, and
therefore at less expense). The disadvantage, of course, is
that some of the original data is lost for good. There are
forms of lossy compression, however, for which the loss of
of television)
broadcasters.
-
data is not detectable to the human ear (and eye, in the case
so it is a very attractive option for many

135
Part III: The Transmitter

Site

136
From an engineering standpoint, the transmitter sites for all

types of broadcast facilities (AM, FM and TV) are
generally very similar. As shown in Figure 38, each
transmitter site must have a transmitter to create the
high-powered signal for broadcast, a transmission line to
carry the signal from the transmitter to the antenna, and an
antenna. Although AM, FM and TV transmission facilities
differences between them -

are generally very similar, there are some significant
most notably the different
types of antennas that are used. We will cover antennas
later, after we talk about the transmitter and the
transmission line-but first let's talk about the arrival of
the signal to be transmitted at the transmission site.
\
antenna
transmission
line
4- tower
transmitter
Figure 38: Basic Components of Transmitter Site

137
A signal arrives at the transmitter site via the

studio -transmitter link, or STL, (see Part II for a discussion
of the STL). The STL can be analog or digital. If it is
digital, and the transmitter inputs are analog, then the signal
must be converted to analog using a digital -to -analog (D/A)
converter.
Once the signal has arrived at the transmitter site and gone
through any necessary converters, it is then in one of two
forms -a component signal, or a composite signal. A
component audio signal simply consists of the same audio
signals that travel around the studio. These signals are
essentially the same (except for a slight difference in signal
level) as those that come out of the "line out" terminals on
consists of three separate signals -

home electronics equipment. A component video signal
usually one for red
picture information, one for green, and one for blue; or, one
for monochrome picture information and two used to add
color to the monochrome signal. Component video signals
are used in a number of studio applications, but it is
unusual for a component video signal to be fed from the
studio to the transmitter site because of the additional cost
and complexity involved. Usually the video information
sent to the transmitter site is composite. The NTSC video
standard discussed in Part I is a composite signal (because
it includes all of the video information in a single signal),
and it is in the NTSC composite format that video

138
information is usually sent to an analog television

transmitter site from the studio. The ATSC video standard
discussed in Part I is also a composite signal, and a digital
television signal can be delivered to the transmitter from
the studio in this format.
If a component signal arrives at the transmitter site over the

STL (as is often the case with audio) then it must first be
converted to a composite signal before it can be fed to the
transmitter.
So, you ask, what is a composite signal ... and why is it

needed? Well, a composite signal is, basically, a single
signal which contains all of the information from multiple
component signals. A simple example of a composite
signal is a monophonic audio signal. Most recorded music
nowadays has been recorded in stereo. If a radio station is
broadcasting in mono, and it is playing a stereo recording, it
will want its monophonic signal to include both the left and
right channels from the recording. Consequently, it needs
to take its component signals (the left and right channel
audio) and add them together to make a single signal that
contains both the right and left channel information -a
composite signal.
A monophonic radio signal is a simple example of a

composite signal. Even radio stations that broadcast stereo

139
music need to create a composite signal. The reason is

simple - even though these stations are broadcasting both
left and right channel audio information, they only have one
channel over which to transmit it (their carrier frequency,
e.g., 92.7 MHz). So, they need to somehow combine the
two audio signals they have into a single signal in such a
manner that will permit this single signal to be separated
and heard as two distinct left and right channels by a stereo
receiver- but at the same time will allow monophonic
receivers to hear a single, composite signal that contains
both left and right channel information.
Stereo sound is very prevalent at FM radio and TV

broadcast stations, and it is used to a somewhat lesser
degree in AM radio stations. No matter what type of
broadcast station is involved (AM, FM or TV), all stereo
broadcast systems use the same method of coding and
decoding the left and right audio channel in order to insure
that both stereophonic and monophonic receivers are able
to play their audio.
Because monophonic receivers must still be able to receive

a signal from a stereophonic transmitter, it is not sufficient
to simply transmit a left channel signal and a right channel
signal. Instead, a main program channel must be
transmitted that can be used by a monophonic receiver (i.e.,
the main program signal must consist of both the left and

140
right audio channel) and a stereo program channel must be

transmitted that can be coupled with the main program
channel to produce left and right program material at a
stereo receiver. Figure 39 illustrates the method that
broadcasters use to achieve this objective.
Note how, in Figure 39, a "main" signal can be transmitted

which consists of both the left and right audio channels.
Then, in addition, a supplementary signal is transmitted
which, when added to and subtracted from the main signal,
can be used to produce stereo sound at the receiver.
A monophonic receiver will

receive only this signal.
right left right
2 x left
ADD ADD
Ieft left - rie
p
left
SUBTRACT hUBTRACp 2x rieht
right I + r
transmitter stereo receiver
Figure 39: Block Diagram of Stereo Transmission

System
Before we lose track of where we are, let's review. Thus

far in this Part we have learned that the information to be
transmitted by the transmitter arrives at the transmitter site

141
via the studio -to -transmitter link (STL). We have also

learned that, if the signal(s) which arrive at the transmitter
site are not in composite form, then they must be converted
to composite form before being fed to the transmitter. We
know that conversion to composite form is necessary
because each broadcaster has only one channel over which
to transmit programming.
The Stereo Generator
Whether we are talking about an FM or TV station, the

stereo generator is the piece of equipment that is used to
create the composite stereo signal. A stereo generator will
generally have two inputs - one for left channel audio and
one for right channel audio, and it will have a composite
output which is a one -wire connection that carries the
composite signal. The composite output of the stereo
generator is the left + right signal, the stereo pilot (19 kHz
for FM, 15.734 kHz for TV) and the left - right signal
centered on a frequency that is two times the stereo pilot
frequency.

142
modulation Ç stereo pilot

level main
program stereo
material program
material
4.
t t
0 15 l9 38 53 +100 kHz
FM baseband
Figure 40: Composite Output of FM Stereo Generator
AM stations do not use stereo generators, per se. The

actual combining into a "single wire signal" of the
left + right and left - right signals in an AM stereo system is
done by the exciter. The composite output of the AM
stereo exciter is the left + right signal and the left - right
signal, the latter of which is slightly shifted in time (delayed
behind) the left + right signal to insure that it does not
interfere with monophonic AM receivers. (Stereo AM
receivers know to look for the time -shifted left - right
signal.) The term used to describe this time -shifted signal
is quadrature amplitude modulation. It will be discussed in
a little more depth in the section on subcarrier generators.
If composite audio is fed over the STL, then the stereo

generator will be located at the studio site. If component

143
audio is fed over the STL, then the stereo generator will be
located at the transmitter site.
Typically, the output of the stereo generator is fed into the

exciter (see the section on the exciter below). For stations
that do a lot of audio processing, however, there is
sometimes some additional audio processing equipment
installed between the stereo generator and the exciter,
usually to aid in efforts to make the station's audio sound
louder.
Subcarrier Generators
Subcarrier generators are devices used to add additional

information to a broadcast signal which may or may not be
associated with the broadcaster's main programming. For
example, it is very common for FM radio stations to
transmit paging information via subcarrier. Although less
common, it is also possible for an analog television station
to use a subcarrier to transmit a second audio signal, in
addition to the audio that accompanies its video signal.
Digital television stations can also transmit additional
audio, video, or data signals - however, the way digital
television signals are constructed and transmitted is
completely different from the way analog radio and
television signals are constructed and transmitted,

144
Technically speaking, the capacity to send additional audio,

video and/or data over a digital television channel is not
made available through the use of subcarriers. Instead, the
digital television signal, itself, is simply a series of digital
bits, some of which can be allocated for supplementary
audio, video and/or data. We will talk about the
transmission aspect of digital television a bit later.
The stereo generator (see earlier section) is a subcarrier

generator which generates the stereo pilot signal and the
stereo subcarrier.
A subcarrier is a special type of carrier. It has all of the

characteristics of a carrier, except that it, itself, must be
added to the "host" carrier in order to be delivered to a
receiver. Subcarriers can exist in AM, FM and TV
transmission systems. However, AM radio channels have
- -
very little extra room for subcarriers after the audio is
added so subcarriers are used very little if at all
AM radio systems. On the other hand, subcarriers are very
in
common in FM radio and TV because there is plenty of

extra room for them to be added. Although the limitations
of the AM channel generally prevent AM broadcasters from
using subcarriers, these broadcasters can still transmit
"subcarrier-like" signals using quadrature amplitude
modulation (QAM), which will be explained shortly.

