Shure Mic isn't connecting from stage

carsonld

Active Member
Hi,

I have 14 Shure ULX S4 in the G3 range. All of which are connected to a Shure UA844 Antenna Distributor(s). I then have an additional 8 Shure SLX 4 that are chilling in the J1 range. Only two are connected to the antenna disto and only one is being used in the show. I am having an issue with that one body pack not connecting to the antenna from onstage. If we are at the sound board, it connects just fine. However, once onstage, its spotty. None of the other mics are having an issue connecting. I have checked every connection, tried using the antennas that came with the receiver, and nothing has worked. Im quite stumped as I really don't know what the issue is. Am I missing something? All of the ULXs are talking... I have connected the spreadsheet that has every mic and its frequency it is programmed to.
 

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  • Wireless Mic Ranges.xlsx
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I'm sure FMEng is not too far away, but in the meantime, have you tried tuning the transmitter to one of your known good frequencies? (Ie. turn off beltpack X and tune the 'bad' beltpack to X's freq?) . Could it be a squelch issue? Or maybe a cable is disconnected someplace?

--Matt
 
Hi carsonld, what ZIP code are you located in? Wireless microphones use the same radio spectrum as television stations, and many TV stations have moved around lately--meaning mic systems which previously worked may no longer work. I can help you get these fixed up once I know roughly where you are.
 
73160. Ive got it working right now for the show. Show is this week. I will troubleshoot more during the break. Thanks! :)
 
Oklahoma City should have finished it's TV repack on April 12th. Once empty spectrum is gradually being lit up by the cellular companies. Generally, the strongest carrier wins. Moving the transmitter closer to the receiver dramatically increases signal strength, so your observation would fit with interference.
 
I strongly recommend getting something in your space that can run FM specturm analysis - either a Shure QLXD receiver, or look into the $275-ish analyzer from RF Venue - its an amazing value. Then you will know exactly what is going on, moment by moment. With that many mics (15 active), you can't be doing lily-pad hopping as you try this, try that to find freqs that work. And the ULX uses more spectrum than a digital channel by far ... with 14 of them, that's already pretty spectrum-hungry.
 
@carsonld Glad you got it working! As @Ben Stiegler mentioned above, a scan would be excellent here. Here's what I think is operating in the Oklahoma City area (this is from a non-public database, but you can get a similar list from rabbitears.info: https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php and/or https://www.rabbitears.info/tvq.php):

1575471282722.png


I bet if your building is decently well-shielded, you could operate on top of KOHC-CD (TV 31). To test, tune a ULX receiver to a few channels somewhere between 572-578 MHz and see how many amber lights are lit up...if zero or one lights are lit, you're golden.

Given that, Wireless Workbench gives me twelve of your ULX and two SLX, or about eleven ULX and six SLX at once. If you put it into More Frequencies mode (just make sure two packs never get within a couple of feet of each other), then you can get them all working together.

Take a look at the attached Wireless Workbench file, and the coordination PDF. I wanted to post these here so that everyone can see how to make these for their own systems.

You can always reach out to Shure's Applications Engineering team at shure.com/contact if you need help with finding frequencies for a particular location. They will get back to you within a day, usually much more quickly.
 

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  • Oklahoma City SLX and ULX.zip
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  • Coordination for carsonld.pdf
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