By Brian Galante
RAYMOND, ME. — It was first shared at a special June “Radiovana” event attended by RBR+TVBR and top engineering and technology leaders from across the radio and television broadcasting industry. Now, it is being brought to market just ahead of the IBC2025 conference and expo in Amsterdam, courtesy of Sinclair-owned Dielectric.
High-efficiency RingMaster antenna systems are now being shipped, and it gives radio broadcasters with FM stations what Dielectric says are more economical, efficient and adaptable solutions for side-mount systems.
An industry-first FM master antenna product is coming later this year.
RingMaster, says Dielectric, “is essentially a groundbreaking design concept for Dielectric’s proven series of DCR side-mounted ring antennas. With five models to serve specific power requirements, the already lightweight DCR Series takes on a new shine through powerful reductions in system complexity and tower load. These new industry benchmarks are achieved through streamlined builds that use up to 33 percent fewer components, largely through reduced radiating elements.”
The reduction in radiating elements correlates with a groundbreaking design that allows broadcasters to achieve the rich, detailed audio quality of full FM bandwidth with innovative wavelength spacing. To date, that has only been achievable with “half-wave spacing,” which essentially doubles the number of antenna bays – with a ring style antenna, that means more rings on the stick, along with heavier weights and higher costs. Many stations instead choose full-wave spacing to reduce weight, costs and complexity with the tradeoff being a much narrower audio frequency response.
RingMaster lays the tradeoff to rest with a convergence of spacing elements that incorporates full and half-wavelength spaced arrays. “Half-wave bays are spaced closer together and behave as a single bay, which enables full FM bandwidth,” said Dielectric President Keith Pelletier. “The RingMaster design uses half-wave spaced arrays in key areas of the system to achieve full FM bandwidth. The breakthrough comes with a transition to full-wave spacing at a very precise point, maintaining full FM bandwidth through the remainder of the system with fewer parts.”
RingMaster antennas also give customers near complete control in shaping elevation patterns. The technology improves elevation pattern control through design flexibility, including simplified vertical shaping. These improvements eliminate the traditional methods required to maintain uniform radiating phases throughout a broadcast market.
Pelletier noted that the first RingMaster systems are now live and operational in the field, with announcements of earlier customers to come – along with news on the second innovation in the series that changes the game for FM master system design.
