My Sennheiser ew100 intermittently cuts out on me while performing

Julienne Jacobs

New member
Nov 5, 2019
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50
St. Louis
I am a true novice, so I'll try to be as detailed as possible when explaining my issue.

I've found recently when performing and using my cordless mic, it cuts out for anywhere from 15-30 seconds at a time intermittently. I have yet to find a rhyme or reason for it. Most of the places I'm performing are small venues and I'm using either one or two 12in powered speakers and no mixing board. I've attached a picture of the place I perform the most and you can see how it's placed. However, placement doesn't seem to matter as I have had the speakers mounted and placed the receiver on top and I've performed in a Hotel Ballroom where the speaker was on the floor and still cut out.

I've gotten to the point that I perform with my corded mic because I don't want to be in the middle of a song and it continue to go out. Is it time for me to replace my mic or is there something I'm doing wrong? I purchased the mic used about nine years ago. I don't mind buying a new cordless if I need to, but if this one is fine and I don't HAVE to buy another, I want to avoid that expense.

Any ideas???
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What frequency range is your wireless microphone in (it should be printed on the back of the receiver, or on the product label inside the battery compartment of the microphone)? The legal frequencies for wireless microphones have changed dramatically in the past 9 years, and there's a good chance your set is in a frequency band that's been assigned to other uses and is now receiving interference, causing the issues you're seeing.
 
Hi Julienne, some obvious but important questions:
  1. You are using fresh batteries?
  2. Do you scan the receiver when you get to a gig? I find most folks who have their own wireless just leave it on one frequency. Not a good practice.
  3. Line-of-sight is important between the transmitter and receiver, but that looks fine from your picture.
  4. Best practices for UHF antennas like yours is to put them into a "V" shape for best reception.
  5. Is anyone else using a wireless mic or in-ear monitor system?
 
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Hi Julienne,
To add to Rob's comments:

- Where are you located? You are likely experiencing interference from a UHF digital TV station broadcast or something else nearby that is putting out a competing signal. If you are experiencing a full dropout, it could be that you have the PILOT tone enabled, which is muting the device when interference is detected to avoid unwanted noises. This is visible on the receiver display.

Here's an example of TV stations around Los Angeles to demonstrate what is going on in the TV spectrum (generated from TVFool). In that case you can see there are 28 UHF TV broadcasts, which will be of varying strengths by how close you physically are to the broadcast tower(s). If you are in a dense urban area, there will certainly be a lot of competition for a free frequency.

Capture.JPG

In the Sennheiser G2's, you need to do the following (do this each time you are at a new location)

Turn off the mic.

On the receiver, select the SCAN menu option.

Select START and then press SET. This will scan through the frequency spectrum looking for available channels.

After the scan is completed, the number of free channels is displayed.

Pressing the SET button again will store the scan result and lock out all channels that have interference detected.

Now pick a channel and then sync the mic to this new channel.

This will hopefully resolve your issues.

Cheers
 
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Hi Julienne, some obvious but important questions:
  1. You are using fresh batteries?
  2. Do you scan the receiver when you get to a gig? I find most folks who have their own wireless just leave it on one frequency. Not a good practice.
  3. Line-of-sight is important between the transmitter and receiver, but that looks fine from your picture.
  4. Best practices for UHF antennas like yours is to put them into a "V" shape for best reception.
  5. Is anyone else using a wireless mic or in-ear monitor system?
Hi Jeff!

1. Yes, I'm using fresh batteries.
2. I have never "scanned" the receiver. I leave it on the same frequency. I didn't know any better, but I will do that going forward.
3. I'll make sure to continue a good line of sight.
4. Not sure how I have my antennas, but I will make sure they're in a V.
5. I'm the only one with wireless system.

Thank you for your suggestions. I will give them a try!
 
Hi Julienne,
To add to Rob's comments:

- Where are you located? You are likely experiencing interference from a UHF digital TV station broadcast or something else nearby that is putting out a competing signal. If you are experiencing a full dropout, it could be that you have the PILOT tone enabled, which is muting the device when interference is detected to avoid unwanted noises. This is visible on the receiver display.

Here's an example of TV stations around Los Angeles to demonstrate what is going on in the TV spectrum (generated from TVFool). In that case you can see there are 28 UHF TV broadcasts, which will be of varying strengths by how close you physically are to the broadcast tower(s). If you are in a dense urban area, there will certainly be a lot of competition for a free frequency.

View attachment 209034

In the Sennheiser G2's, you need to do the following (do this each time you are at a new location)

Turn off the mic.

On the receiver, select the SCAN menu option.

Select START and then press SET. This will scan through the frequency spectrum looking for available channels.

After the scan is completed, the number of free channels is displayed.

Pressing the SET button again will store the scan result and lock out all channels that have interference detected.

Now pick a channel and then sync the mic to this new channel.

This will hopefully resolve your issues.

Cheers
Thanks for the explanation. I will definitely scan each time I use my mic.

You all saved me from having to purchase a new mic at Christmas! LOL
 
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