Ecreso FM Transmitters - Maciej Lipiński
Ecreso FM Transmitters Chosen for Relocated Facilities and Transmitter Site Upgrade for Radio ESKA
For a broadcast service provider, every installation is important. A happy broadcast customer with a performing, reliable network is critical to securing future business and an unhappy one, well that can damage your reputation significantly. This is especially true for a new company such as ours, established in 2013 to challenge an existing competitor who served over 90% of the Polish broadcast market.
For BCAST to build our reputation as a reliable partner, we need to select reliable suppliers, particularly when it comes to installing transmitters, one of the most critical elements within the broadcast chain.
Therefore when approached by the broadcaster Radio ESKA, technically one of the most popular music stations in Poland based on power & signal range, to assist them with the relocation of their station facilities and upgrade of transmitter site we knew the equipment selection would be crucial.
We chose Ecreso FM Transmitters from WorldCast Systems.
We did consider some of the cheaper alternatives but decided that the efficiency, remote monitoring capability and reliability that the Ecreso units could offer at a relatively attractive price level meant that they were undoubtedly the best, overall supplier for this customer.
The stated overall efficiency levels are 74% on the Ecreso 1000W Transmitter and 70% on the 4kW system and in reality, we find that, just a few months after installation, there are already noticeable savings on our energy bills from reduced consumption and cooling requirements.
We like that we can monitor many parameters about the transmitters’ performance from our own facilities in Warsaw. In addition to the standard web GUI, WorldCast also provide a specific interface they call AMI (Advanced Measurement Interface). This provides us with quite detailed analysis of the RF Spectrum, MPX Spectrum and Audio Spectrum as well as some peak meters which saves us a trip to the transmitter site in Gorzow Wielkopolski, near the Polish-German border with external equipment.
There is also a regular reporting service that you can avail of with the Ecreso compact transmitters. With this, we can log in to check temperatures, currents and voltages etc and it also sends us regular maintenance reports, advising us on the performance and expected lifespan of various components such as the fan and power supply of the transmitter. When you are managing several installations, this kind of proactivity is very useful indeed.
We first installed several Ecreso FM 1000W Transmitters in early 2015 and an Ecreso FM 4000W Transmitter was installed in Q4. As well as the relocation, we had to upgrade the transmitter and antenna system to provide an ERP of 8 kW of power. We selected a solid antenna from Polish vendor Anex providing one bay with four antennas at a height of approx 150m above ground level.
Since installation, I have continued to be impressed with the performance of the Ecreso units. The installation of the equipment went very smoothly. This was to be expected when installing the 1kW systems but, we were a little apprehensive about commissioning the more complex, modular 4kW system comprising a separate exciter, two amplifiers and a control unit. Our concern was unfounded as the installation was intuitive and straight-forward and the station went on air exactly to plan. Radio ESKA has been very pleased both with the equipment and the service we have provided.