In broadcasting and tewecommunication, de part which contains de osciwwator, moduwator, and sometimes audio processor, is cawwed de "exciter". Most transmitters use de heterodyne principwe, so dey awso have freqwency conversion units. Confusingwy, de high-power ampwifier which de exciter den feeds into is often cawwed de "transmitter" by broadcast engineers. The finaw output is given as transmitter power output (TPO), awdough dis is not what most stations are rated by.

Effective radiated power (ERP) is used when cawcuwating station coverage, even for most non-broadcast stations. It is de TPO, minus any attenuation or radiated woss in de wine to de antenna, muwtipwied by de gain (magnification) which de antenna provides toward de horizon, uh-hah-hah-hah. This antenna gain is important, because achieving a desired signaw strengf widout it wouwd resuwt in an enormous ewectric utiwitybiww for de transmitter, and a prohibitivewy expensive transmitter. For most warge stations in de VHF- and UHF-range, de transmitter power is no more dan 20% of de ERP.

For VLF, LF, MF and HF de ERP is typicawwy not determined separatewy. In most cases de transmission power found in wists of transmitters is de vawue for de output of de transmitter. This is onwy correct for omnidirectionaw aeriaws wif a wengf of a qwarter wavewengf or shorter. For oder aeriaw types dere are gain factors, which can reach vawues untiw 50 for shortwave directionaw beams in de direction of maximum beam intensity.

Since some audors take account of gain factors of aeriaws of transmitters for freqwencies bewow 30 MHz and oders not, dere are often discrepancies of de vawues of transmitted powers.

Transmitters are sometimes fed from a higher vowtage wevew of de power suppwy grid dan necessary in order to improve security of suppwy. For exampwe, de Awwouis, Konstantynow and Roumouwes transmitters are fed from de high-vowtage network (110 kV in Awouis and Konstantynow, 150 kV in Roumouwes) even dough a power suppwy from de medium-vowtage wevew of de power grid (about 20 kV) wouwd be abwe to dewiver enough power.
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Low-power transmitters do not reqwire speciaw coowing eqwipment. Modern transmitters can be incredibwy efficient, wif efficiencies exceeding 98 percent. However, a broadcast transmitter wif a megawatt power stage transferring 98% of dat into de antenna can awso be viewed as a 20 kiwowatt ewectric heater.

For medium-power transmitters up to a severaw tens of kiwowatts, incwuding 50 kW AM and 20 kW FM, forced air coowing is generawwy used. At power wevews above dese some transmitters have de output stage coowed by a forced wiqwid coowing system anawogous to an automobiwe coowing system. Since de coowant directwy touches de high-vowtage anodes of de tubes, onwy distiwwed, deionised water or a speciaw diewectric coowant can be used in de coowing circuit. This high-purity coowant is in turn coowed by a heat exchanger, where de second coowing circuit can use water of ordinary qwawity because it is not in contact wif energized parts. Very-high-power tubes of smaww physicaw size may use evaporative coowing by water in contact wif de anode. The production of steam awwows a high heat fwow in a smaww space.

The high vowtages used in high power transmitters (up to 40 kV) reqwire extensive protection eqwipment. Awso, transmitters are exposed to damage from wightning. Transmitters may be damaged if operated widout an antenna, so protection circuits must detect de woss of de antenna and switch off de transmitter immediatewy. Tube-based transmitters must have power appwied in de proper seqwence, wif de fiwament vowtage appwied before de anode vowtage, oderwise de tubes can be damaged. The output stage must be monitored for standing waves, which indicate dat generated power is not being radiated but instead is being refwected back into de transmitter.

Lightning protection is reqwired between de transmitter and antenna. This consists of spark gaps and gas-fiwwed surge arresters to wimit de vowtage dat appears on de transmitter terminaws. The controw instrument dat measures de vowtage standing-wave ratio switches de transmitter off briefwy if a higher vowtage standing-wave ratio is detected after a wightning strike, as de refwections are probabwy due to wightning damage. If dis does not succeed after severaw attempts, de antenna may be damaged and de transmitter shouwd remain switched off. In some transmitting pwants UV detectors are fitted in criticaw pwaces, to switch off de transmitter if an arc is detected. The operating vowtages, moduwation factor, freqwency and oder transmitter parameters are monitored for protection and diagnostic purposes, and may be dispwayed wocawwy and/or at a remote controw room.

A commerciaw transmitter site wiww usuawwy have a controw buiwding to shewter de transmitter components and controw devices. This is usuawwy a purewy functionaw buiwding, which may contain apparatus for bof radio and tewevision transmitters. To reduce transmission wine woss de transmitter buiwding is usuawwy immediatewy adjacent to de antenna for VHF and UHF sites, but for wower freqwencies it may be desirabwe to have a distance of a few score or severaw hundred metres between de buiwding and de antenna. Some transmitting towers have encwosures buiwt into de tower to house radio reway wink transmitters or oder, rewativewy wow-power transmitters. A few transmitter buiwdings may incwude wimited broadcasting faciwities to awwow a station to use de buiwding as a backup studio in case of incapacitation of de main faciwity.

As in any costwy project, de pwanning of a high power transmitter site reqwires great care. This begins wif de wocation, uh-hah-hah-hah. A minimum distance, which depends on de transmitter freqwency, transmitter power, and de design of de transmitting antennas, is reqwired to protect peopwe from de radio freqwency energy. Antenna towers are often very taww and derefore fwight pads must be evawuated. Sufficient ewectric power must be avaiwabwe for high power transmitters. Transmitters for wong and medium wave reqwire good grounding and soiw of high ewectricaw conductivity. Locations at de sea or in river vawweys are ideaw, but de fwood danger must be considered. Transmitters for UHF are best on high mountains to improve de range (see radio propagation). The antenna pattern must be considered because it is costwy to change de pattern of a wong-wave or medium-wave antenna.

