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[BradPinder]

Hi Guys, we have a number of G band EW300 G3 IEMs, and a single G band EW500 G3 Radio Mic. I have noticed that the banks have different frequencies for the mic vs item, for example bank 1, band 1 for the mic is 566.45 (matching the frequency chart published by sennheiser), whereas the IEM is 566.15. are the frequency ranges supposed to be different, or do i possibly have a "doctored" IEM (it is a fairly old system). in the case of different frequency banks, any advice on how best to avoid interference? Thanks

[Russell Ault]

Hi Guys, we have a number of G band EW300 G3 IEMs, and a single G band EW500 G3 Radio Mic. I have noticed that the banks have different frequencies for the mic vs item, for example bank 1, band 1 for the mic is 566.45 (matching the frequency chart published by sennheiser), whereas the IEM is 566.15. are the frequency ranges supposed to be different, or do i possibly have a "doctored" IEM (it is a fairly old system). in the case of different frequency banks, any advice on how best to avoid interference? Thanks

First, the good news: 566.150 MHz is Bank 1, Channel 1 according to this Sennheiser IEM Frequency Chart, so, at least by that metric, your IEMs are correct.

Now, the bad news: As a general rule, manufacturers' built-in bank/channel assignments are built around the assumption that all of your wireless equipment is the same product, and all in the same band. If you have a couple A-band mics, and a couple G-band mics, just ensuring that they're all using Bank 1 frequencies does not guarantee that they'll all play nicely together, and, for Sennheiser at least, the same is also apparently true between mics and IEMs of the same band and product range. The built-in frequencies are really only designed to tackle the simplest of use-cases.

To answer your question, then: the best way to avoid interference in your situation is to do a proper frequency coordination of all of the wireless equipment in your show. If you're using only Sennheiser equipment you can download their Wireless System Manager to do the job. (Incidentally, WSM will also allow you see and control your wireless microphone receiver and IEM transmitters over the network, so you can spend less time fiddling around with the menus on the devices.)

One last piece of advice: frequency-wise, try to keep your wireless microphone as far away as possible from your IEMs (for example, if your IEMs have frequencies between 566 and 570 MHz, set your mic to as close to 608 MHz as possible). This is especially helpful if your IEM transmitter antenna is located anywhere near your microphone receiver antennas (physically separating the two sets of antennas by as much space as you can is also definitely a good thing).

-Russ

[BradPinder]

Thanks Russ,

i had found the relevant charts for the mics but not the IEMs, and had assumed that they were the same, so thanks for the education! i will check all my separation; should be fairly easy as there is only the one G band mic. we also have good physical separation; mic receivers are currently at front of house, with IEM transmitters back stage.

thanks again

Brad

[Scott Helmke]

If you don't mind a little homework, the best cheap way to avoid interference is to download the free software (either Sennheiser's WSM or Shure's Wireless Workbench) and spend maybe an hour or two learning to use it.

[Ike Zimbel]

Thanks Russ,

i had found the relevant charts for the mics but not the IEMs, and had assumed that they were the same, so thanks for the education! i will check all my separation; should be fairly easy as there is only the one G band mic. we also have good physical separation; mic receivers are currently at front of house, with IEM transmitters back stage.

thanks again

Brad

To address your original question a bit further: Both the mic and IEM systems tune in 25 KHz steps, so as long as you have the charts for either (but preferably the IEM's) you can just tune the mic to a frequency in the group that the IEM's are in, preferably the one furthest away. To do that you will need to go into the "Advanced" menu and select "Tune" which allows you to step through the frequencies instead of the Gr/Ch numbers. So, without my looking up the actual Sennheiser frequencies for this example, if you had your IEM's in say, Gr-1, Ch-1,2,3,4,5,6 and the last Channel in Group-1 was Ch-20, look at the chart...GR-1/Ch-20 is 5xx.xxx, you would manually tune the mic receiver to that frequency.
By doing that, you would end up with your mic on a pre-coordinated frequency (which is what the Groups are) that is compatible with the IEM's. In your case, that's a quick-and-dirty way to coordinate your one mic channel with your IEM's. This can work if you have  just a few channels. Anything more than that and you should be using the free software, in this case WSM, as others have already recommended.

[BradPinder]

To address your original question a bit further: Both the mic and IEM systems tune in 25 KHz steps, so as long as you have the charts for either (but preferably the IEM's) you can just tune the mic to a frequency in the group that the IEM's are in, preferably the one furthest away. To do that you will need to go into the "Advanced" menu and select "Tune" which allows you to step through the frequencies instead of the Gr/Ch numbers. So, without my looking up the actual Sennheiser frequencies for this example, if you had your IEM's in say, Gr-1, Ch-1,2,3,4,5,6 and the last Channel in Group-1 was Ch-20, look at the chart...GR-1/Ch-20 is 5xx.xxx, you would manually tune the mic receiver to that frequency.

Thanks Ike, thats's a great idea. i will use that!

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