Especially here in the realm of professional audio, where we’ve become accustomed – and in many cases dependent – upon RF microphones, musical instruments, in-ear monitors, production intercoms, and even systems dedicated to wirelessly transmitting console feeds to mains and delay towers.
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In the overly commerical era that we live in, virtually everything is up for sale. Little could be more comedic than FCC and their Capitalization of the sale of Bandwidth. As time goes on an increasingly small sector of the airways are available for individual use that isn’t the government or reserved for the big telecom companies. It is interesting to look at how even companies like Shure and Sennheiser which might seem like large corporations to those of us in the Theatrical Industry pail in comparison to the large telecom companies and special interest, who utilize billions of dollars to lobby the FCC to garner new airwaves that exclusively they can use. It is also quite fascinating to see many of the audio and lighting companies purported solutions to many of these issues, many of which aren’t really good solutions. Many consumer level products are attempting to fit into the 2.4ghz band, which is truly a horrible solution, as this particular band is already populated with many other consumer level items, including cell phones and Wifi. Trying to use something for a production in this band is a bad idea, especially since you can’t effectively gauge interference until you have an audience, as it is impossible to know how polluted that band will be until you have the house full. PWS solution of trying to fit many systems into a tighter space in less used (but existing wireless technology bands) is a much better solution that is far more beneficial to the industry as a whole. Another good potential band is the 900mhz band, as this is unlikely to become populated with other things, and is relatively unpopulated with items. The only downside is that this band is only available in certain markets such as the US and Canada.
Ahh the perils of RF. Everyone wants wireless these days, in our homes, cars, offices. We want to find ways to cut the cords. Wireless charging of our phones, Bluetooth headsets. There are projectors that you can connect to wirelessly and project your presentation. The problem is, as was highlighted in this article, that as some point those spectrum's will be all used up and no longer available. Take the recent acquisition of the 600Mhz band by T-Mobile. Now anyone who owns equipment within that spectrum has to scrap it and move to a different band. If you are a company like Shure, no problem. If you are a small community theatre who just recently purchased all new wireless mics for their shows, it’s cost prohibitive. A lot of smaller companies just don’t have the funds to replace equipment year after year as the spectrum's change. Even the big Broadway shows and touring shows are going to have issues. Increased costs for equipment will eventually lead to increased cost at the box office. Not something a regular consumer wants.
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