sinnlicht Posted January 27, 2017 Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Hi all, A friend just gave me an old wireless pair and I can't find any info on it at all. They are labelled as being in 473.6 MHz. Any info for the sake of curiosity would be appreciated. The picture below is of another one of these units that turned up at Gotham some time ago. Thanks Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted January 27, 2017 Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 The label on the top of the unit and the label on the antenna says its freq is 183.0 (MHz). That's a very old analog VHF high-band receiver, 1970s I'd guess, very high quality (and expensive) for its day. Fixed frequency. If you have the transmitter for it the system might work, kinda noisy. Might be tough to get service on.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinnlicht Posted January 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 The image is of another unit identical to the one I have, which is marked with 473.6 MHz. Philip, did you ever work with these units? Thanks RL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bash Posted January 27, 2017 Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Hi Richard, What exactly are you asking? The RMS12s were brilliant radio mics, about 20+ years ago (or more). Modern units will out perform them in all respects, but in their day they were right up at the top. So.... what do you want to know? Kindest, Simon B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinnlicht Posted January 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Hi Simon, anything that would have been found on a spec sheet is of interest, including things like range, the noise floor that you mention, battery consumption, audio quality, transmission mode, dates of manufacture, caveats, and so on. Thanks RL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted January 27, 2017 Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Yes, there were a (very) few around back in the day--they were a lot more expensive than the then-current USA made units (Vega, HME, Swintek). I recall it not having any better range or S/N, but nicer sounding audio. In the fixed frequency system days there was a lot less RF in the air, but if you didn't get lucky with your freq you were screwed. 473.6 was not a commonly used band, in CA anyway, in those days--I never ran into anyone with systems on or near that frequency. Does this system work? How does 473.6 MHz look in your area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinnlicht Posted January 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Hi Philip, I fired it up and it seems to work fine. I did not seem to have any problems on that frequency, although I tested it in a somewhat secluded residential neighborhood. Not sure what I will end up doing with it. Do you think it is worth keeping as a back-up unit? Thanks RL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted January 28, 2017 Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 It's worth a walk-test I guess. I think you'll find it's a lot noisier and has more distortion than your more current wirelesses, and the lack of diversity transmission will limit your range. I can't recall what the mic connector was on those (Lemo?), if you have mics (or other cables, like for line sources) that work with it then fine, but I don't think you'd want to end up making a lot of cables and connectoring mics just for this thing if you don't have them already. It's an interesting historical piece, but for a low-cost backup wireless I think there are better more modern choices. Receivers from this period needed frequent tweaking to keep them on their correct frequency--I recall that taking my wireless to be tuned was quite a regular thing in the pre-Lectro days. In NYC you might could find a tech that has been around long enough to know how to work on this thing: I'd suggest getting it checked out before using it in a situation where you'd be depending on it to work right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikewest Posted January 28, 2017 Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 (Hi Bash) I worked with the first Audio VHF units in 1965 for theatre work in London They were used on the first STAR WARS film as the revolving set snapped cables so the Audio units were used (as I understand)> I bought two of their RMS 10 units on 1979. The transmitters were large and the receivers thin but the size of a paperback!! Good sound quality and realistic range and cost about two days work in those days. I bought new transmitter boards with better limiters, cut the transmitter cases down from a size that supported two normal 9 volt batteries so that I could use just one 9 volt alkaline Those were the days of analogue ! mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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