DAB receiver sales pass 166 million as digital radio expands globally
Nautel has unveiled the VX Series, comprising 10 FM analog transmitter models with power output ranging from 150 W to 5 kW. Building on the legacy of the company’s proven VS Series, the new VX Series offers advanced control, instrumentation and features in a compact footprint. Nautel says the architecture of the new series incorporates state-of-the-art DSP, power supply and FET technology to ensure robust performance, serviceability and value.
“We are excited about this design,” said Philipp Schmid, Nautel CTO. “We’ve built the RF power chain around a new high voltage FET that exhibits the best analog FM performance we’ve ever seen in our design labs. We’ve mated this new power chain with a dual-core DSP for pristine signal generation. This gives us large amounts of headroom. We’ve also paid a great deal of attention to the power supplies. Unlike the in-house designs that transmitter suppliers sometimes use to reduce cost, the VX series uses titanium-grade industrial power supplies that are hot-swappable, with front panel fingertip access.”
Control and features
Control of the VX Series is via Nautel’s new HTML5 Advanced User Interface (AUI), which Nautel has completely redesigned over the past few years.
The VX Series features include:
- A choice of 10 TPO levels ranging from 150W to 5kW
- High AC-RF efficiency
- Compact rack-mount design, only 20” to 25” depths
- Large, easy-to-view color display
- Easy access to FETs, fans, and filters for quick serviceability
- Powerful, secure HTML5 AUI
- Instrumentation, RDS, SNMP, and presets previously seen only in high-power transmitters
- A four-year warranty
“Nautel continues to invest heavily in quality processes as part of our drive toward continuous improvement,” said Kevin Rodgers, Nautel’s president and CEO. “We’re proud that this latest product line is 100% North American-designed and built and backed by the best support organization in our industry. Nautel’s engineering staff is second to none and continues to push the radio transmitter industry to new levels, both in product design and technology concepts.”
Nautel says it is accepting pre-orders for the VX Series now. It expects first deliveries for the 150 W to 2 kW systems in Q4 2022 and 3 kW to 5 kW shipments in Q1 2023. It will have more information at Booth W7022 at the 2022 NAB Show.
