Wireless Microphone 2.4GHz, UHF or VHF?

[lovelldr]

Hey guys.

 

So, we're looking at purchasing some wireless mics, but one of the things that's bugging me, is which system to go for? Looking at using the unlicensed channels, but not sure of which system to go for.

 

Thing that's putting me off with the 2.4GHz is that we don't want it to interfere with the wireless across the school. Received a message from one reseller telling me that the manufacturer had done tests alongside wifi, and their systems worked better than a competitors system... The thing that puts me off still, is that the manufacturer would say that anyway, and what does better mean?!

 

Anyone here had any experience?

 

Cheers,

 

David

[localzuk]

How many microphones will you want, and how far from potential other wireless microphone users are you?

[lovelldr]

How many microphones will you want, and how far from potential other wireless microphone users are you?

 

Not quite sure on how many mics they want altogether. Waiting for them to confirm. But, I would imagine about 4.

 

There is unlikely to be any other microphone users nearby, as we have quite a large field/playground around one side, and the other side is residential housing. There is another school, but they's approximately 300m away from the hall where they will mostly be being used...

 

Thanks

[webman]

From my experience UHF ones are much better than VHF ones, but I'm not sure how they compare to 2.4GHz ones. The school I worked at previously had 2 sets of Sennheiser UHF wireless mics which were very good quality - but I don't know what model they are They had a decent selection of channels to choose from so there shouldn't be any interference issues with other mics.

[pantscat]

Have a look at some Shure wireless mics - I'm pretty sure they operate somewhere around 840Mhz.

Plus - they're pretty much industry standard... so they'll definitely work.

[localzuk]

From memory, you can only have 4 unlicensed VHF mics, so if you wanted more, you'd not be able to use more VHF frequencies I don't think.

 

I'd recommend just going for UHF. We went for licensed ones here, as we have a couple of schools and a theatre nearby so we wanted to make sure we didn't get any overlap. £135 for 2 years for a license.

 

So, we have 6 x Sennheisser XSW mics in use here, with enough frequencies licensed to us to allow us to expand to about 16 I think!

[dhicks]

So, we're looking at purchasing some wireless mics, but one of the things that's bugging me, is which system to go for? Looking at using the unlicensed channels, but not sure of which system to go for.

 

We bought a set of 4 "Chord" branded wireless mics:

 

Chord QU4 Quad UHF Wireless Handheld Mic Microphone: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

 

You can get sets with 4 handheld mics, 4 headsets or a mixture of the two - individual spares are available, but it works out cheaper to just buy a second full set if you want a full set of both. We've found it to be an excellent bit of hardware - I'm sure the mics aren't up to "pro" standard, but they seem to do just fine for assemblies and so on, and both the handheld and headset mics are robust enough to last okay in a school environment. You can only use 4 mics at a time, but for more channels than that you would be looking at licensed wireless kit starting at a couple of thousand pounds. We haven't had any problems with interference, either with our wireless networking or in general, and although the church next door use mics on the same set of channels we have so far avoided interfering with each others assemblies / church services. The above set is on Amazon, where they seem to be cheapest, although several educational suppliers seem to be offering the same equipment (for slightly more, generally).

[dhicks]

Does anyone know what the legality of short-range FM transmition is these days? I've seen a couple of cheap sets of 8 mics that transmit on FM frequencies - did the law regarding very short-range FM transmission change, or are they simply not legal for use in the UK?

[localzuk]

Does anyone know what the legality of short-range FM transmition is these days? I've seen a couple of cheap sets of 8 mics that transmit on FM frequencies - did the law regarding very short-range FM transmission change, or are they simply not legal for use in the UK?

 

Wireless Mic's are only permitted in UHF and VHF frequencies, either in the licensed or unlicensed channels. Short range FM isn't legal over here unless you have a "Restricted Service License".

[localzuk]

Oh, another thing to note - quality of build matters hugely if you're going to be handing them to kids. We've used cheap branded mics here before and they all end up in bits from kids being unable to use their hands correctly. The only ones I've personally found that can survive the onslaught are the Sennheisser XSW or heigher models.

[howartp]

Whilst there are 6 unlicensed VHF frequencies that can be used for Radio Mics, I believe you can usually only fit four in without intermodulation (ie without affecting each others' signal). The 6 are 173.800, 174.000, 174.200, 174.400, 174.600 and 175.000 but I can't remember which four I used to use.

 

The unlicensed frequency band for UHF (called Band F or colloquially Channel 70) is 863-865mhz. I regularly use four Audio Technica 3000 series radio mics in this band on channels 863.375, 863.875, 864.125 and 864.625.

 

You can then buy a Shared UHF license (£175 for 2 years as given above) which allows you to use any of the 11 specific Band U (Channel 38) frequencies between 606-614mhz. This doesn't guarantee non-interference as any other local group can buy the same license.

 

Or you can buy a co-ordinated UHF license which guarantees you sole access to the specific frequencies in the band you apply for - we use 8 frequencies in Band C (Channel 30).

 

Between my Church and our school theatre, we use 23 Audio Technica 3000 series radio mics. 4 on Band F (Ch70), 11 on Band U (Ch38) and 8 on Band C (Ch30). We share each others mics for the larger events as I'm technician for both venues.

 

Peter

[dhicks]

I've spotted this on Amazon:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pyle-Pro-Wireless-Microphone-Lavalier-Headsets/dp/B005BSOW82

 

An 8-headset system operating between 174.8 MHz and 215.5 MHz - is that Band III? Would anyone know if that's legal to use in the UK? Page 60 of OFCOM's document here:

 

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/spectrum/spectrum-policy-area/spectrum-management/research-guidelines-tech-info/interface-requirements/IR_2030.pdf

 

seems to imply that you can use 173.7 MHz to 175.1 MHz, but not the whole stretch up to 215MHz.

[VeryPC_Anthony_L]

Having worked in 2 schools as an AV/Performing arts tech, worked professionally as a sound/lighting/AV tech. I have seen many radio mic systems.

I have heard both good and bad tales about systems like the Chord and Pyle. Personally I would not purchase them, but this is mostly due to my needs and requirements. If I am asked to suggest a radio mics I would tend to suggest the Sennheiser systems. They are not the cheapest but i can vouch that from experience they will (if looked after), last many years.

 

Systems like the chord are great for occasional use where you only need very few mics. These systems are often on channel 70 which is a free band which can run around 4-6 mics. If you need to run more mics then you need to be looking at channel 38 mics, ideally with adjustable frequency.

[Andrew_C]

seems to imply that you can use 173.7 MHz to 175.1 MHz, but not the whole stretch up to 215MHz.

That's it, in a nutshell.

[dhicks]

Systems like the chord are great for occasional use where you only need very few mics.

 

We've found our two sets of 4 Chord mics very good for what we use them for - we're a primary school, we don't have that much call for stunning audio quality or huge numbers of mics, but we do seem to require a couple of mics of some kind in various places on a regular basis, and our Chord sets have been great for lugging around (nice, all-in-one rackmount receivers that can be fitted into a stage box or flight case for plonk-it-down-and-plug-it-in use). Both the handheld and headsets mics have proven robust enough to use with primary school children (and, more importantly, their teachers and parents). I see Chord are now doing a six-mic set - they've managed to cram a couple more channels in to the Channel 70 space - but I thought I'd check out the Pyle Pro option as well, just in case we could (legally) use a (cheap) 8-channel wireless headset unit. It would seem not, though, so I guess I'll stick with the new Chord unit.