The Elenos ETG 5000 FM Transmitter
[April 2021] Selecting a new transmitter today involves different criteria from 20 or 30 years ago. Space requirements often are key considerations. But reliability and ease of operations always count. Mark Voris recently chose an Elenos model.
I was first introduced to Elenos products back in 2012 when a transmitter we had developed serious problems at one of our sites.
That meant we were in need of a 2 kW transmitter to put in place rather quickly. Our good friends John Bisset and MaryAnn Seidler were working with Elenos at the time and informed me about their product. For the last eight and a half years that transmitter, that Elenos ETG 2000 has been and still is running at a TPO of 1500 Watts without any issues. Over time, we acquired more Elenos transmitters as needed.
These Elenos transmitters have proven to be very robust, stable and reliable. We currently have two Elenos 2 kW units and two Elenos 500 W units in operation, in addition to our other transmitters, with a spare Elenos 500 W and a spare Elenos 5 kW on hand for N+1 backup.
Therefore, when I recently had an opportunity to specify a 5 kW transmitter, I confidently chose the Elenos ETG 5000.
EASY TO RUN
Setup and operation of the Elenos transmitters are pretty straight forward.
The front panel allows one to change frequency, power settings and audio input levels with ease.
Other menus will give a wide variety of other status parameter information, such as Power Supply Voltages, IPA RF output, Deviation, and Efficiency, to name a few.
REMOTE CONTROL
As with all modern transmitters there is means to connect the transmitter to an outboard remote control via the TC/TS connector.
Furthermore, if you have purchased a transmitter in the last couple years, they now offer a built in TCP/IP interface with a web GUI that one can access metering and operation. These transmitters also support SNMP.
This latest winter storm took a toll out in the panhandle of Nebraska interrupting power at the “very remote” site where we have an Elenos 2 kW in service. We suffered three hours of brown-out conditions before the power completely went out.
With no generator at the site we were off for several hours, I was concerned about any issues the fluctuating power had on the power supplies, but once power was restored the transmitter came right back up to full power without hesitation – all seems okay!
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
I have had experience with numerous transmitters of different manufactured origin and for lower power stations I am quite impressed with Elenos products.
Technical support is very important to me. Generally in my experience, if good support is not there, I do not want the product. Not only have my contacts with Elenos support been positive, now that the company has been combined with Broadcast Electronics in Quincy, IL, it can only get better.
I recommend folks go to www.elenos.com and look at their transmitter products.
Mark H Voris CBRE is Chief Engineer for the Spirit Catholic Radio Network of Nebraska. Questions can be directed to Mark via email at mark@kvss.com
