TVNZ America's Cup - New Zealand

The customer

Television New Zealand (TVNZ) was the host broadcaster of the 2000 and 2003 America's Cup yachting regatta - the largest sporting event staged in New Zealand.

The challenge

When there's a worldwide television audience of 500 million people watching an outdoor sports event the host broadcaster needs reliable communications equipment. The communications equipment needed to seamlessly link the TVNZ control centre with its commentary team, camera operators, helicopters and chase boats - and the customised Tait solution was up to the job.

The heart of the communications system was 16 narrowband repeater channels located in Auckland's highest building - the 320m Sky Tower. The repeaters were linked to the TVNZ control centre where the video and audio editing took place. A key requirement was that the repeaters were constantly keyed during racing so the production director could have an open microphone to talk to staff.

The solution

The camera operators on board three chase boats required tailored communications. Through stereo headsets, with a different radio channel in each ear, each camera operator had a hot microphone to talk to the boat skipper and the option to talk back to the director and/or engineering personnel in the control centre. Tait mobiles were used on the chase boats, combined with an intercom system and built into special kits complete with battery back-up. While there were a number of RF systems on board the chase boats, the Tait mobiles performed fl awlessly without interference with other equipment.

Also out on the Hauraki Gulf race course was the large support vessel, Northstar, used by two commentators close to the action. Tait created a UHF link to feed the programme and control audio out to the commentary team, as well as wiring up the commentators to communicate through the Sky Tower repeaters with the control centre. On board TVNZ's three helicopters, the camera operators, pilots and spotters required communications integrated with the aircraft system.

The outcome

The Tait equipment performed well in the salty, busy and often confined environments. There were regularly three or four Orca Elan radios operating at the same time, on different channels in close proximity on one boat - a tall order for any portable.