Sacramento Production Services has completed a major wireless audio overhaul at Sutter Health Park, current home of the Athletics (A\u2019s) professional baseball team during its three\u2011year residency in Sacramento. By deploying a Wisycom antenna and fiber\u2011based RF distribution system, day\u2011to\u2011day operations have fundamentally changed for the stadium\u2019s production team. The upgrade, driven by the arrival of Major League Baseball (MLB) broadcasts and the increased RF congestion that accompanies national media, replaced the park\u2019s previous wireless setup with a fully integrated Wisycom solution designed for reliability, coverage and remote management across the entire facility.<\/p>\n
The installation features a full suite of Wisycom RF components, including the brand\u2019s MAT244 RF combiners, LFA wideband antennas and ADFA active directional antennas, as well as BFL2T2 and BFLR2 antenna\u2011over\u2011fiber links. In total, 10 Wisycom antennas now cover Sutter Health Park, including four antennas deployed in the outfield via fiber and six others positioned in three pairs across the home side stands, roof and concourse.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was game\u2011changing for us,\u201d says Anthony Brown, Project Manager for Sacramento Production Services. \u201cWe have wanted tools like this for years, and suddenly the technology caught up. The fact that the antennas have telemetry, remote control capabilities and built-in fiber links is excellent; it\u2019s all just there, ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the upgrade, the stadium\u2019s minor\u2011league\u2011era wireless system struggled under the demands of professional-caliber broadcasts. Numerous frequency scans, dropouts and unpredictable RF behavior were the norm, especially in the concourse, a notoriously difficult RF environment due to dense crowds and concrete pillars every 24 feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the A\u2019s came in, it very quickly became clear that the existing wireless frequencies were a pretty bad choice,\u201d adds Keith Wackford, Sales and Production Manager at Sacramento Production Services. \u201cMinor league games never had the RF congestion that major league broadcasts bring. Things looked fine in rehearsal but, come game time, everything changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The outfield was an even bigger challenge. \u201cThey told us, \u2018We want our wireless microphones to work in the outfield,\u2019 \u201d Wackford notes. \u201cThat\u2019s about 460 feet from the nearest antenna. Without fiber, it would\u2019ve been impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sacramento Production Services evaluated multiple wireless brands, but ultimately chose Wisycom for its bandwidth, filtering capabilities and antenna\u2011over\u2011fiber architecture. \u201cThe team at Sound Devices introduced us to the Wisycom brand,\u201d Wackford explains. \u201cThe Sound Devices design uses Wisycom antennas because the brand\u2019s bandwidth surpasses what others are doing. Once we spoke with the team, it was a no\u2011brainer. Even wireless competitors recommended Wisycom. That says a lot about the product.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the most impactful features has been Wisycom\u2019s remote antenna control and filtering. \u201cWith the Wisycom antennas, we were able to narrow the bandwidth and lower the noise floor,\u201d adds Brown. \u201cThat made the system bulletproof.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Brian Webber, who led deployment and configuration, the networking capabilities were a revelation. \u201cThe system was rock-solid all the way around the park. The coolest part is the networking. It blew my mind how easy it was to remotely manage all the antennas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wackford also emphasizes the operational impact: \u201cIn a facility this size, remote control is massively timesaver. It\u2019s a four\u2011 or five\u2011minute walk to the outfield. In a football or soccer stadium, it would save thousands of steps. The production team really doesn\u2019t have to do anything anymore, they\u2019re off addressing other concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result is a wireless system that simply works. \u201cWe went from wireless being a problem every other day to it not being an issue at all,\u201d says Brown. \u201cProducers and talent can move freely throughout the park, do interviews anywhere and focus on the production instead of the RF.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team hopes more venues discover what Wisycom\u2019s antenna and fiber solutions can do. \u00a0\u201cSome customers may think this is too expensive or out of their league,\u201d adds Brown. \u201cWe encourage them to take a second look. The value is enormous.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sacramento Production Services has completed a major wireless audio overhaul at Sutter Health Park, current home of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-459578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}