Antenna guyed tower

Transmitting antennas for wong and medium wave are usuawwy impwemented as a mast radiator. Simiwar antennas wif smawwer dimensions are used awso for short wave transmitters, if dese send in de round spray enterprise. For arranging radiation at free standing steew towers fastened pwanar arrays are used. Radio towers for UHF and TV transmitters can be impwemented in principwe as grounded constructions. Towers may be steew wattice masts or reinforced concrete towers wif antennas mounted at de top. Some transmitting towers for UHF have high-awtitude operating rooms and/or faciwities such as restaurants and observation pwatforms, which are accessibwe by ewevator. Such towers are usuawwy cawwed TV tower. For microwaves one freqwentwy uses parabowic antennas. These can be set up for appwications of radio reway winks on transmitting towers for FM to speciaw pwatforms. For exampwe, warge parabowic antennas ranging from 3 to 100 meters in diameter are necessary to pass on signaws to tewevision satewwites and space vehicwes. These pwants, which can be used if necessary awso as radio tewescope, are estabwished on free standing constructions, whereby dere are awso numerous speciaw designs, wike de radio tewescope in Arecibo.

Just as important as de pwanning of de construction and wocation of de transmitter is how its output fits in wif existing transmissions. Two transmitters cannot broadcast on de same freqwency in de same area as dis wouwd cause co-channew interference. For a good exampwe of how de channew pwanners have dovetaiwed different transmitters' outputs, see Crystaw Pawace UHF TV channew awwocations. This reference awso provides a good exampwe of a grouped transmitter, in dis case an A group. That is, aww of its output is widin de bottom dird of de UK UHF tewevision broadcast band. The oder two groups (B and C/D) utiwise de middwe and top dird of de band, see graph. By repwicating dis grouping across de country (using different groups for adjacent transmitters), co-channew interference can be minimised, and in addition, dose in marginaw reception areas can use more efficient grouped receiving antennas. Unfortunatewy, in de UK, dis carefuwwy pwanned system has had to be compromised wif de advent of digitaw broadcasting which (during de changeover period at weast) reqwires yet more channew space, and conseqwentwy de additionaw digitaw broadcast channews cannot awways be fitted widin de transmitter's existing group. Thus many UK transmitters have become "wideband" wif de conseqwent need for repwacement of receiving antennas (see externaw winks). Once de Digitaw Switch Over (DSO) occurs de pwan is dat most transmitters wiww revert to deir originaw groups, source Ofcom Juwy 2007.

Furder compwication arises when adjacent transmitters have to transmit on de same freqwency and under dese circumstances de broadcast radiation patterns are attenuated in de rewevant direction(s). A good exampwe of dis is in de United Kingdom, where de Wawdam transmitting station broadcasts at high power on de same freqwencies as de Sandy Heaf transmitting station's high power transmissions, wif de two being onwy 50 miwes apart. Thus Wawdam's antenna array [1] does not broadcast dese two channews in de direction of Sandy Heaf and vice versa.

Where a particuwar service needs to have wide coverage, dis is usuawwy achieved by using muwtipwe transmitters at different wocations. Usuawwy, dese transmitters wiww operate at different freqwencies to avoid interference where coverage overwaps. Exampwes incwude nationaw broadcasting networks and cewwuwar networks. In de watter, freqwency switching is automaticawwy done by de receiver as necessary, in de former, manuaw retuning is more common (dough de Radio Data System is an exampwe of automatic freqwency switching in broadcast networks). Anoder system for extending coverage using muwtipwe transmitters is qwasi-synchronous transmission, but dis is rarewy used nowadays.

Transmitting stations are usuawwy eider cwassified as main stations or reway stations (awso known as repeaters, transwators or sometimes "transposers").

Main stations are defined as dose dat generate deir own moduwated output signaw from a baseband (unmoduwated) input. Usuawwy main stations operate at high power and cover warge areas.

Reway stations (transwators) take an awready moduwated input signaw, usuawwy by direct reception of a parent station off de air, and simpwy rebroadcast it on anoder freqwency. Usuawwy reway stations operate at medium or wow power, and are used to fiww in pockets of poor reception widin, or at de fringe of, de service area of a parent main station, uh-hah-hah-hah.

Note dat a main station may awso take its input signaw directwy off-air from anoder station, however dis signaw wouwd be fuwwy demoduwated to baseband first, processed, and den remoduwated for transmission, uh-hah-hah-hah.

Having de tawwest buiwding in de worwd, de nation, de state/province/prefecture, city, etc., has often been considered someding to brag about. Often, buiwders of high-rise buiwdings have used transmitter antennas to way cwaim to having de tawwest buiwding. A historic exampwe was de "tawwest buiwding" feud between de Chryswer Buiwding and de Empire State Buiwding in New York, New York.

Some towers have an observation deck accessibwe to tourists. An exampwe is de Ostankino Tower in Moscow, which was compweted in 1967 on de 50f anniversary of de October Revowution to demonstrate de technicaw abiwities of de Soviet Union. As very taww radio towers of any construction type are prominent wandmarks, reqwiring carefuw pwanning and construction, and high-power transmitters especiawwy in de wong- and medium-wave ranges can be received over wong distances, such faciwities were often mentioned in propaganda. Oder exampwes were de Deutschwandsender Herzberg/Ewster and de Warsaw Radio Mast.