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News Stories and Events May 2005 Archived News Stories 2005 Archived News Stories 2004 Archived News Stories 2003 Archived News Stories 2002 |
| Norwegian Independence Day Norwegian broadcaster, TV2, used two D-Cam wireless camera systems, provided by OB-Team AS in Oslo, for their live coverage of Norwegian Independence Day on their early morning show.
By mounting a small wireless microphone receiver on the D-Cam, and using GSM-phone to provide IFB for the reporter, the small team could freely move around the whole length of Karl Johan Street for the duration of the two hour show. Out of interest, Karl Johan street is almost 2km long and with the Royal Palace at one end is used for many important parades. TV2's Morning Show on Independence Day attracted over four times as many viewers than on a normal morning, and the Current Affairs Editor is looking forward to making this an annual event. Oslo, Norway - May 2005 |
| Cheung Chau Bun Festival Cheung Chau is a tiny island situated 12 kilometers south of Hong Kong. Each year, the small fishing community attracts thousands of visitors, plus a great deal of media interest, when it stages the world's only 'Bun Festival'.
The bun towers are sited in front of the Pak Tai temple. This was built in 1783 to commemorate the Pak Tai, the Taoist God of the Sea. Pak Tai, according to legend, threw the prince of evil out of Heaven. However, from a local perspective, Cheung Chau's reputed role in driving away pirates who had carried out a series of attacks on the island . These attacks ceased once the temple was built. To prepare for the festival, the whole island goes vegetarian for three days. Even McDonalds sells vegetarian burgers. The buns, which have been blessed, are handed out to the people on the final day of the festival. Traditionally, men compete in a race to climb up the towers and grab as many buns as possible.
TWS Asia supplied HDV Productions with a D-Cam 'Clip-on' transmitter. This was used as a stand alone transmitter to broadcast images of the bun climb and subsequent presentation to two receive sites 700-800m away at the other end of the island. Here two giant screens had been provided by the Government of Hong Kong for those who could not get into the event itself. The origins of the bun festival are unclear. According to one source, it commemorates the islanders killed by pirates, and whose spirits may still be wandering the island. As with the 'Hungry Ghost Festival', islanders provide food and burnt paper offerings to placate these wondering souls. It is also highly likely that the Bun Festival was designed to pay tribute to Pak Tai, as God of the Sea. The festival falls just before the start of the fishing season, so honoring the god is one way to ensure fair weather and a good catch. Cheung Chau Island, Hong Kong- May 2005 |
| Digital On-board Camera at Silverstone Once again, the FIA GT Championship, and the FIA World Touring Car Championship, included digital on-board camera coverage. The event was broadcast live from Silverstone Circuit, on Eurosport.
Apart from the obvious advantages of having every aspect of the production fully digital, Alfacam were able to dispense with the expensive mid-point relay helicopter that is essential with analogue on-board camera systems.  Silverstone Circuit, England - May 2005 |
| Digital On-board Camera Testing Continues Testing of the new Gigawave digital on-board camera system continued at Croft Circuit recently. Gigawave engineers have been using this year's 'British GT Championship' to test the system under actual race conditions.
Images from each of the on-board camera systems are received in an OB Truck, which is normally parked in a central location, relative to the circuit. The OB Truck is equipped with a large pump-up mast, on which is mounted the receive antennas and RF 'Head' units for the 'Diversity' receive system. Inside the truck the images from both cars are recorded for later evaluation. Croft, England - May 2005 |
| PTV Training Acadamy Welcomes Gigawave Regional Sales Manager, Raj Kotecha, and Gigawave engineer,Trevor Howard, received a very warm welcome from Mr.Mushtaq Ahmed, Director of Engineering, as well as many high level management personnel at a formal ceremony held at the PTV Academy in Islamabad.
The on-site training for fourteen Pakistan Television engineers was primarily concerned with the operation and maintenance of the MVL-D2 Digital Point to Point System. However, it also covered basic digital theory. PTV currently have 2 MVL-D2 systems as part of their long term transition to digital transmission., These are used along side ten or more analogue MVL systems that Pakistan TV have purchased over recent years. Engineers from as far afield as Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, and Islamabad attended the course in order to increase their knowledge and understanding of the latest Gigawave digital links. Whilst in Pakistan, Trevor Howard also helped local engineers carry out some routine maintenance on PTV's analogue MVL systems. These have performed well under arduous conditions for a number of years, but this was an ideal opportunity for the PTV engineers to work alongside one of Gigawave's best engineers.
The Gigawave Team could not have been given a better welcome by the staff of the PTV Training Academy and there is no doubt that the efforts of Raj Kotecha and Trevor Howard will have cemented relationships between Gigawave and PTV for many years to come.
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| ITN Election Night Party The resources of Specialist rental company, Broadcast RF, were stretched to the limit the night of the UK General Election, with virtually all their rental stock out. The big event of the night was ITN's Election night party from the 'London Eye'.
Whilst all this was taking place, Margaret Thatcher was the guest of honour at a celebrity party, hosted by ITN, on a boat moored alongside the wheel. Here a fourth D-Cam was used to cover celebrities arriving at the party and for conducting interviews. Finally, BRF had one camera located on the roof of the Shell building, across the River Thames. This was linked to the main OB Truck via a 7G point to point link. Main and standby Signals from the OB Truck were beamed back to ITN's studios using four 7GHz links. Two 7GHz links going from roof of OB truck to LWT's Southbank Studios , with a further two 7GHz Links going from LWT to ITN in Grays Inn Road. In addition to the four D-Cam wireless camera systems used at the ITN Election Night Party, there were two D-Cam's at both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party Headquarters. London, England- May 2005 |
| FIA GT Digital On-board Camera Goes Live! The first fully digital coverage of the FIA GT Championship was a historic achievement for engineers from Belgian production company, Alfacam, and Gigawave. The event was broadcast live from Magny Cours, France, on Eurosport.
Signals from the on-board camera system were received using five Gigawave ' 'Diversity' Receivers each with two RF Heads. Taking advantage of the fact that each RF Head can be sited up to 600 metres away from the Diversity Receiver, one of each pair of RF Heads was sited high on the main tribune, overlooking the pit lane/grid, with the second RF Head covering a different part of the circuit.
This year marks the 30th Anniversary of the first live on-board camera images from a Formula One race car(1985 Adelaide Grand Prix). Likewise, the French round of the 2005 FIA GT Championship will also go down in history as another important milestone in the development of on-board camera systems. Magny Cours, France - May 2005 |
| Shanghai in the Rain Valentino Rossi won the inaugural Chinese MotoGP in Shanghai in atrocious weather conditions despite an unlikely late challenge from Kawasaki rider, Olivier Jacque, who was standing in for the injured rider, Alex Hoffman.
 Shanghai, China - May 2005 |
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