Cable AML has concluded an upgrade of an existing bi-directional AML system linking the towns of Natchez (Mississippi) and Vidalia (Louisiana) across the Mississippi River.

Cable operator Cable One wanted to improve the reliability of the link to provide better upstream DOCSIS modem service to Vidalia subscribers from the existing Headend at Natchez.

The improvements required eliminating a tower-mounted LNA which was prone to failures due to the high frequency of lightning strikes on the tower. To compensate the losses through a long run of elliptical waveguide, a high power upstream transmitter was installed and integrated with the existing broadband downlink used for analog and digital video transmission.

An extra benefit of the upgrade was to improve clear-weather carrier-to-noise and also fade margin.