Wireless Sennheiser dropouts - antenna booster or remote mount antennas

[chausman]

I see the advantages to be that you can see what levels are on the receiver and RF strength.

If you have competent people on headset off stage, it shouldn't be a problem.

Wouldn't be an issue at all if the OP has units that feature remote control software. If he has the 300 or 500 that is certainly doable.

What if I don't have those mics? And [user]TimmyP1955[/user] says he has the EW100G3, to which I was referring.

 

[lparks1]

What if I don't have those mics? And TimmyP1955 says he has the EW100G3, to which I was referring.

Yeah, but my reply was more "meant" for the OP that if he had 300 or 500 series that was doable - sorry if that caused confusion.

 

[sdauditorium]

I don't have a list of frequencies handy..however, I'll be there tomorrow and will pick it up and post it.

Here's the list of frequencies for our wireless:

523.300
518.400
518.900
519.500
543.850
521.600
533.000
530.000
545.075
541.500
531.500
534.500
520.200
541.300
566.450

 

[sdauditorium]

Yeah, but my reply was more "meant" for the OP that if he had 300 or 500 series that was doable - sorry if that caused confusion.

We have one 300 series systems, otherwise the rest are 100 series.

 

[sdauditorium]

Is there a need for the receivers to be at FOH? Ours (16x EW100G3 with two sets of splitters) are just off stage, and we get excellent performance by feeding each set of splitters with a pair of the whip antennas that came free with the units.

The only reason they're FOH is that they've always been up in the booth, ever since the auditorium was constructed. I wouldn't mind having them offstage, but that would entail buying a wall-mount rack and running cable and power (along with our sequential power up) and all the fun that comes with trying to run cable above acoustic panels..

 

[mbenonis]

Here's the list of frequencies for our wireless:

I see intermod issues all over the place. A quick run through my software returned a ton of different products...so this is most likely the problem for you. Here are a list of frequencies that are IM3 clean (frequency followed by TV channel number):

557.475 28
517.925 21
553.575 27
557.675 28
535.225 24
528.600 23
520.125 22
543.800 26
518.325 22
522.575 22
517.375 21
540.075 25
551.925 27
519.375 22
533.900 24

 

[waynehoskins]

I see intermod issues all over the place. A quick run through my software returned a ton of different products...so this is most likely the problem for you. Here are a list of frequencies that are IM3 clean (frequency followed by TV channel number):

557.475 28
517.925 21
553.575 27
557.675 28
535.225 24
528.600 23
520.125 22
543.800 26
518.325 22
522.575 22
517.375 21
540.075 25
551.925 27
519.375 22
533.900 24

You beat me to it. I came back now to get the frequency list to run through SIFM after seeing it last night when I was at home and SIFM wasn't.

 

[sdauditorium]

I see intermod issues all over the place. A quick run through my software returned a ton of different products...so this is most likely the problem for you. Here are a list of frequencies that are IM3 clean (frequency followed by TV channel number):

557.475 28
517.925 21
553.575 27
557.675 28
535.225 24
528.600 23
520.125 22
543.800 26
518.325 22
522.575 22
517.375 21
540.075 25
551.925 27
519.375 22
533.900 24

Much appreciated! Do you know why on earth the sound company we had come in to look at it didn't realize this when they coordinated everything? The only issue is the units we have are in the A range (except for 1) and only tune from 518-554..the 2 freqs at 557 wouldn't work.

 

[mbenonis]

Much appreciated! Do you know why on earth the sound company we had come in to look at it didn't realize this when they coordinated everything? The only issue is the units we have are in the A range (except for 1) and only tune from 518-554..the 2 freqs at 557 wouldn't work.

Hard to say, so I won't speculate, but I will say that solid RF knowledge is surprisingly thin in the sound community. Here are a new set of frequencies from 518-554:

Frequency TV Channel
525.325 23
527.375 23
544.650 26
522.400 22
518.375 22
537.375 25
551.100 27
520.600 22
522.300 22
518.150 22
550.525 27
538.375 25
534.025 24
550.200 27
528.050 23

Here's another set if that has issues:

Frequency TV Channel
552.925 27
522.025 22
543.775 26
540.100 25
518.550 22
540.975 25
532.225 24
528.250 23
539.900 25
524.675 23
548.425 27
537.850 25
520.475 22
521.450 22
549.150 27

By the way, these frequencies do not take into account local TV stations, but looking at the FCC data for your county (best data I had for you), there wan't much around...the closest transmitter was 30 mi at low power so I figure if you're inside you'll be okay. If any of your receivers indicate received signal with all transmitters off, let me know and we'll avoid that channel.

