TELECOPTER--A FLYING TV STATION

World’s first commercial airborne television remote unit
now being used by Los Angeles TV broadcaster.

Combining the immediacy of television with the maneuverability and versatility of a helicopter is the Telecopter, the world’s first commercial airborne TV remote unit. The remote is being used by KTLA, an independent Los Angeles television station owned by Paramount Pictures.

The electronics in the helicopter was a 6-month project of the station’s Chief Engineer, John Silva. Total weight had to be restricted to less than 400 pounds. The entire cost of equipping and developing Telecopter is estimated at $40,000 plus another $42,000 for the Bell heli-copter that is used.

Silva designed two boxes which ride on the helicopter’s skids to carry much of the equipment. The camera, monitor, and audio and video controls were placed in the "bubble." The entire equipment includes transmitters for both audio and video, the monitor, a communications system, a power supply, and a G-E vidicon camera that is equipped with a Zoomar lens. The pilot does double duty as observer. Completed, it is, in effect, a miniature air-borne television station.

In addition to the weight, the second major problem was to equip the copter with a suitable antenna so that a signal could be transmitted directly and easily to Mt. Wilson, headquarters for the station’s transmitters, while the aircraft was flying. It is important to be able to get a good picture from the plane even at the farthest points of the 40-mile range of the Los Angeles Basin. The solution to the problem was to use an antenna in the copter that would transmit equally in all directions horizontally and be directional vertically. Signals from this antenna could then be picked up by a receiving “dish” antenna located at Mt. Wilson. The mobile antenna finally chosen was a scaled-down version of a G-E helical transmitting antenna. Since the microwave frequency of 2000 mc. is used, it was possible to construct the antenna small enough to be carried conveniently. Final dimensions are a mere 4 inches in diameter and 3 feet in length.

A final problem involved overcoming the intense vibration that exists in the copter. Special shock mounts and baffling were used to prevent the equipment from being jarred excessively.

Radio and Television News/October 1958