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[Brad Harris]

If you don't need to have multiple coverage areas of antennas, why have multiple antenna systems for the same coverage area, and why buy a fourth antenna distro for the 3 that come in the 3 ULXD4Q in the same frequency band?

While it is true the cascade output is post filter on the ULXD, it really isn't that steep ...... don't always read into the marketing departments input to the manuals .... Also, why would anyone design a filter to filter out it's own operating range?


BRad

[Bob Charest]

At a recent Shure RF seminar, I asked about the cascading limit of 2 units and the Shure rep said "un officially" that you can cascade 3.
As for antennas, the Shure PA805 works down to 470.

Thanks, Keith.

If I go with antennas other than the 1/2 wave antennas that come with the unit, I would use our current deployment which is two sets of diversity antennas - I'd prefer to be conservative.

With that said, I'm going to be retaining 2 Sennheiser devices in the lower end of the A-band 500 Mhz range. One is an internal talkback, and the other is an SKP100 that our sax player uses for his AKAI EWI. I'm tempted to cascade those units: The talkback onto the 2 cascaded ULXD quads, and the EWI to the single quad.

They're 50 ohm, so I thought I should at least try that out and see what the results are. If that doesn't work, I'll just mount the original Sennheiser 1/4 antennas on the front of the rack. That should be enough.

[Bob Charest]

The Shure 1/2 wave antennas that come free with each receiver are pretty good antennas, though not directional.

Hi Scott,

We're thinking that might be all we need. We're always on fairly small stages, and, from what my soundman was telling me about his experiences with ULXD, he's had no problems using just the 1/2 wave antennas as far as 75 feet away.

It would be great to not have to deploy our 2 diversity antenna sets anymore! :-)

[Bob Charest]

If you're going to the expense of buying 4 quad receivers, why not add a UA844 or similar to distribute the antennas to all receivers? The cost is minimal, especially for a used unit. You could run up to 8 quad receivers (or 12 if what Keith heard from Shure is true) from one UA844 for 32 (or 48) channels. And even if you don't need that many channels, having a spare output from your antenna distro is also nice for hooking up additional receivers to your antennas, which I've done on a few occasions with rented gear.

Also, Keith is right, the PA805 will work fine with those receivers, as will pretty much any passive paddle in the right frequency range.

Hi Brian,

We're actually only getting 3 quads, and, for this ensemble, that will be all we need. We're leaning towards just using the 1/2 wave antennas that come with the units.

I also noticed that, if I went with external antennas, my trusty Lectrosonics SNA600 antennas can be centered at 550Mhz and are 1/2 power reception at 465Mhz & 600Mhz.

I just did an IAS coordination, and the lowest frequency that I need to use is 482Mhz (for the band's talkback mic located with me right at the rack.)

Agreed on the PA805.

[Bob Charest]

It is best practice to keep the frequencies used by the third unit towards the towards the center of the units pass band.

Thanks, Dan!

[Bob Charest]

Side note- the UA844SWB has now been replaced by the UA844+SWB, which adds a set of cascade outputs. So, you can use those as another 'output' on the distro; you just don't have another power port to connect a single half rack receiver to.

This means you can either have a single UA844+SWB with up to five receivers connected to it... or if you need more units, have a 'master' UA844+SWB going to 4 to 5 more UA844+SWBs, and each one of those distros have 4 to 5 RF receivers connected to them. With ULXD4Qs, you could conceivably have up to 100 channels, all on one set of antenna!

Thanks, Ray - Pretty versatile!


-Ray

[Bob Charest]

On a side note, what's the repack doing in your locale? We (and everybody else) mostly bought in to the various G bands before we knew where all the channels would be placed. Now it looks like more H would have been a good choice, because the repack is filling almost all of the bottom channels first.

Hi Scott,

I'm not aware that repack activity in my area is hitting at the 470-534MHz spectrum... Have I missed something important? I'm next door to Portland, ME, so the T-Mobile rollout is coming right at me in the 600Mhz spectrum.

Thanks,
Bob

[Bob Charest]

If you don't need to have multiple coverage areas of antennas, why have multiple antenna systems for the same coverage area, and why buy a fourth antenna distro for the 3 that come in the 3 ULXD4Q in the same frequency band?

While it is true the cascade output is post filter on the ULXD, it really isn't that steep ...... don't always read into the marketing departments input to the manuals .... Also, why would anyone design a filter to filter out it's own operating range?

BRad

Hi Brad,

Our deployment currently handles 500 & 600Mhz Sennheiser mics (our IEMs are fed by a PWS helical.) We have two sets of antennas "trees", each tree with a 500 & a 600Mhz antenna for diversity reception.

I was saying if we don't use the 1/2 wave antennas that come with the units, I would still be able to use my current deployment method to not have 3 quads cascaded.

This may not be an issue, and we'd be happy to not have to set up additional gear if the 1/2 wave antennas mounted on the front of the rack would do the job. I'm thinking that may be the case - hoping so!

Thanks,
Bob

[Mac Kerr]

I'm not aware that repack activity in my area is hitting at the 470-534MHz spectrum... Have I missed something important? I'm next door to Portland, ME, so the T-Mobile rollout is coming right at me in the 600Mhz spectrum.

The repack isn't T-Mobile, it's all the TV stations that used to occupy the 600 band and are now being moved down into the 450-600 band.

Mac

[Bob Charest]

The repack isn't T-Mobile, it's all the TV stations that used to occupy the 600 band and are now being moved down into the 450-600 band.

Mac

Hi Mac,

Thanks for clarifying - I should've thought more clearly about that.

Another research point!
Best regards,
Bob

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