Wireless - Sennheiser dropouts - antenna booster or remote mount antennas

[mbenonis]

The ONLY way you can get different results is if you muck around with the spacing parameters, all the software is working pretty much the same under the hood. (Mike and I have discussed this at some length)

Strictly speaking, most of the software uses a random number engine, and so in some cases, if you massage the numbers enough, you can eeke out one or two more frequencies...but Chris is right, adjusting the spacing parameters is much more likely to generate more "valid" frequencies.

[Anonymous067]

I believe Mike was using IAS.
The ONLY way you can get different results is if you muck around with the spacing parameters, all the software is working pretty much the same under the hood. (Mike and I have discussed this at some length)

The A band is common to all generations of Sennheiser, it's limits however have grown slightly each generation.

The OP has his location listed in his profile...

I thought the G3 was tunable to more freqs than G1? and I also saw the OP say that he was using one non-A band unit...

[Chris15]

New coordination for the OP is attached.
The 2 "extra" G1 frequencies are spares, since the G1 has the least switching bandwidth, you can use them on any of the units...

[sdauditorium]

New coordination for the OP is attached.
The 2 "extra" G1 frequencies are spares, since the G1 has the least switching bandwidth, you can use them on any of the units...

Much appreciated! I will be re-assigning all of the mics later and will let you know how things go.

[Chris15]

Revised with DTV on Ch23 attached
(Since I can't easily attach to a PM)

[sdauditorium]

OP...can you please explain exactly what you own for equipment...I'm confused as I reread...

All in the "A" range, with all G1 except one G3? Which bandsplit is the non-A one in?

We have 16 units that operate in the "A" band (10-100 G3s, 5-100 G2s, 1-100 original gen) and 1 unit that operates in the "B" band.

[Chris15]

We have 16 units that operate in the "A" band (10-100 G3s, 5-100 G2s, 1-100 original gen) and 1 unit that operates in the "B" band.

Hang on a sec, so one of the G3s is in B band?
Ie, 10 ew100G3-A, 1 ew100G3-B, 5 ew100G2-A and 1 ew100G1-A in total?

[sdauditorium]

Hang on a sec, so one of the G3s is in B band?
Ie, 10 ew100G3-A, 1 ew100G3-B, 5 ew100G2-A and 1 ew100G1-A in total?

Sorry, let me try this again

We have 17 total units - 16 of which are in the A Band (10 G3s, 5 G2s, and 1 original gen). The other unit we have is a G3 300 series in the B Band.

[Chris15]

Third time lucky?

[sdauditorium]

Thanks to Chris with the frequency coordination, and things look better. I just put an order in through Full Compass for 2 of the Wideband Passive UHF Antennas, cable, and wall mounts. We're going to install those antennas on the back wall (FOH) directly in front of our sound booth. While not decreasing distance to the stage that much, hopefully the directivity and getting them out of the booth a bit should help.

I'd love to move them on-stage, but we don't have a snake at this point so pulling audio would be tough. We're looking at doing a new sound system install in a year or two and would probably move the mic receivers down to stage and get 48 channels through a couple digital snake units on stage at that point.

[sdauditorium]

Thanks for the help. We finally have the A-1031s mounted on the outside wall of our booth in the house. As mentioned, I picked up Senny's low-loss antenna cable-stuff is thicker than a brick. Also have the Mini-Circuits splitters feeding all of the distro and mic receivers.

I did a simple test run with a bodypack. A friend took the bodypack and roamed the house, on stage, and actually out the back door stage right and through another exterior entrance back to stage. The RF signal rarely dipped below 40 at all (only time was outside).

More importantly, the low-level RF the receivers had been picking up when none of our transmitters on is gone as well. I'm not sure if that was resultant from ground plane issues with the way our stock whips were mounted to the front of the rack, but it's good news all around.

[jowens]

You should not be having issues at 100' from the stage. Have you checked to make sure you are not operating on top of a local TV station? How many systems are you using, and how did you plan out the frequencies?

I highly recommend AGAINST an antenna booster. Antenna boosters (also, more properly called wideband RF amplifiers) tend to cause more problems than they fix because they amplify undesired signals and are prone to being overdriven, causing intermodulation. If you are going to buy something, spend the money on directional antennas and use passive splitters to distribute the signal to the receivers.

See the FAQ if you haven't already.

Would you recommend taking my boosters out?
I"m running 10 or so in A, 8 in B, and 4 in G. The best belden low loss 50ohm cable I could find (REAL thick) running about 90' to the remote mounted 1031's. Boosters on each of the three remote antennas (one for each freq).
I'm due for a recalc of frequencies, but things are not quite as perfect as they should be considering the equipment...

[waynehoskins]

Would you recommend taking my boosters out?
I"m running 10 or so in A, 8 in B, and 4 in G. The best belden low loss 50ohm cable I could find (REAL thick) running about 90' to the remote mounted 1031's. Boosters on each of the three remote antennas (one for each freq).
I'm due for a recalc of frequencies, but things are not quite as perfect as they should be considering the equipment...

I'd take the antenna boosters out. Your line loss should be negligible if you're running something like 9913 or better, so you're only reducing your S/N ratio. Since SNR is way more important than raw signal strength (in virtually everything, not just RF), if you optimize the system for good SNR, you should be good.

[mbenonis]

Agreed. "Boosters" (really, wideband amplifiers) often cause more problems than they solve!