 

[Chris15]

Much appreciated! Do you know why on earth the sound company we had come in to look at it didn't realize this when they coordinated everything?

Don't be too hard on them, RF is black magic to most people in the industry, you just happen to have a couple of RF nerds here on CB...

I was just in the middle of running a new coordination for you when Mike beat me to it. You are in a very favourable RF environment I've got to say...

 

[sdauditorium]

Hard to say, so I won't speculate, but I will say that solid RF knowledge is surprisingly thin in the sound community. Here are a new set of frequencies from 518-554:

Frequency TV Channel
525.325 23
527.375 23
544.650 26
522.400 22
518.375 22
537.375 25
551.100 27
520.600 22
522.300 22
518.150 22
550.525 27
538.375 25
534.025 24
550.200 27
528.050 23

Here's another set if that has issues:

Frequency TV Channel
552.925 27
522.025 22
543.775 26
540.100 25
518.550 22
540.975 25
532.225 24
528.250 23
539.900 25
524.675 23
548.425 27
537.850 25
520.475 22
521.450 22
549.150 27

By the way, these frequencies do not take into account local TV stations, but looking at the FCC data for your county (best data I had for you), there wan't much around...the closest transmitter was 30 mi at low power so I figure if you're inside you'll be okay. If any of your receivers indicate received signal with all transmitters off, let me know and we'll avoid that channel.

Once again, it's greatly appreciated. However, I know I only listed 15 frequencies initially, but we do have 17 units...2 are currently being rented out.

 

[sdauditorium]

Don't be too hard on them, RF is black magic to most people in the industry, you just happen to have a couple of RF nerds here on CB...

I was just in the middle of running a new coordination for you when Mike beat me to it. You are in a very favourable RF environment I've got to say...

Luckily, we're in a very touristy area in NE Wisconsin (Door County). Green Bay is 35ish miles away, but other than that, there isn't much around..of course, having Lake Michigan to our east and the waters of Green Bay to our west definitely helps too.

 

[mbenonis]

Don't be too hard on them, RF is black magic to most people in the industry, you just happen to have a couple of RF nerds here on CB...

I was just in the middle of running a new coordination for you when Mike beat me to it. You are in a very favourable RF environment I've got to say...

Chris, please feel free to post your coordination too. I'm interested in comparing what we get. Also, were you able to get 18 frequencies in his market? I'm running into the wall at 15 with my algorithm...

 

[TimmyP1955]

We originally bought 9 A units. When we expanded to 16 I was going to get more A, but saw with SIFM that it could be a crap shoot. So we have 12 A and 4 G (so if we expand to 24 it will be 12 and 12. Sennheiser agreed that this was a wise decision.

Currently we are using factory presets for frequencies, and all is well.

As to being able to have the RF meters close at hand at FOH: Having the receivers in close proximity to the transmitters would seem to greatly lessen the need to have the meters at hand for regular monitoring. (Though I would love to have a high res camera that I could peek at on the FOH computer now and then.)

 

[dannymusic]

The owners manuals make it seem easy, but running lots of wireless channels gets intriguing. I'm all Electrovoice. My life started getting easier when using the charts.
I also invested in 2 LPA directional antennas. If you're going to go $$$$$in your units, spend a couple hundred on good antennas.
Currently running 21 EV REV/RE1 off 1 splitter.

 

[Chris15]

sdauditorium, I think we left you hanging on your question of 17 frequencies...

Could you please let us know exactly how many of your mics and G2 and how many are G3s?
YES, it does matter, the G3 has a wider switching bandwidth...

 

[sdauditorium]

sdauditorium, I think we left you hanging on your question of 17 frequencies...

Could you please let us know exactly how many of your mics and G2 and how many are G3s?
YES, it does matter, the G3 has a wider switching bandwidth...

Sorry about that, I thought I had covered that in a previous post. We have 11 of the G3s, 5 G2s, 1 original generation.

 

[Anonymous067]

Chris and Brad, what software are you using? Is anybody on IAS, and if not would that prove to give better results in getting all 17 frequencies? I'd jump in and help but I don't have the OPs zip/area (and NO don't post it online...haha).

 

[Anonymous067]

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?

 

[Chris15]

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...