BlueClone - The Blue Room's Own Comms System

[swenk]

This project is awesome! Thanks Boatman and everyone else that has contributed.

 

I built 20 v1.2 beltpack pcbs up about a year ago and finished off 6 complete units,

 

using them in a school for theatre and outside broadcast work, metalwork needs improving, but I'll probably end up getting the end panels made up properly.

We hang them off a canford tecpro master station and use in conjunction with a whole heap of original tecpro, results have been good!

 

My next plan is to build a 4 way rack psu, and then to go on to build a 4 way rack 2-4 wire converter (using the internal 4 pin header on 4 beltpack boards)

 

Later I plan to build a 4ch control panel with mic splitter and circuit 'listen' mixer plus IFB out etc.

 

Question1

does anybody have 2 PSU v1.1 boards available?

 

Question 2

Does the 4 pin header function well as a 2-4 wire ie does it null properly?

 

Question 3

not being into electronics any more, does anybody have the time to work out the resistor changes to convert the 'mic' in on the 4 pin header to a line in?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

thanks and keep up the good work!

swen

[swenk]

On further inspection and if my op amp theory serves me properly

 

my own answer to question 3 would be

 

if resistor ladder R1-4 equals R5 in value there should be 0dB gain across the mic amp, so my next question is... is 0dB what I am looking for?

 

and I realise I meant the 8pin header not the 4pin

 

swen

[boatman]

P.M. sent.

 

The signal level on the bus is about -10dB. I haven't experimented with a line-level input, but you could try changing R5 to 4k7 and use a 2:1 transformer to reduce the line level before it hits the mic-amp.

[swenk]

Hi

 

many thanks Boatman

 

I'll give that a try and report back.

 

I am hoping to interface the system with the Unity IP based intercom system, so that we can pull 4 party line intercoms into the server and communicate with our remote sites and users.

 

Since the server outputs are dedicated and have level controls, I may not need to use the 2:1, but I'll give it a whirl at 0dB and report back on it anyway for others.

 

Not having to buy the intercom hardware has basically made the budget available to invest in the Unity product, bringing us several years forward in our little project.

 

swenk

[david.elsbury]

Hi all,

Any reason I cannot use a BlueCom PSU to drive Clearcom Beltpacks? I assume not.... but worth checking. Wanting to fit a PSU for easy connection of beltpacks for a camera comms loop in a venue we are upgrading.

 

Secondly, in the instance that we plug in a Clearcom master station to the BlueCom PSU (to enable us to seperate off the production loop from the camera loop; if we turn off the termination on the Clearcom master station, all should be well?

 

Thanks! :-)

 

David

[boatman]

Does a Clearcom master station contain a power supply? Edited June 24, 2017 by boatman

[david.elsbury]

Yes

 

To add: you can happily connect two clear com masters together without dropping the power between them (or using a "drying out" adaptor) - did this just last week

Edited June 24, 2017 by david.elsbury

[boatman]

The fact that two power supplies can be attached to the same circuits means that they must be isolated with a diode. The two power circuits within the Bluecom PSU are also isolated with diodes so there shouldn't be a problem. Whichever power supply has the highest output voltage will take over.

[david.elsbury]

Thanks for that :) so I guess the next question... does anyone have a power supply PCB available and is willing to accept PayPal to ship it over to NZ? ?

[kgallen]

Thanks for that :) so I guess the next question... does anyone have a power supply PCB available and is willing to accept PayPal to ship it over to NZ? ?

 

PM sent.

 

For others on here asking for PSU PCBs, I'll flag again that I've got a couple left, but none of you seem to be getting in touch, so it's up to you if you're still interested...

 

I've also got a couple of sets of the PSU panels if you're feeling flush with cash...

 

Regards,

Kevin

 

 

 

[jmvbmw]

Hello guys!

 

A friend mine have Telex Audiocom intercoms

 

We don't want mess something, so before to try, better ask

 

We wanna use both systems together

 

Is our Blue-com compatible with Telex?

 

http://www.rtsinterc...?I=97628&lg=eng

 

 

 

Best regards!

Edited July 26, 2017 by jmvbmw

[van_jeff]

I'm looking to make a set of four packs and a PSU. Does anyone have PCB for at least two packs and one PSU and are willing to send to Canada?

[boatman]

Hello guys!

 

A friend mine have Telex Audiocom intercoms

 

We don't want mess something, so before to try, better ask

 

We wanna use both systems together

 

Is our Blue-com compatible with Telex?

 

http://www.rtsinterc...?I=97628&lg=eng

 

 

 

Best regards!

 

There are a couple of differences between the Bluecom and Telex systems.

 

Bluecom uses -10dBm as the signal level on the comms line. This is directly compatible with Tecpro & Stonewood/Granite Audio systems, but (taken from the spec. for the BP319) Telex appears to use 0dBm. It will work but you may have to increase the mic gain on Bluecom, adjust the sidetone setting and reduce the headphone gain.

 

More significant is that the Telex system (again from the spec.) appears to use 20kHz signalling rather than DC so it won't be possible to use the all buttons between different types of beltpacks. Bluecom beltpacks should still be able to call other Bluecom compatible beltpacks and Telex beltpacks should be able to call other Telex beltpacks on a mixed system.

 

The main thing is that nothing should be damaged by connecting the two types of beltpacks together but there will probably be a significant difference in the audio levels.

[jmvbmw]

Hello guys!

 

A friend mine have Telex Audiocom intercoms

 

We don't want mess something, so before to try, better ask

 

We wanna use both systems together

 

Is our Blue-com compatible with Telex?

 

http://www.rtsinterc...?I=97628&lg=eng

 

 

 

Best regards!

 

There are a couple of differences between the Bluecom and Telex systems.

 

Bluecom uses -10dBm as the signal level on the comms line. This is directly compatible with Tecpro & Stonewood/Granite Audio systems, but (taken from the spec. for the BP319) Telex appears to use 0dBm. It will work but you may have to increase the mic gain on Bluecom, adjust the sidetone setting and reduce the headphone gain.

 

More significant is that the Telex system (again from the spec.) appears to use 20kHz signalling rather than DC so it won't be possible to use the all buttons between different types of beltpacks. Bluecom beltpacks should still be able to call other Bluecom compatible beltpacks and Telex beltpacks should be able to call other Telex beltpacks on a mixed system.

 

The main thing is that nothing should be damaged by connecting the two types of beltpacks together but there will probably be a significant difference in the audio levels.

 

Cool!

 

With increasing the gain, you mean, adjust the DIP switches?

My current headsets are Clear-com ones, with dynamic mics...

 

 

[boatman]

.

With increasing the gain, you mean, adjust the DIP switches?

My current headsets are Clear-com ones, with dynamic mics...

 

Yes, adjusting the DIP switches changes the mic gain.

 

Your Clearcom headsets should work OK with the Telex boxes as well as with Bluecom. Just remember that Bluecom is the only system I know of which uses a bridge configuration for the headphone amp so is potentially much louder than the rest! It also has the capability of altering the minimum headphone level (change the value of R27, currently 10R) which no other system has.