Type Communications tower Completed 2013 Opened 2014 | Location Antipolo, Philippines Opening 2014 Construction started 2012 | |
Owner Breakthrough and Milestones Productions International, Inc. (BMPI)
UNTV News and Rescue | ||
UNTV Transmitter is a 328 ft (100.0 m), communication tower of UNTV owned by Breakthrough and Milestones Productions International, Inc. located at Emerald Hills, Sumulong Highway, Antipolo, Rizal, Republic of the Philippines. It serves as the new transmitter facility for the flagship station UNTV News and Rescue, Ang Dating Daan Television (ADDTV) and Wish 107.5.
Contents
History
In July 2013, BMPI Chairman and CEO Daniel Razon announced the network's plan of upgrading its facilities, in preparation for its transition from analog to the Japanese digital television (DTV) standard, Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial(ISDB-T), the sole DTV standard adopted by the Philippines. The construction of the new transmitter began in early 2013, completed before the end of the year and became fully operational in January 2014. This will replace its old transmitter under a lease agreement at Crestview Subdivision in Antipolo, Rizal since 2001, shared with PBC's FM station NU 107 (later rebranded as 107.5 Win Radio) and Far East Broadcasting Company's 98.7 DZFE FM, to improve its signal reception. In July 2014, BMPI took over the management of PBC's 107.5 MHz frequency. After a month, BMPI launched 107.5 Wish FM (now Wish 107.5).
Transmitter
UNTV acquired its new analog and digital broadcast equipment from Digital Multimedia Technologies (DMT) System Engineering Solutions (SyES). SyES has been in the manufacturing industry for over 30 years with headquarters in Lissone, Italy. The 328 ft (100.0 m) tower uses highly efficient SyES complete antenna system (COEL brand) to produce a wide coverage of UHF analog and digital TV reception in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Pampanga, Laguna, Batangas, Cavite and Rizal. with a 60,000-watt TPO in UHF 37 (analog) and up to a maximum of 10,000-watt TPO in UHF 38 (digital). It serves as the originating transmitter for its relay stations in the provinces.
On October 2, 2014, UNTV began its simulcast test broadcast on UHF channel 38 (617.143 MHz) with two standard definition (SD) channels, one high-definition (HD) channel and one 1seg channel. UNTV's low-powered DTV test broadcast can be received in Metro Manila and nearby provinces using ISDB-T set top boxes including LED TV sets and mobile devices with built-in ISDB-T tuners. In a DTV signal test conducted by Starmobile last April 2015, UNTV was present in eight out of 14 locations in Metro Manila with decent signal strength of three (3) up to the maximum of four (4) signal bars.
For the FM, BMPI transferred the 25-kilowatt Nautel NV30 FM transmitter, acquired in 2010 by PBC for 107.5 Win Radio, from Crestview Subdivision to Emerald Hills when it acquired the operations of 107.5 MHz in 2014. Win Radio meanwhile transferred to 91.5 MHz frequency, owned by Mabuhay Broadcasting System, formerly operating as 91.5 Big Radio. Wish FM initially suffered a poor signal reception during its grand launching but later on, it dramatically improved its signal reception in Mega Manila after a series of technical adjustments on its transmission settings.
The transmitter is being controlled from UNTV headquarters in Quezon City via studio/transmitter link (STL) facility.
Transmitter facility
A concrete transmitter control room was built on the ground beneath the tower. It houses the transmitter equipment for UNTV, ADDTV and Wish FM, power supply, cooling system and backup generator sets. There is also a satellite uplink and downlink facility inside the compound.