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So, apologies if this has been discussed recently, but I couldn't find it. I'm buying an SRc for a friend (no, really!) and need to know the skinny on what's going on at the FCC in terms of the future. What would you buy today? A1, B1 or 941? Committed to Lectro, only. Getting out of C1. The 941 maybe less traffic, but it's only one block! Discuss, please.

I just did an NHL game and the range sucked. The frequency coordinators knocked down my SMWB (block a1) TX power to 25 mW which gave me a range of about 20 feet. It made me look bad so I bumped it back up to 50 mW.. I noticed the full time mixer was using a bag of 411's. Obviously he was getting great range. Everyone I meet with an SRc complains about their range. I give them the silver paste on the thumb screw advice but it's still an issue. I'm looking into the Betso fins but I'm reading here that there's a lot of unwanted RF debris on them. Are the SD Monarch fins any better? I'm always on the run, so a fixed shark fin is not a solution for me.

I found that adding the silver paste to the thumb screw of the transmitters greatly improved my range. You can buy a syringe of the stuff by googling electronic silver paste.

Yep that’s it. Your description is helpful, as I have gotten very few details ahead of the shoot. I have those mics and will repeat what you’ve done. Thanks!

Thanks a ton, Michael. This is along the lines of what I was thinking. There’s no audience - this is all for the cameras.

I’m recording a college marching band inside an arena. Should I be worried that it will over power my Scheops CMU6 with MK4 cardiold capsule? Would a dynamic mic work better? I’m concerned about echo too. I’m also wondering if a sanken lav on a drummer would get me crisp drums. Any suggestions appreciated.

If you read this post earlier, it's too late.

I've read on this forum that someone out there makes a splitter cable (TRC and XLR audio) with a threaded mini plug for an ERX3 that helps seat the mini in the device. Remote Audio says there's no room in a threaded mini for this, but my unthreaded mini is causing pops and TC in the audio as it wiggles around in the jack. Does anyone know who can make this cable? Any other advice for keeping TC out of audio? I've reduced the TC output to 1.0 VPP but I still hear it.

Thanks, Larry. Just ordered the paste. I think I'm going to make money off of my fellow sound techs in the area. Meet me out back. $20 for a hit of paste, baby.

Thanks, Canada. I'm going to be in Nashville next week so I'll get some from Trew. It's called silver paste in the manual, but if you call Lectro, just say you need the wireless magic sauce.

I am running two Lectro SMV's at 100mW and they are draining batteries. I'm getting an hour or less out of a single AA lithium battery. This is getting expensive and getting worse. The units are probably 5/6 years old and that paste on the threads has long gone. Any ideas as to what is happening? I worked with someone else's gear recently and they were having the same issue. I'm also getting audio (not frequency) dropouts on the SRb receiver. Is it related? Thoughts? Solutions?

Pretty cool group of people, this. Thanks everyone who joined in. We should do this more often

That sound tech is my hero

Thanks for the still photo. Behind the beard!!!??? God that seems like Scatch City if they look down like in this photo

I just watched David Letterman's new show on Netflix. There was a scene of him walking with Congressman John Lewis on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL. It's windy, there's an f-ing drone nearby and Letterman has a 10 inch confederate beard, and a pull over tshirt and jacket. I imagine he has a hairy chest to boot. The sidewalk is narrow, and I think boom op prohibitive, so it had to be a hidden wireless mic. It was perfect sound. How the hell did the sound tech pull that off?

Gee. And to think I've made it 25 years as a soundman without a lecture on how to learn to use new gear. Maybe I'll get to know my gear more by sleeping with it. You know, like you would a person.

There you go. One vote for clarity and one vote for less. I have a preference for less experimenting while a client is waiting on me.

I went back and checked and yes, it is in the manual on page 10, but it wasn't clear enough to me when I read it the first time. It says "The time code frame-rate that will be recorded and transmitted over Zaxnet is set from this menu." I read that as it being optional, like my car's automatic stick shift that has a manual option. If it had said, "The frame rate must be set from this menu," I would have gotten it. Maybe it just me, but it's a distinction that is helpful.

Just got off the phone with Zaxcom and you are correct that you have to set it manually. You would think Zaxcom would put this in the manual.

Hmmmm. My CL is hardwired to my Maxx with a BNC cable. I think the manual says the frame rate should change automatically with the time code. I'm going to call Zaxcom and will let this forum know.

Lancashire: it's set at 1.5volts. Now that I'm home and of clearer mind, I don't think it was a camera problem. When I change the time code on the Maxx, it changes on the Camera Link. When I change the frame rate, it doesn't change on the CL. So either the Maxx isn't sending the Frame rate or the CL isn't reading it. I've tried two different BNC cables for TC input on the CL and same thing. Next week I'll be able to test the CL with another source to determine if it's that or the Maxx. I think the rx200 is just "repeating" what the CL is sending it. Any other thoughts or suggestions? Thanks everyone for thinking about my problem

Yes, I've heard it too. But the fact that it worked when I use a hard line BNC made me suspect he was telling the truth. Phillip, I did turn everything off and on. I'm hoping someone can tell me what happened before I meet another camera. I can't try anything until I have something to wirelessly jam to.

Yesterday I had problems getting TC into a Cannon 300. I feed analog audio and timecode from a Maxx to a 900 Camera Link, and then to the rx200. I changed the frame rate on the Maxx to 29.97DF but it didn't change automatically on the CL or Rx, so I went into the menus of each and changed it manually. The camera was in free run, TC IN, and set to 29.97. The camera op said, "It worked fine yesterday," when he worked in another city. Because everyone was "waiting on sound" I jammed with a BNC cable from the Maxx to the camera and TC jammed. I couldn't find anything in the manual about this. My setup worked before when I was doing 23.98 on a Sony camera. Any ideas of what I did wrong yesterday? Do you have to manually change TC on the CL and rx200 or will it read what is transmitted?

I did do a search and got this forum. Is snarking at someone seeking answers necessary?

This is one of the cool features of this group. I knew as soon as I saw this topic someone would write about meeting him