Showcomms gives you wings

It isn't usual to blog about hiring somebody just three headsets, but this one is just a little different and shows how we will go that extra mile to get a client out of trouble.
Last week we sent three DT108 headsets for use at the Red Bull Music Academy by Pulse Films.
Unfortunately, when they arrived they discovered a small error meant they had asked for male instead of female plugs, any easy mistake.
Bruce was going to be in the London Bridge area today, so decided to drop off some replacements himself this morning.
However we normally supply ASL headsets with female plugs, and Pulse wanted the extra noise exclusion of the DT108s. Our DT108s are fitted with male plugs for cameras and RTS, not female plugs.
Never mind, on Saturday Bruce got three bare ended DT108 cables out of our sales stock and fitted the right plugs to take up this morning and swap the cables.
This also means we can supply a few of our DT108s in future to use on ASL/Tecpro/Altair/Clearcom/Stonewood systems which require 4 pin female XLRs on the headsets.

Bristol Fairwear Fashion Show

Sounds Commercial have been using a couple of our Duplex wireless kits at the Bristol Fairwear Fashion Show

at Bristol Cathedral. They used our Telex BTR24 Standalone Duplex beltpack system, and one of our Altair wireless 4 way Duplex kits.
The really clever bit is they were coupled together with a single XLR cable to make a seem less 6 way system!

Sounds Commercial have had a busy week with us this week, our other Altair system is also with them working at another event in West London.

New Dual Channel Duplex Wireless Theatre System for Baylis Court School

We have just supplied the latest Altair dual channel duplex wireless theatre system to Baylis Court School, Slough.

The new Altair WBS-202 wireless base station doubles the capacity of the single channel WBS-200 maintaining full compatibility.

The unit features a complete double channel radio link with a capacity of up to 4 wireless beltpacks per channel, or 8 on a single channel.

Directly compatible with Tecpro, Altair, ASL, Clearcom, Stonewood loop systems.
This really is the unit that many theatres have been looking for to add to their wired intercom.
Bruce and Duncan were demonstrating this unit, alongside Tecpro wired intercom and Motorola CP040 radios at the Schools Theatre Support Group Conference in Rugby at the weekend.

32 pairs of eardefenders to CTV for BAFTAs

Our supplies of camera eardefenders have run out, on top of some other big hires, we have no less than 32 pairs of eardefenders at the BAFTAs for CTV OBs, a mix of double sided Peltors, Double sided Telex PH10s and 1.5 sided Peltors for hand held cameras!

Tour Guide hire price reduction

 We now offer our wireless tour guide system to hire for 4 days at just £6 per channel for up to 60 channels.

All our hire kit is hired out in 4 day blocks. Shipping days are not counted in the hire period!

We also sell Tour Guide systems

Schools Theatre Support Group Conference

Showcomms are joint sponsors of the Schools Theatre Support Group Conference at Rugny School on Saturday 20th February at Rugby School.
We will be holding a workshop, particularly focusing on wireless theatre communications, interfacing with wired systems and other aspects of radio and wireless communications.

Low price on top of the range covert earpiece for Motorola MTH800 MTH650 CEP400 and MTP850 Tetra airwaves radios

For a limited period we have top of the range Centurion headset / earpiece for Motorola Tetra radios at the much reduced price of £23 + VAT and delivery.
This headset features a secured plug with long kevlar lead for either sleeve or lapel worn microphone.. Includes a clear acoustic tube earpiece. The microphone in this headset is a close working mic for use in high noise environments. It is a 2 wire system, this means the cabling splits into 2 at a joiner block with one lead going to the transducer/curly tube to go in your ear and a second cable going to the microphone and Push to Talk switch. This means your radio can be worn under your clothes at waist level, with one cable feeding up to the clear plastic ear tube and the other going down your sleeve to the press to talk button for covert use.
This headset comes with a one year no quibble warranty, including free return postage within the UK
Similar earpieces sell for over £60.

Aladdin will be happy!

Yesterday we received an order for a Beyerdynamic DT100 ear insert.
It arrived with the customer by recorded delivery today, and was up and working in 15 minutes.
As the customer said "Aladdin will be happy", especially given the speed of turnaround between Christmas and the New Year.
We like happy customers
Having said that we are now closed until Monday!
Happy New Year.

