Clear-Com Wins Votes at Conservative Political Action Conference

Clear-Com announces that CMI Communications, a convention and meeting company delivering full production services and technologies, utilized Clear-Com's reliable wireless intercom for the event production of the 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Clear-Com's Tempest2400 2.4 GHz wireless system proved to be the intercom solution, offering coverage and clarity in the RF-hostile conference environment.

The Tempest2400 operated flawlessly to enable backstage communications for the production team at the CPAC venue, the company says. The four-channeled Tempest wireless beltpacks were employed by the show lead, technical director, and A2 to coordinate the smooth procession of high-level political figures and important speakers from the green rooms (the areas where they prepared for their presentation), to the large ballroom, where the speeches were given. Despite the RF-saturated site, dense walls, and plethora of equipment, Tempest consistently provided a clear signal for the crew between the green rooms and main show floor.

"When it comes to wireless frequencies, the spectrum in Washington D.C is very crowded. With the number of television crews coming to the CPAC event with their own wireless systems, it would have been practically impossible for us to use a UHF communications system," says Nathan Pocock, audio engineer, CMI Communications. "We were only considering a 2.4 GHz intercom and yet, several that we initially tried did not function well because of interference. However, because of the Tempest's advanced RF technology, we had complete audio clarity and full wireless coverage in all our workspaces, even within that frequency band."

2.4 GHz was an already congested band in the CPAC site with the huge number of consumer devices, wireless routers, and equipment from the hotel and broadcast crews that were operating in that range. The Tempest2400, designed with Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum technology, utilizes a narrow band signal that is continually changing frequencies to powerfully burn through RF noise and interference, optimizing sound quality for CMI Communications, the company says. In addition, the 2xTX technology of the Tempest sends all voice communications data twice, one from each antenna, to further assure uninterrupted, high quality audio communications.

"There doesn't seem to be another product like the Tempest2400 in the 2.4 GHz spectrum. The system is loaded with value-added features," adds Pocock. "With most other products, the channels on the wireless beltpacks share a linked volume. Each channel on the Tempest2400 beltpacks, however, had its own independent volume so that you can control the levels for the talk and listen. Each beltpack was also customizable and the auto-nulling got rid of extraneous noise on the communication system. The Tempest is definitely a system I would use again in future productions."

The 39th annual Conservative Political Action Conference, a project of the American Conservative Union, was held February 9-11. CMI Communications coordinated the entire production for the 2012 CPAC, including lighting, video, audio, staging, design, along with communications, and has been doing so for nearly a decade.