Radio World Buyer’s Guide articles are intended to help readers understand why their colleagues chose particular products to solve various technical situations. This month’s articles focus on remote control, signal monitoring, EAS and test gear/
Cincinnati Public Radio is using the Burk PRF-1 Precision RF Sensor in six locations at its transmitter site where FM stations WGUC and WVXU are combined to measure forward and reflected power. 
“They were picked because of their small size, price and ease of integration into our existing systems,” said Chief Engineer Will Staffan.
The modules provide a 0–5 volt output that can be read by virtually all remote control equipment with analog inputs, including CPR’s Burk ARC Plus Touch.
“They’re calibrated through 10 LEDs at the top of each unit and by twisting a rotary switch to set the attenuation,” Staffan said.
“Power and the signal are carried through a twisted pair connection, so it was simple to make our own extensions that are longer than the provided cables and to use our own switching power supply to save outlet space.”
The PRF-1 modules fit easily onto the sample section for each transmitter, and at the output of the combiner.
“The only thing that would have made them an absolute smash-hit is the addition of some mounting tabs,” he continued.
“We made our own mounting brackets that slip under the transmission line bolts and provide a flat area to zip-tie the PRF-1 neatly. A combination of BNC and N-type adapters were needed to connect to our existing sample section.”
Staffan said the stations experienced no off-air time while setting up the equipment and are satisfied with the simplicity of the installation.
“We’ve also saved about 10 units of rack space that three RF power meters necessitated. Now our power metering is accomplished through the Burk ARC Plus Touch and the AutoPilot interface.”
