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[Kevin Wilson]

Hello everyone

I am having an issue with our wireless lavaliere mic distorting and causing some major problems.  Im thinking it is interference - but hoping some of you with more knowledge can give me some suggestions on how to fix it.

We are currently using a Freeway 600 series from Audio Technica.  It is having major issues of loud crackling and fading in and out.  This startles the congregation during the teaching and is a big interruption.

We also have a ATW-R3100 series from Audio Technica that we could use if it would be better.

Does anyone have any suggestions?  What other info is needed?


Thanks

Kevin Wilson

[Lee Buckalew]

Kevin,
Please read the rules and use your real full name, rather than an alias.

The moderator will be by and give you the same info and then lock the thread if there's no response.

As to your question.  What city, zip code, are you located in?
The wireless system that you have was only available in two channel ranges.
Band A, 470MHz - 480MHz
Band B 482MHz - 492MHz
Which range do you have?

His,
Lee Buckalew
Pro Sound Advice, Inc.

[Kevin Wilson]

Sorry Lee - I thought my signature at the end covered the full name requirement.  Fixed it.

My location is in Voluntown - 06351.

My freq range is Band A.


Thanks

Kevin Wilson

[Mac Kerr]

Sorry Lee - I thought my signature at the end covered the full name requirement.  Fixed it.

Or not. Please go to your profile and put your real full name in the "name" field.

Mac

[Kevin Wilson]

OK...  I misunderstood... sorry.

[Arnold B. Krueger]

[quote author=Kevin Wilson link=topic=319.msg1278#msg1278 date=1295443986

I am having an issue with our wireless lavaliere mic distorting and causing some major problems.  Im thinking it is interference - but hoping some of you with more knowledge can give me some suggestions on how to fix it.

We are currently using a Freeway 600 series from Audio Technica.  It is having major issues of loud crackling and fading in and out.  This startles the congregation during the teaching and is a big interruption.

We also have a ATW-R3100 series from Audio Technica that we could use if it would be better.
[/quote]

I've had problems like these, and solved them by simply moving the equipment to a different channel in the same band.

My original channel choice was informed by one of the wireless vendor web sites, but even though they thought that it was free, it was obviously not free.  In my situation, one tip-off was that the receiver indicated the presence of a low-level signal when the trnasmitter was turned off.

BTW, the problematical receiver was an A-T ATW 3100, and it has become one of my favorites since I resolved the channel assignment problem. We now have 2 of them with two transmitters each - one is the body pack and the other is the little transmitter that screws onto the base of any mic with an XLR connector. We've used the mic-attached transmitter with both dynamic mics and mics that are speced to work with 12v phantom power, of which there are quite a few.

[Jeff_Lowes]

Sounds like an RF issue to me. You either have a weak signal or there is another system nearby
operating at a freq very close to yours.

Do these:
- Make sure you have fresh batteries in the beltpak
- Turn on the receiver only and look to see if there is any activity on the signal meter. If so, you have interference on the channel you've selected. If this is the case, try another channel
- Turn the beltpak on and look at the signal strength meter on the receiver to see how strong your signal is being picked up.
- Make sure you are using both antennas fully extended
- Try moving the receiver to another location. It would probably work better to place it on stage somewhere and send the signal to your mixer thru the in-house wiring or a snake.
- Make sure you're not operating any other RF devices on or near the same freq as the w/l mic

Hope these help.
JL

[John Fiorello]

We are currently using a Freeway 600 series from Audio Technica.  It is having major issues of loud crackling and fading in and out.

What is the distance from the mic being used to the receiver?


JF

[Kevin Wilson]

We have the receiver in the sound booth - right next to all the rest of the equipment (as well as another wireless handheld mic which has no issues).  The stage is approx. 125 ft. away (a guess).

Im going to try and relocate the receiver to the stage...  and also check signal strength.  I have tried several freq and they all cause the same issues - so my guess is it isn't that.

[John Fiorello]

Im going to try and relocate the receiver to the stage...

9 times out of 10, that fixes it   Really, the receivers should be as close as possible to the transmitter, but convenience sometimes trumps that, which is why some of the remote networking of receivers is cool.  For instance, the Senny G3 300 series.  The receivers could sit just off stage, but you could be viewing the status' of all the units on a laptop in the sound booth (once they're networked, and you have the software).


Hope it fixes it


JF

[Lee Buckalew]

It appears as though the entire frequency range that your units are in are clear of TV broadcast in your area.  This does not mean that there are not other unlicensed users in your area interfering.

I second, third, fourth (whatever we are up to here) the idea of getting you receivers closer to you transmitters. 

Let us know how that effects your problem.

Also, Is this a new problem or has it happened the entire time you've had these systems?
Is it a problem on each combination, no matter which transmitter and which receiver you use in combination with the other or does it track with a single receiver or a single transmitter?

Are you using other wireless system in the same space or elsewhere on campus?
Have you frequency co-ordinated them all to work together?
If not, it's quite possible that you are causing yourself your own interference.  You can't just change one frequency set on one mic if all systems are in the same frequency range.  A single change can often mean that 3 or more tx rx systems will now have problems.

Let us know your entire wireless layout in terms of number of systems, what frequency range and what frequencies that you currently have them set to, this will help to diagnose your problem.

His,
Lee Buckalew
Pro Sound Advice, Inc.

[Arnold B. Krueger]

We have the receiver in the sound booth - right next to all the rest of the equipment (as well as another wireless handheld mic which has no issues).  The stage is approx. 125 ft. away (a guess).

That's about the distance we work at, with no problems once we moved our equipment to truely clear channels.  Our receivers are mounted in a location where there is a clear line-of-sight shot to the platform.

I'm going to try and relocate the receiver to the stage...  and also check signal strength.  I have tried several freq and they all cause the same issues - so my guess is it isn't that.

Does your receiver indicate any signal strength with the transmitter turned off?  I've found that this is a pre-requisite for having good performance.  When I was scanning for frequencies to use, I found a goodly number that had one or two bars of signal, even when all off the wireless transmitters turned off.

In the case of the AT transmitters, some of them can be switched between high and low power. Are yours set for the highest power possible?

We found that putting the receivers on stage helped, but it is inconvenient. It was very much worth the trouble to get them back in the media booth where they belong.

I've found that putting the receivers on stage greatly helps with prooblems like this.

[Jeff_Lowes]

Just had another thought..........make sure that if you are using a lav beltpak that you DO NOT have a handheld w/l mic that is set for the same freq as the beltpak that IS TURNED ON. If there are 2 transmitters (mics) that are tuned to the same freq and are on at the same time, there will be trouble....

[David Kaiser]

Have you checked the mic cable itself? Has the lavaliere caught on anything or been yanked in any way. There may be connector or broken cable issues. I have a headset right now that passes audio but the cable is definetly not in good shape. Manipulating the cable near the connector causes very loud crackling.