Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/757053
62 F A L L 2 0 1 6 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y mounted to it? This seems like a good idea if you can find some super lightweight antennas. Either way, you MUST get these antennas away from yourself and the electronic, RF spraying equipment. What about some small dipoles? But they don't have the same gain offering as log periodic or helical antennas. A conundrum. Physics with wireless recep- tion relies on metal, its mass, and its position in the air. But sound bag users do deserve a viable solution. THE RANGE BUBBLE Back to this moving target. After you clock a considerable amount of hours with your specific wireless system, you really start to learn this imaginary, three-dimensional bubble where you feel comfortable with your ability to receive the wireless transmitters both on the bodies of talent as well as mounted to the boom operators. The first factors that come to mind are the transmitter's power. You may have a varying power output from each transmitter. Some of your transmit- ters may have the ability to be boosted up to a quarter-watt. Some are limited to 50 mW. Most are probably in between the two and set to 100 mW. Add to this, the fact that the talent transmitters are guaranteed to be placed in difficult spots: the ankle, thigh, or waist on the opposite side with the body of the performer blocking the transmitter's "view" from the receiving antennas. Here is an example of techniques that we have to break each and every day. The reason we break these rules in pro- duction sound is we have to be ninjas in regard to the camera. We're in the business of selling illusions and those illusions can't exist if we see transmitters placed in more ideal posi- tions. Another factor in this range bubble is the position of the sound cart in regard to proximity to the transmitters, but also the proximity to concrete walls, metal mesh or caging, and low ceilings. What I find fascinating is what happens these days with the entire sound crew. The mixer, boom operator, and utility all end up learning, knowing, and imple- menting choices based on this bubble that we've learned. We know the limitations and what causes them and, as a team, we end up choosing the most ideal spot for the sound cart. Hopefully, you find a place that provides at least two of these three crucial elements: 1) It's central. Maybe the center point of a 100-yard walk-and-talk. 2) It's on high ground. The second floor of a residential location allowing you to "throw" the entire house. Or the high point of a park location where there are hills and the action of the scenes are down below at various points of the park. 3) A 15-foot-plus antenna height unobstructed by low ceilings. If none of these three options are possible, a fourth option is available—remote-ing your antennas. This, more than anything, is the element that I believe we WILL be changing our habits in. I admit it, I avoid remote- ing my antennas. I enjoy the zero loss, minimal length, thick RG-8A (Belden 9913F7), passive technique I utilize on my sound cart. First, without talking about amplification, I want to also admit that I have broken the rules of line loss and ran a fifty-foot cable to remote antennas with NO amplification. I'm sure I took some loss in the cable, but the proximity of the antennas to the transmitters in these instances saved me. 50 feet is helpful if you're just outside a window of a con- crete building or pushed just outside the room where the set is. It can make the difference between having your antennas 15 feet away from the transmitters and having them over 50 feet away plus a concrete wall. So that 6 dB of loss through the cable doesn't sound so bad now. What about a 100-foot antenna cable run? This sounds more useful in regard to finding a tucked-away spot for your sound cart—yet still enjoying good antenna proximity. This is something that you must follow the rules with. I have seen firsthand the results of running 100 feet of antenna cable passively and they are not very good. On the flip side, as per lectures from our manufactures, amplification, when unneed- ed, yields even worse results. If you overload the antenna input of a receiver, the range of your whole system is com- promised to the point of potential unusable performance. Now, a properly planned long antenna cable run with just the right amount of amplification can help bring your system Letrosonics SNA600a PSC Powerpaddle RFvenue Diversity Fin