mghough Posted January 3, 2014 Report Share Posted January 3, 2014 I was recently working on a reality show in China. On the first day of shooting out of the blue my QRX froze. The screen went to pixels and I had to do a hard restart to get it working again. This continued to happen randomly throughout the day. It was really stressing me out. When the QRX locked down it cut all sound from the transmitters so it was a big issue. This had never happened to me before so I was at a loss, scrambling to try to figure out what was going on. I noticed that it happened again as soon as i engaged the transmit button on my in-ear walkie. I quickly restarted and tried to transmit again with the walkie close to my QRX. Sure enough it locked it down almost every time. I asked the AD if he could ask the crew to change the walks to another FQ which seemed to have helped. Watch out for walkies transmitting close to your QRXs though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nysounds Posted January 3, 2014 Report Share Posted January 3, 2014 Weird. I've never had walkies mess with my QRX's. I run 4 in my bag with two mixplexer's and have never experienced this before. Would be curious to see if this has happened to anyone else here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShubiSnax Posted January 3, 2014 Report Share Posted January 3, 2014 Can you provide more information? Like which walkies you are using, and which channel they were on when this was happening? What block is your QRX on, frequencies? Maybe someone can recreate the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted January 3, 2014 Report Share Posted January 3, 2014 Shubi: " Like which walkies you are using, and which channel they were on " a word to the wise is the warning, and since YMMV, it seems a good idea to check each time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirMixesAlot Posted January 3, 2014 Report Share Posted January 3, 2014 I've seen my QRX's lock up, but I never attributed it to walkie proximity. The QRX in question was very hot to the touch, so I thought it was an overheating issue. I rebooted, and it functioned normally. It's something I'll watch for in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnpaul215 Posted January 3, 2014 Report Share Posted January 3, 2014 We've (accidentally) learned you can crash a C300 with a Motorola walkie being too close to the camera when you click transmit. Within a certain proximity, it will make the LCD look weird (though it records this weirdness). A camera op was shooting from the hip (no pun intended) and talking to other camera ops when we stumbled onto this. His walkie was on his belt. Don't recall if we tried different freqs on the walkie. Knowing that, I could see it messing with a gear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnpaul215 Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 Where are your QRXs that they are being effected? Is your walkie clipped to the bag? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mghough Posted January 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 QRX is in block 25. The walkies were some Chinese knock-off brand that I've never heard of. I tried to figure out the FQ range for the walkies but it wasn't printed on the units and the tech staff wasn't any help. I contacted Zaxcom and they said: "I could try sending you some new software that changes how the synthesizer chip works." never got it though. My walkie was on my back belt but there were times that I was right on top of the camera guys because the location was pretty tight. I think there walkies were within 6" of the QRX when it went crazy. You have to be pretty close for it to cause a problem. On a film set i don't think it would be an issue but for ENG or reality where we tend to have to squeeze tight spaces pretty regularly, it's something to keep in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freeheel Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 Radio can do weird stuff. I have a 60 watt mobile ham radio that can boot my G4 mac tower from across the room when it transmits. I also am part of a volunteer mountain rescue team and transmitting on the radios in our base station can sometimes turn on the photocopier. Makes me want to wear a tinfoil hat fulltime.... Cheers, Bren Calkin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Mega Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 Don't worry about the hat, wrap the tinfoil around the family jewels!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWilson Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 You have lots of foil Mr Mega? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnpaul215 Posted January 4, 2014 Report Share Posted January 4, 2014 On the C300, the antenna was less than 6" from the C300. Probably more like 1". You figure a lot of us wear Moto walkies on our belt and they are much less than a foot from our receivers and recorders, but even a few inches can make all the difference. Same tricks when hops/IFB mess with RXs. If those walkies work like Motos, they are programmed. There isn't an easy way to figure out what channel is what frequency in the field. It is also possible they have some sort of RF burst when you key. Best thing might be to wear the walkie on your back, or I wear mine up on my harness. That extra distance may be enough to save you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Mega Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 You have lots of foil Mr Mega? Luckily foil is cheap...and they don't call me Mega for nothing!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Woodcock Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Luckily foil is cheap...and they don't call me Mega for nothing!! Why do I have the feeling that's not the first time you have used that chat up line.... Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Mega Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Why do I have the feeling that's not the first time you have used that chat up line.... Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk Yes I'll admit, I've used it before!! But only when the timing is right. It's all about timing, you can't just say it willy nilly or throw it around haphazardly!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWilson Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Sadly, I don't need much foil... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Mega Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 It's not the size of the ship, it's the motion if the ocean... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantin Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Why do I have the feeling that's not the first time you have used that chat up line.... Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk Says Mr. Woodcock... So very sorry about this post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Woodcock Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Says Mr. Woodcock... So very sorry about this post Sigh...... Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich Posted January 5, 2014 Report Share Posted January 5, 2014 Says Mr. Woodcock... So very sorry about this post It pays to advertise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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