How does this work?

I've done some work at the Barter Theatre, and they have a very odd setup for a wireless com. Somehow they use motorola walkies, and have them connected to the clear-com system. When a walkie transmits, it is heard on all wired coms. In order to talk to the walkies though, you must hold both the call light and mic buttons.

Has anyone seen this anywhere else, or can anyone explain to me how this works and/or how you would go about setting this up? Needless to say that someone has gotten very inventive for sure.
 
Chances are they're using a box like the one Phil posted above. PI also makes a real repeater type one that actually transmits all the time so that HT users can hear everything. This costs a fair amount though.

BTW, what type of Motorola radio's are they using? Are they the black, built-like-a-brick ones, or the colorful plastic ones they sell at Best Buy?
 
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Chances are they're suing a box like the one Phil posted above. PI also makes a real repeater type one that actually transmits all the time so that HT users can hear everything. This costs a fair amount though.

That has to be one of the worst ideas ever...
 
Has anyone seen this anywhere else, or can anyone explain to me how this works and/or how you would go about setting this up? Needless to say that someone has gotten very inventive for sure.
It's a stock ClearCom item.

Edit: Link fixed.
 
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bad link, drop the second http//

edit: now fixed. hurrah
 
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That has to be one of the worst ideas ever...

I haven't used the repeater first-hand, but it seems like it's a pretty good solution for users who really just need to monitor the com and occasionally transmit. Definitely not a good solution for an SM or ASM, but maybe for a dresser or similar role backstage.

Of course, the radio would be fitted with a headset.
 
BTW, what type of Motorola radio's are they using? Are they the black, built-like-a-brick ones, or the colorful plastic ones they sell at Best Buy?

They use the black ones, not the home use ones.

They're used by backstage crew largely when they have a set piece that moves by being pushed, but a crew member gets trapped onstage with it. Or when its just not practical to have a wire trailing you. Though they switch to wired anytime pyro or flys gets involved.
 
You can do wireless monitoring from most com head units. Anything larger than a simple power supply has an output jack on the back for feeding a monitor system. It's a simple matter of matching the impedance to the mic input of a radio with voice activated TX. My Clear-Com also has a separate jack for paging, which means you can press a separate button to talk to the dressing rooms (or in my case the guys with radios) and that way only what you need them to hear goes out, instead of every single word on coms, saves the batteries. I've heard of people splicing things together with a pair of HTs and some crafty adapter soldering but unless you really know what you're doing, it's best to buy the box. Clear-Com, PI and Telex all make radio interface devices, as well as the radio companies like iCom and Morotola, etc. Cool stuff.
 

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