Long-distance wireless audio options

[Eric Toline]

The Sennheiser G series have non removable built in antennas for the *TX & RX. Getting the RX antenna in a clear line of sight to the TX antenna is most important. 90-120 yards is about maximum useable range for the G series under the best conditions.

*TX=Transmitter. RX=Receiver.

Eric

“I push the RECORD button and hope for the best”

[Ty Ford]

Hello Alana and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.

More powerful transmitters like the 250 milliwatt Lectro SMQ (Q stands for one quarter watt, or 250 milliwatts) may or may not get the job done. A five fold increase of power from 50 mW to 250 mW doesn’t increase your range by a factor of 5 or even 2.

I’m pretty sure the directional Shark Fin-style antennae are for receivers, but if you didn’t need to move the camera on the field much, you might be able to get someone like Lectrosonics to help you rig a pair of shark fins or something else to get more range. Reach out to Karl Winkler or Gordon Jones at Lectrosonics and see what they can come up with. https://www.lectrosonics.com/US/Contact-Info.html

The longest range of any wireless I’ve tested has been an Audio Ltd. 2040. I got over 1000 feet with one set and the 2040 TX is only a 50 mW transmitter. When I asked about the greater range, I was told some of the secret is in the receiver. More about the 2040 (which is soon to be retired, from what I hear) here. https://www.dropbox.com/s/9xwdranr5l2j8oh/AudioLtd.2040.pdf

For home games, maybe run a cable from the booth to someplace near the edge of the field to your transmitter and fly the audio in from there to the camera with wireless. Before doing that, I’d work out whomever is doing the mix so levels remain proper.

Regards,

Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum Leader

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[Bruce Watson]

So now I’m in the market for a wireless transmitter and/or receiver system (~ $1300 – $1500 budget) that is capable of capturing wireless audio from a long distance – from the radio booth on the upper floors of a college football stadium all the way down to the field. We have a set of Sennheiser wireless mic sets that have ALMOST worked in some cases, but for the most part it’s totally useless.

They aren’t totally useless; far from it. It’s just that you are trying to use them for a task outside their design. Wrong tool for the job.

There are basically two companies, Lectrosonics and Zaxcom, who have equipment that will do what you require. These are the two (in the US anyway) that are really into getting the signal from point A to point B without interference. Neither offers a low end product that competes with the Sennheiser evolution g3 100 series, because their normal customers can’t tolerate the compromises that price range requires. So their bottom end equipment is considerably more expensive than the bottom end sennheiser gear.

Something else to think about: When the stadium is full, how many cell phones do you think are present and active? Think anyone is live tweeting the game? Facebooking pix? I’m just saying that a modern football stadium is a huge bowl full of RF interference. You’re going to need a Lectro or Zaxcom to cut through all that and give you a clear signal that you can use, especially at 100 meters.

If you decide to buy new Lectro or Zaxcom units, my advice is to stay with frequencies in the lower than 600MHz band (block 22 and lower). Why? FCC is in the process of taking away spectrum above 600MHz. If you buy in the 600s, you can only use it for the next few years. You’ve been warned.

[Alana Curtis]

Thanks so much for your response! It looks like we’re going to save up for a solution when the next budget rolls around. I will be holding on this forum for safe keeping!