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[Ryan Trefethen]

You didn't say if you were using 1.9 or 2.4 FSII.  Neither should be affected by the audience.

In either case keep the antennas 15+' away from cell or WiFi antennas.  It's just good antenna practice.

The shielding I used was not to avoid antennas but to limit the reflection off of the ceiling which was almost 190' up.

is your catwalk antenna as high as the ceiling or how much room is above it?

I, too, went from a totally unusable system to one which was 70% with lots of dropout but mostly intelligible.

Hi Pete,

This is a 1.9Ghz system. And that multi path reflection is the original reason I tried the shields. But ultimately using the stage itself which is about 36" high has been the most effective to avoid the reflections that seem to be causing my problems. 

I would say the antennas in the air were suspended about 4' above the WIFI antennas that are every 30' and about 15' below the ceiling in this hall.  We did try just one catwalk antennae and had the same unusable audio stutter while standing below it which is probably 35' up.   

We are successfully using the Freespeak on our second day of rehearsals. And while the com guy and myself(A2) feel like it could be much better no one has mentioned a thing about the now occasional stutters on the com system. 

Pete, Do you think the wifi antennas, multi path from the hard surfaces or a combination of the two are affecting our system?

As always appreciate your help. 

Ryan


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[Pete Erskine]

What is actually causing the "stuttering"?
Do I take it these systems are not diversity and as such, the RF signals are subject to (partial) cancellation due to the out of phase signals reflected signal from the ceiling?

the problem is a very high domed ceiling where the signal bounces back and the receiver cant tell what is the signal or a reflection so it stutters and disconnects.  two rooms 1 with flat ceiling and 1 with domed ceiling will be very different. 

I do not know if they are diversity.  The antenna consists of 2 elements on a PC Board near the top of the unit.  Whether it is diversity or RX/TX is not known.  I infer from statements made by CC in other forums that this is a software defined radio and may be adjustable with further software changes.  We'll hope for the best.

[Sean T Hayes]

Sorry to wake up a dead thread...

I am currently sitting in Lucas Oil Stadium with a couple FSII packs giving me this exact issue. Show in 2 days.

Has anyone found a better solution than a pizza pan?

[Ryan Trefethen]

Sorry to wake up a dead thread...

I am currently sitting in Lucas Oil Stadium with a couple FSII packs giving me this exact issue. Show in 2 days.

Has anyone found a better solution than a pizza pan?

Hi Sean,

My solution for the show I mentioned in the post worked out fine after I did the following.

• Hide all of the freespeak antennas under the stage and tables(this seemed to shield it from the interference)
• Another suggestion from Pete that seems like it would do the same thing is to put your antennas in the voms to shield them.
• That's it!

[brian maddox]

Hi Sean,

My solution for the show I mentioned in the post worked out fine after I did the following.

• Hide all of the freespeak antennas under the stage and tables(this seemed to shield it from the interference)
• Another suggestion from Pete that seems like it would do the same thing is to put your antennas in the voms to shield them.
• That's it!

I fought this issue and lost at a convention center a few months back [don't remember which one...  i travel too much...].  IIRC i actually put the antennas under the stage and still had issues.  What was your stage made of?  Metal?  Wood decking with metal frame?  Just curious....

[Sean T Hayes]

No stage, expo. The floor is sportcourt covering a football field. Roof is steel, 300' up.

I'll try the pizza pan idea tomorrow.

Thanks!

I fought this issue and lost at a convention center a few months back [don't remember which one...  i travel too much...].  IIRC i actually put the antennas under the stage and still had issues.  What was your stage made of?  Metal?  Wood decking with metal frame?  Just curious....

[Ryan Trefethen]

I fought this issue and lost at a convention center a few months back [don't remember which one...  i travel too much...].  IIRC i actually put the antennas under the stage and still had issues.  What was your stage made of?  Metal?  Wood decking with metal frame?  Just curious....

Hi Brian,

I believe it was wood deck with metal locking frames. It made the system from unusable to 70% which, unfortunately these days was enough to receive zero comments from the users. I could hear a drop out now and again but not a peep otherwise. One interesting psychological aspect is that since the talking user gets side tone locally they don't notice themselves dropping out now and again and no one else seems to notice the other users as much as themselves.  I found this interesting and maybe is just my opinion but seemed consistent the couple times I used this system in less than ideal environments.


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[brian maddox]

Hi Brian,

I believe it was wood deck with metal locking frames. It made the system from unusable to 70% which, unfortunately these days was enough to receive zero comments from the users. I could hear a drop out now and again but not a peep otherwise. One interesting psychological aspect is that since the talking user gets side tone locally they don't notice themselves dropping out now and again and no one else seems to notice the other users as much as themselves.  I found this interesting and maybe is just my opinion but seemed consistent the couple times I used this system in less than ideal environments.


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That was absolutely my experience as well.  My client was also the producer and she did most of the talking.  Since she could hear herself fine, she never said a peep.  But since she talked a LOT, everyone else heard the breakups.  Thankfully they weren't the ones paying the bills. 

[Ross Goldman (2)]

That was absolutely my experience as well.  My client was also the producer and she did most of the talking.  Since she could hear herself fine, she never said a peep.  But since she talked a LOT, everyone else heard the breakups.  Thankfully they weren't the ones paying the bills. 

Ryan and Brian, I agree with your assessments about local sidetone. Another phenomenon that I've observed is that when most users notice the breakup, they say something like, "I think John needs a new battery," or "I think I need a new battery." It's better than "Hey A2, I notice some errors resulting from multipath interference, did you spec the wrong com system for this venue?"

I'll add that I purchased the pizza pans recommended by Pete and did a quick A/B test with and without them in the Santa Clara Convention Center exhibit halls. They did not improve the breakup for me in that room, but it was very minimal to begin with.

[Ryan Trefethen]

Ryan and Brian, I agree with your assessments about local sidetone. Another phenomenon that I've observed is that when most users notice the breakup, they say something like, "I think John needs a new battery," or "I think I need a new battery." It's better than "Hey A2, I notice some errors resulting from multipath interference, did you spec the wrong com system for this venue?"

Ha this is very funny. Yes getting a battery replaced is akin to leaning over the monitor desk and "making" the adjustment. 60% of the time it works every time.

I'll add that I purchased the pizza pans recommended by Pete and did a quick A/B test with and without them in the Santa Clara Convention Center exhibit halls. They did not improve the breakup for me in that room, but it was very minimal to begin with.

Yes Ross, I too tried the trays at my event and that did not help my particular problem. I believe my problem was not multipath but just noise floor issues. Which the stage shielding the antennas seemed to help.  Wonder if you tried something silly like putting them in a closed road case on a short stand.  Putting mine under the stage and under tables near the users most likely reduced my range but I was lucky to have 10 antennas in that system and I used them all to account for this.



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