New Facilities At The Funchal Transmitter Station

The Funchal Broadcasting Station (PEF) was founded in 1948 and quickly became one of the main references for social communication in the Autonomous Region of Madeira.

In 2025, it celebrated 77 years of uninterrupted activity, consolidating its mission to report accurately, accompany social and cultural transformations, and give voice to Madeiran identity. Its history intersects with that of the region itself, reflecting profound political, technological, and social transformations over time.

It recently modernised its technical infrastructure, boosting production and broadcasting capacity with state-of-the-art equipment supplied by AEQ, a Spanish company specializing in broadcasting solutions. The project involved the complete renovation of broadcasting studios, recording islands for journalists, external reporting systems, and the technical center, ensuring flexibility, redundancy, and integration with IP networks.

Each studio was equipped with the AEQ Forum IP Split modular broadcast console, a system designed for on-air and production applications, fully compatible with Dante/AES67. The three main studios received FR CORE frames, FR CTRL-CS control modules with 20 programmable keys, FR CH-CS Forum IP Split 4-fader modules, as well as analog and digital input and output cards, FR14 AoIP modules, and VirtualForum and ForumScreen software for local and remote operation.

Two recording islands equipped with Rode Rodecaster consoles and Dante ESI22C interfaces were installed, allowing full integration with the audio-over-IP network of the broadcasting station.

Mobility and live connectivity were enhanced with AEQ Phoenix Alio and Mercury audio codecs, both of which support multiple high-quality encoding algorithms and can be operated both locally and remotely.

In the technical center, AEQ provided high-capacity and connectivity solutions: the Netbox 32 AD interface, with 32 input and output channels; the Venus 4 Dante audio codec, dual channel with Dante/AES67 integration; and the Systel IP Basic multi-conference system, with 12 lines expandable to 20, suitable for stations with a high volume of live calls.

With these new facilities, the Funchal Broadcasting Station now has a highly flexible, IP-based, fully integrated broadcasting infrastructure. The combination of Forum IP Split consoles, Phoenix Alio, Mercury, and Venus 4 codecs, the Systel IP conferencing system, and the Netbox 32 AD interface puts the station at the forefront of technology, ready to meet the demands of content production and broadcasting in the 21st century.

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