Tour Supply, Inc. and RFvenue have announced a partnership to introduce RFvenue’s innovative RF products to the live touring industry.

RFvenue’s Chris Regan explains, “We were looking for a partner who could help us introduce RFvenue’s antenna products to bands touring in clubs, theaters, arenas, and stadiums worldwide. Considering their many industry relationships and rehearsal-based locations in L.A., New York, and Nashville- Tour Supply was the perfect partner for introducing RFvenue products to the live sound market.”

There are three unique products that Tour Supply will be focused on delivering to bands on tour: the RF Spotlight™Antenna, Diversity Fin™ Antenna, and CP Beam™ Antenna. Each has its own special characteristics for various applications and RF range. Tour Supply CEO Lance Wascom commented, “One of the real advantages of RFvenue’s products is that they connect to any type of wireless equipment from any brand out there- in-ears, mics, production comms, whatever- these products are designed to improve RF performance for all kinds of live sound applications. The early response has been great- we can’t wait to get these on tour.”

All RFvenue products are now shipping through Tour Supply and further information is available at www.TourSupply.com and www.RFvenue.com

Boston-based RFvenue is a technology development group specializing in new hardware wireless sensors and RF systems with the goal of achieving spectrum efficiency for wireless audio and data devices in today’s increasingly complex RF environment. RFvenue products address common signal interference and dropout problems associated with wireless microphones and audiovisual production communications. Formerly the founding team at Crowley and Tripp Microphones, RFvenue seeks to deliver clear, dependable wireless audio and enable venue owners and system operators to maximize spectrum efficiency.

Founded in 1998, Tour Supply has grown from a single, small office within a house to an international corporation with 5 locations. We are grateful to work with many of the biggest names in music and equally proud to be allied with the top manufacturers in the industry. Our clients primarily consist of touring bands, but also include professional musicians, production companies, venues, churches, schools, corporations, and broadcast professionals. Tour Supply has 4 locations in North America – Los Angeles, New York, Nashville and St Paul, MN as well as an office in Manchester, UK.

Ashland, MA: June 6th, 2011.  Manufacturer RFvenue announced this week that it has officially launched two new products: the Diversity Fin Antenna™, and the Local Field Sensor™.  Both products were specifically developed to improve UHF wireless audio system performance.

“The demand for wireless systems at A/V events is growing, but available spectrum is not. We are seeing more interference and intermodulation problems” said Chris Regan, company CEO.  “RFvenue’s mission is spectrum efficiency and control.  By optimizing specific venue areas for wireless use, we are able to reduce sources of interference and maximize signal quality, not just signal strength.  This make it easier for users to get the most out of already crowded spectrum, and help assure interference-free operation.”

The company’s patent-pending Local Field Sensor™ is a new kind of remote RF sensor designed for limited range use.  Its effect is analogous to a soft spotlight versus a fully lit room: the stage area, worship sanctuary, or trade show booth are optimized for signal reception.  The Local Field Sensor™ is a thin, 19” diameter polymer concealable pad that connects to existing UHF equipment, and can be deployed temporarily, or permanently installed under carpeting, podiums, or staging.  The Local Field Sensor™ is priced at $399 and available through the company’s representative network.

The Diversity Fin Antenna™ is designed for applications requiring larger areas of coverage, and provides orthogonal reception that eliminates cross linear polarization fades, and reduces artifacts, and does this with just one convenient antenna, rather than cumbersome “spaced pairs.”  Each of the company’s products can be added on to existing wireless systems to improve performance cost effectively. The Diversity Fin Antenna™sells for $399.

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It's surprising to see the total lack of coverage in the A/V press of NAB's complaint filed with FCC accusing Microsoft and Spectrum Bridge of violating experimental broadcast license rules at the 2011 NAB in Las Vegas and 2011 CTIA Wireless trade shows in Orlando.  Fierce Broadband Wireless and UK-based The Register are the only two that picked up the story online as far as I can tell.  Of course NAB has a bone to pick here and the various white space stake holders (including mic mfgs, telecoms, broadband co's etc) have been throwing potshots for a while now, but the incident should serve as a warning, and in some ways, a case study for wireless mic users and A/V providers who do tradeshow events.  I suspect there will be more of these alleged violations in the future- inadvertent and otherwise.

