Wireless

[mixmasta]

I'm coming to the US for a few weeks with a European band and they want to use a wireless in ear system for the shows. From what I know, the frequencies used in Europe are very different than in the States.
I talked to a guy from Sennheiser Europe and he told me that, basically, running a European system in the States would be illegal and vice versa, and the sound person (which is me) who is operating the system can be held responsible.
On the other hand he told me that the chances that you get caught are minimal.

Sooo, what would be the advice from you guys? Did you ever experience cases like that?
Would it by chance be possible to drop my responsibility to the band - if they agree?
They really want to go with it and I have to cover my ass somehow because I don't wanna spend a night in jail because I jammed somebodys police radio...

[AxeSlash]

More likely someone else's police radio/TV channel/$3,000,000 NASA communications device will jam YOUR radio gear...

I'd dump the responsibility on whoever is paying the gear bill. At the end of the day, you don't wanna use illegal gear over there; even if you don't get caught, it's hardly a professional way of doing it.

You just have to explain that that's the law, that's the way things are, there's nothing anyone can do about it. You just gotta hire some gear in.

'Course whether said radios could function on 110V or whatever the US is on is a different matter anyway...

[clicktrack]

Rent a system on this side of the pond. Quality systems aren't too expensive.

There are a tonne of issues that you could be getting into trying to using a European system here. ESPECIALLY with an in-ear system.

Think of it this way...you ever hear the clicks & pops of RF noise through a PA from a wireless mic?

Think of that happening...only in your ear canal. If you use an incompatible system here, not only do you not know what else could be broadcasting on your channel, but you don't know at what power its broadcasting with and how constant the signal is. As a result, its not outside of the realm of possiblity to get strange interconnection noises in your system.

Apart from that, there are the legal issues...but you don't want to get into that.

Rent systems from where you're going. Your show will thank you in the end...

[Johnny Gash]

Rent your gear. No 110v - 220v headaches, no legal problems and less risk of failure. Try to get stuff that is frequency agile - the tv stations will step on different frequencies and in different cities, plus DTV is making things difficult by stepping on a full 6 megs of bandwidth instead of three frequncies within the 6 megs. The Shure website reccomends freqs for specific cities if you don't have a spectrum analyzer handy.

[mixmasta]

All valid points...

...and I'm not really into making things more complicated than they already are, so I guess my best bet will be to talk them into renting the in-ear system in the US.

We're starting and ending the tour in NY, do you guys by any chance know a good (and reasonably priced) rental company in the NY area?

[pounce]

rental and legal is the way to go. lots of east coast rental houses to take care of you. i'm in the midwest and can't confirm the best places for the best deals. obviously, the band members might already have their own earbuds to bring with them to integrate into the rental in ears system, and everyone is happy.

[weedywet]

All valid points...

...and I'm not really into making things more complicated than they already are, so I guess my best bet will be to talk them into renting the in-ear system in the US.

We're starting and ending the tour in NY, do you guys by any chance know a good (and reasonably priced) rental company in the NY area?

SIR?

[Jason Phair]

Yeah, I'd give SIR a call. They've got loads of 700's.