ben lowry

Another recommendation for Dorrough meters. Easy to integrate on a cart if you stay digital. I put a horizontal 280D (or maybe the 280DE) digital peak meter on a previous cart/recorder iteration and loved it. I fed the Mix signal on an AES pair out from the 788T, so the recorder's 8 LED meters were dedicated to isos. Fast peak response, easy to read. Non-dimmable backlight, so on a dark stage I'd put some ND gel across it. The light is weak in direct sun. Power was 6V or 7V DC, I believe, so I fed 12V to a switching inline regulator. They are pricey new, but I found mine used for $100. https://www.dorrough.com/PDF/280Digital.pdf Or a cl-12 or cl-16... Best, Ben Lowry

Johnny, i have smoked a BST-25-216 by using a hot-off-the-charger Hytron (easily 16V). Comtek said that was too high voltage. I put a 12V regulator in the battery plate, and all was good. Ben

No, when the CL-9 is connected, the 788T's front panel gain knobs only function as on/off switches for the channel. Ben Lowry

pkautzsch, I have mine mounted upside down on my cart because it's mounted higher than my head. Works well. ben Lowry

http://www.remoteaudio.com/juicer/ --Ben Lowry

Take some coax cable (w/ bnc ends for the RX, SMA for the TX), cut it to 1/4 wave length. Strip off the jacket and braid/foil, keeping the core conductor in its insulation as your whip.

Hi James, These earwigs want narrow-band (and non-companded) deviation; and Comtek ch 42 is wide/companded. I'd stick with Ch 40 and below. ben lowry

Gotcha. Looks like a 6-32 screw with a 5/8" long shaft. Ben Lowry

Hi Josh, My ALPs (500, 620, 650) are tapped with holes for pretty much any mounting bolt you might have on set in the US: 1/4"-20, 3/8" (boom pole), and 5/8" (mic stand). I think all the Lectro ALPs I've encountered have all of these options. Ben Lowry

Try lifting pin 1 in the hop-to-cam XLRs? ben lowry

I have blown two RX900s when plugging in their power leads. Confirmed correct DC polarity. Seems most likely to have arced when connecting the hot coax plug. Made it a practice to kill power to coax plugs before connecting to these units & never happened again. Ben Lowry

Hi Ed, My favorite is the WinRadio WR-G33WSM, but it requires using a laptop running Windows (in my case by running Parallels on my Mac). I also have a TTi handheld unit, whose scan files can import directly into IAS software and is much more portable, but the WinRadio gives me a better big-picture idea of the spectrum. I haven't really played with the newer (very inexpensive) RF Explorer to know how good it is. Ben

Matt, Just found some spectrum notes from last time I worked in Cancun (about a year ago). - only active TV broadcasts were analog and VHF (ch 5, 7, 11, 13) - very strong taxi dispatch centered around 475.250 MHz (within TV ch 14 & Lectro block 470) - 450 - 470 MHz (commercial walkies, etc. in the US) had many very strong but intermittent signals - UHF that covered Lectro blocks 19 to 26 was completely open over the week I was there So, if you're doing a coordination & have a spectrum analyzer that will do peak-hold, let it run for a while to find those strong lower-UHF intermittents, which may be giving you surprise intermod products that the Venue scans miss. Hope this helps. Who knows what has changed since a year ago? Ben Lowry

Sounds like you're describing rack handles, a flattened U-shape bar with tapped ends, made to span different numbers of rack units vertically. They're for pulling out installed gear, but can mount to rack rails for protecting gear. If you want a horizontal bar in front of the gear (like to protect Venue knobs), look for lacer bars. ben lowry

David, Was camera using a Cine Tape or PanaTape ultrasonic range finder? These can make an soft but audible ticking sound that your mics will pick up. Ben Lowry

Make sure you're using the right coax plug: Swithcraft 761K, I believe. The shorter-shaft ones (760K) with same inner & outer diameter can seem to fit, but won't get juice from the BDS. Ben Lowry