145
One of the most common subcarriers in use today is the

stereo pilot. The stereo pilot is an unmodulated subcarrier
- that is, a subcarrier that does not have any additional
information added to it. The main purpose of the stereo
pilot is to tell receivers that the host FM or analog TV
station is broadcasting in stereo. If an FM or analog TV
station does not transmit the standard stereo pilot signal,
station is broadcasting a monaural program -

then the receivers that receive its signal will assume that the
and they will
not split the received audio into a left and right channel.
Figure 41 shows the 19 kHz stereo pilot in the baseband
spectrum of a standard FM broadcast station. (For the rest
of this discussion about FM/TV subcarriers, we will use the
FM baseband signal for illustrative purposes. The analog
TV aural baseband signal is essentially the same as.the FM
baseband signal, so if you understand how subcarriers are
added to FM signals you also understand how subcarriers
are added to analog TV aural signals.)

146
stereo pilot
modulation
level main
program
material
1
0 15 19 +100 kHz
FM baseband
Figure 41: FM Monophonic Signal with Stereo Pilot
To understand the figures being used here to illustrate FM

subcarriers, it is necessary to understand what the FM
baseband, or FM composite baseband is. The FM
composite baseband signal is the signal that comes out of
the stereo generator (and any subcarrier generators, if they
are used). From 0 to about 15 kHz, it contains the same
range of audio signals that you will find on a typical
equalizer used in a home stereo system. What makes the
composite baseband signal special is that there are
additional signals added to the audible ones, signals that are
just above the range of human hearing and which therefore
cannot be heard by the human ear. These signals are used
to transmit the encoded stereo information, and other
additional information, in the manner described below.

147
The stereo pilot, in addition to being used to alert receivers

to the fact that a station is transmitting in stereo, has
another very important purpose - its harmonics can be
used as other subcarriers, as needed. Harmonics are a
"side -effect" of radio transmissions. They are extraneous
signals, produced on frequencies that are separated from the
main frequency by multiples of itself. The second
harmonic of 19 kHz is (2 x 19 kHz), or 38 kHz. The third
harmonic of 19 kHz is (3 x 19 kHz), or 57 kHz.
In the FM transmission system, the program material

necessary for monaural transmission is transmitted on (i.e.
modulated onto) the main carrier without the use of a
subcarrier. The stereo pilot is the 19 kHz subcarrier, and
the program material necessary to deliver stereo
programming (the "left minus right" signal) is modulated
onto the second harmonic of the 19 kHz stereo pilot (the 38
kHz subcarrier) as shown in Figure 42.)

148
stereo pilot
modulation
level main
progra m stereo
material program
material
I t t
o 15 19 38 +100 kHz
FM baseband
Figure 42: FM Stereophonic Signal
As Figure 42 indicates, the monaural program material

occupies the baseband spectrum from 0 to 15 kHz. The
stereo pilot appears at 19 kHz, and the stereo program
material occupies the baseband spectrum from 15 kHz
below, to 15 kHz above, the 38 kHz subcarrier, which is the
spectrum from 23 kHz to 53 kHz in the FM baseband.
(Note: As shown in Figure 42, the stereo program material
occupies the spectrum from 15 kHz below to 15 kHz above
its 38 kHz subcarrier. The main program material, on the
the FM baseband -
other hand, only occupies the spectrum from 0 to 15 kHz in
it does not extend down to -15 kHz
because, in the baseband, the main program material is not
-
modulated onto any carrier or subcarrier. It is only when
the program material is modulated onto a carrier or
subcarrier that the "plus and minus" effect occurs. For a

149
little more discussion on this "plus and minus" effect, see

the section on the exciter which appears after this one.)
Figure 42 illustrates the fact that an FM stereo signal

actually only occupies a little more than half of the
baseband spectrum allocated to it. The excess channel
capacity that is left over presents a significant opportunity
for FM broadcasters to generate additional income by
leasing out some, or all, of their excess channel capacity to
subcarrier service providers. The same is true for TV
broadcasters, though the subcarrier space available to them
is slightly different than the subcarrier space available to
FM stations.
The three most common FM-band subcarriers in use today

are the 57 kHz, 67 kHz and 92 kHz subcarriers.
Widespread use of the 67 kHz subcarrier began back in the
days when the FCC did not allow subcarriers to occupy any
of the baseband spectrum above 75 kHz. At that time,
centering a subcarrier at 67 kHz allowed it to make
optimum use of available bandwidth and at the same time
remain as far removed from the stereo program material as
possible, as illustrated in Figure 43.

150
stereo pilot
modulation
level main
progra m stereo
material program 67 kHz
material subcarrier
f t T
o 15 19 38 67 +100 kHz
FM baseband
Figure 43: FM Stereophonic Signal with 67 kHz

Subcarrier
In the early 1980s, the FCC modified its rules to allow

subcarrier use of the spectrum from 75 kHz to 99 kHz in
the FM baseband. This has resulted in widespread use of
the 92 kHz subcarrier, which has become a de facto
standard because it allows the subcarrier's operations to
stay below 99 kHz while maintaining a safe separation
distance from a 67 kHz subcarrier. Figure 44 shows the
baseband of an FM station transmitting stereo programming
and two subcarriers (one each at 67 kHz and 92 kHz).

151
stereo pilot
modulation
level main
program stereo
material program 67 kHz 92 kHz
material subcarrier subcarrie
t t t
0 15 19 38 67 92 +100 kHz
FM baseband
Figure 44: FM Stereophonic Signal with 67 and 92 kHz

Subcarriers
In 1993, the National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC)

adopted a standard for transmitting data at 1187.5 bits per
second on a subcarrier at 57 kHz in the FM baseband. This
standard is called the United States Radio Broadcast Data
System (RBDS) Standard. An updated edition of this
standard was adopted by the NRSC in 1998.
The recommended bandwidth for the RBDS signal is

approximately 4 kHz (i.e., 57 kHz ± 2 kHz). It is centered
on 57 kHz because 57 kHz is the third harmonic of 19 kHz,
the FM stereo pilot frequency. This aids in both transmitter
and receiver design because it eliminates the need for a
separate radio frequency oscillator for the RBDS signal.

152
(An oscillator is a circuit that generates a radio frequency

signal.)
The RBDS signal can fit in between a 67 kHz subcarrier

and the stereo program material, as shown in Figure 45.
stereo pilot
modulation
level main d'RBDS subcarrier
program stereo
material program 67 kHz 92 kHz
material subcarrier subcarriei
t t T
0 15 19 38 57 67 92 +100 kHz
FM baseband
Figure 45: FM Stereophonic Signal with 67 and 92 kHz

Subcarriers and RBDS Subcarrier
The composite baseband signal of an analog television

station's audio channel looks very much like the composite
baseband signal of an FM station. In addition to stereo
audio, there are two standardized subcarriers defined for the
TV audio channel. These are the second audio program
(SAP) channel, and the professional (PRO) channel. The
SAP channel is a monophonic audio channel that television
broadcasters can use to transmit any type of audio

153
information they desire. To date, there are not many

broadcasters making use of this channel. The PRO channel
can be used for sending voice or data information. It is a
narrower channel than the SAP channel and therefore only
permits voice transmissions of a quality similar to a typical
telephone line. The PRO channel, like the SAP channel, is
not yet in widespread use. Television broadcasters are not
required to use the SAP or PRO channels if they choose to
transmit subcarriers. They may, instead, transmit
subcarriers on different baseband frequencies if they desire.
An illustration of the typical analog TV station's aural
baseband signal is provided in Figure 46. The frequencies
on the horizontal axis have been rounded off to make the
illustration easier to read.
stereo pilot
modulation
level
stereo
main program
progra m material PRO
materiaI
t
SAP
t
n t
o 15 17 31 46 79 +102 kHz
16 TV aural baseband
Figure 46: TV Aural Baseband Signal

154
As was noted earlier, the AM broadcast channel is

significantly narrower than the FM broadcast channel and
the TV broadcast channel. For this reason, there is an
extremely limited amount of channel capacity available for
AM subcarriers. To illustrate this point, Figure 47 shows
the AM- and FM -band emissions masks defined by the
FCC. The emissions mask is the limit placed on the signal
strength of the broadcast signal, and it is defined over a
range of frequencies surrounding the carrier frequency. For
AM -band stations, the emissions mask is defined in Section
73.44 of the FCC Rules. For FM -band stations it is defined
in Section 73.317. A broadcast station's signal strength at
specific frequencies must decrease as the frequencies
become farther away from the carrier. This is to protect
stations operating on nearby frequencies from interference.

