Wireless mic frequencies?

[Rosie C]

I'm looking at getting a wireless headset mic. The arrange of frequencies is bewildering. The options that are legal without a licence seem to be 863-865Mhz or 2400Mhz which is the wi-fi band and I'm guessing could be problematic. Just wondering what other people are using?

[tauzero]

2.4GHz and 5.8GHz. That's guitar wirelesses, for radio mics I've just got 2.4GHz.

Edited February 3, 2024 by tauzero

[DGBass]

I use an old Shure PGX4 system which was originally sold as a wireless mic setup. I use it for bass and it works superbly. It runs at approx 900Mhz (with a range of approx 50 metres line of sight) which in the UK is designated a carrier frequency for mobile phone providers but low power applications for commercial/medical and some other applications are allowed. It might be prone to mobile interference but I haven't had any issues with that so far.  Mobile Operators using this band, usually called band8 support 2G and 3G which is on the way out in the UK.  More modern wireless systems seem to use frequency bands in the wi-fi spectrum which will I guess be easier and cheaper to design as its fairly standard wi-fi technology. I haven't used a modern 2.4G or 5G wireless mic/guitar device so I couldsn't say if it might be affected by someone's wifi router in the vicinity. I'm sure the boffins will have taken that into account with selected channels to operate on 😐

[police squad]

mine is channel 38. it needs a license. It's a sennheiser and is very good

[Phil Starr]

This is probably your best place for information

Your choice is fairly simple; digital or analogue. The digital systems hava a tiny delay called latency, it isn't enough for you to hear or to put you off on its own but all the delays in the chain add up so if you have digital wireless in-ears and a digital mixer it might become a problem. Some people are more sensitive to this than others. Analogue loses this problem but then the problem is that the signal is compressed for transmission and expanded when it gets to the receiver, in the best systems you won't notice but cheaper systems degrade your sound a little. Some of the best systems work on frequencies that need a licence.

 

You probably need to look at what other band members are using, wireless kit share frequency bands and you can run out of space and get interference.  2.4G will run out before 5.8G for example. @EBS_freak is our expert on all things wireless so have a look at that thread

 

[Rosie C]

Thanks everyone! & thanks for the linke Phil, that lead me to