Sound quality is far better than Comtek 216 & Lectro IFB, not surprising based on deviation specs alone for these systems (±48 peak for IEM, ±25 IFB, ±10 Comtek wideband). I wouldn't say the Sennheisers are better, tho. They're not as rugged as Lectro or Comtek, don't have the simple simple channel selection or beefy belt clip of the R1a, don't have the eternal battery life of the Comtek, and take up UHF space unlike the Comtek. Also, without the RF Linear amp in line, the Sennheiser's range isn't nearly as good as the other systems I use. Haven't tried it for bag use, but you'd be stuck with the limitations of the G3 belt-pack Tx (mono only, 30mW, hard-wired whip, etc.). Gotta say I love it for wireless boom monitoring, tho. You can hear subtleties and low-end detail that the other two systems miss completely. ben lowry

In my experience, these are a great alternative to Comtek 216 and Lectro IFB for cart-based work. As Tomash says, the sound quality is much better than either of those. The new gen base station (SR300 IEM G3) is 12V DC. The RF output is only spec'ed at 30mW, but when run through a PSC RF Linear amp and an SNA600, even in stereo mode the range is greater & more stable than a Lectro T4-to-R1a (via SNA600 or ALP620), and about equal to a goosed BST25/216 w/ Mini-Mite or Phase-Right. Also, the stereo Tx can eliminate the need for a 2nd Tx in some cases, e.g., boom & utility Rxs can be set to output program + mixer talkback and other Rxs just output program, all fed the same carrier. And the base station has loop-thrus, if you need more line outs. Receivers don't hold up as well to floor-drops as Lectro & Comtek, and repair service doesn't seem very swift. Ben Lowry

Scott, A few more things to try for tracking down RFI entry in your wireless boom rig: - When you hear the interference, rotate the boom pole on its axis while keeping everything else still. If the mic is the entry point for your RFI, as its orientation changes the buzz likely will also, in a repeatable & predictable way. An acoustic buzz definitely will. - Check the set screws on your Sennheiser mics. When they vibrate loose the mic can become a great antenna. - If you have a plug-on transmitter w/ phantom power, attach it directly to the mic and try to get the interference. If not, attach it to your boom cable/pole; then to the Denecke box output (I'd turn off the Tx 48V for this part) to help isolate entry paths. - Take the um450 out of the equation and hardline or listen thru a Q-Box, MM1, etc. - Make sure your TA5F connector's crimp is attached to shield Ben Lowry

Tim, For phase canceling issues when your channels are summed after the receiver, double check your transmitter input cables too. The pinout for the TA5 on the STA-100/150 and the IFB100 has pins 4 & 5 reversed from how I usually see 5-pin stereo connectors laid out. That is, these inputs expect 1=grd, 2=L+, 3=L-, 4=R-, 5=R+ Ben Lowry

Just the usual suggestions: separate the power sources (run the 302 from int batteries), especially don't run the M72 from a BDS via a batt eliminator. My M72 would pipe RF down a DC cable. I once had similar trouble with a home-built simple feed cable, too. But the XLR feed cables I had from Comtek had a cap & chokes in the XLRF shell and a choke at TX end, and they worked fine. Worth trying a snap-on ferrite choke at least. From ancient memory: I think I had an M72 serviced that had a broken antenna solder point internally. IIRC, the circuit board itself (or its backing) is an important part of the antenna design, so check there too. FWIW, the 216 systems don't seem nearly as finicky. Good luck, Ben Lowry

What they said, but if you posted because you're not getting a signal, make sure you haven't tied tip & ring from the PR-216-- that will phase-cancel. Ben Lowry

3-way call, then tap or mic the 3rd phone. Ben Lowry

Don't mean to be obvious, but does lowering your return input trim on the Fusion not fix this? ben lowry

It's working for me. I connect the DC plug to the RX900 before connecting the lemo to the RED-- don't trust those coax plugs/jacks not to arc. RX900 spec in manual: 9 to 18 VDC @ 200 mA RED spec in manual: can supply 1.75 amps of unregulated 11.5 – 17V DC RED manual also says it will accept power input of +11.5 to +17VDC, protected from over-current. Does this imply a design that should prevent a high V DC source from passing more than 17V to the camera's aux DC out, and to the RX900? Anyone? ben lowry