Souern Alberta Jubilee auditorium eliminates Dead Zones with Clear-Com

Installing FreeSpeak II wireless system means no more missed cues during touring shows, rock concerts, and opera performances

ALAMEDA, USA - March 14, 2017 - The Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (SAJA) in Calgary, Canada, has ended years of intercom coverage gaps and signal drop-outs by installing Clear-Com's FreeSpeak II (FSII) wireless intercom inside its 1950s-era facility. FreeSpeak II is a key component of a combined wired/wireless intercom system comprised of a Clear-Com Eclipse HX-Median Digital Matrix, two FSII E-Que-HX wireless cell controller cards, 25 FSII wireless beltpacks, 10 FreeSpeak II Transceiver Antennas, and 20 wired partyline intercom positions. The SAJA plays host to touring Broadway shows, major rock concerts, plus orchestral and opera performances on a regular basis.

Our last intercom system's wireless component simply couldn't reach throughout our entire facility, said Mark Belkie, the SAJA's Technical Director - Audio. The problem is the SAJA's construction: built in 1957, it has steel-reinforced concrete walls up to three feet thick. These walls severely reduce any radio signals that try to get through them.

In contrast to traditional wireless intercom systems that rely on centrally-located transceivers and antennas, FreeSpeak II uses distributed transceiver antennas located at the edge of the wireless coverage area. Expanding coverage is simply a matter of locating transceivers in dead zones and connecting them by wire to the Eclipse HX.

Any time we find a wireless intercom dead zone, we just run a CAT 5/6 cable into the space, connect a FSII transceiver, and the problem is solved - it's as easy as that, Belkie continued.

Many of the Broadway shows hosted at the SAJA use multiple wireless microphones, which cause interference issues with 600/700 MHz wireless intercom. This problem has been eliminated thanks to FreeSpeak II's ability to operate in the 1.9GHz frequency.

The fact that each FSII beltpack supports five separate programmable channels has also made real-time audio communications far easier for the SAJA's production team. We can now give stage carpenters their own channel during shows, without their talk distracting sound engineers or any other crew, said Belkie. The result is more focused intercom communication with no cross-talk.

Installing FreeSpeak II has fundamentally resolved the SAJA's long-running intercom issues. I can tell when everything is working, because everyone stops complaining, added Belkie. Now that we have FreeSpeak II, they're not complaining at all.

Solving connectivity, coverage, and interference issues is what FreeSpeak II is all about, said Jay Wallace, Product Manager of Clear-Com. Its versatility allows it to ensure strong connections and outstanding audio clarity in any venue.

Clear-Com's Canadian Distributor, GerrAudio, assisted in the design and installation of the system.

About Clear-Com

Clear-Com, an HME company, is a trusted global provider of professional real-time communications solutions and services since 1968. We innovate market proven technologies that link people together through wired and wireless systems.

Clear-Com was first to market portable wired and wireless intercom systems for live performances. Since then, our history of technological advancements and innovations has delivered significant improvements to the way people collaborate in professional settings where real-time communication matters. For the markets we serve -- broadcast, live performance, live events, sports, military, aerospace and government-- our communication products have consistently met the demands for high quality audio, reliability, scalability and low latency, while addressing communication requirements of varying size and complexity. Our reputation in the industry is not only based on our product achievements, but also on our consistent level of customer engagement and dedication to delivering the right solutions for specialized applications, with the expertise to make it work. Around the globe and across markets, Clear-Com's innovations and solutions have received numerous awards and recognitions for ingenuity and impact to customers.

For more information, please visit www.clearcom.com.

LINK:	http://www.theiabm.org/news/member-news/blogart4621...
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