In article 4a51c82c.1482187937@localhost, Don Pearce
scribeth thus
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:56:17 +0100, tony sayer
wrote:

No clout, I'm afraid. The numbers are just too small. Ofcom doesn't
understand that for each mic in use there are thousands of people
enjoying the result. They just count the units.


They may not have that sort of "clout", but theatre is an important
industry. I would have expected the big London theatres to put up more of a
fight with Ofcom. ISTM that this case is a good example of how the current
fashion for treating spectrum allocation as a matter of market forces is
failing society generally.

Dead right, but market forces are the only language Ofcom understands
(or rather pays lip service to). They sacked all their RF engineers
years ago, and have no notion of the nature of the resource they are
managing.

d

Actually they have now realised that they are short, and have some new
ones in training!...

I wonder what the training comprises...? I think that anyone who works
for a regulator should have a great deal of experience at the sharp
end, designing networks, deploying links, hanging off tall buildings
aligning dishes etc. I have a nasty feeling the "training" will
consist mainly of learning to drive computer tools like Seamcat.

d

No!, they don't do anything like aligning dishes, remember that Ofcom is
for regulation and enforcement.....
--
Tony Sayer

On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:02:20 +0100, "Serge Auckland"
wrote:


"tony sayer" wrote in message
...
In article , Phil Allison
scribeth thus

"Serge Auckland"

I volunteer at our local Hospital Radio station, and we've just been
given
a license as a Community Station. We've had an old very cheap VHF radio
mic
which has worked sort of Ok for us in the past, but that's now become
unreliable and the audio quality was never great so I'd like to replace
it.

I've seen radio mics at £50, even Sennheisers at about £100 and others
at
around £400 for a single handheld transmitter. I can't tell from the
specs
what the differences are, and I have little experience of speccing radio
mics, as it was something that I very rarely got involved with
professionally.

Can anyone here advise me what the differences are between cheap mics
and
expensive mics, and recommend any favourites. Is it sound quality,
range,
reliability or what? I don't have a budget in mind, but even as a
Community Station, we have limited funds, so a £100 would be better than
a
£400 one if the cheaper one will do the job. Sadly being based in rural
Suffolk, there aren't any dealers round here I could go and talk to, but
anyway, what dealer would actually give me impartial advice?


** OK - the very cheapest radio mic systems operate in the VHF band,
have
only one fixed frequency and are flimsy in construction with a mediocre to
poor sound quality.

The ones to go for these days operate in the UHF band, have several
switchable frequencies, are of much sturdier in construction and have an
essential feature called " true diversity " built into the receiver.
Without
this feature, a radio mic systems suffers from severe signal "drop outs"
as
you move the mic around a room.

It is also a good idea to go for one of the major brand names, like Shure
or
Sennheiser.

Have a look at the Sennheiser " Freeport " system - has all the
features
I mentioned and is still inexpensive at around 130 UK pounds.



...... Phil




Trantrec are UK based and offer high performance at a reasonable price
find them in the Canford catalogue...
--
Tony Sayer

Thanks to all for the comments. I did look at the Sennheiser Freeport
system, as you say, Phil, they're pretty inexpensive, but as Sennheiser also
do the G2 system at betwen £400 and £500 depending on microphone, I wondered
what the differences would be. As bit of further information, our use of a
radio mic is for Outside Broadcasts at Country Fairs and the like where we
send off a Presenter into the crowd and do inpromptue interviews, so
crowding isn't a real problem for us, range is more important, I'd need
about 100 metres as that's as much as the wireless headphones give us.

I'll look up Trantec as well.

S.

www.radiowestsuffolk.co.uk

If you need range, go for a mic with a separate RF pack, not one built
in. Also make sure the receiver has antenna diversity, as this will
rescue you from a lot of fading problems. Unfortunately this probably
means you won't be looking at the very bottom of anybody's range.

d

"tony sayer" wrote in message
...

