1.8Ghz Wireless - Anyone usingT this frequency?

[jpinewoods]

Thanks for the responses, but has anyone actually had any first hand experience with 1.8GHz for wireless applications?

 

I do feel s;lightly concerned by the comment requiring line of sight. These systems are likely to go out as dry hire to chiefly inexperienced users so anything that causes extra complications isn't a favourite for me. We have six Line 6 systems and know from previous experience that the 2.4GHz can cause issues. When set up correctly they are excellent but I have experienced a lot of drop-outs in crowded environments without careful positioning of the receiver. I really need something a little more bulletproof, hence the idea of contemplating a relatively uncrowded piece of the airwaves.

[Richard P-W]

I was shot down and laughed at by the man... and told in no uncertain terms that Sennheiser would never go digital, and always be analogue, as digital would never give a good enough audio quality.

 

Funny that.

 

The Sennheiser 1.8GHz systems based on EW100 hardware are still analogue

[Shez]

But the D1, DW and 9000 series are all very much digital.

[cedd]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but.....

 

I'm doing some shuffling of mic frequencies at the minute. This includes investing in some channel 65 kit, selling some channel 70 and probably selling my Line6 2.4GHz kit too.

 

During this process I'd also like to add 4 to 6 channels in the 1.8GHz band that's now on our channel 38/65 licenses.

I know that Shure QLX-D has a 1.8GHz range, which are attractive because of their 4 pin mini xlr's which match my Trantec stock. For somebody who's used to spending £400 ish per channel (for kit that is perfectly capable of the work I'm doing) it's a bit of a shock to be spending £1k per channel though. I've looked at the other options and I know Sennheiser have an EW100 G3 set in this band.

If I bought QLX-D then they'd become my "money" mics used on principal characters with the Trantec's used on everyone else. Otherwise I'd probably stick with Trantec for my principals and the extra channels of 1.8GHz would very much become my "extras" - one liners and bit parts.

With that in mind I'm also tempted by some of the cheaper offerings such as Thomann's T.Bone free solo PT 1.8;

https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tbone_free_solo_pt_18_ghz.htm

Or the LD Systems WS 1G8 system.

Both look ok as budget systems, though the lock function on the Thomann helps persuade me to go that way. They've both got 3 pin mini xlr's but at that price I'd maybe forego my warranty and look at opening them up to swap to 4 pin.

 

Just wondered if anybody was using this band now and how you were finding its' behaviour? I'm used to my 2.4GHz kit dropping out when an actor leaves the stage and goes in to their dressing room. Is 1.8GHz any better? I realise it's only 600MHz away so unlikely to suddenly start behaving noticeably better when compared to UHF systems.

What are people using for antenna distribution? Shure have a version of their UA844+ that's 1.8GHz compatible, and Sennheiser have an ASA1 that is too. Anything else out there? Even from a non entertainment background.

Any interference issues?

Even better, has anybody used any of the above systems and have any views they'd like to share? I'm thinking of buying a channel of the T.Bone system to play with.

Cheers

Chris

[Simon Lewis]

Time to exercise a bit of thread resurrection.....

 

Cedd - did you go ahead with the 1.8GHz radio purchases? Any feedback on their operation?

 

Has anyone run channel 38 and 1.8GHz side by side for coverage/dropout comparison?

 

I'm looking at some potential Sennheiser EW100 purchases, but am aware that many of the places where I'll be using them may already have channel 70, 65 or 38 systems installed, and sometimes they have to be used together. In some cases, there's classroom AV systems with receivers left permanently on, which can lead to some embarrassing moments when the temporary event breaks through other people's teaching.

Having some 1.8GHz systems might well mean being able to drop extra mics in without RF headaches...

[cedd]

Hi Simon

 

Afraid I didn't buy anything no. The Sennheiser G4 systems came out and I was hoping to pick up a bargain G3 system as places cleared their stock. Problem was that the 1.8GHz stuff tended to not be stock items, so places didn't have any to clear out. If anybody has any G3 1.8GHz Sennheiser that they'd like to get rid of then do let me know! There's nothing in G4 that makes me too bothered about which model I end up with.

 

It's still on my "needs to happen sometime" list, but I've first got to get rid of a load of G2, a few speakers and the Line6 kit, which is going to take me a little while.

 

 

 

[Simon Lewis]

Cedd - thanks for this. I'll keep 1.8GHz on the back burner for now, and perhaps look around for any Sennheiser Channel 70 G2 or G3 handhelds to fulfill upcoming jobs.