Open Forum

Hello!

My school recently won a $10,000 award from a local foundation. After purchasing a shed and a gate for our stage, we are looking into a communication system. We have always used our administrator's walkie talkies. We put ear buds in and they work fine. Now, since we have the money, we are looking into something that we can call our own. We have about $3,000 left. Any suggestions you could offer would be helpful. Thank you!

The pro com brand of stage communication systems is an excellent single channel two way com system that is thousands less than the competition. We looked into wireless and other systems a couple years ago and went with pro com. At the time, we purchased five belt packs and transmitter with the base station for around 1000. These are wired, so you have to run cables, but hopefully your district electricians will run some conduit for you!  Happy shopping. 

Is anyone familiar with Eartec's new UltraLITE system? It's full-duplex and there is not belt pack--everything is contained in the headset.

When I was shopping for an intercom system I asked around and the best piece of advice I got was go with a cabled system, not wireless. Since I had the in-house system already wired I took the advice. The reasoning is if you are talking to a student on the system you know where he/she is. If they are on a wireless system they might be on the loading dock having pizza and not at their position. Not that I don't trust my students but they are teen-agers.

But if you don't have the network wired, going with wireless would be the best and most cost-effective. Call around and ask local theatres what they use, check with the nearest regional theatre or arts center, check with your nearest college/university program.

I love clear-com systems.  However, due to a renovation that occurred in my first year, the infrastructure (wiring, hook-ups, etc.) for the clear-coms were torn out or damaged.

As a quick, short-term solution, I bought six Cobra walkie-talkies at one of the big-chain hunting/camping outlets for about $30/each.  I found headsets for them on Amazon for another $10/each.  So for just over $250, I had a system that I could use until the school board would re-install our clear-coms. However...

We do so much work outside of our building (competitions, tours to other schools, parades, etc.) that the walkie-talkies have become invaluable!  Also, they are rechargeable, cheaper, and and more durable than other systems.  Each radio has a life-span of about 3 years, but some have lasted longer.  

We did have an issue with signal-crossing with our performers' head-set microphones in our musicals, but we were able to get a sound tech to come in and work out the legal bandwidth settings so we've had no problems since.

As for trusting my crew: wearing a head-set is considered a "badge of honor" in our program.  You have to demonstrate to me that you are trustworthy and vital enough to warrant a radio.  The stage mgrs. and other techies go above and beyond for me in part because they want to earn a radio.

As others have said, clear-coms are fantastic, but there are other options.

--Break a leg!