geordi

Willing test monkey here too - I promise to try them like the Samsonite Gorilla of old. Email sent

Chalk another up for the WTB/WTS. I didn't really like the Classifieds section's functionality much. Seems less personal.

NO.

95% of the citizens of the USA are loudly saying NO to this insanity, but you have to give Obama credit for doing something that many said was impossible: He has united both political parties and most of Congress behind a single cause: NOT doing this.

The links above (other than the ARRL link, where I didn't see the Behringer one, but I wasn't really looking hard for it) are loaded with enforcement actions... And I garner 3 things from those long lists: 1: The vast majority of actual radio transmitter activities are pirate radio stations in the FM band 88-108 or AM band. As should be expected, this is where the licensed class A broadcasters are receiving complaints from their listeners about interference, and getting the FCC in on it. Nothing to be concerned about for us. 2: The other violations / notices / etc involve improperly licensed or expired or poorly maintained antenna structures that need lights and cables and maintenance. Also in this area are things that shouldn't be broadcasting ANY RF normally, such as electric fences adn water pumping stations... Apparently both can be misconfigured and cause interference to the surrounding areas. And not anything to bother us with either. 3: The FCC issues a 3-step process with chances to rectify the problem each time: A notice of violation or non-licensed-apparatus... Then a Citation for same... Finally a notice of forfeiture, which is the demand for money. Seems like we would have plenty of warning even in the infinitesimally small chance we are somehow causing noticeable interference to a mainline broadcaster, AND are still in the same place when / if someone intelligent wanders past looking for the source.

And a nightclub won't warm them up until well after 5pm... Same thing - Gov't types wouldn't be on the clock. So is this just fear mongering for some reason?

I'm surprised that even a nightclub or church would be found. The power outputs of microphones are so low, the chances of them causing any interference are minimal at best. Then there is the question - If interference is being caused, how many people are out there that know how to properly interpret the interference? Chances are, not many, and that is probably almost the same number of people that would also know who to call to file a complaint. The odds of someone's wireless microphones being online and transmitting hot enough to cause interference against mainline broadcasters are infinitesimally small. I'd like to see references for any claims that fines have been delivered, call me skeptical. These services (from AT&T and such) aren't even close to the deployment phase yet, so who is listening / scanning for interference?

I support Mark Ulano's idea, one nation-wide contract would be great. I don't think it would level (up) the rates or stop the 'work as a local' nonsense, but we can dream, right?

Please don't feed the trolls.

Talking to their engineers at NAB, the concept of on-set noise was something that never crossed their minds until they started (barely) hearing the complaints from sound people everywhere. Even now, they don't do any ACTUAL scientific noise testing. They just set it up in their office and let it run, and wander around with the $40 Radio shack meter. Too bad 99% of the noise comes from the FRONT of the damn thing. If they cared about that, they might have located a giant heatsink on it somewhere instead of tiny hyperspeed fans and tinier heatsinks under them.

Very good!

"Kick his ass, Seabass!" Good luck Jack.

Something is wrong with the file attachment function of the board - I'm trying to attach a 3kb text of the source so the formatting is retained and it is readable... And the board keeps saying "the upload failed" and not telling me why. Yay for an uneventful Friday, right?

My script blockers protect me from most of this nonsense, so I went there and grabbed a copy of the page's source for you Jeff. Maybe you can use this to cause some annoyance back to them. It would seem (based on the language in the SoundCloud song they have set to autoplay) that this is from Indonesia. Why they chose you to pick on... Who knows.

But will this be accompanied by the payment of PROPER rates to the crew, or will the "we are crowdfunded, so can't pay these hih crew rates" be the new way of producers keeping money in their pocket instead of ours?

Copyright would still apply if he hasn't been paid - that is the other half of the contract. If they haven't lived up to their side by paying, then the contract has not been honored and they are in violation of it. As such, any profits they might make from that unpaid work are fruit of the poisoned tree. I can't understand where the lawyer would say you don't have legal right to a mechanic's lean on the work. I would get a second opinion on that. Was there a written deal memo or contract paperwork?

The word you are looking for Richard, is "protectionism". This is a MASSIVE problem in The South as well. Everyone is scrambling to protect the amount of work they have and keep it for themselves. This just ends up hurting the reputation of unionism and IA in general.

On the stagehand jobs I've had where we were in secured areas and subject to things like this, the result is that the time we went off the clock was not the time they said "leave for lunch" but the time that we were ACTUALLY free to leave. If that meant that lunch was 75 minutes from the "leave for lunch" call... So be it. We never heard one word about it from any of the clients. It does seem that the less you are being paid / the lower down the economy you are... The more anal the management is about stepping on the worker. Could it be, that the local management are simply being grumpy that they can't really advance to the big-bucks level? If this is coming from Apple corporate, maybe it is because of the videos online of people in the backrooms of the stores smashing iphones and using them for games of stickball and hockey?

Gonna get mine in person in NYC next week - I guess I should call them to ensure it is on hold. Pictures will be provided.