Our nice new flightcase labels

Hannah has been busy this week, including sticking our lovely new flightcase labels onto all our hire cases!
Up to now our cases have tended to have a note stuck on them, but now we have our super sticky, won't come off, wipe clean labels with spaces to write all the important details of the job.

The labels came from local Kent firm UPG, and were very reasonably priced!

Big in Belgium!

Back in May we reported that we had supplied 150 BG-THR headsets for the THR880i to Politie Aalst in Belgium.
Sales to Belgium have continued to be strong, and this week we have shipped 100 more BG-THR headsets to AEG TranzCom, Belgium's biggest supplier of Tetra equipment and 70 BG-M9 headsets with bottom connectors for the MTH800 to Politie Maasmechelen. Belgian police officers will clearly be opening lots of little packets from Showcomms for Christmas.

Last night in the jungle

Tonight is the last night in the jungle for I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of here! and it will be the last night in the jungle for our RTS hire kit that forms part of the talkback system on the show for Gearhouse Broadcast... now is it going to be Gino, Kim or Jimmy.

New Tecpro system for St Edmund's School goes straight into use

A new 6 beltpack Tecpro 2 system was delivered to St Edmund's School, Canterbury on Thursday, and within 24 hours it was in use in the school hall, as part of a busy schedule of events.
The system consists of one of our Tecpro 2 Theatre and College starter systems. Plus 2 extra beltpacks and headsets.
We sponsor the Schools Theatre Support Group.

75 radios for Royal Film Premiere

We supplied 75 Motorola Walkie Talkies and headsets to Steve Bonich at Video Europe for the premiere of Peter (Lord of the Rings) Jackson's The Lovely Bones, last night at the Royal Film Performance in the presence of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at the Odeon Leicester Square.
The radios were used for production and security at the event.

Anyone for Tennis?

This weekend sees the start of the ATP World Tennis Finals at the O2 Arena, and we have supplied
14 RTS beltpacks with headphones, 10 CP040 radios and a base station to the venue for the duration of the 8 day event.

Peltor Dectcom with Tactical XP ear defenders being used by Colas Rail

We are hiring 6 Peltor Dectcom beltpacks, complete with headset mount versions of the Peltor Tactical XP ear defenders with active listening and acoustic awareness to Colas Rail for use by the team operating their RM90 ballast cleaner. This equipment is now part of our hire kit. Two of the beltpacks have push to talk facilities. These beltpacks and headsets supplement their existing system over the next 4 weekends, allowing them to keep the cleaner running on shift changes.
Working around the RM90 is a very high noise environment, with it picking up ballast, processing it and relaying back onto the track and discarding the waste. The crew must have a system that allows clear, safe, communication between them while excluding the noise of the cleaner but maintaining their awareness of what is going on around them.

Ex Demo wireless system ready for interface to Tecpro

We are selling an ex-demo wireless intercom with 2 beltpacks.

This Quail  system comprises of 1 base station, 2 beltpacks, 2 headsets and the drop in 4 way charger.
It is an Ex Demo system, we no longer sell this system it is replaced by the Altair system.
Included in the price are the VMIU Interface which provides an analogue audio input and audio output for connection to external systems such as Tecpro.
Also included is the Tecpro AD903 interface and lead to then get  the communication into and out of Tecpro and similar loop systems.
The Quail system is used by Sainsbury and Fast food chains. It operates at 1.9GHz, away from most DECT phones on 2.4GHz. 
It is full duplex and the beltpacks have 2 mic switches.  Internal (wireless to wireless ) and external (wireless to wireless and wireless to Tecpro) which acts as a on/off mic switch. 
The base station will support up to 6 beltpacks
This Quail system  is ideal for a wireless stage manager or front of house communications in a hall or small theatre interfaced to the house Tecpro or other intercom system.  (the signal willnot pass through walls)  All Full Duplex systems involve a constant carrier transmitter worn on the user.  In the same way body worn radio mics are limited in power output to 10mW, to ensure we dont cook the celebrity over a long period of use,  the same is true for Wireless Beltpacks. As such rule of thumb, coverage is limited to the same as a radio mic range or less! 
The Quail base station has the facility for detachable DECT antennas to help improve coverage. This really assists coverage where the base is located in the bottom of a racked system.
The system will be supplied tested and set for connection to a Tecpro system.
We can supply this also immediately in time for your Xmas production rehearsals. 
The price includes delivery but not installation or a site visit.
Please call Bruce or Duncan for more info 01689 876620

