Addressing the impending shortage of wireless spectrum available to production companies due to the emergence of unlicensed portable consumer devices, Clear-Com has unveiled a new intercom system that enables users to avoid the need for licensing and frequency coordination.
To be shown at NAB2007, the Tempest 2400 and Tempest 900 intercom systems employ Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) in conjunction with TDMA technology, allowing them to operate in both the 2.4GHz and 900MHz bands.
Because it operates in the unlicensed 2.4GHz and 900MHz bands, Tempest will be unaffected by the reallocation of the UHF-TV spectrum, according to the company. Innovative 2xTX transmission voice data redundancy sends each packet of audio data twice on different frequencies, and through different antennas. This ensures uninterrupted, high-quality audio communications.
Tempest can interoperate with other Clear-Com intercom systems as well as those from other manufacturers through four-wire and two-wire connections. Each base station can operate up to five wireless belt stations, and by stacking up to 15 base stations together, up to 75 independent wireless belt stations can be integrated into a single intercom system.
Multistudio facilities will find the iSelect feature handy, allowing the belt station user to move from one studio to the next and quickly switch to the new studio's intercom system.
A shared-slot feature allows one of the five base station slots to be used for up to 25 half-duplex, single-transmit belt stations. The new system also has a PC-based control panel, with setup and programming transferred to base stations via Ethernet or USB connection.
For more information, visit www.clearcom.com.
