Eboy87, you asked about the issues I had with the Anchor Audio interface. I have the Anchorman package with the Wingman interface
Anchor Audio AnchorMan Wireless Intercom. Check the specs if you are interested; I'll stick to the problems I've run into.
There are four groups of four pairs of channels - one transmit/receive in each direction. It took some trial & error to find a group where we got reasonably
clear signals with all four packs (they can communicate independently without a "
base station"). Since they operate in the 900 MHz band, I suspected I might run into some interference problems, but thought it might be less congested than the 2.4 GHz band that the HME DX series runs. Range is adequate for my needs, but not spectacular. It covers a 710 seat
proscenium theatre, catwalks and backstage areas including
orchestra pit pretty well; much better than our failed attempt with FRS radios. Venture beyond this area & we get dropouts and/or static.
Next we tried the wireless to wired interface, which Anchor calls the "Wingman". They claim it is compatible with two
wire or four
wire systems. Documentation on the product is pretty skimpy. A
call to Anchor produced little help (see more about other problems dealing with these guys below). Has anyone ever noticed that manufacturers seem to have never heard of anything except ClearCom? Well the folks at Anchor are no different. I guess they could have told me how to set the Wingman to work with ClearCom, but I have a
Production Intercom wired
system (not my choice... it was there when I arrived, but it works perfectly well, even through it's not CC). Of course, I called Anchor before purchasing the Anchorman/Wingman and they assured me it was compatible with P.I. I finally got it to work, but have never been able to use the 4th
beltpack. It appears the Wingman interface uses the fourth pair of transmit/receive channels to communicate with the other three beltpacks. We initially had some volume
level differences, but the Wingman provides an adjustment & that solved that problem. I'm not a fan of the
VOX circuit, but I prefer to run them in push-to-talk mode anyway to avoid all the chatter.
My overall satisfaction is probably tainted by problems with the original shipment. It comes with four
boom mic headsets of your choice, the beltpacks and a four pack charger (uses AA NiMH rechargeables or alkaline AAs). When the package arrived, I opened it to find that the
headset connectors were 4-pin mini
XLR, but the beltpacks require standard 4-pin
XLR. How can that get screwed up when you are buying a standard package? I mean the factory should know what kind of
headset connector goes with the beltpacks, right? The Wingman interface was not included. I got on the phone to my dealer & left a message, then I called Anchor. They promised to
send replacement headsets with the proper
connector right away. They had no clue that I ordered the Wingman & referred me to my dealer. When I talked to my dealer, he swore he ordered the Wingman along with the Anchorman. A
call back from the dealer assured me the interface & proper headsets would ship out the next day via expedited
UPS. Eight days later, nothing had arrived. I called the person at Anchor but he did not
return my voicemails. Finally, I looked at the corporate directory on the website & called the Vice President of Sales directly. He took my info & promised to get the problems corrected. He also claimed they had no order from my dealer for the Wingman. Called the dealer, who called Anchor & said everything would be resolved. A week later, the stuff finally arrived. This was not exactly five-star customer service!
I originally considered the Anchor product & the HME DX series. The HME product is pretty impressive
DX200 Digital Wireless Intercom - HME. I saw a demo at
LDI a couple of years ago. It is license free & operates in the 2.4GHz band. Of course there's all sorts of stuff floating around there. It has rechargable batteries, but they are proprietary. As I said earlier, the Anchor uses AA rechargeables or standard AA alkalines. HME has voice prompts on setup & even tells you when you are getting near the
edge of range. I think HME is probably pretty good stuff because they make most of the fast-food drive-up systems you see, so it has to be durable to stand up to that kind of abuse. What really pushed me to the Anchor product though, is it cost about half what the HME
system would run.