How Broadcast News Vans Work
I got to wondering how broadcast news vans work. Specifically, what does that giant mast/antenna do? Does it send a signal somewhere? If so where? What frequencies does it use? How is that legal?
Well the internet was fairly quite on this issue. But I did turn up some information. (Please correct me in the comments if I’m wrong on any of this.)
I got this information from this Tour of a News Van article.
The giant mast is an antenna that broadcasts in the microwave frequencies. The article said it uses 2/2.4 Ghz which perhaps is an unregulated space like WiFi or portable phones? The same article later seems to imply that the vans broadcast using the Broadcast auxiliary service (BAS). (I guess the BAS lets them somehow use the same frequencies they use to broadcast their actual news?) But one way or another they use microwaves to communicate with news stations located many miles away. The article even says they can use helicopters as microwave repeaters to get more range.
The article also mentions that the vans also have the ability to uplink to sattelites in which case they don’t have to fool with the giant mast. It also noted that they can mount cameras atop the mast and control them remotely, I guess for those high shots.
Questions I still have:
Why don’t they use a directional antena like some people do to extend wifi? Wouldn’t that work better?
Is that wire thing snaking up the mast part of the antena?