155
-25 dB -25 dB
- r
fcárrier * tárrier *
-201 120 kHz -240 -120 -82.5 82.5 120 240 kHz
-10.2 10.2
AM Mask FM Mask
= maximum spectrum available to broadcasters
Figure 47: Comparison of AM- and FM -Band

Emissions Masks
As Figure 47 illustrates, the radio spectrum available to an

AM station is approximately ten percent of that available to
an FM station. Furthermore, an AM station's program
material (whether the station is broadcasting in monaural or
stereo mode) occupies all of the radio spectrum, and all of
the baseband spectrum, assigned to the station. This makes
it extremely difficult to place a subcarrier in an AM channel
without the subcarrier causing interference to AM
reception. Despite this difficulty, however, methods have
been proposed for installing such subcarriers.
In 1992, the National Radio Systems Committee requested

proposals for an AM enhancement to RBDS. In response
to this request, a proposal was received which described a

156
data subcarrier system for the AM band that called for the
use of data subcarriers at 9.2 kHz and 9.8 kHz above the
AM carrier, at a level well below the main program
material (see Figure 48). Development of this system has
never been completed, however, because it was later
determined that the data subcarriers were audible on
wide -band AM receivers.
proposed AM -band subcarriers

(± 9.2 kHz and ± 9.8 kHz from main carrier)
= spectrum used by stereo program signal
Figure 48: Proposed AM-Band Subcarriers

157
Despite the difficulty in developing an AM -band subcarrier

system that will not interfere with an AM station's main
program material, all is not lost for AM data broadcasting.
Another method for multiplexing (i.e., adding together)
signals in an AM broadcast channel is called quadrature
amplitude modulation, or QAM. This method has been
successfully used for years as a means of allowing AM
broadcasters to transmit auxiliary information.
QAM is a modulation method in which two separate signals

(e.g., a main program signal and an auxiliary data signal, or
a main program signal and a stereo program signal) are
modulated onto two separate carriers that are of the same
frequency, but that are 90° out of phase with one another.
Because they are on the same frequency, they occupy the
same portion of the radio spectrum (e.g., the same AM -
band channel). Because they are out of phase, they can be
detected separately, by two separate receivers (or by a
single AM stereo receiver). Figure 49 shows an example of
a QAM signal.

158
90° (or '4 wave)

phase difference
I wavelength = 360°
"non" AM
signal
signal
level
QUAM
signal
Figure 49: Example of Quadrature Amplitude

Modulation (QAM)
It should be noted that the quadrature signal cannot be

much more than 90° out -of -phase from the main program
signal because, if it were, it would begin interfering with
the in -phase signal. That is, if the peaks of the quadrature
signal were to correspond too closely with the valleys of the
in -phase signal, the two signals would end up canceling
each other out.
So, now we know about subcarriers, and the baseband

signal. It is the baseband signal that gets fed into the
exciter for modulation onto the station's main carrier. In
the case of an analog TV station, there are two baseband

159
signals (audio and video) fed into two exciters for

modulation onto two carriers. To learn about what the
exciter's function is, keep reading.
The Exciter
The exciter is the device that takes the composite signal and
converts it to a radio frequency signal. In the case of AM
radio, the exciter takes the incoming composite signal and
amplitude modulates it onto the carrier frequency used by
the station in question. In FM radio, the exciter takes the
incoming composite signal and frequency modulates it onto
the station's carrier. In analog television, the video exciter
takes the incoming composite video signal and amplitude
modulates it onto the station's video carrier and the
aural exciter takes the incoming audio signal and frequency
modulates it onto the station's aural carrier. In digital
television, there is a single exciter that takes the digital
ATSC data stream and modulates it onto the station's
carrier using amplitude modulation.
Let's look a little more closely at carrier frequencbes, their

relationship to channels, and the different types of
modulation used in broadcasting.

160
Each radio channel contains one carrier, while each analog

television channel contains two carriers - one for audio
information and one for video information, and each digital
television signal contains a single carrier. A carrier is, quite
simply, a signal of a particular frequency to which
additional information is added for delivery to a receiver.
The "additional information," as we have just learned, is
the composite signal. A carrier is called a "carrier" because
it "carries" the program material, in composite form, to the
receiver. It is then up to the receiver to take the composite
signal and convert it back to component form for listening
and/or viewing. In the AM broadcast band, carriers are
frequencies between 535 and 1705 kHz. In the FM band
they are frequencies between 88 and 108 MHz. In the TV
bands they are frequencies between 54 and 72 MHz, 76 and
88 MHz, 174 and 216 MHz and 470 and 806 MHz.
Now that we understand how all broadcast transmitters

have to be fed a composite signal for transmission on their
single carrier frequency (or, in the case of analog TV
stations, their two carrier frequencies), let's take a few
moments to learn about how the various types of
transmission (AM, FM and analog TV and digital TV) are
different. We are going to start with AM and FM
transmission because, once you understand these two,
understanding analog television is easy. Why? Because an
analog television signal is simply composed of one AM and

161
one FM signal. The FM signal that is part of an analog TV

signal is the TV station's audio -
and there is really very
little technical difference between a TV station's audio
signal and an FM radio station's signal. An analog TV
station's video signal is basically very similar to an AM
radio station's signal -
except, of course, that the TV
station is transmitting a series of codes that are used by a
TV receiver to paint a video picture on the screen, while the
AM radio station is transmitting audio information. Once
you understand the basics of AM and FM transmission you
will be able to gain an understanding of analog TV
transmission rather easily. Digital TV transmission is
considerably different than analog TV transmission. We
will discuss digital TV transmission separately, after we
cover analog transmission.
signal +I+l+l signal

--~
level level --
-4
4-
--
t
Fca rier Fcarrier + 10.2 kHz Fcarrier F1+75 kHz
AM FM
(a) (b)
Figure 50: Radio Spectrum Occupied by AM and FM

Signals

162
AM stands for amplitude modulation. In AM

transmissions, program material is modulated onto the
carrier signal in a manner that causes changes in the
amplitude of the carrier signal which correspond to changes
in the volume of the source program material. In AM
transmissions, the frequency of the modulating signal (the
program material) is combined with the carrier to form a
composite signal which, at any particular instant in time,
will have a frequency somewhere between the carrier
frequency minus about 10 kHz and the carrier frequency
plus about 10 kHz. (Remember, a composite signal is a
signal that is formed by adding two or more signals
together. In the case of the composite radio frequency
signal, one can think of the two signals being added as the
carrier and the composite baseband signal.) The reason that
the spectrum occupied by the AM signal extends out from
the carrier by about ± 10 kHz is that the modulating signal
(the program material) is within the audio frequency range
from 0 to about 10 kHz. The reason that the spectrum
occupied by the composite carrier signal extends from
about 10 kHz below the carrier to 10 kHz above the carrier
- instead of simply from the carrier to about 10 kHz above
-
the carrier is that both the program material and the
carrier wave have "upward sloping" and "downward
sloping" components, like the waves on the ocean, and the
composite carrier signal that results from the addition of a

163
particular piece of program material will vary (between

carrier plus modulating program frequency and carrier
minus modulating program frequency) depending on
whether the carrier and the modulating program frequency
happen to be sloping upward or sloping downward at the
instant that they are combined.
In an AM transmission, the bandwidth of the composite

radio frequency signal remains essentially constant (carrier
frequency ± about 10 kHz) while the amplitude of the
composite carrier signal increases and decreases with the
level (volume) of the modulating signal.
FM stands for frequency modulation. In FM transmissions,

program material is modulated onto the carrier signal in a
manner that causes changes in the frequency of the carrier
signal which correspond to changes in the volume of the
source program material. In FM transmissions, the
frequency of the modulating signal (the program material)
is combined with the carrier to form a composite radio
frequency signal which, at any particular instant in time,
will have a frequency somewhere between the carrier
frequency minus about 75 kHz and the carrier frequency
plus about 75 kHz. The reason that the spectrum occupied
by the FM signal extends out from the carrier by about
±75 kHz is that the Federal Communications Commission
has stipulated that this is as much frequency deviation as it

