Portland Station Installs Utah Scientific Routing System in HD Upgrade

KOIN Local 6, based in Portland, OR, has implemented a routing system based on Utah Scientific’s UTAH-400 144- and 288-frame routers, two MC-400 master control switchers, sync generation equipment, and an SC-4/ MX-Lator control system, as part of a comprehensive plant upgrade to HD broadcasting. KOIN is a CBS affiliate owned by New Vision TV that also transmits the signal for an independent central Oregon CBS station, KBNZ.

“Having reliable Utah Scientific equipment and the accompanying 10-year, no-fee warranty means you make the purchase once and avoid budget surprises in the future — like upgrades, license fees, and costly support,” says Dave Bird, corporate chief engineer, KOIN. “At previous stations, I had Utah Scientific switchers that worked for many years without any problems. It’s beneficial to have that kind of experience.”

Portland is the no. 22 Nielsen market, and KOIN’s extensive local news coverage means lots of sources feed into the routing switcher. At the same time, because KOIN was renovating a 25-year-old building, space, cooling, and electrical capacity were limited.

In essence, KOIN’s nine-month upgrade was a “greenfield” project using existing space but bringing in new racks and new equipment, moving master control to a new room, and upgrading and converting almost all sources. Today, the station’s glass-walled, modern control room stays cool and quiet because the master control switcher operates on a GUI-only control panel, allowing remote KVM operation. The Utah Scientific MX-Lator also enables the switcher to control existing external routers.

Utah Scientific’s UTAH-400 routing switcher is based on a matrix architecture that greatly reduces the complexity of large systems, resulting in considerable reductions in rack space and power requirements. Designed for systems from 32×32 to 1056×1056 and beyond, the UTAH-400 supports a complete range of signal formats and I/O formats with features like redundant power supplies and crosspoints.

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