This page provides options for new "black spot" digital television repeater sites and also upgrades to digital of existing analog television "black spot" repeater sites.

 Fordray produces UHF power amplifiers suitable for these digital applications with power ratings of 3 watts and 15 watts average digital RF power.

TERRESTRIAL RECEPTION

Where digital signals can be received off-air, each channel can be translated, amplified and then combined with other channels into the transmit antenna. This arrangement shown on the right is basically the same system that has been used in the past for analog television. However, digital television allows a simpler solution that is much more economical on power consumption and occupied spectrum.

This system shown on the right takes advantage of the fact that up to five standard definition television channels can be broadcast on the one 7MHz wide signal. It provides a massive improvement in energy efficiency and spectrum efficiency. At no time is the picture information converted back to analog, so picture quality is unaffected.

Where there is a need to upgrade an existing analog satellite rebroadcast site to digital, the arrangement on the right (Fig 3) can be used. The MPEG Encoder and  COFDM Modulator are the additional items of equipment required. The RF Power Amplifier would need to be replaced. The satellite receiving equipment need not be changed. The five audio and video signals in this arrangement are encoded into the one 7MHz digital channel.

The system shown on the right (Fig 4) is the preferred system for a new broadcast site. Unlike the system shown in Fig 3, the signal is not decoded to analog and then re-encoded, thus avoiding loss of quality.