You don't have to be an Olympic athlete to know what it's like to bring home a medal from Beijing, a local businessman said Tuesday.
In describing the performance of a high-definition mobile television trailer made by Medical Coaches of Oneonta, marketing director Chad Smith said it was like winning a gold medal.
The company, which employs about 80, shipped the custom-designed high-definition television production trailer to Guangdong Television last winter, said technical director Stan Buczak. It was used for the Olympic soccer matches at Qinhuangdao, he said. The Medical Coach representative in China, Ruoding Wang, did not respond to an e-mail Tuesday.
With the U.S. women's soccer team winning a gold medal, Smith said, "It was nice to have a little piece of Oneonta at such a prestigious event."
The HDTV trailer used to produce the worldwide broadcasts holds about 20 cameras and 20 people, he said. Features include a ceramic roof to control temperatures inside and a rivet-free design using an epoxy adhesive similar to that used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The cost was about $2-3 million, Smith said. About five to 10 television trailers have been produced for each of the past 10 years, he said.
Similar trailers are used by companies during many major events, including political conventions and Super Bowls, said Buczak.
"We've never sold to China before," he said. "We're hoping it opens doors."
HDTV is just getting introduced in China, he said, and television networks previously rented trucks made in Europe. This is the largest, most expensive unit of its kind in the country now, he said.
Medical Coaches' main product is a mobile medical unit., Smith said. About 20,000 have been shipped to all 50 states and 150 countries since the company began in 1949.
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Mark Boshnack can be reached at 432-1000 or (800) 721-1000, ext. 218, or at mboshnack@thedailystar.com.
