Musical Instruments

[Aaron-BBY Community Connector]

Hey everyone,

By now I’m sure we’re all aware of the upcoming DTV transition, especially considering Congress recently pushed back the official analogue switch off date to June 12th, 2009. What might come as a surprise to some consumers though is that the DTV transition doesn’t just affect their TV signals – it impacts all unlicensed wireless devices (wireless microphones and in-ear monitors) that operate in the 700MHz band.

These devices have been sharing the same spectrum as broadcasters within the channel 52-69 range (698MHz to 806MHz) for some time, but those channels are being reclaimed by emergency services and first-responders once the analogue switch off takes place.

So what does that mean for consumers? If you have a wireless microphone or in-ear monitor that operates in the 700MHz band you’ll want to replace it with a new system that works outside of that range. Both Shure and Sennheiser are currently offering rebates on select wireless microphone purchases, so make sure to check out this page on BestBuy.com for additional information.

Agent Aaron
Geek Squad® Community Connector
Go Ahead. Use Us.

[MobileExpert]

But it's not necessary, right? No one's forcing you.

[Aaron-BBY Community Connector]

To my knowledge, the FCC did actually ban their use since the 700MHz band is being reclaimed by commercial providers and first responders (police, fire, and hospital services) once the DTV transition is complete.  If you'd like more information though I'd strongly suggest checking out the following links:

What Digital TV Means to Wireless Microphone Users (Shure)

Digital Television (DTV) Regulatory Information (FCC)

Hope this helps you out!

Agent Aaron
Geek Squad® Community Connector
Go Ahead. Use Us.

[techy101]

Gah, firefox crashed and lost a nice long post...

Anyway... I think it should be mentioned in here that this is a different issue than the white spaces debate. According to press release on Shure's website.

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Wireless microphones and personal monitors may continue to operate in the UHF television band between TV channels 14-51 (470-698 MHz), and in the VHF television band between TV channels 7-13 (174-216 MHz).

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In regard to the white spaces issue, it remains to be seen how things will play out with the geo-location database and interference detection systems. I think it is safe to say that the consumer grade products that Best Buy sells will be hit harder than professional grade systems. Simply because of the consumer grade products' lack of frequency choices and good frequency detection/management systems. 

If you are planning on investing in wireless systems, it's worth your time to look into which TV stations in your city will be operating between channels 2 and 20. The FCC has said that only "Fixed" white spaces devices may be used in that channel range, and since they operate at a much higher power than the portable devices may not be used on a station that is adjacent to an actual TV station. That means that those adjacent channel frequencies are a great choice for wireless microphones if they want to avoid messing with the white space devices.