A while back we got a call from AT&T cellular that our little Nokia phone would soon be obsolete--as 2G service was going away. Unfortunately, this was the phone we used for those remote broadcasts where nothing else was available.
At least 3 football stadiums in our area have neither landlines nor any kind of internet service available. So we have to use cell--feeding the Nokia from a JK sport mixer. But the new phone AT&T sent use had no hands-free jack. Unfortunately, most small phones no longer have this 4 circuit mini jack used by the JK's adapter. I-phones have this type of jack--but an I-phone would last about 2 remotes before the sports pbp guys destroyed it.
So we trekked down to the AT&T store and found this gadget:
http://www.zteusa.com/phones/at-t-wireless-home-phone-wf720.html
The unit is about 4 X 6" and looks like a little intercom. One advantage is that it has an external antenna. It's basically a cell phone with an RJ45 jack that emulates a wired phone. We hooked up a cheap desk phone to it--provides a dial tone & ringer voltage (albeit not very loud ringer). The JK sport mixer has a touch pad & hybrid built in, so it is perfectly happy with this device.
We picked this up in anticipation of football season but Murphy intervened. We're doing a limited schedule of H.S. baseball and softball games, originally planned to be local over our RPU unit. Then at 10 this morning the baseball coach called to tell us the game we were planning to air today was changed to an away game in a neighboring county. So off we went to see if there was even a cell signal at the ball field (not a given around here). There was, and power in the press box (the JK and this unit both have batteries--but a ball game pushes the limit). Having that external antenna on this unit certainly helps.
Typical cell phone quality, but the game is on. We have an AGC and EQ at the studio on the phone line we use for remotes, which helps to take some of the shrillness out of the broadcast. There's a little buzz on occasion from the cell's RF (but we have that problem with the old phone--gets back into the mix somewhere).
This little unit would also be useful at those transmitter locations without land lines--you could hook a regular phone to it, which is handy where it is difficult to hear over a cellphone because of blower noise from the transmitter. Don't know if it would work with a Sine remote, though.
At least 3 football stadiums in our area have neither landlines nor any kind of internet service available. So we have to use cell--feeding the Nokia from a JK sport mixer. But the new phone AT&T sent use had no hands-free jack. Unfortunately, most small phones no longer have this 4 circuit mini jack used by the JK's adapter. I-phones have this type of jack--but an I-phone would last about 2 remotes before the sports pbp guys destroyed it.
So we trekked down to the AT&T store and found this gadget:
http://www.zteusa.com/phones/at-t-wireless-home-phone-wf720.html
The unit is about 4 X 6" and looks like a little intercom. One advantage is that it has an external antenna. It's basically a cell phone with an RJ45 jack that emulates a wired phone. We hooked up a cheap desk phone to it--provides a dial tone & ringer voltage (albeit not very loud ringer). The JK sport mixer has a touch pad & hybrid built in, so it is perfectly happy with this device.
We picked this up in anticipation of football season but Murphy intervened. We're doing a limited schedule of H.S. baseball and softball games, originally planned to be local over our RPU unit. Then at 10 this morning the baseball coach called to tell us the game we were planning to air today was changed to an away game in a neighboring county. So off we went to see if there was even a cell signal at the ball field (not a given around here). There was, and power in the press box (the JK and this unit both have batteries--but a ball game pushes the limit). Having that external antenna on this unit certainly helps.
Typical cell phone quality, but the game is on. We have an AGC and EQ at the studio on the phone line we use for remotes, which helps to take some of the shrillness out of the broadcast. There's a little buzz on occasion from the cell's RF (but we have that problem with the old phone--gets back into the mix somewhere).
This little unit would also be useful at those transmitter locations without land lines--you could hook a regular phone to it, which is handy where it is difficult to hear over a cellphone because of blower noise from the transmitter. Don't know if it would work with a Sine remote, though.