Like every other live sound engineer new or unfamiliar with RF, I did everything the manuals said; plug in the antenna, scan for a clean frequency and you're ready to go. Then I got thrown into a stadium tour with multiple artists, tons of frequencies and lots of questions.
I can't find enough channels! Why am I getting interference? I spent more time trying to get the RF solid than I did being a sound engineer.
It was unacceptable. I had to make a change. I needed to master RF for my shows to go perfectly every time instead of stumbling through it, making a lot of guesses, and hoping for the best.
That's when I started my quest to gain control of the "wild west" of RF. The technical knowledge is out there but it's very divided between RF services and none really specializing in the technology and deployment of pro audio systems. I spent years compiling information from broadcast and microwave engineers, ham radio operators, professional wireless coordinators, as well as spending thousands of dollars on books and test equipment to wrap my audio mind around the world of RF. A decade later, I can confidently say I found all of the answers I was looking for as well:
Stephen Pavlik
My goal now is to take everything I've found and present it in the type of course I was looking for when I started this journey and to give others the opportunity to learn with a fraction of the time and money it took me as well as share the experience I gained by failing...a lot, so that you don't have to :)
- An FCC part 74 license
- An amateur extra license
- Recognition by the Society of Broadcast Engineers as a certified broadcast technologist as well as a certified radio operator.
