This is a four (4) station constant impedance FM combiner system for four Full Service FM stations. The operating frequencies of the FM stations in the combiner system and collocated with the Master FM Antenna these four station will use are all closely spaced channels so the band pass filters in the system are all four-pole and include optional non-adjacent coupling loops to provide additional suppression at the band edges of each filter bank while reducing group delay variation. 
This ERI Model MPX-8C Medium Power ROTOTILLER® FM Antenna is tuned and painted and heading for packing. This FM antenna is bound for Fairbanks, Alaska, to be used by KUAC-FM, the University of Alaska-Fairbank’s NPR member FM station. The antenna will be installed on Ester Dome near North Pole, Alaska.
This is one element of a new 1193-6CP-DA directional FM panel antenna which includes eighteen 1190 FM panel elements configured as three curtains of six layers (bays) each. The system has completed pattern development and range testing at ERI test range. The next step is to fully assemble and tune the array and then it will be packed and shipped to site.
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Nick Paulin, ERI Product Engineering Manager, presented an expanded version of his NAB Broadcast Engineering and Information Technology Conference (BEITC) paper at ERI’s 26th Annual NAB Broadcaster’s Breakfast held on April 11, 2018 during NABSHOW2018 in Las Vegas. This presentation provides an overview of the design process and considerations for designing an FM channel combining system that can allow 19 FM Radio stations operating with -10 dBc IBOC simultaneously from a master FM antenna and combiner system. The antenna, transmission line, and combiner design criteria are discussed and the Empire State Building Auxiliary Master FM Antenna and Combiner system are highlighted. A copy of the presentation slides can be found at: Designing a 19 Station Broadcast System – Nicholas Paulin
President and CEO of ERI, Tom Silliman, presented ‘Signs of End of Life: FM Antennas and Transmission Line Systems’ at the 2018 Public Radio Engineering Conference. His paper and presentation explored the indications and symptoms of FM antenna and transmission line systems that require replacement as they are at or near end of life. The paper included a discussion of symptoms of system impairment, recommended inspection procedures and methods, system test and measurement procedures and interpreting their results, and environmental and structural support circumstances that impact antenna and transmission line system life. A copy of the presentation slides can be found at: Signs of End of Life, FM Antenna & Transmission Line Systems – Tom B. Silliman
WEHT NEWS25, ABC’s affiliate serving Evansville Indiana, has completed the construction of its post transition digital television transmission facilities. The construction of WEHT’s final digital transmission system was complicated by its change from its assigned out-of-core pre-transition, RF Channel 59 to RF Channel 7. Until the June 12, 2009, digital transition deadline, Channel 7 was occupied by the FOX affiliate, WTVW’s, NTSC analog signal.
Electronics Research, Inc. provided the new main and auxiliary digital television antennas for WEHT, as well as structural engineering services, tower reinforcement materials, and installation services. The WEHT tower was originally constructed in 1966 and is co-located with WEHT’s studio facilities in Henderson Kentucky. The new antenna required for WEHT’s post transition digital operations on a VHF RF channel was larger and heavier than the channel 25 analog antenna and thus required a complete tower inspection, including ultrasonic inspection of the guy wire anchors, and a tower reinforcement design to support the new digital antennas and handle the erection stresses associated with their installation.
The reinforcement design brought the tower structure into compliance with the ANSI/TIA-222 standard and required the replacement of three (3) guy levels with stronger bridge strand wire. In addition to the new guy wires the reinforcement project also included the fabrication and installation of split pipe reinforcements on most of the tower legs and upgrading the tower cross bracing. The final portion of the makeover was the replacement of the top 30-foot section of the tower with a brand new tower section that included a mounting flange for the new ERI TRASAR television antenna.
The new top mounted antenna is an ERI model ATW9V3-CTO-7 TRASAR, circularly polarized, coaxial slotted array antenna. The antenna was designed and fabricated at ERI’s manufacturing facility in Chandler, Indiana, approximately 20 miles from WEHT’s studio and tower complex. In addition to the top mounted main antenna, ERI supplied and installed a side mounted standby antenna which was used to maintain over the air broadcasts immediately following the June 12 transition date while the tower reinforcement project was underway.
WEHT was Evansville’s first television station, signing on in 1953, on Channel 50. Gilmore Broadcasting acquired the station in 1964 and moved it to Channel 25. WEHT has been Evansville’s ABC affiliate since 1995. Shortly after initiating its post transition digital transmissions WEHT activated a second digital channel as an affiliate of the Retro Television Network, branded as RTV 25 on digital channel 25.2. In addition, to RTV’s network programming WEHT also produces a 9:00 PM edition of its local news program, NEWS25.
Located in downtown Minneapolis the communication towers on top of the IDS Center, 910-feet (277-meters), are the highest point in the State of Minnesota. ERI provided a 12-Bay AXIOM Master FM Antenna which serves as a combiner auxiliary FM antenna system for a number of major FM radio stations who formerly broadcast from this as their main transmitter site. They now use the IDS as a backup in case their primary location in Shoreview, Minnesota were to fail or when shut down for maintenance. The AXIOM Master FM Antenna is a broadband side mounted antenna that can be configured to handle a combined power levels up to 240 kilowatts. The communication spires on top of the building tower to 910 feet (277.3 m), making them the highest point in Minneapolis. The top of the IDS is also used for microwave transmission and reception by WCCO-TV, KSTP-TV, KMSP-TV, and KARE news trucks, in order to relay video to their stations.
