The What: At NAB 2016, Clear-Com, unveiled its FreeSpeak II Base Station, or FreeSpeak II-Base2.
The FreeSpeak II-Base2 offers three different modes: Base Station for digital signal transmission; a headset master station for operators to communicate with anyone on the system; and an intuitive menu user interface for configuring setup and making real-time system changes. The new FreeSpeak II-Base2 is expanded to support up to 25 full-duplex wireless beltpacks and cover a large production area with 10 distributed-antenna transceivers and two transceiver splitters spanning up to 3,200 feet away from the base station.
The What Else: Similar to its predecessor, the FreeSpeak II-Base2 can provide wireless communication coverage in the 1.9GHz and 2.4GHz frequency bands. This is advantageous in productions where the RF space may be crowded with 2.4GHz or Wi-Fi devices.
In addition to serving as a base station for signal transmission, it can also operate as a headset master station for any user operator to make and receive calls and talk with anyone on the system using the four OLED displays with individual call and talk keys. Multiple two-wire and four-wire ports are also available to connect with any industry-standard analog partyline and four-wire audio devices, respectively.
The Bottom Line: The Base Station’s cascade menu structure allows one to program the entire system, including the beltpack assignments. Configuration and monitoring is also available through the real-time Core Configuration Manager (CCM) browser-based tool, which is also used for setting up HelixNet Version 3.0.
“The new FreeSpeak II-Base2 perfectly complements this wireless intercom family by enhancing the entire system with an expanded functionality, improved interfacing, and ease of use through real-time browser configuration and monitoring,” said Craig Fredrickson, product manager of Clear-Com.
