Wireless Microphone advice

Foster

At my local theatre group we've 7 wireless microphone sets (receiver, body pack and a handful of lapel/headset mics). We've had a few issues over recent years with them and i'm looking into getting the group to either invest in new packs or better use what we have.

The problem now is looking at the official rules on this stuff, I reckon our equipment falls into the 'illegal to use' or 'need to pay a licence each year that we can't afford'. the AT website says our sets use the "UHF band, 542.125 MHz to 561.250 MHz" - my understanding is that only 863MHz is free to use.

So what are my options? We currently use a bunch of Audio Technica 700 series (4 of these plus 3 older AT sets - these ones are pretty much dying). Ideally I'd like 8 sets for flexibility but can get away with having 6 usable packs.

Are our current mics pretty much toss now?

Sporky

Have you checked the licence costs? They're not necessarily extortionate - a quick check suggests £28 per channel a year.

There are some licence free options that don't use the free UHF bands but instead operate near Wifi frequencies (or use DECT), but they're not at the budget end of the spectrum. That said you're not going to get more than four mics into Channel 70 (the unlicenced band) and you'd be at the mercy of every passing taxi...

Foster

Looking into things, it would cost the group £135 for a 2 year licence to cover wireless microphones - we don't always use the same building and we also help other groups out too.

I was eyeing up this setup - https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_t.bone_free_solo_pt_520_mhz_8_ch_rack.htm as it's a decent price for the amount you get, but it's a fair big chunk of money for a local am dram group

bob21

£135/2year sounds a lot like a PMSE shared license, which will NOT cover you for the frequencies you have listed (542mhz etc). Odd frequency for this country, are you sure on that?


You may or may not like my answer to the question - but it really is the right answer. (For context, I am a pro sound engineer).

Unless you have a huge budget and like throwing money around (and are doing lots of shows) - which doesn't sound like the case...... Don't buy anything. Find a local PA hire company, and strike up a relationship with them, and hire what you need on a show-by-show basis. 

The logic is thus: For starters, I wouldn't use anything less than Sennheiser EW100 G3 for theatre - especially not if you want 8 channels to play nicely together. Also at 8ch, you need 2x antenna distro units and external antennas to make this play nicely together. Cased up nicely, this will cost in the region of £4700. Hence the throwing money around. 
This also then goes on to cost you £135 or whatever a year for your PMSE license for Channel 38 to run in.
If then, in 3 or 4 years, OFCOM have another 'reorganisation' (read as: shafting of all users) and change the bands available to run PMSE in, your kit could potentially become useless - and subject to the details of any buy-back scheme, lose either most or all of it's value..

Whereas.. You get quite a lot of hire for £5k. You don't have to worry about licensing - make this your hire company's problem, they will have a shared license already. If for one show, you have 10 principals - you can hire 10 instead; yet for the small show that only needs 4, you only need hire 4. You have the option of hiring headsets for when you do the rock-opera and you need lots of volume - but also, instead having miniature lapels for the proper drama where you need them hidden.
Furthermore, you never have to worry about the kit becoming obsolete/faulty - this is the PA company's problem!

Find a nice hire company, and they will do you a deal for regular hire. It really is, in my opinion, the better way to go.


For what it's worth, that TBone set up is also not covered under UK shared license. (it is, in theory possible to license frequencies in Channel 27, but this is an Ofcom-level process, requires restriction of use to one 'site' i.e. venue, hugely depends on which other users have which things licensed, and is expensive.) 
Whilst I haven't heard the TBone units, I would have very serious doubts about their quality of sound, never mind reliability. Also worth remembering that theatre is notoriously hard on mic packs etc - there is a reason all the professional stuff is metal!!

Also, FWIW, you will not get 8 channels of RF to work together in any license-free band available, period.

Sorry to be a bit of a doom-and-gloom, but RF is worth doing properly (if nothing else to avoid OFCOM fines!!). Hiring is the right solution here!

bob21

To add - just for clarity to all, the band available license free is a portion of Channel 70, 863.100-864.900 MHz.
The band covered by the 'Shared license' is Channel 38, 606.500-613.500. (and also recently added, Ch 65 823 - 832).

This is all on the Ofcom PMSE website (but I appreciate not that comprehendible sometimes)!

Foster

You're quite right in it isn't what I want to hear. But i'll take the advice on board.

One of the major pros for the group owning it's own equipment is we're really rough with the stuff we use. Stuff gets plastered in as many labels as I can put on them, taped to people, dropped, fallen on (it's essentially panto that is the main event each year). For example i've had a good cleanout of one of our stage monitors as it had previously been accidentally filled with raw egg.

I hate all this channel rubbish, I can understand why they do it but it feels like it's a deliberate attempt to shaft any amateur company. 

As regards the quality of TBone stuff - it's actually pretty decent! Bought a couple of their boundary mics this year and they've done a brilliant job, not bad for £40 each. For people on a budget it's well worth a punt.

bob21

As regards dropped, fallen on etc.. Plastic beltpacks are the worst possible thing in this case - which these TBones are. I've had a Sennheiser belt pack on an actor doing a somersault onto stage - the pack detached from his belt, swung the 360 degrees by the mic in his halo rig, and completed the manoeuvre by smacking him in the face. Damage to mic/pack - 0. Damage to face - large bruise!
Obviously to some extent the actual lapel mics or headsets are consumables - but they will be on any system, whether you own it or hire it. I'd be very surprised if you were commonly breaking belt packs or receivers!!

Yeah, I've a reasonable experience of the wired TBone mics etc - but as always, it's not the mic bit that is hard to achieve for cheap, it's the RF side. I have experienced most of the cheap radio mics - and results are not great usually, and they get worse the more you want to use simultaneously!


(As an aside, also, re-read your OP ref: moving mics between venues etc - in which case OFCOM site licensing definitely does not apply, and you are talking more money (and significantly more complication) to license these mics, as you will have to provide OFCOM with exact frequency, address and time of usage, for each mic, every time you want to do them, and pay in 48hr chunks. You also stand the risk that OFCOM will refuse to license the frequencies on some occasions)

Foster

I think, given how much it's been proven that I know crap all (especially as regards to the ruggedness of metal vs plastic) that I just let someone else do it. I really should consider doing stuff such as having used wireless packs for years or maybe studying music tech at an academic level before I ask for clarity regarding equipment.

bob21

@Foster ;
  That reads like I've upset you?
Sorry if that's the case - wasn't my intention. Just trying to share some expertise/experience. I'll leave it.