164
will allow in the FM band in order to protect signals on

adjacent channels from interference. As with the AM
signal, the reason that the spectrum occupied by the
composite radio frequency signal extends from about
75 kHz below the carrier to about 75 kHz above the carrier
- -
instead of simply from the carrier to about 75 kHz above
the carrier is that both the modulating signal and the
carrier wave have upward sloping and downward sloping
components, and the composite carrier signal varies
(between carrier plus modulating program frequency and
carrier minus modulating program frequency) depending on
whether the carrier happens to be sloping upward or sloping
downward at the instant that the program material is added.
In an FM transmission, the amplitude of the composite

radio frequency signal remains essentially constant while
the bandwidth of the composite carrier signal increases and
decreases with the level (volume) of the modulating signal.
An illustrative way to picture what happens in an FM

transmission is to imagine a simple tone, say a 1 kHz tone,
as the program material being used to FM modulate a
carrier. Let's imagine that the volume of this tone is
relatively low, so it is not FM modulating the carrier to the
maximum allowed ±75 kHz, but instead it is modulating
the carrier to ±50 kHz. A good way to picture what is
happening in this situation is to imagine a very narrow

165
"spike" of a signal which is bouncing back and forth from

50 kHz above the carrier to 50 kHz below the carrier at a
rate of 1000 times per second (1 kHz). Now, if you
imagine that the volume of the 1 kHz tone is increased to
the maximum level allowed by the FCC, then the "spike"
would be bouncing back and forth from 7.5 kHz above the
carrier to 75 kHz below the carrier at the same rate
times per second.
-
1000
Of course, normal program material consists of many

different frequencies, not just a simple tone. However, the
principle is still the same-each of the individual
frequency components of the program material causes the
composite radio frequency signal to "swing back and forth"
at a rate equal to whatever the frequency of the program
material is, and the distance that the composite radio
frequency signal swings away from the carrier is
determined by the amplitude (volume) of the program
material.
As we noted earlier, analog (NTSC) television signals use a

combination of AM and FM modulation. The video signal
in an analog TV transmission is an AM signal, and the
audio signal is FM. The two major differences between the
AM picture signal in an analog TV channel and an AM
radio signal are 1) the AM picture carrier is carrying video
information instead of audio; and 2) the modulated AM

166
picture signal occupies roughly 25 times as much of the

radio frequency spectrum as a modulated AM radio signal.
FM radio signal
between the two.
-
The FM audio signal in a TV channel is very similar to an
there are only minor differences
The video signal in an analog TV transmission would

actually occupy a lot more than about 25 times the
spectrum of an AM radio signal if it were not for the fact
that the TV signal uses a special form of AM modulation
known as vestigial sideband. Basically, all this means is
that most of the lower half of the TV video signal is not
transmitted (recall that the normal double sideband signal
would extend from the video carrier minus the modulating
frequency to the video carrier plus the modulating
frequency), because the information necessary to recreate
the video picture on a receiver can still be obtained even
with this information missing. The main reason this
channel, as it is, takes up 6 MHz of spectrum -

technique is used is to conserve spectrum. A television
roughly
300 times as much spectrum as an AM radio channel, and
30 times as much as an FM radio channel.
exciters-
As noted earlier, an analog television station will have two
one for video and one for audio. In their most
common configuration, these two exciters will feed their
output signals into two separate power amplifiers. Then,

167
the outputs from the two power amplifiers will be

combined and fed up a single transmission line to a single
antenna.
A digital television station will have a single exciter that

modulates the DTV digital bit stream (which includes all
audio, video and ancillary data being broadcast) onto the
station's carrier frequency. The output of a DTV exciter is
a series of pulses that can each have one of eight different
amplitude levels (-7, -5, -3, -1, 1, 3, 5 and 7). The DTV
exciter will output 10.76 million of these pulses every
second. The fact that each pulse can have one of eight
distinct amplitude levels enables each pulse to represent
three bits of digital data. How is this possible? Table 2
illustrates how it is possible.

168
Table 2: Data Bits Represented by Different DTV Pulse

Levels
Pulse Level Data Bits Represented
#1 000
#2 001
#3 010
#4 011
#5 100
#6 101
#7 110
#8 111
As can be seen in Table 2, three digital bits can be arranged

in eight unique combinations. If each one of these
combinations is assigned to a specific DTV pulse level,
then the 10.76 million pulse -per-second output of a DTV
exciter can represent 10.76 x 3 = 32.28 million bits per
second of digital data.
You may recall from the earlier section on studio

equipment for digital television that the bit rate for the
ATSC data stream is 19.39 million bits per second, and its
payload data rate (the data rate for the actual video, audio
and ancillary data being carried) is 19.28 million bits per

169
second. The obvious question is, why is the data rate

coming out of a DTV exciter so much higher than the data
rate of the actual video, audio and ancillary information
being broadcast?
The reason that the DTV transmitter equipment adds so

much additional data to the broadcast signal is that this
additional data is needed to correct errors that occur in the
transmission path. For example, a common problem with
over-the -air analog television signals is "ghosting," a
phenomenon caused when multiple signals from the same
transmitter arrive at the receiver at slightly different times.
This can happen, for example, when a receiver is receiving
a signal directly from the television transmitter and a
second signal that is leaving the same transmitter, bouncing
off of a mountain or ridge, and then reflecting toward the
receiver. Multiple DTV signals arriving at a receiver in this
manner can interfere with one another and cause reception
to be lost. In order to prevent this from happening error
correction codes are added to the broadcast DTV signal
which help receivers to fix problems caused by
interference.

170
The Power Amplifier
A broadcast transmitter has two basic components: an

exciter and a power amplifier. As we just discussed, the
exciter is the piece of equipment that takes the audio, video
and subcarrier frequency signals received from the studios
and encodes them onto a radio frequency signal for
transmission through the air. Sometimes the exciter is
installed inside the transmitter housing and other times it is
installed in an equipment rack next to the transmitter. An
exciter, by itself, is actually a low power transmitter. It can
be used to broadcast a signal simply by attaching an
antenna to it. Exciters are not nearly powerful enough,
however, to enable a broadcast station to reach its entire
coverage area. So, instead of being fed directly into an
antenna, the output of the exciter is fed into a power
amplifier which greatly increases the power of the radio
frequency signal to be transmitted.
The power amplifier, as one would imagine, is the device at

the transmitter site which uses the most electricity. It must
use a lot of electricity in order to create a very strong signal.
The heart of many power amplifiers is an electron tube
or, in some cases, two or more tubes. In these amplifiers it
-
is the tube that actually does the amplifying. The tube gets
very hot during transmitter operation and must be cooled by

171
a cooling system. Because of the harsh conditions under

which they operate, electron tubes wear out. The speed
with which they wear out varies from tube to tube and
transmitter to transmitter, but they typically have to be
replaced every few years. In order to get away from the
tube -replacement routine, some modem transmitters have
been designed without tubes using solid-state electronics.
Although solid-state transmitters do not require periodic
tube replacement, the electronic components used in their
amplification circuits will still wear out and require
replacement - but typically not for at least a decade or so.
Solid-state electronics have been used very little in the
highest -powered power amplifiers, such as those found in
many UHF TV transmitters, because they are considerably
less efficient than tube amplifiers at these higher powers
and therefore cost the broadcaster too much extra money in
electric bills.
Radio transmitters generally have one signal coming out of

the power amplifier which gets fed to the transmission line.
-
Analog television transmitters generally have two signals
one coming out of each power amplifier (audio and
video), while digital television signals have only signal
coming out of a single power amplifier. In a typical analog
television system, the audio and video signals are combined
at the output of the power amplifier to form a composite
signal which is then fed into a single transmission line. In a

172
typical digital television system no combining is necessary

because there is only a single signal coming out of the
power amplifier. In some cases, where a television
station's analog and digital frequency assignments are on
adjacent channels, combining of the analog and digital
signals is done after the power amplifiers so that the analog
and digital signals can share the same antenna. If the
analog and digital signals are far apart in frequency,
however, sharing of the same antenna is not a plausible
alternative. This is because antennas are designed to
operate most efficiently on specific frequencies, and an
antenna that is an efficient radiator on one frequency will
generally not be an efficient radiator on most other
frequencies.
The Transmission Line
The transmission line that connects the transmitter to the

antenna is generally either a flexible length of coaxial
cable, a rigid piece of coaxial cable, or a waveguide.
The type of coaxial cable that would be used at a broadcast

transmitter site can be thought of as an extremely thick
piece of cable television wire. This cable is usually thicker
than a typical garden hose. It has to be thick in order to

