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2.4GHz Amp for Zax IFB100 Troubleshooting


Jan McL

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It makes me laugh that you/we have to go through all this because the IFB doesn't perform well enough out of the box.

PWP

(who owns plenty of Zax gear too)

It really does work just fine right out of the box but I want to insure that I will have the maximum range possible with this. So, it is the whole drama with the amp that has been occupying all our time but it is getting close to being sorted out.

-  Jeff Wexler

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It really does work just fine right out of the box but I want to insure that I will have the maximum range possible with this. So, it is the whole drama with the amp that has been occupying all our time but it is getting close to being sorted out.

-  Jeff Wexler

Feel like I should chime in here too relative to the out-of-the-box capacity of the units. They're fine, really, for most applications and mixers, but my methodology and comfort zone require the cart (and me) to be away from the fray.

Accustomed to being able to have the cast & crew on the roof of a 5-story Lower East Side tenement building, and me on the street, I'm loathe to give that distance up.

As a chick, I'm also loathe to have to ask grip department for help up the steps, and my chick-based, low center of gravity Gemini cart is not designed to go up steps without help.

I'm tweaking the Zax system to the max so I can stay remote, happy, and not overly indebted to my colleagues.

Your remoteness may vary.

-- Jan

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  • 4 weeks later...

Got the proper amp and DC power injector in the mail today.

Thanks to Colleen & Glenn @ Zaxcom who expedited.

4786668867_c0aa900e47_d.jpg

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While I've not yet made the proper-length / no-adapter cables, I fired this baby up and took a walk that added 50 more feet to the 992's IFB range - down the stairs, outside the building and across the street kinda 50 feet.

I've a house guest coming later this week that will allow me to keep my eyes on the meters while this happens, but I'm extremely optimistic.

I am a much happier person today than I was 2 weeks ago.

-- Jan

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Feel like I should chime in here too relative to the out-of-the-box capacity of the units. They're fine, really, for most applications and mixers, but my methodology and comfort zone require the cart (and me) to be away from the fray.

Accustomed to being able to have the cast & crew on the roof of a 5-story Lower East Side tenement building, and me on the street, I'm loathe to give that distance up.

-- Jan

I gotta agree 100% with you Jan on being remote!  My whole setup is built around the same principle.  It helps one keep sane and freedom of speech is a lot easier to maintain when they're not right on top of you ;-)  FYI, I recently visited a mixer on set who had a small convex mirror on his cart so he could see if anyone had walked up behind him!  I'm getting one today.

Alex

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  • 2 months later...

Alrighty then.

Proper minimum-length 50 ohm cables sans adapters have been installed and system tested at the stage, and I was able to get full IFB coverage from one far end (where the cart is happily staged) to the other.

Bingo!

Thanks to all for your good help getting this together: I am once again the happy, long-distance mixer I always liked to be.

On a side note to Alex, as I was shopping this summer for 6" sewer pipe, happened upon one of those little convex mirrors for $1.98. Think it will add another visual dimension to mixing.

Huzzah.

Wish us luck on S3 of "Nurse Jackie".

-- Jan

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Alrighty then.

Proper minimum-length 50 ohm cables sans adapters have been installed and system tested at the stage, and I was able to get full IFB coverage from one far end (where the cart is happily staged) to the other.

-- Jan

After finally getting my IFB setup exactly like Billy Sarokin's, we have also had really good IFB range. I have the same antenna, the same amp with the DC injector (12 volt), custom 10' cables with proper connectors (no adapters), and the whole system functions beautifully. This last movie, which we just wrapped, I did make use of Zaxnet for the talent mics --- we had 3 actors who were encouraged at all times to improvise, keep talking at all times (the director called it "extreme overlap") and one of our actors really liked to whisper and then start screaming without warning. Being able to adjust the gain on the mic preamp on the fly was terrific. I haven't quite figured out how to do the power saving/battery saving routine (I know, "read the manual" --- is there a manual?) which would have been very useful. The routine would have been to put the transmitters to low power (sleep) before the actors left the set and then I would be able to wake them up when they returned --- we would have saved a lot of batteries and battery changes.

On the last day of shooting, Cary Weitz who was the 2nd boom operator/utility person had to replace himself so we had Hanna Collins come in. Hanna has worked with a lot of different sound teams but has had no experience with the Zaxcom IFB. She has always had to use either a Comtek or a Lectrosonics IFB for monitoring while booming. She said she really prefers to boom with a duplex (hardwired) cable so her monitor can really let her hear what she is doing. Don handed her the Zaxcom ERX receiver with Sony 7506 plugged in and then he spoke into the Schoepes mic on the fishpole --- her eyes widened in amazement how good it sounded!

