Posted by Ed Miley
On New Years day the NHL’s Winter Classic rolled into Fenway Park for a nationally televised game on NBC between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers. What a great place for the outdoor game complete with a classic ending!While the event by all accounts was a great success there were considerable changes made to the typical setup that the local news media is accustomed to over at Fenway.
The biggest change was to the normal SNG/ENG truck parking location which was hi-jacked by the NHL for trailer mounted generators and the mobile plumbing unit for keeping the ice frozen. The usual parking area for the locals at Fenway is on Van Ness Street with an access point into the stadium cross connects right inside the ambulance bay. While during the baseball season this would be the typical setup for this eventa whole new approach was taken.
The NHL secured parking for the local media in a parking lot beyond the right field area of Fenway Park and put the local trucks about 500’ further away then usual and on the opposite side of the street from Fenway.
So you ask, how does Telecast figure into this equation? Would you venture a guess as to which type of cable you were not allowed to flyover the street to cable into Fenway? Now would you venture a guess as to which cable was allowed to be hoisted over the street to connect into Fenway? Yes the answer is fiber optic tactical cable. A temporary modification made to a street light pole and some rope paved the way for some Tactical Fiber to flyover the street. On a side note, a very similar scenario takes place during MLB Playoff and World Series games at Fenway. This tradition started at Fenway in1999 when Fenway hosted the MLB All-Star game.
Through the NHL and some other local vendors Thistle Communications (Telecast’s New England rental house) from nearby Pelham, NH was contracted by the NHL to supply fiber to connect the media lot to the cross connect point inside the ball park. Any media outlet wishing to provide live shots from inside the park was tied into a series of TelecastFiber Systems Diamondback II and Adder II systems for audio and video transport back to the local truck compound. The Diamondbacks provided the path forstandard def video and the Adders were used for “dry” analog audio . With some prior arrangements Thistle Communications could also supply HD/SDI video and Ethernet connections using the Telecast Viper system that was also on scene. In all a few of the stations from Boston, Philadelphia, Comcast Sports and ESPN tied into the fiber system on New Years Eve which was the setup day and kept the lines in place through the end of New Years Day.
Thistle Communications racked up the Telecast Fiber equipment and secured it in a trailer that served as the field office and the demarc in the truck parking lot, while the otherend of the gear was located inside the ambulance bay at Fenway where the localmedia normally ties in. According to Thistle Communications President, Jim Thistle and his engineer Jay Arthur the setup and performance of the Telecast equipment was flawless and made life very easy for all involved. Noting that there are really not many options available seeing as conventional copper cables were not going to be allowed to be hung over the street.
The weight of the Telecast Fiber Tactical Fiber that was used is about 15lbs per 1000’ feet, far less then conventional ENGstyle copper cables. The weight of the cable crossing the street from the pole to the park was probably between two and three pounds. The total reel of 1000’of fiber plus the reel is close to 30 pounds total. As mentioned earlier for the MLB playoff games at Fenway a similar setup is used and again due to thelight weight the fiber is the only cable allowed to fly over the streets astemporary install. Again the increased signal capacity on the fiber vs.conventional copper lines makes the fiber a logical choice.
Without a doubt another example of how fiber can solve the problems of multiple connections, different standards, distance and weight all in one light weight manageable cable.
Posted by Ed Miley
Recently one of the major television news networks that is a client of Telecast Fiber has stationed a SNG truck in the metro Boston area that will service all of New England and where ever else the network chooses to send it as it all depends on the news.
For those who may not know Telecast Fiber Systems is located in Worcester, MA that is roughly forty miles due west of Boston. The news operation in question made good use of the proximity of our head quarters to their locally stationed truck.
On a recent phone call with the operator of that SNG truck he 
relayed that he was having a difficult time with getting his issued fiber equipment to work properly. It just so happens that this vehicle in addition to all of the normal equipment usually found in a SNG truck is also carrying close to 3000' of Telecast Fiber Tactical cable along with a Mussel shell and a Viper 442 frame. So when the call came from the local truck operator describing the problems he was having he was encouraged to bring the Telecast equipment out the headquarters where we could take a look and see what, if any problems with out equipment he was having. In the course of the phone call the truck operator described what sounded like problems related to either bad connectors or dirty optics, and that he has had no previous experience with fiber optics prior his new position. Obviously we asked him to take a ride out to see us.
Our friend arrived at the appointed time at our facility and we had him set up a fiber reel, the Mussel Shell and the Viper 442 unit, and route some audio and video signal into the either end so we could see what was happening. Right off the bat we noticed a few problems and decided to look at the optical connections first. We did a quick check by applying what would appear to be a flash light equipped with a bright red LED and a narrow tip so that you can aim the light right into the connector and fiber strand. Quickly we determined that our friend in deed was carrying around some bad fiber reels and also some connectors that require a little TLC.
During this time our friend, the truck engineer asked plenty of questions about how the system he has works, what are the do's and don'ts, what is the best way to handle the fiber, how to troubleshoot, etc. With the assembled group that was helping out he got some very sound and sage advice.
In the course of our time together, about two hours, our friend relayed to me on a few occasions his desire to get the equipment back from repair quickly because of the flexibility it allows him coupled with the fact that he has a large remote coming up and really needs the operational flexibility the fiber system offers over copper. Going along with him he explained that because the truck is smaller that it's not equipped to carry many copper reels typically found on a news truck. In all, including the two fiber reels there appear to be six reels on this truck, made up of AC power reels, Audio/Video mults
and the fiber. That is not a lot of cable l. Minus the fiber reels he would be carrying about 750' of copper cable. Those that work in the ENG/SNG part of the business can identify with the thoughts of this operator and how he now will change his approach in the short term.
On arrival at our facility our friend may not have had the experience working with fiber that others may have but he knew these few things:
- With the reels and equipment out for repair he now has to approach his live shot set up differently in terms of signal count and parking.
- HD signals do not travel far over copper cables.
- It's "way easier" to run 1500' of fiber then 1500' of copper".
- Last but not least he got a first hand tutorial on how to utilize and troubleshoot his system.
No pun intended but by the end of the day our friend had seen the light.