RBR + TVBR TECHNICAL NEWS
SARASOTA, FLA. — A Hot Talker in the Tampa Bay market is getting a cool down at its transmitter.
It’s a move Cox Media Group has done following the inaugural deployment at an Alternative clustermate of a GatesAir Flexiva FLX liquid-cooled solid-state transmitter.
WHPT-FM 102.5 “The Bone,” a Sarasota-licensed facility targeting the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater market, is now using what GatesAir calls its “high-efficiency liquid-cooled transmission technology.”
Alternative WSUN-FM 97.1, licensed to Holiday, Fla., began using the Flexiva FLX in early 2016.
The WHPT transmitter, which went on the air Thursday, Nov. 3, is part of a C-Suite commitment at Cox Media Group to reduce its company-wide carbon footprint. The transition to more cost- and energy-efficient liquid-cooled technology for higher power FM correlates with other initiatives across the parent organization to reduce waste and electricity use.
“We see a strong potential for ROI when it comes to liquid-cooled technology in FM radio,” said Roz Clark, Sr. Director/Engineering of Radio for Cox Media Group. “The capital investment, operational investment and electrical costs associated with moving heat around are reduced, as liquid can cool transistors far more effectively with air. We will pay a little more up front if there a realistic payback period that also reduces our carbon footprint.”
Cox Media Group partially influenced GatesAir to develop the FLX solid-state line, given the success of liquid-cooling in TV transmission technology, and less successful efforts to liquid-cool FM tube transmitters due to the increasing challenges of working with tubes.
As GatesAir’s latest innovation in liquid-cooling technology, the FLX uses a novel heat-to-liquid transfer process that efficiently removes heat from the RF plant, and reduces traditional air conditioning requirements and cooling costs. The technology further slims down an already minimal footprint by integrating low-noise pump modules within the cabinet. This provides additional ROI value for broadcasters who share or lease space in RF plants.
WHPT’s FLX transmitter is now delivering 34kW of analog FM and 1.3kW of HD Radio, Gates noted. It is a Class C licensed for 100kw.
Rich Redmond, chief product officer at GatesAir, commented, “These latest innovations in reducing size, costs and cooling requirements are delivering immediate results and an accelerated ROI for customers like Cox Media Group that are committed to a more energy-efficient operation.”
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