LEWISTON — Raymond-based antenna maker Dielectric announced Wednesday it is expanding to Lewiston, taking up a 32,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the Gendron Business Park and bringing 50 jobs.

Some of those positions will be new and some will be workers splitting time between Raymond and Lewiston, according to a company spokesman.

It is expected to open this fall.

Spokesman Brian Galante said the new space is needed to accommodate growth in what’s known in the antenna world as “spectrum repack” — nearly 1,000 UHF channels relocating to new channel assignments.  

“That requires anything from a complete redo of your transmitter facility — antenna (and) towers — to maybe just some minor modifications,” Galante said. “With all of these stations moving to new channel assignments, they’re at least going to need auxiliary antenna and possibly new permanent antennas, and that’s where Dielectric comes into the mix.”

Dielectric Vice President and General Manager Keith Pelletier said in a press release Dielectric has quoted jobs for 905 of the 987 transitioning UHF stations.

“We stand ready to capture a lion’s share of that business based on our reputation for our engineering quality, product reliability, customer service and quick delivery,” he said.

The company has 39 months to get all of that work done.

“Our new building will have state-of-the-art indoor and outdoor facilities to design and produce UHF antennas, including a new outdoor test pad to verify performance of antenna products in advance of shipping,” Pelletier said.

All of Dielectric’s UHF production for repack will move to the Lewiston location.

Cianbro had formerly taken up space at the 1 Gendron Drive site off Alfred Plourde Parkway where Dielectric plans to locate. Another antenna maker, Micronetixx Technologies, is there now, but will move out for Dielectric’s expansion.

kskelton@sunjournal.com

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