Yesterday Sabi Tulok and I did a range test shootout of a whole bunch of Sennheiser gear. This test was not to determine which system is better, but to know what to expect from each system in terms of performance when different antennas are used at different output power. We tested the stock antenna on the G3 transmitter and receiver, along with SMA-modded transmitters and receivers to see what kind of range we could get out of different combinations of units.
Note: While we are professionals, we're not trained. I mean, we're trained, but like, not trained scientists or anything. These numbers can and will change depending on a lot of variables. Results may vary. See your Dr. if you start experiencing side effects.
On all of my modded G3's I'm using the AMJ articulating antennas that Lectrosonics makes, and to make it interesting we also threw in some different antennas on the transmitters, an omni antenna from Sennheiser (the A1031-U) and a Lectro ALP-620 LPDA antenna pointed in the direction of the walker. Sabi did all of the walking today and measured the distance he could get on the modded and non-modded Sennheiser receivers, and using GPS on his phone he relayed back to me his results to me to record at the cart and swap out antennas as we went.
At the end we tested some Comtek gear, and of course, the Comtek gear wins out in terms of range hand over fist. The quality of the Sennheisers though doesn't really compare to the Comteks, so that's apples and oranges to me. Comteks clearly have a place on commercials and large locations where you need to cover a lot of ground and penetrate through some walls. The Sennheiser gear has another level of fidelity and can certainly find its niche among smaller features and ENG/bag work where you're only needing to transmit to a handful of people who are all within 300ft.
Special thanks to Evan Freeman for not only the A1031 but also for loaning me the BST-75 without his knowledge. 👀😏
For some quick edification on the more obscure Sennheiser stuff here, the SK2000 is a beltpack transmitter Sennheiser makes that goes up to 100mw that I've found very useful for ENG stuff -- especially because camera hops and the IEM's can be the frequency and cut down on the amount of RF I'm putting out there. The EW-300 is a half rack DC powered 30mw stereo transmitter. The SR2050 is the full rack dual channel transmitter that goes up to 100mw just like the SK2000.
A few notes on the location: We did this test in Chatsworth, CA. I used the Venue2 and Wireless Designer to pick the frequency we'd be using for the Sennheiser stuff. The Comtek gear we couldn't scan, but as you can see it did stellar regardless. We didn't have direct line of sight -- I setup in the backyard, and Sabi walked South. Once he got to the major intersection at 1200ft we decided best to not push our luck on a shootout mainly designed for Sennheisers, the Comteks were just our control. Follow the link below to see our results.
