5 Star Cases Supplies Megahertz for Venezuela Outside Broadcaster

The cases form part of a shipment of eight vehicles that have been dispatched from Ely, Cambridgeshire based Megahertz to South American broadcaster, Vision Venezuela (ViVe), a government owned cultural broadcasting organisation.

The project comprised two complete Mercedes 2532 OB trucks and two 2532 Tender vehicles which carry all the flightcases containing the ‘loose’ gear, plus four further vehicles, two for Satellite News Gathering and two for Production – all built on Toyota Land cruiser bases.

Megahertz has been using 5 Star for at least the last 10 years for its case requirements, and so it was an obvious choice for this project explains Megahertz Production Manager, Bill O’Flynn.

“5 Star are excellent, always reliable, the products are well made and quality engineered while the turnarounds are quick”. Rapid delivery was also required for this job, to get the cases completed on time to be freighted to Latin America!

The cases were commissioned by Megahertz’ Project Manager and Technical Director, Steve Burgess.

5 Star’s technical designer John Barsby then worked closely with Megahertz’ Paul Ager to fine tune the individual trunks, all tailor made to meet the ViVe spec.  

The cases – over 40 in total - included units to house Shure microphones; 6U racking systems, Sony camera HDVF viewfinder/hood cases, Sony DXF 51 electronic studio viewfinders and mic stand storage.

All were custom built from 5 Star’s robust ‘Industrial’ range of casing materials, providing a durable yet relatively lightweight design. They were finished in black high pressure laminate (HPL).

The general working conditions of any OB environment can be challenging, so the quality and reliability of kit is paramount and good casing is at the essence of this, as well as making it as portable and as practical as possible to deploy and use.

5 Star also provided a range of special ID labels, produced on their in-house Epilog laser engraver. These were applied to the flight cases together with some additional carry bags for tidy and easy identification of the contents.