Michael Wynne

Like LA & NY, the Atlanta market is at a stand still for TV & Film narrative work. Local Unions are literally distributing food to help keep financially desperate members afloat. IATSE members are loosing their homes, their health insurance and are under incredible mental and emotional pressure. Some are quietly working through outside channels such as BET, Tyler Perry, reality TV and non studio affiliated indies on the interim but those percentages of mixers are very small. For most of us deeply embedded in the traditional channels, it’s a good time to do all that stuff you said you would do once you had some time off and then some. Hoping this gets resolved soon!

Thought I'd share my build out progress for my standing cart with you guys! Please excuse the cabling not being fully finished but it's a work in progress.

Beautiful cart design Phil! There’s a mixer here in Atlanta who’s built one very similar to this with the same Innovativ base and I’ve also been considering going this route.

In the US you’re looking at 550-608 MHz plus the guard band/duplex gap. According to the rep Andrew in the Gotham NAB video there are no current plans to make 941 MHz in the US available. So you’re looking about 68 MHz ( approx 2 Lectro single blocks 22/23 range ) Anything below 550 Mhz is not avail because of the RF chip they chose due its availability in manufacturing and getting to market

Very nice set up Shane!

When I wrote this review, I hadn’t actually had the opportunity to use them on a film set so the practicality of power management and RF robustness were still in question. But now I’ve been able to utilize them on a TV narrative workflow with the A20RX for about three months now along side my mixed bag of Lectro digital / digital hybrid. We typically always cook them at 20mw, and the gain forward is a life saver since I’m very particular about transmitter gain staging and often utilities get in a hurry and don’t remember to set them where I request. What’s interesting is I switched to all Nimh for my Lectros as well and the magic number for all talent batt changes is every 3 hours around the house. We have ample time to change batts in between a scene or lighting set up even with big page count days. Nobody ever complains, it’s never an issue and nobody is ever waiting I do use low voltage alarms on my Cantar Mini hydra for my A20RX & timers for my Lectro which are helpful as well. I have two of the battery doublers if I absolutely need it but I doubt I’d rarely deploy, But I’d go with AAA lithium’s first if needed. As far as RF robustness there as every bit of good as my Lectro digital. I will say however that the A20 mini can be a bit more prone to RF body absorption, so transmitter placement is key,

Hi Martin, I checked out the SK 6212 and it looks like a great piece of kit! In regards to your comment, I also am a big fan of modularity and it's a must have in my kit. I agree it's substantial investment for an additional Nexus and I also feel like it would be necessary on a cart if it was your primary system. But you also would gain the additional use of simultaneous bands which could be advantageous for larger channel counts. I'm currently using A20RX's on my small cart, and plan on installing my Nexus on the big cart for my next show. I'll also be using my Lectro digital along side for now, as I need much more than what SD has to currently offer such as plant TX's with 48v, boom plug ons, handhelds, higher power TX's etc. I will say that I don't mind the power on the A20 mini and management on set is not as daunting as one may think. However I'm in narrative and we do have the opportunity to change batts. Also as Rich posted, Nexlink really takes power management to the next level and has been able to not have to change batts before lunch, etc.

Nathan, maybe I’m not being clear. “ I wish the BNC Inputs and cascade out were both on the rear” Meaning 4 physical BNC connections on rear.

Theoretically yes, practically speaking in a fully coordinated RF workflow with COMS, IFB's, & 3rd Party Transmitter/RX's only time will tell. Also forget anything in the 1500Mhz band here in the US, I got the best FCC minds at 695 scratching their heads on how to get that licensed for a production sound mixer doing narrative work anywhere in the states and SD keeps it on tight lock down until you unravel the puzzle.

Thanks for sharing, nice to see a real photo of this that isn''t in a moody RGB dungeon with haze! LOL 🙂

Very excited about this product for many reasons, but if I had to to critique my initial thoughts are is I wish the BNC Inputs and cascade out we're both on the rear. I assume the thought was so bag users could utilize, but this makes cascading a bit awkward on the install on a proper sound cart, they could have made a bracket like they did for wifi for this purpose having both BNC's on the rear. If I was a bag user I would much prefer the A20RX slot mounts which I currently own and utilize on my second smaller stealth cart. Also my gut instinct is I think it's advantageous to have two of these on a cart. First reason is I'm a bit nervous about fitting 16 channels in one 24Mhz band, that seems a bit limiting for those of used to 470-608Mhz found on the other brands, Adding a second gives you about 24Mhz more, but once again the BNC situation is driving me nuts on how to accomplish a clean install.

I think the A20 Rx is the way to go in the bag to compliment the Nexus on the cart.

A couple good range examples here for the A20 Mini & A20 RX in LR mode on some 1/4 wave whips.

I haven’t used them on a narrative film set yet, so I don’t have that feedback yet. But when the TX is off, the user should be able to extend those battery TRT’s by the exact amount of time they are off.

Providing you have Bluetooth range power off/on is instantaneous