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Senn G2 and Schools..


Richard Ragon

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Anyone notice this?  The Senn G2's just don't seam to work in schools?

I'm working on a doc ENG at the moment, and I noticed this about 2 months ago.  The Senn G2 trans/recv set ups are nice for my ENG kit because they are small, but for some reason.. They just don't get along with school buildings.  Take them into some classrooms, and they quickly get overloaded with RF interference, and then start dropping out like crazy.  Once I notice this, I have to run out to my truck and get the lectros.  I've tried to change freq's, banks, channels, to no avail.

Is it the Rebar in the building?  Perhaps the labs computers?  A certain way schools are built?  Or certain classrooms?  I can't figure it out.

-Richard

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I ran into a similar issue working at Genentech recently.  For a variety of inevitable reasons, I ended up using my Senn G2 as a camera hop.  We ran around the campus shooting interiors and exteriors.  Exteriors, RF was clean as a bell, but in some buildings, I had this inexplicable overload problem.  In others, it was fine.  I started paying attention to the ceiling.  Lighting wasn't banks of fluorescents, but it was many energy-saver single-bulb "canisters" sunk into the ceiling.  Didn't seem to be the problem...

I eventually linked the symptoms to some sort of motion detector device that looked a bit like a household fire detector.  To test it, I found an isolated corner, I would stand still for a few seconds, watch the RF problem go away, then move something, and ZAP!, RF pinning the meter.

No hits, just an ugly overcompression of the signal to the receiver.

I confirmed this thru the rest of the day, noting the problem only when the devices were present in a building.  I was told it was probably a motion detector for the automatic lighting.

The other interesting facet of the symptom is that it was dependent on the microphone location (DPA 4017 shotgun).  For one of the interviews, I stood underneath one of those devices, but the mic was through the door to an office that had no device above.  No problem.

I still wonder if it wasn't RF, but maybe an inaudible signal (16-20 kHz) being put out by those devices that the recording system could perceive, but I couldn't.

I made sure the producer understood the issue, made the camera operator monitor at his end, recorded useable audio for the day, and put an asterisk by Genentech* as a shooting location.

*always hardwire

Brian

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Absolutely.

I work at a college in Tarzana (a film school, as chance would have it). Horrible problems with the G2. I think there's a lot of reasons:

- Overhead lighting

- Wireless internet (sometimes more than one signal)

- Security systems

- Every student, staff member, and faculty has a cell phone.

Basically, the school, or at least the one I work at, is just pulsing with interference. I've noticed that it's worse on the ground floor, too. A lot of students have stopped using wireless altogether on school sets and have gone back to using wired lav systems. Unbelievable.

I have much better results with the 411 Lectrosonics system. But even then, I have a hard time finding a frequency.

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RF scramblers used to prevent students from using their cell phones on school grounds?

This is a reallity at the Jr. High and HS campus my son will attend next year. I live in a very well funded school district here in Colorado. The campus is only one year old and is absolutly incredible. But they have imployed a cell phone dampening system in that little area. It makes using a cell phone there completely useless. I've not done any audio near the school yet, but if I do, hard wires are a must.

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This is a reallity at the Jr. High and HS campus my son will attend next year. I live in a very well funded school district here in Colorado. The campus is only one year old and is absolutly incredible. But they have imployed a cell phone dampening system in that little area. It makes using a cell phone there completely useless. I've not done any audio near the school yet, but if I do, hard wires are a must.

Correct me if I'm wrong.. But isn't a cell phone dampening system, however justified, illegal?  At the very least, it's illegal to buy in this country.. So, they much have purchased that system outside the US.

-Richard

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I'm not sure about the legal aspects of such a device but getting cell coverage anywhere on that campus is futile. Once you leave school grounds and then a few more feet you only then start to get any kind of bars. I know Cherry Creek School district tried banning cell phones from any of their schools, but I think they've just done something different.

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