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 antennas and related products.
Synonymous with public media to state residents since 1992, Maine Public embraces new opportunities to bring its radio, TV, educational and web services to larger audiences.
That will soon ring authentic to Maine Public’s radio listeners as the network prepares to expand from 14 to 21 FM frequencies, an impressive 50 percent growth.
With most stations coming to air in 2025, the busy engineering team is moving toward final preparation.
Naturally that means RF is on the mind, from finalizing transmitter and filter/combiner installs within shelters to mounting new antennas.
Maine is a deceptively large state to the unfamiliar. The seven new sites will strengthen over-the-air coverage for many rural populations, some of whom will receive NPR FM signals for the first time. That’s especially true in the wide-open country west and north of Bangor, all the way to the Canadian state line.
The engineering team recently finalized the installation of Dielectric DCR-M ring antennas at its two northernmost sites in Mars Hall and Fort Kent.
[Read more Radio World stories about broadcast antennas.]
While Maine Public Radio FM service has been available on WMEM(FM) and WMEF(FM) for years, classical music fans in these markets were long in the dark. The network also took the opportunity to install a new DCR-H ring antenna on the Mars Hill tower to improve performance for the WMEM Maine Public Radio service, replacing a decades-old Dielectric panel antenna that was nearing end of life.
A longtime Dielectric customer, Maine Public CTO Jeff Mahaney chose Dielectric to supply antennas for the seven new frequencies upon FCC approval.
“We’re putting these antennas up today, and 30 years from now someone else will replace them with the next generation,” said Mahaney. “We never anticipate having issues with a Dielectric antenna.” He described the quality of work and materials as exceptional and said they’re built for harsh environments.
Mahaney says the ring-style design brings important benefits to smaller towers often favored in rural regions.
“These are smaller antennas that reduce the weight and wind load on towers that aren’t built to withstand the characteristics of much-heavier panels. Ring-style antennas radiate a very consistent omnidirectional pattern, which improves FM coverage. They also provide greater flexibility to specify wavelength spacings, which helps properly size the antenna for each configuration.”
Mahaney said Dielectric added radomes to the antennas for optimized protection from ice and other elements. Along with the antennas, WMEM installed a Dielectric filter for the Mars Hill system while a Dielectric combiner is ready for service in Fort Kent.
Jeff Mahaney can be reached at JMahaney@mainepublic.org. Visit Dielectric’s website at www.dielectric.com.