Yours for £1300 + VAT (or £1100 + VAT without AD903 and lead)

Price reduction on ASL headsets

We have reduced the prices on ASL HS1D headsets for Tecpro and other intercom systems. We now list them at only £52. Supplied boxed it is already factory fitted with a 4 pin XLR female plug.
We can also change the plugs in our workshop to XLR4M for RTS beltpacks, XLR5M for CTP talkback, TP120/Nexus for Peltor or just about any other connector...

British Gymnastics World Champion

As Britain's Beth Tweddle won Gold today at the World Gymastics Chamionships at the O2 Arena it was the same Showcomms Jelibox talkback used last month for the C4 Big brother final by Roll to Record that SIS OBs used for crane talback at their coverage for the BBC. Congratulations to Beth!

Earhangers for Aviapartner

Showcomms have provided our MSG-1W-THR earhangers for the EADS Nokia THR880i radio to Aviapartner at Düsseldorf Airport. The popular MSG-1W-THR is similar to the Lowe LEP-190xe-THR but with 1 year no quibble guarantee and off duty carrying pouch.
The Aviapartner Group provides full aircraft handling including handling of passengers, baggage, cargo and mail, maintenance, aircraft cleaning at 31 airports in 5 European countries.

Showcomms supply Arthur's Day celebrations in Lagos

This Thursday is Arthur's Day, the 250th anniversary celebrations of Arthur Guinness signing the 9,000 year lease on the St James's Brewery in Dublin.

Music events are happening in Dublin, Lagos, Kuala Lumpur, New York and Yaoundé and €6 Million has been pledged to the Arthur Guinness Fund by Guinness and Co.

Showcomms have supplied Tecpro beltpacks and headsets to Shell for the Lagos concert, starring Sean Paul.

Across Ireland drinkers will be toasting Arthur Guinness, with countdown clocks across Dublin. Live coverage presented by Cat Deeley and Ronan Keating will be on Sky's Pub TV channel 881. The highlights will be shown on ITV2 in the UK on Sunday 27th September at 12:15am and Tuesday 29th September at 10:00pm

Acts confirmed for Arthur's Day so far are:

  - Black Swan Effect                    - Noise Control
    - Born Blonde                          - OK Go
    - Calvin Harris                        - Oppenheimer
    - Cherbourg                            - Paolo Nutini
    - Concerto for Constantine             - Razorlight
    - D'Banj (performing in Lagos)         - Republic of Loose
    - David Gray                           - Reverend and The Makers
    - David Kitt                           - Richard Hawley
    - Dirty Epics                          - Roots Manuva
    - DJ David Holmes                      - Sean Paul (performing in Lagos)
    - Eoghan Colgan                        - Sharon Shannon
    - Estelle                              - Soul II Soul
    - Fionn Regan                          - Spring Break
    - Fiona Melady                         - Sugababes
    - General Fiasco                       - The Black Eyed Peas (Performing
    - Golden Silvers                          in Kuala Lumpur)
    - Hoarsebox                            - The Blizzards
    - Imelda May                           - The Chakras
    - Jamie Cullum                         - The Chapters
    - Jay Jay Pistolet                     - The Coronas
    - Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club       - The Enemy
    - Johnny Flynn                         - The High Kings
    - Kasabian                             - The Hot Rats
    - Lisa Hannigan                        - The Infomatics
    - Leopold                              - The Kooks
    - Lumiere                              - The Magic Numbers
    - Mick Flannery                        - The Undertones
    - Mongrel                              - The Wombats
    - Nat Jenkins                          - Tom Jones
    - Noah and The Whale                   - White Bell Yellow Tag

STP8000 and MTP850 sales

We are seeing a big increase in our sales of parts for the Sepura STP8000 radio, including to the Dartford Crossing, which is just up the road from us.
In addition we are shipping large number of accessories for the Motorola MTP850 and CEP400, especially to police forces, and of our BG-F Tetra, BG-F Tracker and Centurion headsets for use on the MTP850.