No!, they don't do anything like aligning dishes, remember that Ofcom is
for regulation and enforcement.....
--

One thing that *ought* to be part of the knowledge base of anyone working
for Ofcom, but which clearly could not be part of any "training" given by
that organisation, is knowledge of how people actually use radio equipment
such as wireless mics. It's clear that Ofcom haven't got a clue. Putting the
regulation of radio mics under "Services Ancillary to Broadcasting" is the
first clue. Ofcom apparently are not aware that broadcasters use only a
tiny, tiny minority of the radio mics in use today. A bit like putting the
regulation of mobile phones into "Services Ancillary to Broadcasting" as
some mobile phones are used by broadcasters.

David.

On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:07:48 +0100, tony sayer
wrote:

In article 4a51c82c.1482187937@localhost, Don Pearce
scribeth thus
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:56:17 +0100, tony sayer
wrote:

No clout, I'm afraid. The numbers are just too small. Ofcom doesn't
understand that for each mic in use there are thousands of people
enjoying the result. They just count the units.


They may not have that sort of "clout", but theatre is an important
industry. I would have expected the big London theatres to put up more of a
fight with Ofcom. ISTM that this case is a good example of how the current
fashion for treating spectrum allocation as a matter of market forces is
failing society generally.

Dead right, but market forces are the only language Ofcom understands
(or rather pays lip service to). They sacked all their RF engineers
years ago, and have no notion of the nature of the resource they are
managing.

d

Actually they have now realised that they are short, and have some new
ones in training!...

I wonder what the training comprises...? I think that anyone who works
for a regulator should have a great deal of experience at the sharp
end, designing networks, deploying links, hanging off tall buildings
aligning dishes etc. I have a nasty feeling the "training" will
consist mainly of learning to drive computer tools like Seamcat.

d

No!, they don't do anything like aligning dishes, remember that Ofcom is
for regulation and enforcement.....

What I really mean is that before anyone sets foot in a regulator's
shoes, they should have a career behind them, giving them real
experience of the thing they are regulating.

d

"Don Pearce Steaming GREAT ****WIT
"Phil Allison"


Part of the "digital switch over" will see the radio mic band move
from an analogue system in the TV UHF TV channels to a digital system
in the 1790 to 1798 MHz band.

** Shame no radio mics exist for that band - digital or otherwsie.


Digital switch over is now so close that in all fairness I could not
recommend anyone to but a UHF analogue mic. It would be money wasted.

** Total and ABSOLUTE BULL**** !!!!!!

UHF radio mics will continue to be used by anyone wants to.


Obviously you can do anything you want if you are happy to do it
illegally.

** Pedantic TRIPE.

No complaint is possible that could initaite any action.

So it AIN'T illegal - ****wit.


That is hardly a cogent comment.


** Pedantic TRIPE is all you ever post.

****wit !!!



In the vast majority of situations, DTV etc will have no effect on the use
of analogue (ie FM) radio mics on the UHF band.

Cos the mics are used INDOORS !!!!!


Spoken like a true outback dweller. London's theatreland is crammed
with venues just yards apart, all demanding radio mics for their
performers.


** Massive RED HERRING !!


It doesn't matter that they are indoors when that close to
each other. Interference is still a problem, and Joseph breaking into
a chorus of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is probably only funny once.


** Masssive STRAW MAN and a masive FALSEHOOD !!!

**** off right to HELL

- you asinine pommy **** !!!!




..... Phil

"tony sayer"
Phil Allison


"Serge Auckland"

I volunteer at our local Hospital Radio station, and we've just been
given
a license as a Community Station. We've had an old very cheap VHF radio
mic
which has worked sort of Ok for us in the past, but that's now become
unreliable and the audio quality was never great so I'd like to replace
it.

I've seen radio mics at £50, even Sennheisers at about £100 and others
at
around £400 for a single handheld transmitter. I can't tell from the
specs
what the differences are, and I have little experience of speccing radio
mics, as it was something that I very rarely got involved with
professionally.