I was looking for the button to "like" that post Michael, I think Larry is right - best post of the day!

They also have a sexier "interior case option" (ICO in the item name) that is actually a self-contained bag that fits the pelican and offers the same ability to reconfigure the interiors. They don't specifically list it on Porta-Brace's site, but the PB-2500ICO looks to fit the Pelican 1520 size briefcase size perfectly. As for gear... I'm currently re-working all my stuff for much of the same reasons you listed, and I think the only real solution is to have 2 rigs if you don't want to constantly be rebuilding everything. My smaller bag will be my 702T with 2 spare lectro receivers that I can easily snatch if I need them for camera hops, otherwise they will live in the small bag. I may or may not leave my 442 in that bag too, but that is easy enough to add to the bag if I need it. It sucks to have gear sitting around, but it is paid for, right? It will make you money eventually. Maybe rent it out to starting-out newbies who don't have gear of their own? At least if YOU get a fair rate for it... They might learn to charge a decent rate to their clients and we all survive.

The market test I saw that was supposed to be up in Wilmington, NC area, they were talking about a broadcast from a 90 foot tower, and a power of only 4 watts. If that is the fixed position power and the smaller (call them pico-sites if you want) are only in the 100 mw range because that is what the FCC allows for mobile transmissions... We might not be so bad off! Wireless gear has to obey the inverse-square law for the radio waves, so unless you happen to be filming at the same distance from a pico-site as your radio is from you... Your receivers should be able to pick out their own signals over the noise. It will be a rare and beautiful occurrence for our gear to be the higher powered transmission, right? The wi-fi antennas are already very sensitive, so it is entirely possible that lower output power for their stuff is a design feature - less interference with each other's base units, because the computers can't transmit that far anyway. My wifi in my home is set to 30mw power, and I can still pick it up out in the yard, full strength. The only problem... Now it does become possible for our stuff to cause interference to another wireless user. But with the inherent error correction and durability of IP communications, chances are, they wouldn't even notice us. I hope.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/07/white-space-internet-may-finally-spread-through-us/ White space Internet may finally spread through US Colleges and libraries aim to provide wireless access on unused TV channels. by Jon Brodkin - July 9 2013, 1:35pm EDT NETWORKING WIRELESS 29 White space networks haven't spread in quite the way some of its visionaries envisioned a few years ago, but the method of providing wireless Internet access over unused TV spectrum is slowly gaining a foothold. Companies like Microsoft and Google are using white spaces to bring the Web tounderserved parts of the world, and a couple of commercial networks have been launched in the US. Now, white spaces may be about to gain traction in colleges and libraries. West Virginia Universityannounced today that it is going to "use vacant broadcast TV channels to provide the campus and nearby areas with wireless broadband Internet services." The initial rollout will provide free public Wi-Fi—yes, it really exists!—on a public transit tram system. West Virginia is setting its network up in conjunction with AIR.U, a consortium of colleges and universities aiming to deploy white space networks on campuses and surrounding areas. Similarly to AIR.U, there is a new consortium devoted to bringing white space networks to libraries throughout the country. It's called Gigabit Libraries Network, and it will select qualifying libraries to "receive a trial system including a single white space Base Station and three remote library Wi-Fi hotspots, all wirelessly connected to the base station. Each remote would be sited at a convenient public location to provide patrons a basic level of no-fee library Wi-Fi broadband access." White spaces is technically not Wi-Fi. It uses different spectrum that lets signals propagate much farther, allowing the creation of networks that extend well beyond the library walls. Gigabit Libraries Network deployments will be based on an upcoming pilot at the Kansas City, KS Public Library, which plans to provide wireless broadband at the library and other public spaces. TV white space signals "can carry data signals for miles while being capable of passing through walls and other obstructions that normally limit wireless connectivity," the library noted in May when it announced the program. White space networks alone won't solve all or even most of our broadband access problems, but these new deployments provide hope that they might become an important tool in the US Internet arsenal.

I'll give him credit for a company with fantastic marketing and a good design ethic. Their stuff is always pretty and seems well made.

I may have said this before, but I had a great time, and can't wait for the next one! Great to meet everyone, adding new friends to the mix all the time. Maaike, it was great to meet you as well! I've worked with Shure wireless a lot in my live theatre and concert projects, if you ever have any questions about what works well with what, just let me know. I'm kinda surprised that we don't see more Shure wireless in the TV world, and more Lectros in theatre... But I guess it comes down to different work worlds and marketing. The Shure gear tend to be more rack mount receivers, although I didn't see specifically which model you won. Enjoy them! Gotham sells the very handy "RF Explorer" scanner that you might want to pick up - there is a version of it that will scan from 15mHz all the way up to 2.4 gHz, and show you what the spectrum looks like in the same kind of "waterfall" that a Lectro 211 or 411 receiver does. It won't tell you what is transmitting, just show that something is there and what the frequency is so you can tune around it. Really a good wireless tool to have, especially for moving around a lot from location to location.