Source of interference with my Lectro 210D
by Rodney Morris
on
Dec 30, 2008 at 1:38:48 am
I've worked the last couple of weekends for the NFL Network covering the Bucs games and have had to pull out my old 210D receiver and 200 series plug-on transmitter for a stick mic. I noticed last week that I was occasionally getting some noise/interference (ppfffts) in the audio from the stick mic. While I couldn't quite pinpoint the source of the noise, it seemed that when I wiggled the cable at the input the noise would occur. So during the week at home, I tried to duplicate the problem with no success. Intermittent problems are so hard to diagnose and very frustrating because I just KNEW it would show up again at the game - you know, Murphy's law...
So yesterday at the game I noticed the same thing happening again. It was driving me bananas because I couldn't figure out what was causing it. The bad cable theory was losing steam, because wiggling the cables didn't always cause the problem. So today, I spent some time discovering the culprit. I decided to strap the mixer on and duplicate the situation to try to shed some light. While moving around I noticed that occasionally one of my piggin' strips, you know the velcro straps that clip on to the metal rings of the audio mixer bag, was coming into contact with the base of the antennae of the 210, and at that moment the noise/interference was occuring. The metal clip of the piggin' strip was causing the interference! I had no idea this would occur. So, a word to the wise out there, be sure to keep metal objects from coming into contact with the antennae posts of your wireless receivers.
Piggin Strip Found Guilty of Interference at NFL Game!! by Ty Ford on Dec 30, 2008 at 11:18:02 am
Rodney,
Thanks for the story. Glad you figured it out and also very glad you shared it with us.
Here's another tip. If your body mic transmitter has a floppy antenna, I found that turning the body mic transmitter upside down in the belt bracket so its antenna dangles down straightens the antenna and increases the range.
Re: Piggin Strip Found Guilty of Interference at NFL Game!! by Rodney Morris on Dec 30, 2008 at 3:02:45 pm
Thanks for that tip. None of my wireless have a dangling antenna, but I may run into one at some point...
Also, since we're giving out free tips, if anyone gets a call to work at an NFL game, make sure you clear your frequencies with the Game Day Coordinator BEFORE you turn on any transmitters at any point on game day. That's the reason I got called for these last two games; the previous sound mixer didn't get his frequencies cleared and was banned from the stadium for the year.
Want better production audio?: 
