Derek H

It definitely does

Hey Jon, my suggestion would be TX Advance. It’s brand-neutral, pretty sure it has all those models available as presets and is very powerful. When connected to an SDR dongle It can scan and auto assign freqs but will also allow you to fine tune the coordination. https://www.compasseur.com The downsides: It’s a fairly complex app and has a decent learning curve. Only touch screen based UI on Android. it requires a small investment in an Android device and an SDR dongle (Airspy mini seems like the current best choice). For the tablet you can use just about anything you might have on hand that’s not super old. Or buy a new budget tablet like a Samsung tab S9+ or something. Total investment could be under $300 I’m sure. The upsides: Has very nice wideband scanning and channel monitoring features. You can feed it from a spare output of your existing antenna system or use any other antenna. You can create your transmitter list and have it auto choose the best frequencies. If compromises need to be made it gives you a granular level of detail about how bad potential intermod is. you can save and export lists and configurations. You can access an online database of user uploaded scans and upload your own. I’ve done a few around Chicago. This is helpful if you’re traveling to a new city and want to do some research on the local RF. The developer is a nice guy and super responsive over email.

See my post above. I’ve been traveling with a full size c-stand for years and wouldn’t want to do anything else. I have a heavy duty Versa Flex stand Bag that just fits the C-stand riser and I use a Matthews model with a turtle base so that comes off to reduce the length. For weight I throw in a Mafer clamp with a J hook and hang whatever I have on hand including my entire Pelican 1510 if need be. Makes for a very stable setup even outdoors in wind with a full zeppelin. You’re hanging a hard metal object above people’s heads. You want it to be solid not just easy to pack. I do think a kit stand would be good too as long as you don’t go too light weight and if it has a footprint at least as large as a C-stand. That would have the advantage of letting you go for a model with an adjustable leg for uneven ground which I’ve found would be handy.

I travel with a light stand bag containing a C-stand anyway so I just bring a K-152 in there inside of an fishing rod case and I’m always glad to have the 12’ pole for documentary. If you’re actually going to do some booming bring a useful length I say. If it’s just going on a stand for sit down interviews then I guess you could get by with a smaller pole. My light stand bag almost always gets searched by TSA but whatever that’s their problem. I also pack a bunch of other stuff in there like chargers and pouches of spare cables, I even fit a 302 in there for backup. It lets me get by just having my bag rig and 1510 to roll on the plane.

Also worth experimenting with is how your XLR is wired. Specifically if the female end that plugs into the 50 has pin 1 tied to the shell or not. You might find that one way works better than another.

That’s a bummer. Outside of looking for obvious stuff like broken wires or smoked components I have no ideas. but I’m sure sound devices could fix it for a cool $900 or so…

Storacell makes a nice magnetic caddy that doesn’t have the tabs that pectoral damage the battery wrapper. They have little magnets molded into the base so that the batteries stay in place. Works great. Also, I know Storacell made some changes to their original style caddies over the years to try to alleviate the wrapper tearing issue.

Still 1500eu to fix one unit seems like a LOT.

Wow, 1500 euro to fix one transmitter? Did that include shipping round trip to US?

Dejan, any hardware failures or just software glitches/bugs?

That’s great to hear. It’s interesting reading over the job postings. Seems like a nice place to work!

That’s unfortunate. How has sound devices service been for you getting them repaired?

Yeah seems like the Airspy might be the sweet spot And what about the RTLSDR V4? Any big difference between that and V3 as far as TxAdvance is concerned? Thank you!

Seems like it will be a few years yet before this is really something that gets any traction in our world. In a lot of ways the Sound Devices Nexus ecosystem brings similar functionality to all this but built on narrowband platform.

Gregoire, considering this latest update is there a particular SDR unit you're recommending these days? Obviously the HackRF costs a lot more.

There’s two things to talk about here. Shock mount and wind protection. I’ve used both brands quite a bit (though never with an 8050 which I understand is pretty sensitive to handling noise). The Radius Shock mounts are good. I’d say they are at least as good as Rycote in this regard if not better. I still think Cinela is superior in terms of pure shock handling performance but of course at 4x the price and with less compatibility and/or modularity. The Radius will do the job for you once setup with the correct hoops for your mic which they provide in the box when you buy a RAD mount. Regarding wind protection, I think a traditional Rycote blimp still has the edge but it’s close. The comparison is not fair since the miniAlto has a smaller diameter basket than a standard Rycote modular zeppelin and by laws of physics will not perform as well with a reduced diameter. I understand Radius is working on a full size zeppelin so whenever that comes to market then we’ll have something to really compare to a traditional Rycote or Cinela piano. The mini Alto definitely can withstand a good amount of breeze but it just won’t stand up to big gusts as well as a full size zeppelin will. The miniAlto definitely does much better than a slip on softie type fur cover but not as wind proof as the full size zeppelins we’re used to. Where the mini Alto shines is in is quick attachment design using magnets. You can add or remove the basket in 2 seconds. Radius’ build quality is very high. On par with Rycote and Cinela for sure. The basket in particular seems very strong compared to other brands. I know they’ve spent a lot of time on getting it right. Not sure if any of that helps or confuses but it’s not a straightforward comparison. If you don’t have Cinela money or need something a little more rugged and less fiddly I wouldn’t hesitate to give Radius a try. There’s a lot to like.

Looks pretty great. Only miss I see is they forgot to put PFL LED meters on each channel. And a couple mix bus meters would be nice too but I’d say the PFL meters like the cl12 and Sonosax has are really great to have.

Hey Rob, do you know what the difference is between the LC8 charger and the others?

Interesting, seems like the AA lithium rechargeable is evolving.. here’s a link to the XTAR brand’s FAQ about these: https://www.xtar.cc/news/faqs-about-xtar-4150mwh-aa-li-ion-battery.html about half way through this caught my attention… “They are also not suitable for radios due to the noise caused by electromagnetic interference.” Obviously not great for us if you’re trying to use these in let’s say… an IFBlue receiver or any other body pack style receiver. Of course some testing needs to be done.

Yeah that’s what I was going to recommend. A toolbag like this works well. Clip the receivers on the side and hang the headphones on the handle.

My friend Kelsey Zeigler is a fantastic sound utility and wonderful person. She has worked extensively here in Chicago and LA. Kelsey is a kind and thoughtful young woman who is loved by all and is always quick to make friends in every department. She’s a real gem and gift to our sound community. Unfortunately, she was recently diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer and will be going through the wringer with chemo, surgery and other aggressive treatment in the coming days and months. Like most of us she’s a freelancer and will be tremendously burdened by the cost of treatment and inability to work. Please support her via her Gofundme account if you’re able. Even $25 would help. I decided to share this on JWsound as I know the community here is fantastic and will understand better than anyone what it can be like to face hard times as a freelancer. With sincere thanks and appreciation, Derek Hanson. https://gofund.me/58e22961

For how many?

How does the windkiller compare to the spacer bubble plus fur? Seems very similar.

No problem. Yeah it’s high quality and not too expensive. Only like 2lbs.

Here’s another solid choice for a lightweight mast. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/546540-REG/Manfrotto_099B_3_Section_Extension_Pole_35.html