Southeast Christian Church, located in Louisville and arguably one of the largest mega-churches in the country, recently installed a new wireless intercom system from Radio Active Designs (RAD).
The new UV-1G base station and five RAD packs (beltpacks) free up RF bandwidth in the sanctuary at the 920 Blakenbaker campus while also simplifying wireless communications.
“With 18 channels of Shure UHF and 16 channels of Sennheiser in-ears in stereo and some bleed over between this worship center and the nearby 1,800 seat youth center – RF is in high demand,” explains Chris Perkins, AVL technical operations director at Southeast Christian Church. “We use three of the RAD packs for stage hands assisting with miking musicians and pastors, one for the technical director and one for the assistant technical director who also manages video in a recording room outside of the sanctuary. It has worked seamlessly.”
The sanctuary at 920 seats 9,000 worshippers and serves more than 20,000 people each weekend. Prior to implementing the one UV-1G base station, Perkins had two other wireless intercoms in place.
“Not only did this allow us to condense down to a single base station,” he adds, “but it also freed up valuable RF, simplified RF coordination with outside groups that perform in our sanctuary and still allows room to add another RAD pack if needed.”
A typical FM wireless intercom system requires 300 kHz of radio band to function properly. By implementing Enhanced Narrow Band technology, the UV-1G intercom system requires less than 30 kHz of the VHF band which frees up UHF bandwidth for other uses. In addition, because the VHF band is virtually empty, every comm operator has their own channel, further streamlining communication.
James Stoffo, chief technical officer at RAD, was on site for the commissioning of the system and also hosted a wireless seminar for volunteers and employees of the church. “I think it’s important to make sure that everyone understands RF, all of the wireless systems they have in place and how they work in the venue,” Stoffo adds. “It was great to be able clarify the technology and answer questions about anything wireless, including our intercom systems. They were a terrific group.”
Perkins concludes, “When we originally heard about the intercom system we contacted Blue Media, who put us in touch with Radio Active Designs. It seemed like it was exactly what we were looking for and it is. The company has been extremely helpful and everyone here is quite happy with the end result.”
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