WQPT On Air With A Comark 27.5kW Parallax UHF Transmitter

Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark, a manufacturer and supplier of DTV transmitters, encoding systems and associated field services for over 45 years, has announced that WQPT is now broadcasting with a new Comark 27.5kW Parallax UHF transmitter. WQPT, whose license is held by Western Illinois University, is a PBS member station serving the Quad Cities area of northwestern Illinois and southeastern Iowa.

WQPT’s HPTV-PRLX-U16 27.5kW transmitter consists of a single rack cabinet equipped with 16 UHF Asymmetric Broadband Doherty final amplifiers that the company says provide the highest power density in the industry. The Parallax transmitter was delivered complete with dual Exact-V2 ATSC exciters (in main / standby configuration) and the liquid cooling system. In addition, Comrark supplied the new RF mask filter system and interconnected coax feed into the facility’s existing RF channel combiner.

Comark managed the shipment, offloading and placement of the new equipment into the existing broadcast facility.  After the mechanical installation of the new transmitter system was completed, Comark’s field engineer turned on the new transmitter, performing the complete proof-of-performance testing towards the end of March.

“We are happy that the final phase of a year’s long project has been completed and our viewers are able to get a stronger signal from WQPT’s two channels,” Interim General Manager Dawn Schmitt said.

“The team at Comark provided a complete solution to replace WQPT’s older UHF transmitter system as part of the station’s plan to increase their ERP,” said Joe Turbolski, Comark VP of sales and marketing. “The new transmitter installation went as planned, having the new equipment installed in about a week.  We’re pleased to work with WQPT to provide one of our Parallax transmitter systems that ensures better signal coverage to their viewers.”