Change

So we got a visit from the new fire chief, and we got hit pretty hard. I've spent the week re-running most of the power cables in the booth and cleaning out the tech closet. In the booth, I had too many outlet strips plugged into other strips. In the closet, we need to keep more room around the electrical panels. So, most of the stuff in the closet is now in my office.

Hopefully we will be purchasing a large, lockable cabinet that we can store the rest of the stuff from the closet. And we might be getting a new, better surge protector for the booth.

In other news, there was a vote on Tuesday. No, not that one. ;) The FCC voted on the White Spaces Devices. By a unanimous vote of 5-0 they approved the plan brought forward by Google, Dell, Microsoft, et al, to begin using vacated analog TV frequencies for new communication devices. Here's the problem: those are the exact frequencies we and everyone else uses for wireless mics. They have not released the full report yet but change will be coming. Here are some excerpts from one of my tech lists:

At this point since no firm has demonstrated a sensing scheme that worked, we don't know what we will be dealing with.

1) We don't now the details of the FCC ruling since they have not been published.
2) We don't know how the FCC will test WSD and what they will require of them.
3) We don't know how much of an issue they will be once they are actually in use.
4) We do know that better quality wireless mics will have a better chance of rejecting interference.
5) We do know that keeping the receive antennas near the transmitters, and line of sight to the transmitters will help reject interference.
6) We do know that in many cases directional antennas can help pick up the signals we want and reject those we don't want.
7) We do know that no wireless mic system is as reliable or as good sounding as a $20 mic cable.

So what has changed from before this whole White Spaces Ruling?  Not a whole
lot that we know anything about :>)  What should we do now?

1) Plan on getting rid of wireless mics in the 698 to 806 MHz frequency range as they will not be legal to use in the USA after 2/17/2009, and may experience extra interference.
2) Don't buy wireless mics just because you don't like cables on stage or some such. Only get them if you really need them.
3) Quality wireless will have less issues both now and in the future, so if you buy, get the best wireless gear you can afford.
-----Ray Rayburn


I had the opportunity this afternoon to sit down with Chris Lyons, who along with Doug Gould has been a point person for Shure, Inc. on the whole "white space" issue.

Details of the ruling are still not available. It will be about a month before the full text is available.  But, his assessment of the current situation, based on the press release and individual comments by FCC Commissioners may surprise you.

Overall, Chris said, wireless mic users "came out pretty well."

Yep, it's not all doom and gloom, and this is according to the guys who have been most directly involved.  He says there are strong indications that churches will be allowed to register devices in the geo-location database, and that commissioners gave strong indication that they want to protect the interests of venues, including churches who are currently using wireless mics. There is even a provision for protected channels in the rule. Not as many as Shure wanted, but there will be protected channels in every single market.
-----Kirk Longhofer

Right now we are OK. But I will keep an eye on this issue.

Hope everyone enjoyed the warm weather this past week because it looks like that was our last hurrah before winter comes. Get out those ice scrappers. :)