173
handle the high-powered signal from the transmitter

without melting.
Rigid pipes are sometimes used to make a non -flexible type

of coaxial "cable" for use as a transmission line. Rigid
coaxial cables are manufactured by running a piece of metal
pipe through the center of a larger piece of metal pipe, and
keeping the center piece of pipe exactly centered by
installing plastic spacers between it and the outer pipe
throughout the length of the "cable." Rigid coaxial lines, as
their name implies, cannot be bent.
Wave guide is best described as "duct work for radio

frequencies." Waveguide looks a lot like the metal ducts
you might find in a home or office air conditioning system.
The difference, of course, is that air conditioning ducts are
used to transport air from one point to another and
waveguides are used to transport radio frequencies from
one point to another. Because waveguide does not have a
center conductor, nor any of the insulating material
associated with a center conductor, it is the most efficient
type of broadcast transmission line. Being "most efficient"
means that, when waveguide is used, more of the
transmitter's energy makes it to the antenna without being
lost in the transmission line. Waveguide's main
disadvantage is that it is considerably larger than coaxial
transmission lines and therefore is more difficult for a

174
broadcast tower structure to support -particularly when

the wind is blowing. It is most often used in situations
where the transmitter power is very high because its
superior efficiency helps the broadcaster save a significant
amount of money on the monthly electric bill.
The Antenna
At the beginning of Part III we noted that all broadcast
similar-
transmitter sites (AM, FM and TV) are generally very
they each have a transmitter, a transmission line,
and an antenna. While this is certainly true, it is also true
that the broadcast antenna is one thing that differs greatly
from one broadcast service to the next.
To understand why antennas vary widely from one service

to the next, you must first understand two very basic things.
The first is that, in order to operate most efficiently, the
length of any antenna (transmitting antenna or receive
antenna) must be a function of the wavelength of the
transmitted signal. Generally, this means that the antenna
will be somewhere between 1/2 -wavelength and
'4 -wavelength long.
A wavelength is simply the distance in space that one cycle,

or one "wave," of a signal occupies. (Recall our earlier

175
discussion about how a radio/TV signal resembles the

waves on the ocean.) It is easy to calculate the wavelength
of a signal if you know its frequency. The only other bit of
information you need to know is the speed of light, which is
the speed at which all radio and television signals travel.
The speed of light is 300 million meters per second. Let's
calculate the wavelength of some typical broadcast signals:
AM - 1120 kHz
300 million meters/sec _ 1120 thousand cycles/sec = 268 meters/cycle
FM - 98.1 MHz
300 million meters/sec = 98.1 million cycles/sec = 3 meters/cycle
VHF TV - Channel 8 (picture carrier)

300 million meters/sec = 181.25 cycles/sec = 1.7 meters/cycle
UHF TV - Channel 40 (picture carrier)

300 million meters/sec = 627.25 million cycles/sec =' meter/cycle
As the above exercise illustrates, the wavelength of an AM

radio signal is much longer than the wavelength of an FM
radio signal, and the wavelength of an FM radio signal is
significantly longer than the wavelength of a UHF TV
signal. Because of these differing wavelengths, there are
significant differences between the antennas used to
transmit and receive AM, FM and TV signals.

176
Usually, an AM radio station's transmitting antenna is

simply the station's tower. The actual metal structure of
the tower is hot (i.e. energized with electrical energy from
the transmitter) and it can severely shock, and even kill, a
person who walks up to it and touches it while standing on
the ground. For this reason, the FCC requires this type of
tower to have a fence around it that will prevent people
from touching the tower. The height of the tower is
dependent on the transmitting frequency of the AM radio
station. The lower the station's frequency is, the taller the
tower.
Sometimes, multiple AM radio towers are used together as

part of a directional antenna system. Many people have
seen AM DAs, as they are called, while driving down the
road - though they may not have known what they were
looking at. An AM directional antenna involves two or
more tall radio towers standing in a straight line, or
sometimes standing in a parallelogram ("leaning
rectangle") formation. The purpose of the AM DA is to
direct the transmitted energy toward the city of license, but
to block it from traveling toward other cities where it might
cause interference to other licensed stations. Figure 51 and
Figure 52 provide a general illustration of the difference
between a non -directional AM signal and a directional AM
signal.

177
,1I signal
AM antenna community of
(non -directional) license
other community
Figure 51: Example of Non -Directional AM Pattern

178
AM signal
AM antenna
(directional)
other community
Figure 52: Example of Directional AM Pattern
In many instances, AM stations are authorized by the FCC

to operate in a non -directional mode during the day and in a
directional mode at night. The reason for this is that an AM
signal that does not interfere with signals in other
communities during the day may do so at night due to
skywave propagation. For more information about
skywave propagation, and the FCC's methods for ensuring
that it does not result in interference to other broadcast
stations, see Part V.

179
In addition to its directivity, another very important aspect

of an AM antenna is its ground radial system. AM radio
waves travel across the surface of the earth better and
farther when the conductivity of the ground that they are
traveling over is greater. (AM ground conductivity is a
measure of how well the ground in a particular
geographical region conducts, or carries, AM radio signals.
The higher the conductivity, the better the AM signal
travels.) In order to give an AM radio signal a "good start"
as it leaves the transmitter, a series of ground radials must
be installed around the transmitter. These are generally
copper wires that are buried in the ground and extend
outward from the base of the antenna for about 100 meters
(nearly 400 feet) in a pattern similar to the one shown in
Figure 53, except that a standard AM ground radial system
will have 120 equally spaced radials, many more than
shown in Figure 53. The actual length of each ground
radial is a function of the transmitting frequency of the
station. The lower the transmitting frequency, the longer
the radials.

180
Figure 53: Overhead View of AM Ground Radials
Because of their dependence on ground conductivity and

ground radials, AM radio transmitting antennas are usually
found near the communities that they are intended to cover
at approximately the same ground level. FM and TV
transmitting antennas, on the other hand, are usually found
near the communities they are intended to cover but very
high off of the ground. The reason for this is that radio
waves in the FM and TV bands are not as dependent on
ground conductivity as AM band radio waves are, but
instead are much more dependent on being able to "see" the
receivers that they are transmitting to. Another way of
saying this is that FM and TV band signals are "line -of -
sight" signals which perform best when they have an
unobstructed path between the transmitter and receiver.
Generally speaking, as radio frequencies get higher and
higher they become more and more dependent on having a
line -of -sight view between the transmitter and the receiver.

181
To understand this point think about visible light, which

exists at frequencies that are even higher than what are
commonly considered "radio frequencies." Visible light
has a very hard time getting over and around things such as
mountains. FM and TV frequencies, however, have a
somewhat easier time getting over and around mountains
(though they perform best in an environment with no
obstructions), and AM frequencies have an even easier
time.
Because of their significantly shorter wavelength, FM and

TV antennas are much shorter than AM antennas -
typically only a few feet long. They are mounted onto their
supporting structure with clamps and/or other mounting
hardware and then attached to the transmission line which
extends from the transmitter up the tower to the antenna.
Because an FM or TV signal will be able to "see" farther,
and therefore will propagate farther, if its antenna is raised
up higher, the FCC's rules require a broadcaster who has
been authorized for a given power at a given location to
lower the station's transmitter power if the antenna is to be
raised. Conversely, if the antenna is moved to a lower
location on the tower from its originally authorized height
then the transmitter power may be increased. The reason
for this requirement is to help insure that the broadcast
transmitter in question does not cause interference to other
broadcast signals authorized in other communities.

182
You may have heard FM or TV antennas referred to as

"single bay," "2 -bay" or "4 -bay" antennas, etc. The word
bay, in this case, means a single antenna. Another way to
describe a 4 -bay antenna would be to call it a "4 -antenna
antenna system." Multiple bay antennas are often used in
FM radio and TV transmission systems in order to make the
transmission system more efficient or, sometimes, to reduce
the amount of signal that is transmitted towards the ground
in the immediate vicinity of the tower. The more bays that
are added to an antenna system, the more focused the
transmitted signal becomes. For example, Figure 54 shows
how the transmitted signal from a two bay antenna might
differ from the transmitted pattern of an eight bay antenna.
(Figure 54 is intended only to illustrate the concept of
multi -bay transmission patterns and it is not drawn to any
particular scale.)

