Shure UHF-R Wireless

[fosstech]

We just got eight new Shure UHF-R wireless systems. They're Shure's top of the line wireless systems, and the features they come with really shows that fact. We got four of the dual receiver units, eight bodypacks, an RF distribution amplifier, and two active directional antennas. Here's what I've observed so far.

The receivers have a dot matrix screen, four multipurpose buttons to the right of the screen, a green enter key and a red exit key to the right of those. There's also a large rotary knob/pushbutton to the right of those. The level knob for the headphones is the same idea as the UHF series, push it to choose between the two receivers in the unit.

The receivers are very easy to use and program. I was able to set them all up, name them, and sync the bodypacks to the receivers without even picking up the manual. Everything was intuitive and logical. The dot matrix screen allows a lot more information to be displayed over the old UHF series. Names can be 12 characters (allows lower case too) as opposed to six. The multipurpose keys are labeled on the right side of the screen.

Now here come the cool features. Every receiver unit has an ethernet port on the back which allows all the receivers to be connected to a switch. Plug a computer into one of the receivers' USB ports, load Shure's Wireless Workbench software, and you can view the status of any receiver on the network, plus view RF level graphs, spectrum graphs, and battery life. You can also plug the computer into the ethernet switch and do it that way. I haven't gotten that far into the software yet, so I don't know if they can be programmed through the computer. It's a very handy feature if you have all your receivers backstage for better reception. Just run a cat 5 cable from the switch to a computer at the mix position, and you'll be able to view all your receivers.

Another really useful and time saving feature is the infrared syncing. Instead of messing with tiny buttons and a small screen on the bodypacks, just push the sync button on the receiver, hold the bodypack up to the receiver's infrared emitter, and push the sync button again. The frequency and name are transmitted to the bodypack in less than a second. I was able to get all eight bodypacks programmed in less than two minutes. A very useful feature if you have an ungodly number of wireless systems.

Another really handy feature if you're on tour a lot is the band scan feature. Once you have the receivers hooked up and in place with antennas, the receiver can scan the frequency band and automatically find the groups and channels with the least amount of interference. If you have the receivers networked, they'll all automatically set themselves to the channels identified in the scan.

I'm certainly already impressed with the systems. I'll report back on how they do on their first show which previews on Halloween. If our sound professor likes them, he's going to get more next year.

[NeilW]

The UHF-R series is such an improvement over the previous UHF premier series from Shure, it is so much quicker to setup and program the receivers and packs, and the overall sound quality is great too. We have had much success at the hire company I work for with large systems (24+ channels), all networked and controlled off of a laptop!
Certainly very nice kit, with a price point to match though!

Neil