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Author Topic: Please educate me about radios  (Read 4492 times)

Mark McFarlane

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Please educate me about radios
« on: May 09, 2014, 05:41:25 AM »

It's long past time for me to get some wireless 2-way comms setup between FOH and stage.   Most of my gigs are in small rooms (<80 feet between stage and FOH) and festivals which are still usually 100' to FOH max, although there are always toilet breaks which could be 200 metres away. I generally like my ears unencumbered during a gig, so its going to take some training on my part.  A flashing/vibrating alert might be helpful. Ideally I can find 3 units for a budget of around $500-600, with chargers, earpieces/mics, belt holder,...  Possibly I can only get 2 decent ones at that price.

What features do find most useful? 

What kind of ear/mic setup works best for clear communication over a loud band?
Is there an industry standard, like the Motorola CP200 series...
« Last Edit: May 09, 2014, 05:43:29 AM by Mark McFarlane »
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Mark McFarlane

Nick Enright

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Re: Please educate me about radios
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2014, 12:34:03 PM »

It's long past time for me to get some wireless 2-way comms setup between FOH and stage.   Most of my gigs are in small rooms (<80 feet between stage and FOH) and festivals which are still usually 100' to FOH max, although there are always toilet breaks which could be 200 metres away. I generally like my ears unencumbered during a gig, so its going to take some training on my part.  A flashing/vibrating alert might be helpful. Ideally I can find 3 units for a budget of around $500-600, with chargers, earpieces/mics, belt holder,...  Possibly I can only get 2 decent ones at that price.

What features do find most useful? 

What kind of ear/mic setup works best for clear communication over a loud band?
Is there an industry standard, like the Motorola CP200 series...

If you're not mixing the "surveillance" style earpiece and collar mic, with the "skeleton" type of ear mold is my favorite. I can hear it over anything, the earpiece is comfortable, and after three days of wear the balance btw my ears was reasonable. (I was NOT mixing)

Mostly people use the collar "puck" style mic/speaker thing, I kinda hate those, they're heavy and not particularly clear when it's very loud.

the earpiece I like is the first one on this link:
http://www.planetheadset.com/replacement-parts.php#moldedearpiece

As far as radios, Motorola is the gold standard with the CP200 being the most common. I have also had very good results with the Titan Radio TR400 (a 4 watt).

You might want to try renting, bearcom has the motorolas, and Dollar Radio Rental has titan radio.

Honestly I think a clear-com with flashers and handsets is a much better choice if the com is just for FOH and MONS... No licencing, no worries about frequency.

I really like the silent earpiece when line checking though, I can work the deck and the monitor and FOH guys can easily let me know what's going on, and where to go.

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Nick Enright
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Lyve Productions
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lindsay Dean

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Re: Please educate me about radios
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2014, 01:29:17 PM »

If you're not mixing the "surveillance" style earpiece and collar mic, with the "skeleton" type of ear mold is my favorite. I can hear it over anything, the earpiece is comfortable, and after three days of wear the balance btw my ears was reasonable. (I was NOT mixing)

Mostly people use the collar "puck" style mic/speaker thing, I kinda hate those, they're heavy and not particularly clear when it's very loud.

the earpiece I like is the first one on this link:
http://www.planetheadset.com/replacement-parts.php#moldedearpiece

As far as radios, Motorola is the gold standard with the CP200 being the most common. I have also had very good results with the Titan Radio TR400 (a 4 watt).

You might want to try renting, bearcom has the motorolas, and Dollar Radio Rental has titan radio.

Honestly I think a clear-com with flashers and handsets is a much better choice if the com is just for FOH and MONS... No licencing, no worries about frequency.

I really like the silent earpiece when line checking though, I can work the deck and the monitor and FOH guys can easily let me know what's going on, and where to go.

We use motorolla rdu 4100, rock solid, great range, long run time.
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Mark McFarlane

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Re: Please educate me about radios
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2014, 05:24:53 PM »

If you're not mixing \...

I'll be mixing, my mates will be running monitors from an iPad and acting as stage manager.
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Mark McFarlane

Mike Sullivan

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Re: Please educate me about radios
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2014, 02:27:23 PM »

It's hard to find a good analog radio to use during shows.  Last show I worked we used a pair of Motorola RDU2020's (2 channel) that he purchased cheap on eBay.  You couldn't understand a word either of us was saying (him at FOH and me in monitor world)...Personally, I'm looking at purchasing digital radios, more like the Motorola DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) units (aka MotoTRBO) as they are designed for high noise environments.  However, even Motorola DMR radios can be upwards of the $500-$600 for a single unit.  There is a company I'm going to try out that has come out with a line of DMR radios but are cheaper (under $200 for a single radio with charger and choice of surveillance earpiece or handheld mic).  The nice part is there are two versions, one which has 512 channel capacity plus the full keypad (which enables texting features and such included in MotoTRBO) and another which does not have the full keypad, but still has either a 16 or 32 channel capacity.  Having the extra channels is nice as you can program other radio frequencies in there for other companies that you may do work with.  If all goes well I may pick up a set for renting out locally for shows, in addition to mine (sort of a side business).  I will report back as I'm hoping to order one by next week, if all goes well I'd like to go ahead and order two for myself.

Also one really important thing to keep in mind, depending on what type of radio you get, you may have to apply for a license from the FCC for anything other than FRS/GMRS radios.  (Unless you live across the sea, then I have no idea who takes care of it over there)...I doubt the FCC is really going to pay attention to a small sound provider unless they are, for instance, talking on law enforcement channels.
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Mark McFarlane

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Re: Please educate me about radios
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2014, 02:32:29 PM »

It's hard to find a good analog radio to use during shows.  Last show I worked we used a pair of Motorola RDU2020's (2 channel) that he purchased cheap on eBay.  You couldn't understand a word either of us was saying (him at FOH and me in monitor world)...

Even when the room was quite you still couldn't understand each other?
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Mark McFarlane

Mike Sullivan

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Re: Please educate me about radios
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2014, 02:38:08 PM »

Even when the room was quite you still couldn't understand each other?

With these particular radios, no.  They are your generic business band radios, they barely lasted a day, but he got them for really cheap.  When I purchase some, I'm not going to go that cheap.

In reference to the "license" needed for radios, the one exception I can think of is MURS (Multi-use radio service) which is a set of 5 frequencies that do not need a license, provided the radios maximum power output is 2 watts.  Which, 2 watts is plenty for any size show IMHO. 
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Mark McFarlane

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Re: Please educate me about radios
« Reply #7 on: May 16, 2014, 08:19:44 PM »

Anyone else care to chime in on 'must have' radio features?
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Mark McFarlane

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Please educate me about radios
« Reply #7 on: May 16, 2014, 08:19:44 PM »


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