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Thread: Shure Microphone Question

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    Default Shure Microphone Question

    I have a Shure SM58 SLX2 in the L4 band (638-662MHz) that won't power on. Shure will no longer service these mics since the band had been retired so, I'm screwed on getting it fixed from them. Anybody happen to have any suggestions on a third party that might diagnose and/or repair these mics? I can't necessarily just go out and buy one in another band as we have a rack with 8 of the receivers and 8 mics and I know the owners of my facility won't look at spending like $800 on a mismatched mic setup a priority.
    .
    I know they pop up on eBay from time to time but don't see any listed right now.
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    I don't know of any companies but I'm sure there are local places in your area that can diagnose the issue. It's wireless isn't it? Maybe the battery went kaput.

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    Obviously that's the first thing to check. As well as the battery contacts and ensuring the buttons aren't locked. It's been suggested to get some fader cleaner and hit the microswitches with it as they do sometimes get stuck.
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    I have the needed spectrum analyser, but short of testing if its radiating, there is not much I can do, unless its just a broken wire or bad battery. Plop it in the mail, toss in a twenty for return shipping with tracking.
    !
    You should plan on vacating this band some time soon with the cell companies building out systems in it. Already had to move one Mic at my church, and If I didn't own a personal RF spectrum analyser, we would have been looking at 1600$ for two mics. Of which we cannot afford as a small group. I managed to move us off of the cell site's frequency, its tower is less then 1000 feet from our receiver. 2 Mhz down in frequency got us in a gap in the TDMA spectrum from the site. In my case it there were also noise spurs from the site, our mics are in the band that is not supposed to be affected by this, but the site was radiating a lot of out of band crap, too.
    !
    One Saturday I stopped by to work on the new mixer and the cell guys were out hanging the 700 Mhz gear on the tower. So I decided to have a chat. The 700 Mhz gear, which dips down into the 600s, is remotely programmable. They could not tell me the site frequencies, they can change dynamically by remote control. So I told leadership its a matter of time before we need new gear. I've been telling them that for two years. One day it happened, a bit of intermittent jamming, and fortunately it was towards the end of service . We switched the Rector over to the guitarist's belt pack, and went on. Went home, got the SA, came back, and found us in a mess of digital hash. Dropped the frequency down and upped the transmit power, I'm not jamming them, I'm not in their transmitted band anymore. Not that a measly 15 mW into a really bad antenna is even going to bother a sophisticated CDMA/TDMA cell site.
    !
    But the spurious RF hash has lowered our receive noise floor, so I had to up the mic's transmit power, and battery life is going down the toilet. So I put in YAGI antennas on the diversity inputs as well. The directional YAGIs are looking away from the cell site, reducing the pickup of noise, and my signal to noise ratio is now about as perfect as I can get. That let me get the mic power setting down to medium, and battery life is back to tolerable.

    !
    A guy I know makes cheap YAGIs and Log Periodics, two of his and some soldering were far cheaper then 380$ each for the commercial enclosed wireless mike directional antennas. http://www.wa5vjb.com/
    !
    You'll also find out soon about "Whitespace" WIFI, which uses gaps in the cellular and TV spectrum. It may or may not cause you pain, as older mics are narrowband and generally somewhat resistant to weak jamming due to capture effect in the FM modulation used.
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    Its coming, so you may soon need eight new systems. Better to plan for it now.. Some of the handheld Chinese SA's are down in the 250 Dollar range now, and we all know what "PM Incoming" means... Its worth the Dollars to be able to check a mic or antenna cable, yourself. I'm amazed by the number of touring acts now buying dedicated spectrum monitors, and this is a problem in the US. You can get a "RF Explorer" for next to nothing, and they are easy to use. It was a lot easier to explain to non-technical folks when I had a SA screenshot labeled "THEY are Here, This is US"
    !
    Steve
    Last edited by mixedgas; 04-12-2017 at 07:16.
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    Thanks Steve. I did get an answer on a Facebook forum and turns out the microswitches on those mics have a little bit of a history of hanging up and sticking so, some disassembly and a tiny drop of fader cleaner corrected the situation.
    .
    Yes, I learned about the band situation about a year ago and am going to have to put the bug in the union's ear (who owns the building and paid for they sound system) that they may have an expensive switch over in the near future. That's going to be a really hard day because there are already battles on what we, the caterer who leases the hall and them, the owners of the facility, should be paying for. Neither of them know dick about technology so, since something you can visibly see like buying new chairs to replace the crappy ones and, getting tired old carpet replaced has already been an 8 month ordeal with no end in sight.... I can only imagine when I say we need to replace $6,400 worth of mics, what the response will be.
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    The spectrum analyser solves this. Most Land Mobile Radio / Two Way Radio shops own one, if your ever in doubt and have a quick need to see if your being jammed. Hand the tech 40$ to shoot a spectrum for you. Solves the problems instantly. Since the DTV switchover occurred, I've found a lot of mics setting in the middle of a DTV channel, too. What is channel three in the past might advertise and show up on your set as a channel three, but is actually broadcasting on old RF channel 49 etc. The FCC and NAB did that so no one lost branding, its actually built in the set and transmitter hardware. So finding out what freqs are clear requires some skill, or a 250 to 6,000$ box to see who is using what.

    Recently a new UHF band was set aside for wireless mics in the US, but my bet is that gets congested fast, and the hardware is just coming on the market.

    This is not just a Norte Americano problem folks, cell companies are sucking up spectrum all around the world, and have lobbyists. 2.4 Ghz mics are not always a great choice, in a auditorium or stadium full of phones blaring out BlueTooth and WiFI in the same spectral band.

    I had problems convincing leadership, too. One good cell phone photo of a SA screen, and argument won. Them (cell site, DTV station , 6 Mhz wide glob of RF crap) looks huge on a SA screen, compared to US (tiny, narrow spike).

    Steve

    Steve
    Last edited by mixedgas; 04-13-2017 at 05:39.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bradfo69 View Post
    Obviously that's the first thing to check. As well as the battery contacts and ensuring the buttons aren't locked. It's been suggested to get some fader cleaner and hit the microswitches with it as they do sometimes get stuck.
    Ah sorry man, I should have realized sooner that you aren't new to this. I keep forgetting that this forum has very intelligent people on it compared to other forums

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    Quote Originally Posted by Shadow View Post
    Ah sorry man, I should have realized sooner that you aren't new to this. I keep forgetting that this forum has very intelligent people on it compared to other forums
    No worries. I'm pretty low on the intelligence scale compared to an awful lot of people on here. I have often said I don't feel qualified yet to call myself a laserist but, I've got "spendmoneyist" down to an art form.
    PM Sent...

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bradfo69 View Post
    No worries. I'm pretty low on the intelligence scale compared to an awful lot of people on here. I have often said I don't feel qualified yet to call myself a laserist but, I've got "spendmoneyist" down to an art form.
    Haha yeah that one's an easy one to master.

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