183
signal from 2 bay antenna
transmitter city of license
nal from 8 bay antenallidi

n
r
transmitter city of license
Figure 54: Effect of Additional Antenna Bays on

FM/TV Signal
The astute reader will realize that a multi -bay FM or TV

antenna operates using the same principles as an AM
directional antenna. The major difference between the
FM/TV multi -bay antenna and the AM directional antenna
(aside from the frequency, and therefore size, difference) is
that the multiple antennas in an FM/TV array are stacked
vertically on the tower while the multiple antennas in an
AM DA are lined up horizontally along the ground. The
result is that the FM/TV multi -bay antenna focuses its
transmitted energy in the up -down direction whereas the

184
AM DA focuses its energy in the north -south (or east-west,

or whatever) direction.
Although the above statements about the directivity of

multi -bay FM/TV antennas, and AM DAs, are generally
true, it should be noted that in some instances it is
desirable, or necessary, to focus an FM/TV signal in a
particular horizontal direction - or an AM signal in a
particular up -down direction. There are antenna systems
that are designed for these purposes, too, using concepts
similar to those described above. Some such adjustments
can be made electronically by adjusting the timing
relationship between the signals that arrive at each of the
antennas in a "multi -antenna antenna system," or antenna
array.
The Remote Control
The vast majority of broadcast transmitters in operation

today are connected to a remote control unit. The most
popular form of remote control device on the market today
is the dial -up remote control. This device acts somewhat
like a telephone answering machine in that it connects to a
phone line and automatically answers incoming calls. The
dial -up unit sits next to the transmitter and is basically a
series of switches that are connected, by extension cable, to

185
the switches that control the transmitter. The transmitter

operator can simply call the remote control unit from any
control unit -
touch tone phone and control the switches in the remote
and, by extension, the switches on the
transmitter-by pressing buttons on the touch tone phone.
More sophisticated dial -up units also permit various

transmitter parameters to be monitored over the phone. For
example, a transmitter operator might call the remote
control unit and press a series of buttons that direct the
remote control unit to report on the transmitter's current
output power.

186

187
Part IV: Remote

Broadcasting Facilities

188
In the television broadcasting industry the predominate

form of remote broadcasting is electronic news gathering
(ENG) operations. In the radio broadcasting industry,
remote broadcasting usually takes the form of small remote
studio setups used for promotional purposes at retail
establishments, county fairs, etc. There really is not a lot to
add about this aspect of broadcasting that is not covered
elsewhere in this book. The cameras, VTRs and
microphones used in ENG operations are essentially the
same as those used in studio applications, and the
microphones and mixing boards used in radio remote
setups are essentially the same as those used in "real" radio
studios. The reason we have a separate Part of this book
devoted to remote broadcasting is that there is one
different from the other things covered in this book

link between the remote location and the studio.
-
important aspect of remote broadcasting which is somewhat
the
The link between a remote location where a news story is

being covered for television and a television studio is
similar to the studio -transmitter link (STL) covered in
Part II. The major difference is that the remote end of this
link is mobile, and usually involves a microwave
transmitter and antenna installed on a van or truck. The
operator of the equipment in the vehicle must aim the
microwave transmitting antenna in the direction of the
studio where the microwave receive antenna is located.

189
The operator must then feed the audio and video from the
camera, microphone, video tape recorder, and/or whatever
other equipment is being used at the remote location into
the microwave transmitter and send it back to the studio. A
lot of coordination must go on between all of the operators
of microwave ENG equipment in a given geographical
region in order to ensure that each microwave link does not
interfere with any of the other microwave links in the
region.
For radio stations, the typical link between a remote studio

setup and the "real" studio is often times not as robust as
the radio station's studio -transmitter link. This is because,
in a typical radio remote broadcast, it is common for the
music (which requires a more robust signal path than voice
because music involves a wider range of audio frequencies)
to be played from the main studio so the link between the
remote location and the main studio only has to carry voice.
Sometimes standard dial -up phone lines are used to connect
the remote location to the studio, other times special phone
lines that are capable of carrying a wider range of
frequencies are employed. Remote pickup units (RPUs) are
also very popular. An RPU is a radio version of television
ENG equipment. It involves a transmitter with a
directional antenna - usually mounted on a van or truck
at the remote site which sends the audio from the remote
-
site back to the main studio.

190

191
Part V: FCC Technical

Rules

192
The FCC's technical rules regarding broadcast stations have

this primary objective: to insure that a broadcast station's
signal does not cause unacceptable amounts of interference
to a) another broadcast station's signal; or b) signals in
other telecommunications services. Another objective of
the FCC's rules is to insure that the signals transmitted by
the nation's broadcasters are of good technical quality.
In order to insure that broadcast stations do not cause

interference to one another, the FCC has adopted complex
rules regarding the allocation of broadcast frequencies to
local communities. These rules are based on the
propagation characteristics of the broadcast signals
involved. These "propagation characteristics" are the
particular qualities of a signal that determine how it
behaves as it travels through the atmosphere (i.e. how far
and in what directions it travels). AM radio stations have
distinctly different propagation characteristics than FM and
TV stations and the FCC has therefore adopted somewhat
different allocation procedures for AM stations than for FM
and TV.
What makes an AM signal so much different than an FM or

TV signal is the need to consider skywave propagation
from an AM transmitter. Skywave propagation is a
phenomenon that occurs after sunset in the AM band when
radio signals bounce off of layers of the Earth's atmosphere.

193
ionoshpere (upper layer of atmosphere)
AM skywave
signal
AM tower
community of license
4 -can be hundreds, even

thousands of miles
_i
distant community
Figure 55: Illustration of AM Skywave Propagation
By bouncing off these layers of the atmosphere, an AM

signal is capable of traveling from its transmitter to a far off
city, while skipping over many places in between. For this
reason, care must be taken when allocating an AM
frequency to a particular location to insure that the new AM
station will not cause unacceptable levels of interference to
distant AM stations because of skywave interference. Due
to the need to protect other AM stations from skywave
interference, the FCC allocates some AM frequencies to
local communities on a "daytime -only" basis. Nighttime
operation is prohibited in order to insure that these stations

194
do not cause skywave interference to other AM stations that

are in other cites. These stations are generally called "AM
daytimers." It is also common for AM broadcasters to be
granted permission to operate at night, but at a much lower
power.
During the daytime, skywave propagation is not an issue for

AM broadcasters. This is because a lower layer of the
Earth's atmosphere that absorbs upward bound AM radio
waves is present during the day, but it disappears at night.
As a result, FCC rules for the daytime operations of AM
broadcasters are designed with the goal of protecting these
broadcasters only from each other's groundwave signals.
An AM station's groundwave signal, as the name implies,
is a signal that travels from the station's transmitter over the
earth at ground level. How well (i.e., how far) the
groundwave signal travels, when transmitter power is held
constant, is a function of the Earth's ground conductivity
over the route being traveled by the signal. Stations located
in parts of the country where ground conductivity is high
will have signals that propagate farther over the Earth's
surface than those in areas of the country where ground
conductivity is low.
Just as ground conductivity is very important to the

propagation of an AM signal, so too is the grounding
system of an AM broadcast antenna. It is very important

195
that an AM antenna have a good system of ground radials

associated with it. These are long lengths of wire that
extend outward from the tower for a distance of
approximately 100 meters (nearly 400 feet). The actual
length of a particular station's ground radials will be
dependent on the station's transmitting frequency. These
ground radials help to insure a good relationship between
the AM antenna system and the Earth's ground. This
relationship is very important because, as we just discussed,
an AM signal travels better in areas where there is good
ground conductivity. Having a poor connection to the
Earth's ground is essentially the same as decreasing the
ground conductivity in the surrounding area.
While skywave propagation of AM signals occurs only at

night, groundwave propagation occurs during all hours of
the day. So, while the FCC generally only needs to
consider skywave propagation when determining an AM
station's nighttime operating parameters, it must consider
groundwave propagation for both daytime and nighttime
operating parameters.
The FCC's rules for allocation of FM radio channels are

much different than the rules for AM channels because the
propagation characteristics for FM radio signals are much
different than those for AM. For FM radio, skywave
propagation is not an issue. Furthermore, groundwave

196
propagation is not an issue either. Now, you may be asking

yourself how an FM signal gets from an FM transmitter,
which is relatively close to the ground, to an FM receiver,
which is also relatively close to the ground, without
groundwave propagation. Well, the answer is that there is a
subtle difference between the way an AM groundwave
signal travels and the way an FM signal travels. The AM
signal literally follows the Earth's surface, going up and
down over hills, etc. How well it propagates, as we just
learned, is a function of the conductivity of the Earth's
surface over the distance it is traveling. An FM signal, on
the other hand, travels in a line -of -sight path. Its
propagation is generally not dependent on the conductivity
of the land it is traveling over. Further, an FM signal has a
tendency to reflect off of the Earth's surface on those
occasions when it encounters the Earth's surface. It will
also reflect off of large manmade objects, such as building
and even some vehicles such as airplanes and buses. An
FM transmitter located in an area where there are a lot of
mountains or large hills will have major propagation
problems for two reasons.
First, the signal from an FM transmitter located on one side

of a mountain will have a hard time reaching the other side
of the mountain because the mountain will block the FM
signal. Second, as the mountain blocks the FM signal it
reflects some of the transmitted energy off into a different

197
direction from that in which it was originally traveling.

