An Innovative In-Service Antenna Monitoring System to Protect Your Antenna and Transmission Line

Antenna and transmission line systems are critical components of the broadcast transmission infrastructure. Unfortunately, traditional monitoring is limited simply to reflected power. Depending on speed and accuracy of the monitoring equipment, some arcs or small reflected changes can go unnoticed. SPINNER introduced the Antenna Monitoring System (AMS) in 2015. It scans for arcing from the transmitter building all the way up to the end of the antenna. The AMS provides protection to the entire RF system by alerting and or opening the transmitter interlock when an arc is sensed. While the AMS provided protection, it couldn’t tell you where the fault occurred. We have innovated again by adding Distance to Fault (DtF) analysis in the AMS 2.0 system. This paper will discuss the methodology and benefits of the AMS 2.0 along with some real-world results where the AMS protection detected and closely located faults before significant damage occurred.

Heidi Stamm | SPINNER GmbH | Munich, Germany
Anton Lindner | SPINNER GmbH | Munich, Germany
Christoph Neumaier | SPINNER GmbH | Munich, Germany
Todd Loney | SPINNER ICT Inc. | Duluth, Georgia, United States