Sen ew300 g3 rig. Help

Shane Presley

Shane Presley

Senior
Jan 12, 2011
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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
www.bssproductions.com
I bought a kit of 4 units, got the ac3 combiner all racked up. Shark fin paddle etc. terrible rf today had a nightmare show. Snowy rf on all packs. The be was freaking out and finally had to settle on the money getting one pack using the small antena and the one ac adapter i brought for back up. Now i know youre going to say combiner , but its new out of the box from sweetwater. Im guessing its me before i blame the unit. Any tips to get this checked out anything i might have missed. ?
 
Re: Sen ew300 g3 rig. Help

Shane Presley said:
Im just using ac3 to shark fin paddle. So probably no. Do i need that little booster box do you think ?
Click to expand...

No. Based on what I've learned from Henry over the years, adding receive gain at the antenna also amplifies the ambient RF noise floor. That was where I was headed.

We will wait for more informed folk.
 
Re: Sen ew300 g3 rig. Help

Hi Shane,

What was your procedure for determining frequencies? Did you use software, or perform hardware scans?

How long are your antenna cables and what type of cable are they?

Did you have uninterrupted line of sight between your packs and receiver antennas? What was the distance between them?

Were the belt packs buried under clothing or instruments, with the pack antennas tightly resting against the performers' skin?

This info will help to determine how to help.
 
Shane Presley said:
Im just using ac3 to shark fin paddle. So probably no. Do i need that little booster box do you think ?
Click to expand...

Shane,
Along with Jason's questions, I have another:
Is this an IEM setup or mic? I read it originally as IEM, but seems I'm the only one to read it that way.

For either scenario, I'd start with frequency coordination, move to proper setup (correct power supply on the AC3?, outputs plugged into inputs), then look at coax (do they work?, estimate losses)

If this is a mic setup, then the AC3 is the problem as it is an antenna combiner (not distro). If an IEM system, then active (receive) antennas won't work, nor will Sennheiser's booster box, as both are intended for the lower RF levels of receive systems.

Just a few more points to ponder before Henry shows up...

Kevin H.


Sent from my iPad HD
 
Re: Sen ew300 g3 rig. Help

First thought was a bad antenna cable or connector. I'd check all those first.

I always do a simple test to make sure the cable is at least passing some RF:
Listen to the IEM mix with the cable disconnected, with no audio signal so you can hear the background noise. Find a spot where the interference is high and then connect the antenna cable. Go back to that bad spot and make sure the interference is gone or at least less than it was.
Not very scientific as it doesn't tell you a lot about the quality of your connection or rf coordination, but at least it tells you if you need to swap out a cable.
 
Re: Sen ew300 g3 rig. Help

Jason Glass said:
Hi Shane,

What was your procedure for determining frequencies? Did you use software, or perform hardware scans?

I actually set the freq at my shop, and went to the gig, yeah silly me for not rescanning the area, at least with the pack to determine what was "free"


How long are your antenna cables and what type of cable are they?

The one ant cable is from my star (eBay seller) claimed to have low loss, cable, it's 25'. I'll get the actual cable jacket spec and reply...

Did you have uninterrupted line of sight between your packs and receiver antennas?

I was running out of the back of my 5 ton backed up the the stage, first performer was probably 5-8 feet from the paddle in line of sight, following performers were only 5 ft apart from each other
What was the distance between them?

Were the belt packs buried under clothing or instruments, with the pack antennas tightly resting against the performers' skin?

Belt packs were secured to rear jean pockets, not burried or touching skin

This info will help to determine how to help.
Click to expand...


Answered in body of questions...
Also this is an iem rig...
With ac3 combiner,and sen shark fin passive paddle

I did some shop testing, removed the 25' cable and used one of the jumpers provided with the ac3 and it seemed to do the trick

Also the bnc connectors seem to be different between this custom cable and the sennheiser... The sen has a white plastic ring separating the pin from the inner shield, whereas this other connector doesn't. I'm betting it's not as snug as the sennheiser connection, and might be my problem... Also I noticed the ant distro fan ramps up when I use the sen cable as opposed to the custom cable... I don't think I'm getting rf output from the combiner using this custom cable.
Pics to follow
 
Re: Sen ew300 g3 rig. Help

Shane Presley said:
I did some shop testing, removed the 25' cable and used one of the jumpers provided with the ac3 and it seemed to do the trick

Also the bnc connectors seem to be different between this custom cable and the sennheiser... The sen has a white plastic ring separating the pin from the inner shield, whereas this other connector doesn't. I'm betting it's not as snug as the sennheiser connection, and might be my problem... Also I noticed the ant distro fan ramps up when I use the sen cable as opposed to the custom cable... I don't think I'm getting rf output from the combiner using this custom cable.
Pics to follow
Click to expand...

I'd shitcan the eBay cable and get a real 50Ω antenna cable. The reason one has the white foam and the other doesn't is because 1 is 50Ω and 1 is 75Ω. On microphone antennas the impedance is not as important as it is on transmitters. Antenna cable is not the place to scrimp. I once measured a 10dB loss in a 25' RS cable. Never again. It sounds like your cable is just plain faulty.

Mac
 
Re: Sen ew300 g3 rig. Help

mackerr said:
I'd shitcan the eBay cable and get a real 50Ω antenna cable. The reason one has the white foam and the other doesn't is because 1 is 50Ω and 1 is 75Ω. On microphone antennas the impedance is not as important as it is on transmitters. Antenna cable is not the place to scrimp. I once measured a 10dB loss in a 25' RS cable. Never again. It sounds like your cable is just plain faulty.

Mac
Click to expand...
Thanks Mac..I thought I wasn't scrimping , but I'll get the next one from sennheiser. Is there anyway to measure this thing just for shits ?
 
Re: Sen ew300 g3 rig. Help

Shane Presley said:
Thanks Mac..I thought I wasn't scrimping , but I'll get the next one from sennheiser. Is there anyway to measure this thing just for shits ?
Click to expand...

Update - the cable i purchased from mystar sound was 50 ohm cable (58-u) but had 75ohm ends on it. Even this morning they claimed to have installed the correct parts (until i sent them photos). The next email was some back peddling and apologies but get this NO REFUND. Ugh what happened to customer satisfaction blah blah blah. Anyway. They want me to return the cable (at my expense) . They will install the proper ends and return it to me. (Where i will have to pay another
brokerage fee and sales tax... Again). Bullshit.

Edit. More conversation up the food chain (the owner) rendered a full refund and i dont have to return the cable... See was that so hard?
 
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Re: Sen ew300 g3 rig. Help

Shane Presley said:
I bought a kit of 4 units, got the ac3 combiner all racked up. Shark fin paddle etc.
Click to expand...

Glad you got it sorted out. That whole scenario reminded me of a nightmare gig with some off-brand IEM's that really really sucked - totally unusable.

Your rig should perform well. There's another ac3, paddle, 4 trans and 5 packs here if you ever need 'em for a larger show. You've got my info, or call Gary.
 
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