osa Posted July 16, 2016 Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 I have a trxla2.5 oled that i purchased new last December and it appears to have a rather temperamental transmission issue. Probably 4 months ago or so, on a job i first noticed drastically reduced reception from it even at 10' away from talent. At that time, qrx100 and qrx200 with whips only. All my settings across 4x transmitters were basically the same - always on cleanest freqs, xr mono, 50mw, ifb rx, remote control on, etc. bumping the troubled trx to 125 only gave me 1 or 2 more ticks on the qrx reception meter, if any. Tried all 4 channels on 2x receivers, swapping antennas, etc. no change. 3 days later, transmitter was fine with no settings changes. Weird. Honestly thought it was because talent was pregnant and full of extra water. Plausible, right? In my head, anyways. Then it happens again in the middle of a shoot day shortly after. Again, no settings changes. Time to send in to Zaxcom. They have it for 3 weeks, various bench tests, heating, freezing. Could not duplicate the problem. Only suggestion from them was a new antenna. I am thinking operator error. When i get it back, i now have a micplexer2, lectro sna's and newer qrx235. All set to 25mw and range for days. Even the bad trx. 2 weeks later, happens again. Same issues as before. No settings changes. Works some days, not more than 10' other days even with micplexer. Yesterday was the day i had to take it out of rotation. Spent the day in between scenes troubleshooting- dif channels, dif antennas, dif batteries, no change. It needs to be repaired, considering my antique trx900123 outperforms it. Any suggestions on troubleshooting i may have missed? Or, any suggestions to get the repair dept to duplicate and repair this issue? My gut tells me bench tests are great but maybe not real world enough. I think at the repair dept they Need sweaty humans, cameras w wireless monitors, oh and my bag to duplicate this problem correctly. Traveling at present, but Will post some pics to support some of this once i can get to a place to do so. Thanks in advance for any help! -Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olle Sjostrom Posted July 16, 2016 Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 Long shot, but I read a lot into the oled bit. Could it have something, I know this sounds stupid, but anything to do with the display? Couldnt tell if all your other txs are oled too, that would nullify my suggestion.. I'm thinking if that TX is your only oled and the display is showing some information and in combination with a lot of other things it just doesn't do things properly.. Or it could be software related, as it turns out it usually is in case of zaxcom (not bashing, just gathering from all I've read over the years) Stupid, I know, but in situations like these I guess (hope) all suggestions are welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted July 16, 2016 Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 So it was crappy on a freq that your other wireless were good on, right? In the same location, with the same other stuff going on (like camera TX)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osa Posted July 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 1 hour ago, Olle Sjostrom said: Long shot, but I read a lot into the oled bit. Could it have something, I know this sounds stupid, but anything to do with the display? Couldnt tell if all your other txs are oled too, that would nullify my suggestion.. I'm thinking if that TX is your only oled and the display is showing some information and in combination with a lot of other things it just doesn't do things properly.. Or it could be software related, as it turns out it usually is in case of zaxcom (not bashing, just gathering from all I've read over the years) Stupid, I know, but in situations like these I guess (hope) all suggestions are welcome Good question YES it is only oled - others are standard wb screens and blk20 lanc screens. wish i had owned 2 from same time period to have comparison -Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osa Posted July 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 1 hour ago, Philip Perkins said: So it was crappy on a freq that your other wireless were good on, right? In the same location, with the same other stuff going on (like camera TX)? Correct. I had bad tx on ch1, swapped with other tx for same freq and moved w dof freq to ch2 on qrx, same issue, moved to dif freq on ch4 of 2nd qrx, same issue. All in same location and various troubleshooting between scenes. Like changing antennas, changing batteries, changing output power etc. my biggest fear is sending this in a second time and being in the same boat – them not being able to duplicate the problem. Trying to buy a wb2.5 (preferably pre-OLED to be safe ) or block 20 lanc before I send mine off for repair. if anyone here happens to have one let me know. -Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted July 17, 2016 Report Share Posted July 17, 2016 If your other stuff on that freq is ok in that same situation/location re other TX etc and it is not throwing error messages or etc then you might want to consider asking for your money back, or a swap to another unit of the same type. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osa Posted July 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2016 put a call into zaxcom to see if swapping is an option. here are 2 crude pics. pic 1 shows the reception on ch4 with trx in front of qrx, showing what should be normal reception. pic 2 shows the reception with trx behind my back. -Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted July 18, 2016 Report Share Posted July 18, 2016 Since this thing is brand new and was a top of the line state of the art quite spendy item, I think the right thing to be done is that you should get a working wireless (even if it is a loaner) so you can get back to doing what you do (production sound) and the balky radio should go to the people whose gig it is to make equipment work as designed, ie Zax. You've done what a user can do, and shouldn't be expected to get into deeper testing or opening the thing up etc. If it was an older unit, sure, but not on a new one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abe Dolinger Posted July 19, 2016 Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 From what you've said, it sounds like something is up with the antenna, like something in that chain has an intermittent short. The unit doesn't flicker or lose power, right? Does it always happen after you've been using the tx for a while? My guess (key word) is that something is expanding a little when heated, or something gets slightly knocked, and that shorts out the antenna. I'd swap it out if you can, it sounds like too much for the average user to troubleshoot on their own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vins Posted July 19, 2016 Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 I have had a similar problem with a TRXLT 2.6 pre OLED display. I have had poor range with my rx12 and with lectro SNA600 dipoles as close as 20ft unobstructed in what I thought was a quiet rf area. I have more testing to do but similar results as you. I am interested in what your outcome is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osa Posted July 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 thanks guys for the input. i will report back if they want to take a look at it and attempt to determine anything prior to swapping. i cant dismiss heat for sure being an issue but i am almost positive it showed these poor results upon first firing up in the morning at times. and in the lab they did claim to heat and freeze it to try to duplicate any problems. also tried multiple antennas. -Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted July 19, 2016 Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 Dude, heat should not be an issue in a piece of gear on this level, right? Your other stuff is ok with the temp on your set, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osa Posted July 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 yes - with heat i am referring to Abe's suggestion that maybe heat is causing the issue to be intermittent. no issues with other gear otherwise in same conditions. -Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osa Posted August 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2016 fixed! As far as i can tell anyways. So far so good. Out in the field with it now and opperating for a few hours without a hitch. Zaxcom warranty repair invoice says something rf was replaced. Vague but if its fixed i will take it. Glenn had me send tp his attention - thank you Glenn, much appreciated -Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Todd Posted August 24, 2016 Report Share Posted August 24, 2016 Would love to know what was actually causing it. Happy that it's fixed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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