IEM - allowable frequencies UK

Rooster2710

I’m looking to dive into the world of IEMs (for vocals) and I’m a touch confused with what frequency bands are allowed in the uk.
Particularly ranges that don’t get interference from mobile phones (this appears to be an issue for the Xvive system sadly as appeared to be a great option at that price point!)
also, seems to be chat about buying licenses?!
can some of you advise some facts for me please!
many thanks!

Danny1969

Well it depends on if you want license free, or are you willing to pay for a license at £70 ish .... have a gander here 

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/manage-your-licence/radiocommunication-licences/pmse/pmse-licence-info

If you don't move offstage I would advise using wired IEMS's ... they have better sound quality, very cheap and a lot less hassle 

RiftAmps

A license is £75 for 1 year, or £135 for two, and then OFCOM will issue the bands which you're authorized to use and should be coded, along with your license no. into the equipment being used.

There are license-free bands, but most do not allow the transmission of music (either recorded or live) so double-check before using them.

Rooster2710

Thanks both. Shall continue investigating.
preferably I’d go license-free as I gig twice per month or so (not a professional!)
wrt wireless.. not planning on going roaming much but the idea of being tethered doesn’t appeal too much..

Danny1969

Channel 70 is license free, but will be more congested at some venues. Even doing a sweep on a scanner at soundcheck sometimes doesn't help as more gear can be switched on later by other nearby people and cause problems. 

Being tethered isn't that noticeable,  the cable to feed your IEM's can be 3mm in diameter or less. To get near the performance of a tether stereo feed you would need to spend upwards of £600 or so ... and still get problems  

Cheap IEM's transmitters and receivers  are awful, it's one of those areas you can't really go cheap on. 

Rooster2710

Yeah I read a lot of “get what you pay for” reviews and the cheapest but good wireless system seems to be Shure PSM200 which is circa £400 and decent headphones are £100 at least..

Thanks again.

mike257

You get what you pay for is very true. I see lots of posts on here recommending cheaper wireless kit, but it works until it doesn't, and that's when you'll find yourself with buyers remorse. 

Ch 70 (called Band E on Sennheiser kit) is, as Danny said, the free to use block, but can be congested by other users, and is limited in terms of how many simultaneous systems you can get to play nicely. 

Ch 38 (Band GB in Sennheiser world) is covered by the OFCOM PMSE license as above, and is reserved for what OFCOM call "Programme Making And Special Events", so it's gigs, filming etc. The annual £80ish license fee allows you to freely use whatever is available within Ch 38. You can also apply for time/location limited site specific licenses for frequencies, but that's generally something done on larger events, or on festivals where multiple artists will turn up with lots of radio kit and frequency use needs to be tightly managed. 

Gulliver

Rooster2710 said:

I’m looking to dive into the world of IEMs (for vocals) and I’m a touch confused with what frequency bands are allowed in the uk.
Particularly ranges that don’t get interference from mobile phones (this appears to be an issue for the Xvive system sadly as appeared to be a great option at that price point!)
also, seems to be chat about buying licenses?!
can some of you advise some facts for me please!
many thanks!

If you're running your guitar wirelessly over a decent distance, then wireless IEMs make sense. I'm never that far away from my pedalboard so I went wired IEMs.  

I have a Behringer P1 on my board, and have a guitar cable and 3.5mm headphone extension heatshrunk together (about 3m long for if I need to move about a bit) and it never fails.    The whole set up has cost me roughly £150 and the majority of that is the Shure IEMs.

Musicwolf

A couple of days ago I was browsing wireless IEM transmitters (probably because I'd run out of things to buy).  I'm very happy using IEMs, I have a Behringer P16-M personal monitoring system and a pair of Shure SE535s which I run wired - but I thought that wireless might be nice (since I have a wireless guitar system gathering dust in a draw).

At last night's gig the stage was so small that I could only move by a couple of feet, and that's probably true of about 50% of our gigs (tonight we won't even have a stage).  I think that I'll leave the wireless to the big boys for now. 

Danny1969

Musicwolf said:

A couple of days ago I was browsing wireless IEM transmitters (probably because I'd run out of things to buy).  I'm very happy using IEMs, I have a Behringer P16-M personal monitoring system and a pair of Shure SE535s which I run wired - but I thought that wireless might be nice (since I have a wireless guitar system gathering dust in a draw).

At last night's gig the stage was so small that I could only move by a couple of feet, and that's probably true of about 50% of our gigs (tonight we won't even have a stage).  I think that I'll leave the wireless to the big boys for now. 

It was that realisation about 12 years ago that let me to design this 



Nowadays I actually get to play to some big stages but I'm still on a Dr Watson IEM combiner system. Wireless is nice but even at the £700 upwards Senn G4 and such systems you still get more noise than you do with a good wired system. 

Rkphilpot

All three members of our band use the Xvive U4 system and have never had a problem with interference, even with 2 iPad connected to a local wifi network for digital mixing. For us they have been superb. I read something about them using WiFi frequencies rather than radio waves or something. I dont know, youtube just said they were best so we went for it.