Schools Theatre Support Group

Showcomms are pleased to announce that we are sponsoring the Schools Theatre Support Group.
As their website says:

The Group is open to all professionally-employed theatre support staff working in schools, colleges or other educational establishments; primarily technicians and managers, but also anyone with an active interest, such as teachers with responsibility for the technical side of productions, for example.

Proms in the Park and Thank you for the Music for SIS LIVE

Showcomms are providing backstage show and lighting communications equipment and crew to SIS LIVE for this weekend's Proms in the Park and Thank you for the Music.

The total rig consists of:
2 x crew (Alex Wrigglesworth and James Wilson)
16 x RTS BP325 beltpacks
1 x RTS single channel PS15 power supply
1 x RTS 3 channel PS31 power supply
1 x RTS SAP612 Source Assignment Panel
2 x RTS Biscuit boxes
5 x RTS SSA324 2 to 4 wire converters
4 x CTP 4 wire boxes (1 x 2 channel, 1 x 4 channel, 2 x 6 channel)
1 x Key Radio Base Station
Motorola GP300 radios
1 x JFMG Radio licence

This is the 5th year running that Showcomms have provided backstage comms for Proms in the Park (previously to BBC OBs before they were bought by SIS). As they say, happy customers come back!
Now, where is that Abba CD...

Follow the Showcomms blog on Twitter and Facebook

You can now follow the Showcomms Blog on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/showcomms
and on our Facebook page

RNLI Memorial Opening and open days

Showcomms are providing 58 GP300 and CP040 radios for the RNLI headquarters in Poole this week - for the RNLI memorial opening that happened on Wednesday and for their open days this weekend.

Do pop along to their HQ this weekend, they promise:

Discover what it takes to train our crews and how we design and equip our lifeboats.

Also find out how to become a lifeguard, crew member, or fundraiser in the RNLI - where ordinary people do extraordinary things.

What can you expect?

• Lifeboat tours
• Rescue demonstrations
• Lifeguard / lifeboat displays
• Sea survival pool demonstrations
• Informative talks from the lifeguards and crew members.

Location and times

• Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September 2009
• 10am - 6pm
• £2 entrance fee. Under 5's are FREE

Big Brother Final

Tonight is the Final of Big Brother, and whoever wins out of Sophie, Rodrigo, Siavash, Charlie and David it will be another spectacular show, and the cranes will be using our Jelibox Talkback and Tally System supplied to Roll to Record

Making a splash at the Worthing International Birdman

Showcomms provided radio and wired comms for Factual Productions last weekend for their shooting of the Worthing International Birdman.
Pictured above is Cameraman Noel Greaves-Lord and Director Andy Roberts.
The winner of the contest Steve Elkins just missed the £30,000 prize for a 100 metre flight with a recorded distance of 99.86 metres.
The video below was edited from Factual's footage (though isn't their cut).

Two more Ocean Choice shrimp trawlers being fitted with Showcomms supplied Peltor Dectcom

At the end of June we reported that we had supplied 2 Peltor Dectcom systems for the Kinguk and the Aqviq, two Arctic shrimp trawlers operated by Ocean Choice of Newfoundland.
On 21 July the Kinguk had been fitted with the system and the Aqviq was awaiting fititng. We are delighted to announce that we have taken delivery of a further two identical Peltor Dectcom systems for Ocean Choice, which they will be fitting on the Cape Ballard and the Mersey Viking.

Otto ear defenders at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo

The Edinburgh Tattoo starts today. As everyone knows it is an event of pipes, drums, guns and fireworks!
So Showcomms are supplying 18 sets of our Otto Eardefenders for GP300 radios to BBC Scotland for their Tattoo coverage.
This is the third year running that we have supplied BBC Scotland with ear defenders for the event.

Adjusting your earpiece

We occasionally get people asking how they can stop their curly tube earpiece popping out.
This little diagram gives you the answer.

Wearing the earpiece get a second person to trim back the tube with a small pair of scissors until the loop rests comfortably on top of the ear with the earpiece in (we strongly suggest they only do a little bit at a time!

When that bit is done, if needed, they can do the same trimming the tube between the curly section and the collar until it just has a small amount of tension.

The other thing you can look it is purchasing a skeleton earpiece upgrade.