Can anyone here advise me what the differences are between cheap mics
and
expensive mics, and recommend any favourites. Is it sound quality,
range,
reliability or what? I don't have a budget in mind, but even as a
Community Station, we have limited funds, so a £100 would be better than
a
£400 one if the cheaper one will do the job. Sadly being based in rural
Suffolk, there aren't any dealers round here I could go and talk to, but
anyway, what dealer would actually give me impartial advice?


** OK - the very cheapest radio mic systems operate in the VHF band,
have
only one fixed frequency and are flimsy in construction with a mediocre to
poor sound quality.

The ones to go for these days operate in the UHF band, have several
switchable frequencies, are of much sturdier in construction and have an
essential feature called " true diversity " built into the receiver.
Without
this feature, a radio mic systems suffers from severe signal "drop outs"
as
you move the mic around a room.

It is also a good idea to go for one of the major brand names, like Shure
or
Sennheiser.

Have a look at the Sennheiser " Freeport " system - has all the
features
I mentioned and is still inexpensive at around 130 UK pounds.



Trantrec are UK based and offer high performance at a reasonable price
find them in the Canford catalogue...


** I looked there today - and could not see ANY low cost, multi-channele
UHF systems that were of true DIVERSITY type.

Post your example .


....... Phil

In article 4a53d8c1.1486432609@localhost, Don Pearce
scribeth thus
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:07:48 +0100, tony sayer
wrote:

In article 4a51c82c.1482187937@localhost, Don Pearce
scribeth thus
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:56:17 +0100, tony sayer
wrote:

No clout, I'm afraid. The numbers are just too small. Ofcom doesn't
understand that for each mic in use there are thousands of people
enjoying the result. They just count the units.


They may not have that sort of "clout", but theatre is an important
industry. I would have expected the big London theatres to put up more of a
fight with Ofcom. ISTM that this case is a good example of how the current
fashion for treating spectrum allocation as a matter of market forces is
failing society generally.

Dead right, but market forces are the only language Ofcom understands
(or rather pays lip service to). They sacked all their RF engineers
years ago, and have no notion of the nature of the resource they are
managing.

d

Actually they have now realised that they are short, and have some new
ones in training!...

I wonder what the training comprises...? I think that anyone who works
for a regulator should have a great deal of experience at the sharp
end, designing networks, deploying links, hanging off tall buildings
aligning dishes etc. I have a nasty feeling the "training" will
consist mainly of learning to drive computer tools like Seamcat.

d

No!, they don't do anything like aligning dishes, remember that Ofcom is
for regulation and enforcement.....

What I really mean is that before anyone sets foot in a regulator's
shoes, they should have a career behind them, giving them real
experience of the thing they are regulating.

d

Ummmm... I've always held the view that before anyone enters parliament
they should have been in business, preferably started a car components
firm in the West Midlands and proved that they can run that before
running GB PLC;!....


--
Tony Sayer

"Serge Auckland"

Thanks to all for the comments. I did look at the Sennheiser Freeport
system, as you say, Phil, they're pretty inexpensive, but as Sennheiser
also do the G2 system at betwen £400 and £500 depending on microphone, I
wondered what the differences would be.


** Basically - just lots of extra technical features YOU do not need.

Read the specs - its all there.




..... Phil

In article , Serge Auckland
scribeth thus

"tony sayer" wrote in message
...
In article , Phil Allison
scribeth thus

"Serge Auckland"

I volunteer at our local Hospital Radio station, and we've just been
given
a license as a Community Station. We've had an old very cheap VHF radio
mic
which has worked sort of Ok for us in the past, but that's now become
unreliable and the audio quality was never great so I'd like to replace
it.

I've seen radio mics at £50, even Sennheisers at about £100 and others
at
around £400 for a single handheld transmitter. I can't tell from the
specs
what the differences are, and I have little experience of speccing radio
mics, as it was something that I very rarely got involved with
professionally.

