Strange issue with Senn EW 100G2 wireless

[David Beisner]

Ok, I had a very strange thing happen to me with my Sennheiser EW 100G2 wireless system the other day... I've not used it since, so I've not been able to repeat the problem, but I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced it and could shed some light on the issue.

Everything went normally, and then suddenly the sound into the camera just straight up stopped for a split second, the receiver appeared to shut off and come back on instantly, and it the sound came back. Happened twice in a 5 minute shoot. Almost as if someone had opened the battery cover on the receiver, pulled a battery out, and stuck it right back in right away.

The unit is in its third year of irregular use now, and has been pretty carefully maintained.

[Chris Soucy]

The only time I've had that particular problem was shooting a piece on the Wanaka lake front, with an interviewer on the town side of the road and the camera/ receiver and I on the lake side, shooting more or less straight up the main street on near maximum zoom.

Great visuals, as traffic (very, very busy, it being Christmas) whizzed back and forth between me and the interviewer.

However, every sodding great boat in the South Island converges on Wanaka and Queenstown during this period, and every time one of these alumnium mini Queen Elizabeths trundled past on a trailer, the sound just went completely dead.

I gave up and wired 'em with my Zoom H4. What a sod to sort in post.


CS

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by David Beisner

Ok, I had a very strange thing happen to me with my Sennheiser EW 100G2 wireless system the other day... I've not used it since, so I've not been able to repeat the problem, but I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced it and could shed some light on the issue.

Everything went normally, and then suddenly the sound into the camera just straight up stopped for a split second, the receiver appeared to shut off and come back on instantly, and it the sound came back. Happened twice in a 5 minute shoot. Almost as if someone had opened the battery cover on the receiver, pulled a battery out, and stuck it right back in right away.

The unit is in its third year of irregular use now, and has been pretty carefully maintained.

Sounds like the squelch operated.

What level do you have the squelch set at?

Maybe it should be a bit lower.

[Paul R Johnson]

Probably not the reason, but sometimes when I'm busy here, I like to work early in the mornings, and one project I was working on involved getting audio from one studio with one set of equipment into the edit suit, and all the tie-lines (there are only 8) were being used. We're talking about maybe 40 feet between them - so I used a Sennheiser plug on transmitter, and a receiver in the edit suit - this worked fine, apart from one day when it just cut out - all the usual indicators were on both ends, but no audio. Anyway, it started working fine again, so I didn't give it much thought until it happened again at the same time - which was exactly 8am. Next day I was ready with a frequency counter. Not a very sensitive one, but I had a sneaky suspicion what was happening. Bingo! Dead on 8am, the radio system cuts out and the frequency counter, which could not detect the transmitter in the studio suddenly indicated an output just above 143MHz. I'm right next to a fire station, with a 150ft tower for Police and Fire communications. Many years before I actually installed some of the equipment on this mast, but the indicted frequency didn't seem to fit. I dropped an email to the Fire Service who own the site, and after a few days, the problem went away - they did email me back to confirm it was a paging system for the retained firefighters, and it was faulty. Luckily, the entire tower was removed this year as modern comms systems made it obsolete.

I wonder if you discover the squelch isn't to blame, if your problem could be similar - either de-sense of the receiver, or like mine, harmonics of a very strong local transmitter?

[Josh Bass]

I have had this happen. Was shooting a sales lecture for a major oil company, in a hi-tech lab-by building. Was a 4 or 5-day shoot, first three days were fine, 4th day, major problems. just like you said. . .system totally shut down momentarily then came back.

I sent the unit into Sennheiser after that gig was over. . .they said nothing was wrong and it was most likely interference. I didn't realize interference could do that.

[Ario Narendro]

have you checked the squelch or sensitivity settings? i thought its from the setting.. I also had one unit of G2, and it almost 4 years now, and never had that happen on me..:)

[David Beisner]

Thanks for all the input, folks! My squelch was set at Lo, so I don't think it was that. I'm also on the local fire department and have access to every frequency used in the area, and everybody here is either down in the 150 MHz range or up on the new 760 MHz trunking system. My receiver was at 553.800 MHz, and I know there are no frequencies used even close to that one around here.

Also, the receiver was less than 2 feet from the transmitter, with perfect line of sight (doing an interview, and I don't have a wired mic). I'll keep tabs on it, and if it happens again I'll post back for more suggestions. Again, thanks!

[Marcus Martell]

Hi, sorry for the question....
How do the squelch work?

[Rick Reineke]

This setting is accessed though the Receiver's software menu. Default setting is 'low'.
Without getting technical, think of it as a RF noise gate.
RF= Radio Frequency

[Josh Bass]

If anyone ever definitively finds out about this, I'd like to know to. I'm not looking at the unit right now, but I'm assuming my squelch is on low too since I've never messed with it and bought the mic new.

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by David Beisner

Also, the receiver was less than 2 feet from the transmitter, with perfect line of sight (doing an interview, and I don't have a wired mic). I'll keep tabs on it, and if it happens again I'll post back for more suggestions. Again, thanks!

That could be the problem then.

The transmitter was a bit too close to the receiver.

If I remember correctly Sennheiser recommend a minimum distance of two or three times this.

Or - it could have been momentary external interference.

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by David Beisner

...
Also, the receiver was less than 2 feet from the transmitter, with perfect line of sight (doing an interview, and I don't have a wired mic). I'll keep tabs on it, and if it happens again I'll post back for more suggestions. Again, thanks!

I concur with John. Radio receivers in general can suffer from a phenomenon called "swamping" or desensitization when subjected to a very strong RF field leading to severe overload of the tuned circuits to the point where they stop functioning and the receiver just goes dead.