Microphones Any ideas on making a ISOMAX 4RF wireless with a bodypack

[ryanj989]

Good afternoon, amazingly enough, I have found zero hits on this. We have a Countryman ISOMAX 4RF which is a great mic for our church's Podium microphone. However, the wiring that it is connected to is over 30 years old, encased in concrete, goes over 200 feet, through the woods, through the swamp, etc, etc, and because of that it is really "buzzy". So, instead of trying to cut the bricks and concrete and such, we figured we would attach a wireless body pack to it and install the receiver right next to the soundboard and clear up that noise. However, the ISOMAX requires a phantom of 6V - 50V. Now, the ATW-702 body pack supposedly provides power, but only to 5V if I remember correctly. I figured we will need to have a phantom power box in between the body pack and the mic. Or does anyone else have an idea to bypass the internal pre-amp and connect it directly to the ATW-702? The ATW-702 has the HIROSE connector, but I have an adapter that changes it to the standard 3 pin XLR. So is the phantom power box the only way?? Anyone else McGuyver anything up like this? Any help would be greatly appreciated! THANKS!!!

 

[FMEng]

Are you sure the cable isn't run in conduit? If it is, it should be possible to use the old cable as a pull string for the new. Generous amounts of pulling lubricant helps make it go easier, too. Quality cable, such as Belden 9451 should handle the moisture in the conduit for many years.

As for interfacing the podium mic to the belt pack, yes I think you'll need both a phantom supply and a mic isolation transformer to balance the input. A condenser mic won't like having one side of its output driving ground, but a transformer solves that.

I would use a transformer type mic splitter, such as
ART PROSPLIT Mic Splitter, Transformer Isolated | Full Compass

Connect the mic to the phantom supply. The output of the phantom supply goes to the splitter input. Use the isolated output of the splitter to connect to the XLR cable for the wireless transmitter. Do not connect the splitter direct output to anything.

 

[themuzicman]

You can get an XLR plug on wireless transmitter, you'll need a phantom power supply as stated above. The Sennheiser SKP100-G3 is a decent budget solution, you just need to pair it to a receiver.

 

[65535]

I would vote for pulling new cable to the podium. A good shielded balanced mic cable should work great over 200 feet.