This results in a phenomenon called multipath interference
which, as the name implies, is a type of interference
experienced by FM receivers when they receive two or
more signals from the same FM transmitter, one via one
path and another via a second path. An illustration of a
multipath interference situation is provided in Figure 56.
Although these two signals are, in most respects, the same
- because they come from the same transmitter - they
appear to the receiver as if they are two different signals
because they are slightly out of synch (i.e., one of them
arrives at the receiver a small fraction of a second before
the other).
It is the fact that the two signals are out of synch that causes
them to interfere with one another. This type of
interference often manifests itself as the picket fencing
effect that many motorists notice on their car radios as they
pull up to a stop light. The picket fencing, or fading in and
out of the signal, is caused when the two or more signals
involved alternate between causing a lot and a little
interference, depending on exactly where the receiver is.

198
transmitter
reflected path signal
direct path
iena)
B
receiver
Figure 56: Illustration of Multipath Interference
The FCC's allocation procedure for FM radio stations takes

into account the general layout of the land around the
proposed antenna site, and the distance between the
proposed antenna site and other FM stations on the same
and adjacent channels. At the lower end of the FM band,
which is very close in frequency to TV channel 6, the
distance to the nearest TV channel 6 transmitter is also
taken into account. As long as the signal of the proposed
FM station is far enough away from other stations on the
same and adjacent channels that it will not interfere with
these other stations, the FCC will allocate the frequency for
the proposed station. The FCC has specific separation
distance requirements in its rules that it uses to determine
whether or not a proposed station is far enough away from
existing stations.

199
TV signals propagate in basically the same manner as FM

signals. The multipath effect referred to above with regard
to FM signals also has an impact on NTSC (analog) TV
audio and video signals. Multipath interference will cause
distortion in the received audio signal from an NTSC TV
station, and it will cause the ghosting effect that many
people have experienced in their received TV video.
Ghosting occurs when two or more video signals from the
same NTSC TV transmitter arrive at the receiver at the
same time, causing multiple images (ghosts) to be painted
on the screen. ATSC (digital) TV signals are immune to
ghosts caused by reflected signals because digital television
signals contain digital codes that enable a receiver to lock
on to one specific signal for reception. Because DTV
receivers can lock on to one specific signal and ignore all
other reflected versions of the same signal, ghosting is not a
problem for DTV.
You may recall from our discussion about NTSC video in

Part I that one of the signals that can be transmitted in the
vertical blanking interval by an analog television station is
a ghost canceling signal. This special signal is used by
analog receivers equipped with ghost canceling circuitry to
combat problems caused by multipath reception in TV
receivers.

200
Because the propagation characteristics of TV signals are

so similar to those for FM signals, the FCC uses a
substantially similar procedure for determining whether or
not a proposed TV channel can be allocated to a particular
community. It considers the power and height of a
proposed TV transmitter to determine if it will interfere
with existing signals.
In addition to having standards which keep different

broadcast signals on the same or adjacent channels
geographically separated, the FCC also has rules which are
intended to insure that each broadcaster's signal stays
separated in frequency from its neighbors. These are the
FCC's modulation limits, and they help to insure that one
station's signal does not bleed over into the channels of
other stations located next to it on the dial.

201
Conclusion
You made it! This tutorial is now complete! To sum

everything up nice and neatly, we have learned that the
basic engineering components of a broadcast facility are the
studio, the studio -to -transmitter link, and the transmitter.
We have learned about the major components of broadcast
studio and transmitter sites, and we have seen how they
connect together to produce the over -the -air signal. We
have also seen that AM, FM and TV facilities have a lot in
common, but that there are some very important differences
among them.
To be sure, there are many specialized pieces of broadcast

equipment that we have not covered here (to cover
everything would require a multi -volume set of books!) but
what we have covered gives us a very good understanding
of the basic engineering aspects of a broadcast facility.
broadcast engineering issues

from this book will enable you to
-
We hope that you now feel more comfortable discussing
and that the things learned
do whatever it is you do
more effectively.

202

203
Index
multicasting, 91
-A- pixel, 76
video formats, 92
A/D converter, 21, 133 audio delays, 106
AC -3 (Dolby Labs), 97 audio for DTV, 96
Advanced Television Systems audio mixing board, 21
Committee, 61 audio processing equipment, 47
Advanced Television Systems clippers, 50, 56
Committee (ATSC), 73 compressors, 50
AES/EBU digital format, 34, 43 equalizers, 50
AM (amplitude modulation), 162 expanders, 50
AM antenna, 176 limiters, 50, 56
AM broadcast band, 160 audio servers, 46
AM directional antenna system, audio -video synchronization. 106
176
AM emissions mask, 154
AM ground radials, 179, 195
-B-
AM radio signal, 162 baseband signal
amplitude modulation (AM), 162 AM, subcarrier, 156
analog -to-digital (A/D) converter, FM, 145, 146
21, 133 FM, 67 kHz & 92 kHz
antenna subcarriers, 150
relationship to wavelength, 174 FM, RBDS subcarrier, 152
antennas, 174 FM, stereo pilot & stereo
AM, 176 signal, 147
FM and TV, 180 TV aural, 145, 152
ATSC, 61 TV, professional (PRO)
ATSC (Advanced Television channel, 152
Systems Committee), 73 TV, second audio program
ATSC video signals, 73 (SAP) channel, 152
ancillary data, 95 B-frame (bi -directionally
audio, 96 predictive coded frame), 82
compression, 79 bias, 10
frame rate, 88 bias signals, 9
frames, 82 bi -directionally predictive coded
interlacing, 90 frame (B -frame), 82

204
bit rate (digital audio), 40 compression, 54

buffering (ATSC video), 86 ATSC video signals, 79
threshold of compression, 56
-C- compression (digital audio), 41

compression algorithm, 79
camera tube, 117 compressors, 50
cameras, 117 computer video systems, 66
camera tube, 117 computers, 32
CCD (charge coupled device), AES/EBU digital format, 34
117 servers, 46, 57, 126
color, 119 CRT (cathode ray tube), 68
pickup tube, 117 cue tones, 6
three -imager prism type
separation system, 119
carrier, 144, 160
-D-
cart machine, 5, 6 D/A converter, 133, 137
cassette deck, 8 DAs (distribution amplifiers)
cathode ray tube (CRT), 68 audio, 45, 57
CCD (charge coupled device), 117 video, 124
CD players, 17, 19 data compression, 134
analog outputs, 20 lossless, 134
digital outputs, 20 lossy, 134
CDs, 19 delays
CGs (character generators), 116 audio, 106
character generators (CGs), 116 video, 106
charge coupled device (CCD), 117 digital audio, 34
chroma key system, 120 bit rate, 40
chromium dioxide (CrO2) tapes, 9 compression, 41
clippers, 50, 56 resolution, 34
closed captioning, 73 sampling rate, 39
coaxial cable transmission line, digital audio tape (DAT), 17
172 digital STL, 133
compact disc (CD) players, 17, 19 digital -to -analog (D/A) converter,
error correction system, 20 133, 137
compact discs (CDs), 19 directional antenna system
component audio signal, 137 AM, 176
component video signal, 120, 137 distribution amplifiers
composite audio signal, 141 video, 124
composite signal, 138 distribution amplifiers (DAs)
composite video signal, 120, 137 audio, 45, 57

205
video, 124 FM (frequency modulation), 163

Dolby AC-3 audio for DTV, 97 FM antennas, 180
Dolby® noise reduction FM baseband signal, 145, 146
technology, 15 FM broadcast band, 160
double sideband, 166 FM composite baseband signal,
dynamic range, 9 146
FM emissions mask, 154
-E- FM radio signal, 163

frame
EAS (Emergency Alert System) ATSC video, 82
equipment bi -directionally predictive
radio, 58 coded (ATSC video), 82
television, 126 intracoded (ATSC video), 82
electron gun, 68 predictive coded (ATSC
electron tube, 170 video), 82
electronic news gathering (ENG), frame (NTSC video), 61
188 frequency deviation, 163
Emergency Alert System (EAS) frequency modulation (FM), 163
equipment
radio, 58
television, 126
-G-
emissions mask genlock, 105
AM, 154 ghost canceling signal, 72
FM, 154 ghosting, 199
ENG (electronic news gathering), ground conductivity, 179, 194
188 ground radials, 179, 195
equalizers, 50 groundwave signal, 194
exciter, 159
audio, 143
expanders, 50
-H-
expansion, 54 hard disk -based digital systems,
threshold of expansion, 56 32
harmonics, 147
-F- headphones, 25
horizontal blanking interval, 69
FCC technical rules
for AM radio, 192
for FM radio, 195
-I-
for TV, 200 I-frame (intracoded frame), 82
objective of, 192 intracoded frame (I -frame), 82

