In Broadcast - November 2015 - 68


68

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 5 - Issue 11 | November 2015

InForm

Clear-Com Serves Up Clear
Calls For Wimbledon
A small army help to run The Championships, and a crucial part of this is clear
communications for the analysis provided of each stroke,
and every point won or lost or contended...

T

his
year's
Championships,
Wimbledon, took place at The All
England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club,
London, from 29 June to 12 July 2015.
Long standing audio suppliers, RG
Jones Sound Engineering, first brought
in Clear-Com in 2014 to test how the
equipment would integrate with the
overall system. Following its success,
they were asked to return in a more
complete capacity.
The 2015 tournament was the 129th
edition of The Championships, the
48th in the Open Era and the third
Grand Slam tournament of the year.
Widely regarded as the premier global
tennis event, Wimbledon attracts more
than 1.2 billion viewers.
For the 15th consecutive year, IBM
was responsible for collecting and

The Chair Umpire's sound
levels are crucial

analysing game match data in realtime, providing The Championships'
information to user groups such as the
press, media, broadcasters and public.
Game Strokes
Statistics collectors sit at the
courtside to capture data from each
match, such as the number of serves,
service direction and return stroke;
each stat collector has to be in contact
with the help desk as well as being
able to hear microphone audio feeds
from around the court, including those
at the Chair Umpire position.
In order to ensure clear and reliable
communication, this year some of
these positions were equipped with
Clear-Com RS-702 intercom beltpacks,
installed by the audio team from RG
Jones Sound Engineering Ltd.
At the heart of this communication
set-up was Clear-Com's Eclipse HXDelta digital matrix. For connecting the
Delta with Clear-Com's RS-702s, twochannel analogue partyline beltpacks,
over the IP network are the LQ-4W2
and LQ-2W2 devices for four-wire and
two-wire IP interfacing, respectively.
The two LQ interface devices enabled
the
bi-directional
transmissions

Clear-Com RS-702 intercom beltpack

of audio signals between / among
intercom beltpack users.
Sound Play
Clear-Com's FreeSpeak II 1.9GHz
wireless
intercom
system
was
also used during play to facilitate
communication between the audio
team located on Centre Court and the
audio sound mixer in a remote mix
position for adjusting sound levels of
the Chair Umpire's mic and cueing
presentations.
When the umpire called a shot, a
sound engineer inside Centre Court
determined the audibility of the
call and then talked to the sound
mixer on his communications panel
via FreeSpeak II, in order to make
adjustments to the sound levels. This
process ensured the spectators could
hear each call loud and clear over the
PA system without delay and without it
being so loud to pose a problem to the
broadcast engineers.
The FreeSpeak II system wireless
beltpacks were seamlessly connected
to the Eclipse HX-Delta matrix system,
via an E-Que-HX card that slots directly
into the matrix.
Two FreeSpeak II Transceiver

Unless you're officiating,
silence is required

Antennas were deployed within the
famous Centre Court to provide
connectivity to all wireless beltpacks in
and around this coverage area.
Full Control
This level of flexibility gave RG Jones
Engineer 'Brew' (James Breward), the
communications system designer and
programmer who was in the audio
control room - full control and onthe-fly programming of all wireless
beltpacks.
Brew said: "RG has tried many
wireless comms systems over the
last five years at Wimbledon, and the
FreeSpeak II has proven to be the
best sounding, most feature-rich and
functional of all the digital systems on
the market.
"We achieved great coverage of the
bowl, the radio rack position and the
majority of the covered walkway from
our control room to Centre Court with
no more than two antennas, both of
which were installed without needing
extensive coverage survey. Clear-Com
will be back for more next year."
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