17th January 2013. It is a fact that digital wireless microphones operate in bands coincident or very close to those of the DVB-T transmitters. To understand the problems that can arise - and some which have already occurred mainly in some radio frequency densely populated areas - we must consider how DVB-T involves the dense use of all the television channel, leaving no room for radio microphones frequencies. Therefore it was lately essential to make use only of wireless microphones with a high value of squelch, at least up to 50/60 dBuV and flexibility in bandwidth> 200/300 MHz.
Last but not least is another problem that-albeit more muted-threat like a sword of Damocles over the entire entertainment industry:
from 1st January 2013 it is forbidden-from formal and legal point of views – to use radio equipments operating in the range between 790 and 870 MHz since this band was awarded for telephone applications and now this deployment across Europe is a reality to be reckoned with.
The situation will become even more exasperated very soon, when mobile phones and tablets will become more diffused and increasingly operating in this frequency range. Therefore, beyond the law which prohibits the use, it is the common sense to suggest the abandonment of that frequency band or the re-conversion of equipments on different operating bands.
Among radio wireless microphone manufacturers the German company Sennheiser has an experience of over fifty years and it is among the first companies to have commercialized such products on the market.
So we decided to ask Paul Corchia the SBU Professional Audio Italian importer Exhibo Spa, to describe "from the inside" this landscape and to verify the possible response of this prestigious brand.
"In short, we could say that if in certain geographical areas characterized by the presence of" few "television carriers (including DAB which is coming ...!) The symbiosis between wireless microphones and DVB-T transmitters is problematic but overall still acceptable; on the contrary, in other densely populated areas the search for a free channel on which to operate with one or more wireless microphone may easily become a nice stroke of lottery.
Besides, with the arrival of 4G or LTE threat, there will be a new problem of further filling of the channels used by TV broadcasting, resulting in an increased anxiety for those who must operate in the same radio bands.
Exhibo to protect its customers has therefore decided to solve proposing two major steps: the first comes from the laboratory and internal technical assistance which provides a wireless microphone-recanalization of those devices already in possession of the customers- which now operate above the fateful threshold of 790 MHz UHF.
The second important initiative-instead-is a commercial style and provides a "discount scrapping" on the apparatus of this type which guarantees the customer a big discount on the purchase of equipments adapted to the new regulations.
For this purpose are proposed the Evolution G3 Series, 2000 Series, and of course the top of the range, Series 3000/5000 which are differentiated by the large amount of available bandwidth (MHz respectively 42-75-180). These are series in proportion to price, as if to say that the rise in costs corresponds also to a rising of usable frequencies.
For those customers who may want to follow other paths at the time of purchase in favor of a radio microphone system, we recommend to keep in mind that today it is crucial to verify that the new equipment meet precise requirements to avoid running into very serious problems: in a very short time, with the increasing spread of LTE, these issues will become more and more evident and frequent."