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  • 2 months later...

I did make use of Zaxnet for the talent mics --- we had 3 actors who were encouraged at all times to improvise, keep talking at all times (the director called it "extreme overlap") and one of our actors really liked to whisper and then start screaming without warning. Being able to adjust the gain on the mic preamp on the fly was terrific.

Hi Jeff , can you please run me through your setup with controlling the trx gain on your deva through the IFB100 . I understand you do not have a mix 12 and the system I am about to get leaves me in a similar position of wanting zaxnet but controlling gain through my fusion as I retain my sax mixer .

Regards

Tony

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Hi Jeff , can you please run me through your setup with controlling the trx gain on your deva through the IFB100 . I understand you do not have a mix 12 and the system I am about to get leaves me in a similar position of wanting zaxnet but controlling gain through my fusion as I retain my sax mixer .

Regards

Tony

I am embarrassed to say that I cannot remember the exact set up sequence, but the procedure is to assign the fader (hardware knobs) on the Deva to be gain trim for the transmitters. I have input knob 1 through 4 set to control the gain on transmitters (ID) 1 through 4. With Zaxnet enabled and the transmitters set to receive this control, it is a simple matter to just grab the knob and adjust the gain on the transmitter. If an actor is starting to get louder (actor with transmitter no. 1) I turn it down, and conversely I can turn it up with the same knob. The only limitation (and it really hasn't been a problem) is that there is no numeric readout or confirmation of the actual numeric gain value --- you would have to be looking at the transmitter display to get that number, obviously defeating the whole purpose of remotely controlling a transmitter on the actor in the scene. So, the confirmation of the gain change is quite similar to that which we have had for so many years: look at the physical position of the knob (it's at 2 o'clock, for example) and listen to the level that you have arrived at. I actually find this to be more intuitive than knowing that I have turned the gain down from -23 to -18.

Since I do not use any of the hardware knobs on my Deva (except as I have just described), I use pots (knobs) 1 through 4 as I described, but I believe that if you are using some of the knobs (Deva/Fusion in standalone manner) you can assign ANY knob to do the Zaxnet gain function.

Someone else will fill in the gaps in my explanation, hopefully, or I will go back in and remember how I did this.

-  Jeff Wexler

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how does the Deva talk to the IFB100? there is a timecode cable, and an audio input - is there another connection?

The Deva operating system allocates some part of the timecode data stream to communicate between the Deva and other devices. Zaxnet utilizes the wireless transmission of timecode via the IFB100 to the transmitters to facilitate all of the remote control functions. Because the entire Zaxcom wireless system is transmitting digital data, not an audio signal of any sort, what is contained in that data stream can be anything Zaxcom dreams up. So, the data stream that was previously used just for timecode data came into play as the carrier for all the remote control features. This is my understanding.

-  Jeff Wexler

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I will do my best to quote GS...  "We hi-jacked the user bits."

We discussed it further, and I learned that the user bits are not affected by this hi-jack and they are still able to display information such as the date and roll number.  The Zaxnet data is included in the data stream of this part of the time code.

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and their non-SMPTE timecode will still jam Deneke, Ambient, Sound Devices clocks? all clocks?

There is nothing "non-SMPTE timecode" with the Deva implementation of timecode. This is a mis-understanding of how Zaxcom utilizes the data stream that IS SMPTE timecode to facilitate Zaxnet features. Everyone should remember that when we entered the world of file based recording, the traditional methods of thinking about linear timecode, timecode tracks and so forth, goes out the window. The data that is put into a file to accomplish the timecode "stamp" is not SMPTE timecode in the traditional sense --- it is the data that when "read" is interpreted as industry standard SMPTE timecode. Any and all timecode capable devices connected to the Deva will jam properly just as one would expect.

-  Jeff Wexler

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The time code out of the Deva does contain the Zax-net signal. Since the user bits are free to be used for any purpose that’s exactly what we did. When Zax-net does not need to send any data the user bits contain static user bit data. When a Zax-net remote control command or meta data needs to be sent we put the Zax-net data into the user bit area until the data block is sent.

The time code is SMPTE standard code compatible will all devices. The Zax-net commands are halted when the Deva or Fusion is in the time code menu so that a non Zax-net compatible slate can be jammed without misinterpretation of the user bit data.

Happy Thanks Giving

Glenn

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