All Ireland Hurling Final: 7th Sept 2008

Croke Park, Dublin

Kilkenny v Waterford

For one of the biggest events on the Irish Sporting Calender, Irish broadcaster RTE and outside broadcast company Observe decide to augment their usual facilities with a Gigawave D-Cam system mounted on a steadicam.

The Broadcast RF Engineer traveled to Croke Park, Dublin to install the system for the broadcast.  A 2.5GHz D-Cam standard definition diversity system was used with one receive head mounted on the TV gantry (next to the main cameras) giving excellent coverage of the field of play. The UHF transmitter for the camera racking data was mounted nearby.

The second receive head was positioned next to the internal ring road in the depths of the stadium, so the arrival of the team coaches could be taken live.

The construction of the stadium and the robustness of the camera data channel allowed the camera racking to work even in the location beneath the stands.

All went to plan when the Kilkenny team coach drew up, but everyone was surprised when 15 minutes later the Waterford team arrived on foot!  After the arrivals, the second receive head was relocated to pitch side to make the most of the diversity reception for the celebratory parade and marching band before the match got under way.

Final Score: Kilkenny 3-30, Waterford 1-13

Ireland’s Tidiest Town awards: 8th Sept 2008

The next day the same kit was used at the awards ceremony for “Ireland’s Tidiest Town”. This event with over 300 guests was broadcast live on RTE at peak time between 7 and 8pm from the ballroom of Dublin’s Burlington Hotel.

One receive head was discreetly mounted on a tripod behind black drapes to the left of the stage and the same location was used for the camera data transmitter. Once again the Gigawave D-Cam transmitter was mounted on a steadicam allowing the operator to rove between the tables and guests unencumbered by triax cable.

Both events went very smoothly. All in all a very tidy weekend in Dublin.

On site RF Engineer stated:

"I always have the highest confidence in equipment hired from Broadcast RF as I know it will have been comprehensively prepared and checked before being shipped and always arrives on location on time, in tip top condition and ready to work. They have the best range of gear for any situation and always come up with a solution to problem. Very highly recommended."

David Smallwood – RF Engineer

www.thin-air.tv