Innovative RF scores at UEFA

The television coverage of big sporting events usually pushes the limits of what’s technically possible, and the 2008 UEFA Championships were no exception. The matches were held in eight stadiums in two countries: Austria and Switzerland and the coverage, of course, required all the usual roving close-up shots whilst the production was all in HD 1080i format.

Presteigne Charter Ltd was awarded the contract to supply and run the complete RF package for the event. This required providing eight HD Link systems with full telemetry camera control for the LDK8000 cameras.

A last minute decision by UEFA to include helicopter camera coverage for every match, involved Presteigne Charter supplying a further four HD Link systems including electrically operated antenna actuator arms (mounted on the skids) for optimum coverage.
Providing the best possible service for this prestigious event involved not only wrestling with the increasingly limited available RF spectrum, but also taking the opportunity to deploy a revolutionary new RF camera system. This could make the links easier to operate and enhance performance while nailing the last remaining glitches that still occasionally crept into RF camera links.

Working closely with RF camera link specialists Link Research Ltd, the two companies achieved a quality of coverage that, when it was all over, drew praise from their customer – UEFA.

Although most of Presteigne Charter’s microwave links operate between 1.9 and 2.7GHz, it also used some 3.5GHz equipment at the Championships as the lower frequencies became increasingly under pressure with interference from other devices including 3G phone networks. The other big step was to change the way the link worked between the receive site and the OB truck. Conventionally there is a considerable amount of equipment at the receive site, which is usually remote (in the stadium) and often requires human operation for control of the receiver parameters. The signals are then transported back to the OB site using traditional triax camera cable (maximum distance up to 800m).

The new approach hugely reduces the receive site equipment by having just a simple set-up of the receive antenna down converters and optical transmitters to send the signal over a SMPTE hybrid fibre optic cable to the OB site. This means all the receiver controls are sited at the OB site where the operator can accurately monitor the link performance and so make instant adjustments – completely transforming the way the RF engineers work. The result is a greatly simplified operation and a much enhanced reliability.

These innovative measures enabled a one hundred percent success rate from start to finish on every match. This included live coverage of every single match and there was not one single glitch on any of the games which is a considerable achievement for radio cameras. Together, the use of 2.5 and 3.5GHz HD links along with the RF over-fibre receiver solution achieved the perfect RF results – a point noticed by UEFA.