Can anyone here advise me what the differences are between cheap mics
and
expensive mics, and recommend any favourites. Is it sound quality,
range,
reliability or what? I don't have a budget in mind, but even as a
Community Station, we have limited funds, so a £100 would be better than
a
£400 one if the cheaper one will do the job. Sadly being based in rural
Suffolk, there aren't any dealers round here I could go and talk to, but
anyway, what dealer would actually give me impartial advice?


** OK - the very cheapest radio mic systems operate in the VHF band,
have
only one fixed frequency and are flimsy in construction with a mediocre to
poor sound quality.

The ones to go for these days operate in the UHF band, have several
switchable frequencies, are of much sturdier in construction and have an
essential feature called " true diversity " built into the receiver.
Without
this feature, a radio mic systems suffers from severe signal "drop outs"
as
you move the mic around a room.

It is also a good idea to go for one of the major brand names, like Shure
or
Sennheiser.

Have a look at the Sennheiser " Freeport " system - has all the
features
I mentioned and is still inexpensive at around 130 UK pounds.



...... Phil




Trantrec are UK based and offer high performance at a reasonable price
find them in the Canford catalogue...
--
Tony Sayer

Thanks to all for the comments. I did look at the Sennheiser Freeport
system, as you say, Phil, they're pretty inexpensive, but as Sennheiser also
do the G2 system at betwen £400 and £500 depending on microphone, I wondered
what the differences would be. As bit of further information, our use of a
radio mic is for Outside Broadcasts at Country Fairs and the like where we
send off a Presenter into the crowd and do inpromptue interviews, so
crowding isn't a real problem for us, range is more important, I'd need
about 100 metres as that's as much as the wireless headphones give us.

I'll look up Trantec as well.


If your looking at that sort of range in the open air and that you'd be
best of with something a bit more powerful that prolly isn't going to be
a licence exempt one. And of course a decent aerial up a bit off the
ground makes -all- the difference

BTW if your sending them out into the crowd why not just equip them with
a decent recorder and bring it back on that unless your really intending
to do live OB's .. which are bloody hard work for a small station..


S.

www.radiowestsuffolk.co.uk


--
Tony Sayer

In article , Phil Allison
scribeth thus

"tony sayer"
Phil Allison


"Serge Auckland"

I volunteer at our local Hospital Radio station, and we've just been
given
a license as a Community Station. We've had an old very cheap VHF radio
mic
which has worked sort of Ok for us in the past, but that's now become
unreliable and the audio quality was never great so I'd like to replace
it.

I've seen radio mics at £50, even Sennheisers at about £100 and others
at
around £400 for a single handheld transmitter. I can't tell from the
specs
what the differences are, and I have little experience of speccing radio
mics, as it was something that I very rarely got involved with
professionally.

Can anyone here advise me what the differences are between cheap mics
and
expensive mics, and recommend any favourites. Is it sound quality,
range,
reliability or what? I don't have a budget in mind, but even as a
Community Station, we have limited funds, so a £100 would be better than
a
£400 one if the cheaper one will do the job. Sadly being based in rural
Suffolk, there aren't any dealers round here I could go and talk to, but
anyway, what dealer would actually give me impartial advice?


** OK - the very cheapest radio mic systems operate in the VHF band,
have
only one fixed frequency and are flimsy in construction with a mediocre to
poor sound quality.

The ones to go for these days operate in the UHF band, have several
switchable frequencies, are of much sturdier in construction and have an
essential feature called " true diversity " built into the receiver.
Without
this feature, a radio mic systems suffers from severe signal "drop outs"
as
you move the mic around a room.

It is also a good idea to go for one of the major brand names, like Shure
or
Sennheiser.

Have a look at the Sennheiser " Freeport " system - has all the
features
I mentioned and is still inexpensive at around 130 UK pounds.



Trantrec are UK based and offer high performance at a reasonable price
find them in the Canford catalogue...


** I looked there today - and could not see ANY low cost, multi-channele
UHF systems that were of true DIVERSITY type.

Post your example .


...... Phil





Actually its no good looking on their cat best to phone them!..Its not
....shall we say.. the best set out website in the world..
--
Tony Sayer