Running the wireless race

In its fifth year in 2008, the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon (SCMM) held on January 20 this year stood out not only for its record participation and the US$1.7 million in donations raised for charity, but also for the flawless pictures in the live coverage of the event nationwide in India on Network 18’s CNBC TV18 and IBN7 channels, and simulcast on Indian public broadcaster Doordarshan National.

Part of what’s billed as ‘The Greatest Race on Earth’ sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank, the Mumbai marathon is one of four legs of the event that includes marathon races in Nairobi, Hong Kong and Singapore. Held annually in January in the bustling Indian city of Mumbai, the SCMM has drawn participation that has grown year-on-year, with the 2008 edition attracting some 33,000 runners in all, across the men’s and women’s full marathon, half marathon, senior citizen, and handicapped races.

As with the Mumbai marathons held in previous years, the 2008 SCMM was beamed live across the country as viewers witnessed Kenyan runner Kelai John clinch top spot in the men’s full marathon in a time of 2 hours 12 minutes and 22 seconds in a pulsating finish against runner-up Jiffar Tariku just six seconds behind. The women’s marathon saw Ethiopian athlete Seboka Mulu win with her time of 2 hours 30 minutes and 4 seconds. Viewers also watched and cheered on Indian runner Yadav R. S., the only local competitor who finished within the top ten spots across both races that were dominated by Ethiopian and Kenyan athletes with his time of 2 hours 18 minutes and 23 seconds.

Starting at Central Railway Station, runners ran along Marine Drive and passed landmarks such as the Air India Building, Flora Fountain, Oberoi Turn, Jazz on the Beach, Chowpatty Beach, and Bandra Reclamation before the turnaround, through a sea of buildings in downtown Mumbai which would normally prove a nightmare for live production relying on wireless capabilities.

The companies that took up the challenge to produce the live broadcast of the event were India-based Procam Mediatel, the production arm of Procam International, promoter of SCMM; Broadcast Solutions Asia, supplier of outside broadcast equipment; and UK-based Broadcast RF, the RF link facilities company providing RF technology, talkback and crew for the production.

Even in the face of constraints posed by the urban buildup, the production team did not rely on fixed line cameras and satellite uplink trucks stationed en-route to the finishing line, an approach used widely in live coverage of marathons worldwide. Instead, the producers chose to maintain its wireless approach to the live shoot and placed their confidence in radio frequency (RF)-linked basic handheld camcorders on three motorcycles and a helicopter, as well as two replay helicopters. Line cameras were used only at the start and finishing points as back-up.

“The Mumbai marathon is unique from the production perspective as all that the director had for race coverage were the three motorcycle cameras and one aerial camera. This meant the links from the bikes and helicopters had to be ultra reliable,” revealed Chris Brandrick, from Broadcast RF, provider of RF equipment to facilitate the acquisition of live footage by the four cameras that were on the move.

Special credit went to Broadcast RF’s range of Link Research equipment which was responsible for the seamless wireless transmission of 4:3 standard definition pictures and audio from the respective camcorders on the motorcycles and helicopters to the outside broadcast (OB) site at Air India Building. These included the Link Research Link XP standard definition transmitter on motorcycles, specially designed EASA-approved Link Research downlink system used on the camera ship, and Link Research receive and re-transmit systems on the relay helicopters. Broadcast Solutions Asia provided all of the outside broadcasting equipment.

“The race route weaved through an area with many tall buildings therefore we used helicopters as link platform midpoints through the busy city of Mumbai. The Air India building was used as an OB site as it is one of the tallest buildings in Mumbai,” noted Brandrick.

“Not one piece of digital break up was seen for the duration of the marathon. And to have a 26-mile marathon covered live in a busy city without breakup is considered to be a huge success for the RF team and the RF equipment suppliers,” he continued.

Plying over 20km each way, production on the ground saw the motorcycles fitted with RF transmitters and antennas on a specially designed pole mount, and custom-designed foot plates and battery plates for the shoot. In the air, all three helicopters were Alouette 3 (Cheetah) models which were built by HLA Ltd, and were supplied and flown by the Indian Navy. “The camera on the camera ship was simply a handheld camera filming out of the doors,” revealed Brandrick.

Helicopters maintained at 1,000 feet above the motorcycles at all times to avoid breakup on the motorcycle uplinks. “If the helicopters remain at the altitude of 1,000 feet, the helicopter’s downlink will also have line of sight to the receive site at all times,” he added.

Further relying on wireless capabilities, the entire team from the three companies including Lalit Ajgaonkar, director of the production from Procam Mediatel, coordinated and directed the entire operation remotely via RF talkback systems supplied also by Broadcast RF to keep in contact with the cameramen, motorcyclists and helicopters.

“All RF links are prone to interference, and interference can come from many sources including users of other RF networks, telephony networks and just about anything that emits an RF signal,” Brandrick explained. He revealed that the production team had to source for a ‘clean’ spectrum, employ careful RF frequency planning and put in place RF channel filters to prevent interference to their production.

In making the race coverage more informative and engaging, CNBC-TV18 and IBN 7 channels also added to the production by showcasing extensive graphical features such as leader boards, timers, and trivia, and provided commentary from expert marathon commentators. Channel reporters also participated in the races to offer an on-ground view and engaging viewing experience.

While the excitement peaked during the live broadcast of the SCMM races, the excitement was built up way before the event with both channels offering a line up of programming built around the SCMM, focusing on the diversity of the marathon experience including professional participation, support of charity causes, corporate social endeavours, celebrity involvement, individual recreation and community building.

And finally, reflecting on the successful conclusion of SCMM 2008’s live broadcast across India, Procam Mediatel’s Ajgaonkar lauded, “It was (the) fifth successful live telecast of the event and arguably our best. A large part of it was due to some fantastic pictures from the RF linking systems provided by Broadcast RF.”