To recap, both Microsoft and Spectrum Bridge are vying for the position of "White Space Database Administrator", a spectrum monitoring and administration function that will help dictate how TV Band devices (TVBDs) interact with other TV band users (like microphones and other A/V production communications).  FCC is mandating all TVBDs  have a GPS function and remotely check-in with the White Space Database to determine clear channels in the area prior to transmitting.  The question is- is this really gonna work?

Well, we don't know yet as that database program is still in process, but the recent NAB complaint against Spectrum Bridge identifies an interference problem that is enigmatic of the fight over TVDBs and wireless mics.

So what happened at CTIA? According to the NAB FCC filing:

"Spectrum Bridge applied for and was granted an experimental license to demonstrate a “TVWS solution” at the CTIA show in Orlando, Florida. This license (WE9XTG) was granted for operation on frequencies 174-216 MHz with a maximum bandwidth of 6 MHz and a maximum power level of 1 Watt.

CNBC was also an exhibitor at the 2011 CTIA show and was using licensed wireless microphones (WQMP-499) for the remote production of the CNBC show, Mad Money with Jim Cramer. We have been advised that on March 21, 2011, NBC/CNBC personnel noticed interference from a strong 7 MHz wide signal to their licensed wireless microphone operation. Their wireless microphones were operating on frequencies in the 656-662 MHz band (TV channel 45). To avoid this interference to their operations, NBC personnel indicated to us that they had to relocate all their wireless microphone equipment to around 500 MHz which is also covered under the WQMP-499 license.
We have been told that, using a spectrum analyzer and directional antenna, NBC/CNBC personnel traced this interference to the Spectrum Bridge kiosk, and that evening NBC/CNBC personnel searched FCC records to determine if Spectrum Bridge had obtained an FCC license to operate equipment in the 650 MHz band. They found that an experimental license (WE9XTG) had been granted to Spectrum Bridge for the 174-216 MHz band to demonstrate at the CTIA show. Bruce Franca of MSTV also conducted a search of experimental licensing records and confirmed that this was the only experimental license granted to Spectrum Bridge for operation at the CTIA show."

This incident clearly demonstrates the inherent challenges of more devices, less spectrum for wireless mics users like that TV production team.  Imagine a few hundred of these TVDB devices moving in and out of the venue continuously in people's laptop bags or pockets if/when these devices go mobile.  It also shows how these interference issues happen at a hyper local level- in a building, at a tradeshow- a couple booths over from your company's sales demo or event keynote speaker.  Kudos to the CNBC/NBC gang for investigating, but how many other exhibitors operating mics in the area would have any idea why their mics were cutting out, nevermind break out a spectrum analyzer and directional antennas to start troubleshooting?

Our group at RFvenue is working on practical ways to make wireless devices like audio systems more spectrum efficient, easy to use, and most of all, reliable in adverse RF environments like these tradeshows.  It's our belief that these devices can effectively coexist, and that limiting transmit power and localizing reception to limited areas can provide more reliability.

Come to think of it, we should bring the Agilent down to Infocomm and take some measurements to look at UHF band activity and report back.

See you in Orlando!

Our team is excited to announce that RFvenue has been selected among the 125 finalists in the MassChallenge startup competition based in Boston, MA.  The largest startup competition in the world, MassChallenge received over 700 applications from 24 countries and 34 US states.  The 3 month accelerator program is designed to provide early stage businesses with office space, mentorship, and networking opportunities to further their business goals over the course of the summer on the seaport in downtown Boston.  There is $1M in prize money up for grabs for finalists.

This will have no effect on production, R&D or assembly/mfg activities at RFvenue’s current operations in Ashland, MA, but should prove to be a valuable experience on the business development side.  Governor Deval Patrick was on hand yesterday to congratulate finalists:

The MassChallenge competition is a great example of the robust, collaborative community of innovators in the Commonwealth. Our ability to attract and engage high-growth startups from around the world is a reflection of our global competiveness, and is an excellent indication that we will continue to lead the country in innovation, job creation and economic growth for years to come.

