Telecast On The Campaign Trail
Posted by Steve DeFrancesco
The pushing and shoving of camera operators at the New Hampshire Republican primary last night (10/12) was comical to see, but underscored the value of our camera-mounted, fiber-optic transceivers (Copperhead) and signal distribution gear (SHED/HDX). In the midst of the crush of photographers there to cover the voting and campaign headquarters, our Copperhead 3050 units, being used by a number of network and local affiliate stations, allowed the shooters to move around and set up easily, without the need for heavy and clumsy coax cables.
The Copperheads-equipped cameras were also able to get closer to the story, which, judging by all of the commotion and frenetic activity, clearly every camera operator in town wanted to do in order to get the “big story.”
The CopperHead 3050 has all of the features news crews need. They get uncompressed and rock-solid HD video and broadcast quality (stereo) audio from the camera to the truck, and then IFB, return video and Ethernet connectivity back, all on a one, military-spec, single-mode fiber cable.
Our SHED (SMPTE Hybrid Elimination Device) was also evident in the photog gallery at some of the key polling locations at the major campaign headquarter hotels. It’s a small adapter that allows news shooters to use ordinary single mode optical fiber for their HD camera links and eliminate bulky hybrid wire/fiber.
They're actually using two SHED adapter units with our HDX camera power unit cables, one at the base station inside an ENG truck and the other at the camera. This allows them to locally 
power the camera, or use the HDX unit to power the camera through the hybrid tail cable. In fact, several SHED units can be support on one lightweight fiber cable.
Of course, Mitt Romney won the Republican primary vote last night, but I'll bet there were a lot of camera operators that, after seeing the Copperhead in action, would vote for getting one themselves. The guys using fiber were able to tear down and get out of there a lot sooner than most of the others with coax.
So, it’s on to South Carolina, where more Copperheads will be in use. Give us a call and let us show you how to get the shots you need, without all of the fuss.