Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS), has adopted Clear-Com FreeSpeak and Tempest2400 digital wireless systems for its daily news, documentaries and entertainment programme production. Using the wireless and grouping capabilities of both systems, staff at the national TV and radio station have gaied greater mobility and better coordination for their production evdeavours.

The FreeSpeak and Tempest2400 wireless systems replace the station’s previous wired matrix intercom and a partyline communications backbone. While these systems were reliable, the new system brings more efficient working to the on-line editor, programme director, floor manager and anchors.

‘Prior to adding the wireless systems, the wired system hampered the movement of the on-line editor, cameramen, floor manager and anchors, especially during the panel discussion, reality shows and talk shows in the production studio,’ says Sherub Tharchen, Head of the Technical Department. ‘We would move to different parts of the studios with the wired beltpacks, but sometimes the cables would extend so far that the beltpacks would get unplugged, cutting off our communications. Now, everybody can move freely in the studios and stay connected without worrying about the cables getting tangled or the wired beltpacks becoming unplugged.’

BBS has two FreeSpeak systems, one in the news studio and the other in one of its production studios. Active antennas are also distributed throughout the production areas for wireless coverage. The systems operate within the license-free 1.8-1.93GHz frequency band, away from the crowded frequency spectrum where other wireless devices in the studios operate. Moreover, it combines DECT and wireless auto-roaming technologies to allow users to move freely without fading or losing connection in the studios.

The Tempest system is installed at a second production studio in a separate building. Tempest2400, which operates in the 80MHz of spectrum in the 2.4GHz ISM frequency band, where it does not interfere with the studios’ wireless microphone or in-ear monitor systems, which use the UHF band. Because of its Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) technology, the Tempest system does not compete with signals from other 2.4GHz wireless devices in the vicinity.

Along with the mobility, flexibility and interference-free communications offered by the wireless intercoms, BBS also finds the grouping function to be useful – staff can assign groups to Channels A & B, allowing the crew to receive only the cues for their department without having to listen to those that are not relevant to them.

‘The ability of both FreeSpeak and Tempest to provide reliable wireless communications makes the systems ideal for fast-paced productions such as those produced by BBS,’ says Edmund Song, Clear-Com Regional Sales Manager for Southeast Asia. ‘

More: www.clearcom.com