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VILVOORDE, Belgium — DPG Media station Joe has awarded Yoni Sevenants a new Ford camper van worth nearly €95,000 in an innovative competition.
Starting March 17, presenters Sven Ornelis and Anke Buckinx traveled across Flanders in the prize vehicle, hosting their daily radio show from 6–10 a.m. Listeners entered the competition through the Joe app, with the station selecting one contestant at a time. Ornelis and Buckinx would then head to the contestant’s home or place of work in the camper van, where every hour, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., they received an assignment such as “bring together one inhabitant of each of the five provincial capitals” or “invite 100 people for a dance.”
Contestants remained in the competition until failing a challenge, at which point a new participant was selected. Sevenants emerged victorious by successfully completing all of the challenges.
Remote studio solution
DPG’s radio team temporarily installed a mobile radio studio inside the camper van based around a DHD XC3 IP core with two compact DX2 desktop mixers — a four-fader and a six-fader unit.
“We placed the radio components into the camper space,” explained Ben Gysen, broadcast engineer radio with DPG. “The presenters’ desk was placed on the camper’s dining table. We didn’t use microphone arms because this wouldn’t work while driving since the presenters broadcast while the camper van was moving. Instead, we opted for two wireless DPA 6066 headsets connected via Wisycom MTP60 bodypack transmitters, allowing the presenters to work inside and outside the camper. Two Wisycom MTH410 wireless handheld microphones with Shure Beta87 heads completed the setup. During the broadcasts, we lifted the van’s mattresses and slatted bed frames and used the space to place the unit switches and the receivers for the DPA sets to secure cooling and ventilation of the equipment.”
DPG’s radio team installed a mobile radio studio inside the camper van
based around a DHD XC3 IP core with two compact DX2 modules.
The bigger component racks were stacked in the camper’s “storage” compartment. DPG Media replaced the wooden flightware with special lightweight SKB Rotorack-type flight cases to cope with the equipment’s weight. “The camper is subject to a weight restriction, and SKB proved to be the solution to save on weight,” continued Gysen. “The stackable cases are made in durable polyethylene and are very stable in the camper, where they were secured with tension straps. Actually, the camper project was the incentive to replace our flight cases, reducing handling weight.”
The unprocessed audio signal from the two DPA headsets and the pair of Wisycom handheld transmitters was routed to DPG Media’s Vilvoorde data center, where it was processed and put on air using a pair of Prodys Quantum ST codecs — one for the transmission and return of the audio signals, another as intercom and PFL for the M&I OmniPlayer 2 playout system. “The playout system was in our data center, ensuring a swift audio stream on the air. We used a Telos Omnia.9 as an audio processor and an Orban Optimod 2200 processor for headphone listening,” Gysen added.
Signal transmission challenges
One of the challenges the mobile remote studio faced was transmitting the live signal to the Vilvoorde data center. “The camper crossed Flanders, passing areas with good and bad coverage,” said Gysen. “The solution was a new Pepwave Max HD4 MBX 5G mobile router in the camper van. The router has four 5G modems, each with two SIM cards, making it possible to choose the network with the best coverage at each location. In total, there are eight SIM cards in the router. It was a significant investment with an eye on the future because we want to continue making radio like this. We used two units and multiple SIM cards for the Orange, Telenet and Proximus cellular networks. In the Vilvoorde data center we had a Peplink Balance 310X router to connect with the van’s router.”
The audio signals and mixer commands for the OmniPlayer were routed using a secure VPN network “tunnel” to Vilvoorde. The OmniPlayer was controlled using Splashtop remote software. “When the presenter kicked the ‘start’ button in the camper, the playout began in the data center. The music signal on the air remains stable if the public internet connection fails. But when we passed a bad coverage area, the microphone signal sometimes had a minimal glitch — almost inaudible to the listeners. The audio link from the camper to Vilvoorde was 100% priority.”
The remote studio also provided visual radio content. Five GoPro cameras operated by an engineer captured images from inside and around the camper. The video content was mixed using a NewTek TriCaster TC1 video production system, also controlled via the VPN tunnel using Starlink through the central Peplink hub. “The implementation of video feed resulted in a strong visual aspect,” enthused Gysen. “Challenges like ‘find me 25 bikers’ or ‘build a domino line with 100 mattresses’ became very real.”
Alongside Ornelis and Buckinx, Joe had a crew of 10 people and a second camper van working onsite. In addition, a production team worked in Joe’s main studio, handling incoming calls for the competition and screening the candidates. By the closing day, the Joe camper had covered over 3,000 kilometers, boosting the station’s visibility throughout Flanders. “Two and a half weeks of intense live on-site production was quite heavy for all involved, but the result was great,” concluded Gysen.
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2025 edition of RedTech Magazine
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