Sennheiser G3 problem?

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by Peter Riding

A well respected member of this forum posted on another forum that all mobile phones need to be switched off within 100 metres of wireless gear to avoid the risk of interference. Try doing that at a wedding eh!

Yes - mobiles, especially Blackberrys, should be switched OFF (IE: not just set to silent) as they can radiate a lot of interference.

A mobile phone can ramp up to 2 or 3 Watts in power - your radiomic. transmitter is only radiating about 30mW (ie: thirty thousandths of a Watt)!

But as the family are paying lots of money to get the wedding videoed, someone from the family politely asking guests to switch off their mobiles to as not to ruin the bride and grooms wedding video would surely be listened to.

[Bev Downie]

Hi John

I always put in the postcode of the venue before I go and it has always returned as Channel 38 being available. I imagine if it is in an exclusion area it would show as unavailable?

Thanks
Bev

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by Bev Downie

Hi John

I always put in the postcode of the venue before I go and it has always returned as Channel 38 being available. I imagine if it is in an exclusion area it would show as unavailable?

Thanks
Bev

Looks like you have done everything correctly - great!

So it's almost certain your problem was the squelch setting.

I hope it doesn't happen again.

[Peter Riding]

But as the family are paying lots of money to get the wedding videoed, someone from the family politely asking guests to switch off their mobiles to as not to ruin the bride and grooms wedding video would surely be listened to.

Not gonna happen John. The use of camera phones is now so widespread that many guests would consider it an affront. Most officiants here now just limit themselves to requesting that phones are switched to silent as they know full well the phones will be used throughout the ceremony regardless of any announcements they might make requesting no photography by guests.

There has been a retreat in good manners in recent years and its all some guests can do to get themselves to arrive on time :-( Therein is another issue - late guests walking through your shot or standing directly in front of a locked down camera.

My G3 is gathering dust for reasons already mentioned. I had imagined that it would be more straightforward to use "free" frequencies than in fact it is. What is the ball park figure for licensing fees? Thanks.

Pete

[Colin McDonald]

Originally Posted by John Willett

Yes - mobiles, especially Blackberrys, should be switched OFF (IE: not just set to silent) as they can radiate a lot of interference.

John, I've been working on the assumption that Airplane Mode in the iPhone is safe for use near wireless mics. I have found it so at any rate - never heard any interference when using it - but I believe there is not an equivalent setting on Blackberries.

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by Peter Riding

But as the family are paying lots of money to get the wedding videoed, someone from the family politely asking guests to switch off their mobiles to as not to ruin the bride and grooms wedding video would surely be listened to.

Not gonna happen John. The use of camera phones is now so widespread that many guests would consider it an affront. Most officiants here now just limit themselves to requesting that phones are switched to silent as they know full well the phones will be used throughout the ceremony regardless of any announcements they might make requesting no photography by guests.

There has been a retreat in good manners in recent years and its all some guests can do to get themselves to arrive on time :-( Therein is another issue - late guests walking through your shot or standing directly in front of a locked down camera.

At least the family will know that the problems are caused by the rude guests, then.

Originally Posted by Peter Riding

My G3 is gathering dust for reasons already mentioned. I had imagined that it would be more straightforward to use "free" frequencies than in fact it is. What is the ball park figure for licensing fees? Thanks.

If you have the G3 version E with the licence-free frequencies you can get a Ch.69 licence for a year, but these frequencies will become illegal after the end of next year and you will only be able to use the licence-free frequebcies after that.

The new licensed version is version GB with the new Ch.38 frequencies.

Originally Posted by Colin McDonald

John, I've been working on the assumption that Airplane Mode in the iPhone is safe for use near wireless mics. I have found it so at any rate - never heard any interference when using it - but I believe there is not an equivalent setting on Blackberries.

Airplane mode totally switches off the transmitter, so that would be OK - as long as the phone mode is totally OFF and not just silent.

[Bev Downie]

Peter I paid £75 for the License. I am definitely going to get a H1 to see how it goes. Do you find you get much drift with it? The G3s are spot on as is the H4n but I have been reading about drift in some of the others.

[Peter Riding]

Bev, I'm not getting drift but I'm not continuously recording for long enough periods for it to likely present a problem anyway. The longest would be about 1 hour being a church ceremony - from say 10 mins before the processional till shorty after the recessional when I can dive back in to the building switch off remotely placed recorders. I have notes somewhere on how to easily correct it in Vegas Pro but not sure where as it hasn't arisen :-) Maybe it would be more of a potential problem at corporate gigs where the recording may be continuous for 2 or 3 hours. I use Plural Eyes to sync up long audio clips with multiple shorter video clips.

As you know there is a lot of nonsense posted on the net about performance of many devices anyway. For example the battery life of the Zooms. If you just test one with fresh batteries recording a television at say 48/16 WAV you find it goes on for so many hours as to be irrelevant.

Pete

[Bev Downie]

Sorry, one more question! What size cards do you use in the H1?

[Peter Riding]

I use Lexar microSD class 4, 8 gig cards which I got from 7dayshop:

7dayshop.com - Online Store

I bought Lexar for reliability and via 7day so as to be sure of not getting fakes, and this particular type as you get an adapter as well enabling you to use a standard card reader. I also use them in the H4n using the card adapter.

Class 4 is fine for the job. I got 8gb to be sure of never having to change these fiddly micro cards during a job.

The H1 card doors are flimsy so I have permanently sealed mine using the fluffy side of sticky velcro. I download direct from the H1's.

Pete

[Bev Downie]

Thanks Pete!

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by Peter Riding

I use Lexar microSD class 4, 8 gig cards which I got from 7dayshop:

7dayshop.com - Online Store

I bought Lexar for reliability and via 7day so as to be sure of not getting fakes, and this particular type as you get an adapter as well enabling you to use a standard card reader. I also use them in the H4n using the card adapter.

Class 4 is fine for the job. I got 8gb to be sure of never having to change these fiddly micro cards during a job.

The H1 card doors are flimsy so I have permanently sealed mine using the fluffy side of sticky velcro. I download direct from the H1's.

Pete

I agree about buying from a known source as there are plenty of fakes around.

However - I always use SanDisk cards as the No.1 in quality and reliability.