Signal Monitoring, Remote Control, Test and EAS About Buyer’s Guide
We publish User Report testimonials for various equipment categories throughout the year to help potential buyers understand why colleagues chose the equipment they did. Do you have a story to tell? Write to brett.moss@ futurenet.com.
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Burk Arcturus serves Washington’s WAMU
Complex master antenna requires muscular monitoring and control Writers
Above Rob Bertrand, left, and Andy Gunn
E
arly in 2020, WAMU completed its new ERI 1183-series FM master Senior Director antenna system, the of Technology, largest in Washington, WAMU D.C. It serves WAMU, WTOP and WPFW, and is an aux for WETA. The tower also holds separate Andy noncombined antennas for WMMJ(FM) Gunn and a backup to WPGC(FM). (Read Director of Radio World’s 2020 article about the Engineering, WAMU project at radioworld.com, search “wamu master.”) Senior Director of Technology Rob Bertrand had been part of the management group for a high-profile master antenna group in another
Rob Bertrand
major market, which had experienced some operational challenges over the course of its history that a modern monitoring system might have alleviated. When Director of Engineering Andy Gunn joined the WAMU team, the two set the goal of building the most robust system they could imagine. Rob contributed his knowledge from managing the prior system and Andy brought his tenacity, creativity, and attention to detail to the project. The result was an implementation of Burk’s Arcturus system of which both engineers are very proud and is a showcase of the system’s capabilities. The monitoring and control project sought to address multiple concerns from the start. Several of the stations have relatively high TPOs in the 20 to 30 kW range, so very solid VSWR monitoring is important. There are unique switching and monitoring considerations to meet some
radioworld.com | October 27 2021