It seems now more than ever the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Massachusetts is firing on all cylinders.  My inbox is flooded with networking events, workshops, and office hour opportunities.  And the state’s many academic institutions seem to be almost accepting of iterative business development as advocated by Steve Blank and the Lean Startup movement.  This methodology encourages extensive field testing, customer surveys, and sales prior to full scale launch or major funding events. This runs counter to the traditional write-a-40-page-business-plan-raise-a-ton-of-money shotgun approach that seems to ignore a pretty important part of the equation: paying customers.  So it’s great to see these iterative boostrapped methods that RFvenue and its team have practiced for so long rolling out in large scale in programs like the MassChallenge.  It’s gonna be a wicked good summah

(click to enlarge image)

• 19” diameter, 1/4” thick tough PVC floor pad

• Designed for nearfield, limited area use of UHF wireless

• Perfect for conference rooms, lecture spaces, tradeshow exhibit areas, worship sanctuaries etc

• Increases desired signal, decreases unwanted signals

• Connects with existing UHF wireless systems via simple coaxial cable, can be hidden under carpeting, podiums, staging if desired.

The Local Field Sensor™ is an innovative, patent-pending UHF antenna design that excels in applications where wireless microphones will be used in a limited area.  With one or more Local Field Sensors in the area of use, the user can create an RF field or “RFvenue” -similar in effect to a soft spotlight in a dark theater.  By intentionally designing the unit for reduced signal sensitivity yet a uniform, omnidirectional pickup pattern, the Local Field Sensor can be within very close range of the transmitting handheld microphone or bodypack at all times.  This proximity of transmitter and receiving antenna is critical to maintaining a high quality signal without introducing other sources of interference picked up by high gain, high angle remote antennas.  Multiple units can be combined to cover even larger areas!

$299 List Price

To order, contact manufacturer’s representative:

Sigmet Corporation 289 Highway 33 East Bldg B Manalapan, NJ 07726
P: 732-792-1221 F: 732-792-1305
cu@sigmetcorp.com
Sigmet Corporation- Reading, PA
41 Vanguard Dr.
Reading, PA 19606
P: 610-783-6666
F: 610-783-5911

Barely visible within the stream of thick coolant, this RFvenue antenna part is one of many being CNC fabricated these days.

Now that the FCC has changed the rules about how, and who has access to the finite airwaves, there are many new opportunities and problems, too, like interference and crowding.

It’s not hard to find dozens of articles about the impending, (we think) FCC rulings allowing much wider use of spectrum in the spaces between television broadcast stations. So-called White Spaces are a partial misnomer, as this article in Wired makes the common error of calling WiFi a white space spectrum. It isn’t.  But what is apparent, and correctly mentioned, is that the FCC and others have a naive idea of what the future of spectrum use will afford. Yes, smart cars will need radio communications to control them, of course. But this misses the point of what electromagnetic radiation afforded communications are all about. The ability to transfer large amounts of information through space is unique to EM/radio and it has taken since the late 1800s for technology to be developed that can use it in a more or less automatic fashion, instead of having radio operators find channels and manually switch frequencies.   That’s where we are today, with the basic computer capable of two-way data communication to another computer not too far away, wirelessly.

Now for the next step: Long range peer to peer communication, mesh networks they are sometimes called, where your laptop or smartphone jumps to another person’s laptop, and over and over it relays to the final destination. Such use requires bandwidth, and is clearly in the mind of FCC.  Wimax and LTE are other more conventional ideas of hubs and spokes connected to the conventional ISP structure of the internet, but peer-to-peer direct connections are far more delicious to think about, as they bypass the giants such as Verizon and others, at least that’s the idea.

We’ll see in a few years. Meanwhile, the physical layer, the part where a signal goes out into space to be collected somewhere else, will still exist unchanged. No matter what, we can say confidently, the physical part of electromagnetic radiation, propagation and collection cannot be avoided if we are to have wireless communications among us, and the means energy will have to be used, albeit small amounts, and that leads to efficient (or not, as in the case of the most recent iPhone) antennas. Something has to pick up the signal, and also transmit. Battery life is entirely dependent upon the efficient, non-wasteful radiation of RF energy to the nearby or perhaps not so close connection points that are being installed everywhere.

One can imagine that no matter where you are, you will have continuous, ubiquitous connectivity via mesh networks.  There will be dive-in points held by the large carriers and perhaps smaller enterprises too, but the rules of business will change, and if we are lucky, the spectrum will be ours.