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Audio Wireless rf distribution


Constantin

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For anyone who is in the market for rf distro, I'd like to quickly tell you about the one from Audio Wireless.

I had a nice chat today with the company's owner, Aldo at the TMT conference here in Cologne, because I saw this thing on his table that looked vaguely like the PSC rf distro.

It has two BNC inputs and 12 SMA outputs. and, interestingly, it has a digitally controlled movable rf filter. This can be set to either narrow band (I think he said this was 24MHz wide) or wideband. I don't recall the bandwidth for wideband. You can set the center frequency anywhere between 470MHz and 770MHz. More importantly, this unit will be upgraded in the first few months of 2015 to include 6 Hirose outputs to power your receivers. So this is rf distro with power distro, bag friendly. It is powered by an external power supply, via Hirose and it can provide Bias-T for active antennae. It is of course not specific to a manufacturer. Prices are not firm yet, but should be around £800-900

I had been looking for something like this for quite some time, as I hadn't found a good way to integrate three Zaxcom rx into my cart. Zaxcom's own rf distro, which is of course "the best there is", only works with three or four rx i believe. Also, it doesn't power the rx or antennae so it's quite expensive by comparison.

The PSC thing for me is not enough. No filter afaik and no powering of receivers, but it does supply rf to 8 receivers.

Anyway, it seems like a perfect product for me, and so I thought I'd just share this here, in case someone's looking for something similar.

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"Freakishly expensive, in my opinion."

​I think the MicplexerII costs less than the unit you are promoting. It does output to 4 receivers. You also need to look at filter roll off to properly compare units.

Glenn

Yes, I'm sorry, I mis-remembered the price. I have amended my original post a bit. It's not less than, but probably very similar to the Micplexer, but it'll do six receivers plus power. It's not available yet, so I can't compare.
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Constantin, correct me if i'm wrong but I think the same product was also displayed at IBC2014.

IPS did a video on it starting at around 3min.

http://vimeopro.com/ipstv/ips-tv-at-ibc-2014/video/106058923

Yes and No. That is the box I was initially interested in, but then Aldo (the guy in the video) told me about his plans for a modified distro box, just like the one in the video, but including six power outlets. He also wants to turn the screen for reasons that I forgot, but am not so happy about. Sorry if I didn't make this clear in my initial post. The box I am mostly talking (and excited) about doesn't yet exist.
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  • 4 months later...
  • 8 months later...

Today I had the honour to meet to Aldo at the "Hamburg Open" broadcast tech show. He explained to me what appears to be the little brother of the unit Constantin described.

- Six pair antenna distribution, sma for downlink, bnc for uplink
- Audiowireless RX and active antennas can be powered through the RF links
- 3x HR10 power outputs e.g. for RX units of other brands
- OLED display + menu buttons on the far end
- Display/Menu include Voltmeter, setting of Rf filtering, arming of all power outputs, lock and superlock function

What I liked:
Compared to the other unit Constantin looked at, you can fit it upwards in the bag and still operate the menu

What I missed:
more HR10 outputs and USB power output
 

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The one on the link is not the one I had a detailed look at. It is the "bigger brother" with afai understood overall smaller tunable bandwidth, 6x hr10 power outs and the display not at the far end (i.e. not as convenient in a bag). The unit i looked at is not advertised online yet (but will be sold, i.e. through Zeigermann).

I really should have taken son photos :-(

Edit: here are some pics of the "little brother" http://www.aem.nl/ibc-2014-nieuwe-producten.html?section=.

1 hour ago, berniebeaudry said:

Does the tunable version allow you to tune a range for each receiver?  

 

If I understood correctly: No

Edit:
And both versions are tunable as in, you can set a low cut and a high cut to the distributed rf signal pair.

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  • 4 months later...

I love the additional RF outputs, compared to my Micplexer II, though I will say the RF metering on the MP2 is an absolute great feature. Even if the RF isn't showing at the receiver, it let's you know what your antennas and distribution amp are getting. 

Regarding (any brand) filters on your RF distro - it's such a huge help especially when using VHF for your transmitters to camera alongside dipole antennas. The MP2 is steep enough to help out when your camera wireless are only 30-50mhz away from your talent wireless. 

The Micplexer 2 metering gives me a great sense of placement for my camera wireless transmitter in the bag. 

Both units need a pass-through RF with wideband filtering. It is very very difficult to set up a filtered RF distro solution if your wireless are not ALL within 35mhz or ALL are wideband. Many of us have various blocks and would still like to filter the majority of them without losing the rest or creating a hodgepodge RF scheme with splitters, and extra single filters like Lectrosonics PF25 and PF50. 

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  • 4 months later...

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