206
-L- noise reduction technology, 8

NRSC (National Radio Systems
leased telephone line STL, 131 Committee), 151
letterboxing, 78 NTSC, 61
limiters, 50, 56 NTSC video signals, 61
closed captioning, 73
-M- fields, 63
frame, 61
magnetic tape ghost canceling signal, 72
Type I, 11 horizontal blanking interval, 69
Type II, 11 interlacing, 62
Type III, 11 refresh rate, 64
Type IV, 11 vertical blanking interval
master control board, 122 (VBI), 68
master synch generator, 105 NTSC video systems
matte system, 120 comparison with computer
microphones, 25 video systems, 66
condenser, 28
dynamic moving coil, 27
ribbon, 27
-o-
microwave STL, 130 opportunistic data (ATSC video),
mixing board 96
audio, 21 oscillator, 152
video, 122 overmodulation, 53
modulation, 50
FCC limit, 53
FCC limits, 50
-P-
relationship to volume, 50 parabolic reflector antennas, 130
Moving Pictures Experts Group P -frame (predictive coded frame),
(MPEG), 94 82
multicasting (ATSC video), 91 pickup tube, 117
multipath interference, 197 pixel (ATSC video), 76
multiplexing, 157 portable cassette, 5
power amplifier, 170
-N- predictive coded frame (P -frame),
82
National Radio Systems PRO (professional) channel, 152
Committee (NRSC), 151 professional (PRO) channel, 152
National Television Systems progressive scan (ATSC video),
Committee, 61 90

207
-Q- speakers, 25, 30

splicing, 6
QAM (quadrature amplitude splicing tape, 6, 16
modulation), 142, 144, 157 stereo audio, 139
quadrature amplitude modulation stereo generators, 141
(QAM), 142, 144, 157 stereo pilot, 145
STL (studio-transmitter link), 130,
-R- 137
digital, 133
RBDS Standard, 151 leased telephone line, 131
receiver, television microwave, 130
electron gun, 68 studio
receivers, television radio station, 4
cathode ray tube (CRT), 68 television station, 60
recordable CDs, 17 studio -transmitter link (STL), 130,
reel-to-reel, 6, 16 137
remote control, 184 digital, 133
remote pickup unit (RPU), 189 leased telephone line, 131
rigid coaxial cable transmission microwave, 130
line, 173 subcarrier, 144, 148
routing switchers, 124 subcarrier generators, 143
RPU (remote pickup unit), 189 synch generator, 105
-s- -T-
tape coatings, 9
sampling rate (digital audio), 39
SAP (second audio program) tape players/recorders, 5
channel, 152 bias, 10
second audio program (SAP) bias signals, 9
channel, 152 cart, 5, 6
servers, 57 cassette deck, 8
audio, 46 cue tones, 6
video, 126 digital audio tape (DAT), 17
signal-to-noise ratio, 15 Dolby® noise reduction
skywave propagation, 192 technology, 15
SMPTE time code, 110 equalization, 12
Society of Motion Picture and equalization time constant, 14
Television Engineers noise reduction, 9
(SMPTE), 110 portable cassette, 5
solid-state transmitters, 171 reel-to-reel, 6, 16

208
splicing, 6
tape coatings, 9
-U-
telephone hybrids, 25, 46 United States Radio Broadcast
television cameras, 117 Data System (RBDS) Standard,
camera tube, 117 151
CCD (charge coupled device),
117
color, 119 -V-
pickup tube, 117 VBI (vertical blanking interval),
three -imager prism type 68, 70
separation system, 119 authorized transmissions
television receiver within, 72
electron gun, 68 definition of lines, 71
television receivers vertical blanking interval (VBI),
cathode ray tube (CRT), 68 68, 70
television signal, 165 authorized transmissions
three -imager prism type separation within, 72
system, 119 definition of lines, 71
threshold of compression, 56 vestigial sideband, 166
threshold of expansion, 56 video delays, 106
timing of video signals, 101 video formats (ATSC video), 92
transmission line, 172 video mixing board, 122
coaxial cable, 172 video servers, 126
rigid coaxial cable, 173 video signal
waveguide, 173 component, 120
transmitter, 136 composite, 120
electron tube, 170 video signals
exciter, 159 audio video synchronization,
power amplifier, 170 106
remote control, 184 genlock, 105
solid state, 171 synch generator, 105
TV antennas, 180 timing, 101
TV aural baseband signal, 145, video tape recorders (VTRs), 109
152 1 inch C format, 111
TV broadcast bands, 160 Betacam format, 115
TV signal, 165 BetacamSP format, 115
Type I recording tape, 11 D- I format, 112
Type II recording tape, 11 D-2 format, 114
Type III recording tape, 11 D-3 format, 115
Type IV recording tape, 11 digital Betacam format, 115

209
DVC Pro format, 115 digital Betacam format, 115

M format, 115 DVC Pro format, 115
M -II format, 115 M format, 115
VTRs (video tape recorders), 109 M -II format, 115
inch C format, l
-w-
1 1 1
Betacam format, 115

BetacamSP format, 115
D-1 format, 112 waveguide transmission line, 173
D-2 format, 114 wavelength, 174
D-3 format, 115

.___ __ ,.,,,....".,,4._ _....._.
I
i N
*3848*
Price: $29,97 EACH
DESC' BROADCAST ENGINEERING TUT
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Item #3848 C
ISBN 0-89324-275-6

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NrAt

Many times, people without engineering backgrounds need

In this second edition, new material has been added to

A Broadcast Engineering Tutorial for Non -Engineers

We hope that the information in these pages will help to

NAB Science and Technology Department

National Association of Broadcasters

PART I: THE STUDIO 3

A Broadcast Engineering Tutorial for Non -Engineers

PART II: THE STUDIO -TRANSMITTER LINK 129

PART III: THE TRANSMITTER SITE 135

PART IV: REMOTE BROADCASTING

PART V: FCC TECHNICAL RULES 191

National Association of Broadcasters

In its most general form, a broadcast station consists of two

Part III will cover the transmitter site -

A Broadcast Engineering Tutorial for Non -Engineers

All three types of broadcast facility (AM, FM and TV) are

And now, on to Part I.

National Association of Broadcasters

Part. I: The Studio

A Broadcast Engineering Tutorial for Non -Engineers

Many people may find it easiest to understand the operation

typical home stereo -

The following is a list of some of the equipment that one is

'I Cart ("cartridge") players/recorders

National Association of Broadcasters

In many modern radio studios, analog equipment has been

Analog Tape Players/Recorders

Cart, cassette and reel-to-reel players/recorders all have one

A Broadcast Engineering Tutorial for Non -Engineers

news interviews. A reel-to-reel machine, because of its

The type of tape used in a tape player/recorder varies from

National Association of Broadcasters

Figure 1: Cue Channel on Stereo Cart Tape

The cue tones are detected by the cart machine when it is

A slightly more advanced type of cart machine puts another

A Broadcast Engineering Tutorial for Non -Engineers

another cart machine. In this manner, a group of cart

Most people are very familiar with the operation of a

A cassette deck basically operates in the same manner as a

The narrower tape in a cassette, and its generally slower

National Association of Broadcasters

1. developed tape coatings that increase the maximum

2. introduced bias signals to the recording/playback

3. developed noise reduction (equalization) circuits -- the

The type of magnetic coating used on a recording tape is

Tapes that use coatings with chromium dioxide (Cr02) as

A Broadcast Engineering Tutorial for Non -Engineers

greater signal levels to be stored on a tape without

The material on a recording tape is magnetic, and the tape

In order to overcome this weak signal distortion problem, a

National Association of Broadcasters

predictably, even when the audio being recorded is at a low

As one might imagine, the amount of bias required to

Although the above generalizations regarding tape type and

Because the tape head only needs to alter the orientation of

A Broadcast Engineering Tutorial for Non -Engineers