NDR, the North German public radio and television broadcaster, has begun a comprehensive upgrade of its communications system at its Hamburg headquarters, with phases that will include fiber-linked intercom matrices and wireless intercom integration. The system is being supplied and installed by Clear-Com’s German Broadcast Channel Partner, MCI.

 

NDR has been using Clear-Com systems for ten years, and turned to Clear-Com again when the decision was made to upgrade. The existing system consists of eight fiber-linked Eclipse Omega Matrices; each of the independent studios as well as the Master Control room have their own system.

 

In the first phase of the upgrade Clear-Com has installed 150 V-Series Rotary panels, preparing the system for the upgrade to Eclipse HX matrices which will be completed in October. The next phase will include wireless integration to the system, including 40x integrated FreeSpeak II wireless beltpacks in 1.9GHz, eight FreeSpeak II Fiber Splitters and multiple transceiver antenna modules, providing users with 7kHz audio quality and expansive studio to MCR coverage. There are also opportunities for new technology to be integrated in the future, such as the MADI, IP and DANTE cards.

 

Due to the size of the system, extensive commissioning was necessary for a successful upgrade of their system, followed by the Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) to ensure all aspects of this integrated system exceeded expectations under live conditions.

 

Nicki Fisher, Sales Director EMEA, Clear-Com, said, “Clear-Com is proud to have been at the heart of NDR’s communications solution for the past decade, and we are pleased that NDR’s new setup will make use of Clear-Com’s latest set of intercom solutions for a more flexible, efficient and effective broadcast production process in the future. This complex installation underlines our ability to support large-scale broadcasters that demand and deliver high quality productions.”