Free to use frequencies

[scottbramall]

Hi,

 

I'm sure someone on here must be able to make sense of the UHF frequencies. Ive just bought an EW-100 hand held microphone and want to know what frequency range I can use without buying a licence.

 

Ive tried looking at past posts but they baffle me. so try and explain as simple as possible.

 

Thanks a lot

Scott

[StevieR]

The license free frequencies are in the range 863.000 to 865.000. Anything below 863.000 needs a license.

 

On the EVO series you can use 4 frequencies simultaneously within this band. These are...

 

863.100

863.500

864.300

864.900

 

Hope this gets you going.

 

Steve

[Ben Lawrance]

Ah, interesting.

 

I've just bought some Audio Technica 2000 series mics (ATW2120) that work on 840.000 to 865.000. It's a 10 channel selectable system.

 

When I bought them, I asked they bloke whether they needed a license, and he said no. They were on free to use frequencies.

 

StevieR above says differantly.

 

Can someone tell me if I need a license or not?

 

Cheers

[scottbramall]

The license free frequencies are in the range 863.000 to 865.000. Anything below 863.000 needs a license.

 

 

Sory to be a pain but im new to the UHF range.

 

How do you get to the 863.000 to 865.000 range. The highest I can get is772.000 (think im on range C)

[StevieR]

The highest I can get is772.000 (think im on range C)

 

Yup, looks like you have the wrong system for UK use. if you bought this new, go back to your dealer and ask for an E range system. If its secondhand this is probably more tricky. Sennheiser might be able to do an update but I'ld have to check for you.

 

Steve

[Simon Lewis]

Can someone tell me if I need a license or not?

 

Run them in 863 - 865, you don't need a licence (but you can only get 3 - 4 working frequencies here).

 

Run them outside of that band, you do.

 

You were advised incorrectly, and I would take this up with your retailer if this has caused you problems!

[StevieR]

I've just bought some Audio Technica 2000 series mics (ATW2120) that work on 840.000 to 865.000.

 

Can someone tell me if I need a license or not?

 

As long as the frequencies used are above 863.000 and below 865.000 then they are legal in the UK without a license. The fact that you can use lower frequencies is good in the fact that you can use them in licensed bands and increases the number of units that you can use concurrently. However, it is very easy to use these frequencies illegally - as you have found. I find that a lot of dealers are not really up to speed on licensing issues which doesn't help matters. You may want to tell your dealer that they were telling a few porkies! :)

 

 

 

Steve

[Bobbsy]

For the detailed poop on radio mic frequencies, visit http://www.jfmg.co.uk . You'll have to register to get into the site the first time but, if you're a radio mic user it's worth doing so.

 

However, StevieR and Simon Lewis have given the accurate story here. There are very few frequencies for radio mics that don't need a licence...the 863-865 MHz mentioned and 5 others in the VHF band. ALL others are subject to a licence.

 

Beyond that, 772 MHz is smack in the middle of the UHF TV band and a licence will only be issued for a specific site and period of time and only if your use won't cause interference for TV users. You'll also find that the sort of licence you need for this frequency is pretty expensive...the only "cheapie" licence is for shared frequences on UHF channel 69 (855.25-860.75 MHz) range.

 

Sounds like we have some ill-informed and/or unscrupulous dealers around.

 

Bob

[scottbramall]

The highest I can get is772.000 (think im on range C)

Sennheiser might be able to do an update but I'ld have to check for you.

 

Does anyone know if sennheiser can change the range.

[Bobbsy]

I'd suggest you contact Sennheiser directly about this. Their contact details are:

 

Sennheiser U.K Ltd

3 Century Point

Halifax Road

High Wycombe

Bucks HP12 3SL

Tel: 01494 551 551

Fax: 01494 551 550

 

Or, there's a "Contact us" email form on their site at http://www.sennheiser.co.uk that you could try.

 

However, I suspect that, given the relatively low cost of the Evo 100 series, it's unlikely to be economic since they'd have to change both your transmitter and receiver. Being on the wrong frequency range indicates this is a grey import, so they're unlikely to want to do too many favours.

 

Bob

[BlueShift]

on the evo series, the unlicensed frequencies appear on the 'U' range

 

eg. U01 is unlicensed frequency 1 - 863.100

[Bobbsy]

on the evo series, the unlicensed frequencies appear on the 'U' range

 

eg. U01 is unlicensed frequency 1 - 863.100

 

That's the case if your Evo 100s are on Frequency Band E, but the original poster appears to have a Band C set. The U frequencies for Band C are listed HERE.

 

Hope for the OP's sake I'm wrong, but I suspect he's been sold a dodgy unit.

 

Bob

[dbuckley]

You guys are really unlucky. we get 646 to 806 for unlicenced radio mic use, as well as VHF 174-230... All that spectrum and no-one here to use it :o

[Bobbsy]

No. Right now we're just unlucky.

 

NEXT YEAR we get REALLY unlucky when they start auctioning "spare spectrum" (an oxymoron in the UK if ever I heard one) to the highest bidder and we lose the few scraps of frequency we have right now...or have to pay through the nose to get any space.

 

:o

 

Bob

[Shez]

Going in to pedant mode for a minute...

 

I was under the impression that the usable licence free UHF frequencies are between 863.1 and 864.9MHz. Yes, the deregulated section of the band is 863 - 865 but as a mic will occupy a 200KHz bandwidth (100K either side of the carrier) you need to be 100k inside of the alloted range so that the bandwidth you use doesn't stray outside of it.