Feeding the Bird
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Satellite transmission of live news broadcasts
from the field has improved greatly in recent years.
At one time, to cover a breaking news story,
a crew needed to travel to the scene, shoot and record the story,
arrange for the film to be processed, then speed the processed
film and tape to the nearest network affiliate that had the capability
to feed the video information to the network. Carl Schumacher,
SOC, one of the few film cameramen to make the transition to
electronic journalism, remembers that "In those days, our lab
would run 30,000 feet of film per day. Yet our lab was so efficient
that a camera operator could walk in with a hundred feet of film
at 10:30 at night and the network could have it ready to air
by 11:00."
Today, news broadcasts are made directly from
the field. Immediately after the Federal Building in Oklahoma
City was bombed, Schumacher, who is one of the most experienced
satellite technicians in the news industry, was sent to the scene
to set up an additional satellite transmitter for the network. "We
transmitted the news reports via satellite with what we call
a "Flyaway," recalls Schumacher. "The Flyaway is portable. It
was designed to fit in the luggage compartment of an airliner
and can be set up anywhere in the world."
Anywhere. During the Persian Gulf War, camera
operators mounted Flyaways on flatbed trucks to provide instantaneous
news transmissions from the battlefield. Flyaways were also used
in Somalia and Haiti, and are currently being used in Bosnia.
Satellite news broadcasts have their own language.
According to Bill Purdy, SOC, to set up a Flyaway in the field,
a technician must first call the satellite company from a "bat" phone
to learn the location of the "bird" and to set up a time to "feed" the
bird. Then, with the use of compass and charts, the technician
focuses the transmitter toward the "window"' in the sky where
the bird is supposed to be at feeding time. Most of the time,
the transmitter is pointed toward the equator where many of the
satellites are located. When feeding time rolls around, the transmitter
is turned on and emits a distinctive pitch when it has the bird "locked
in." Once locked in, a direct link is established between the
crew and the network and a live report can be sent from the network
to other birds for immediate transmission to feed a "hungry" world-wide
audience.
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