Cathedral of St. Joseph is no longer plagued by dropouts

The wireless microphone system at Cathedral of St. Joseph, the seat of the Archdiocese of Hartford in Hartford, Connecticut, was continuously plagued by dropouts and RF interference, detracting from solemnity that the structure and its mission called for.

“The Archbishop himself would comment on the fact that he found it difficult if not impossible to get through a sermon without a dropout or interference noise,” observed Don Gamsjager, founder and CEO of DNR Labs, who were called in to rectify the problem as part of a larger upgrade of the cathedral’s sound system and FOH console last year. “It was a major problem. Fortunately, we had RF Venue.”

Gamsjager said the existing RF distribution system, installed about 20 years ago, was woefully inadequate and overly complicated, with over 30 components, such as the eight paddle antennas installed throughout the venue. “The church is over 400ft from end to end, and they also hold part of services just outside the main entrance, so there was a lot of space to cover,” he said. Built in 1962 in the international interpretation of the classic cruciform Gothic style, the cathedral is the largest between those in New York and Boston, and seats over 1,750 worshippers in its large expanse of spectacular stained-glass windows. Gamsjager conferred with RF Venue sales director, Adam Brass, and the RF Venue engineering team, and came up with a far simpler solution.

DNR Labs installed two Diversity Fin Antennas, two passive inline Band-Pass Filters, two active In-Line Amplifiers, a 4ZONE antenna combiner and a DISTRO4 antenna distribution system, all from RF Venue’s comprehensive line of essential wireless audio accessories that work with any brand and any model of wireless microphone and IEM system. The two antennas are able to completely cover the church’s interior and part of its exterior worship spaces (one Diversity Fin antenna was installed outdoors in a weatherproof enclosure) without dropouts. In the process, DNR Labs was also able to eliminate old unneeded long coaxial cable runs, with distance defied for the new antenna runs by the active In-Line Amplifiers, designed to compensate for RF antenna signal loss on lengthy coax runs. The band-pass filters are “life-savers” according to Gamsjager, particularly in a dense urban RF environment like Hartford.

Along with the Sennheiser EW-DX wireless microphone system that DNR Labs also installed as part of the project, the church is now said to be completely dropout-free. “We replaced an enormous amount of equipment with a truly minimal amount of gear and got perfect performance,” he said. “The cathedral’s A1, Dave Raymond, says it’s the first time the church has ever experienced a completely dropout-free service. They’re able to take the wireless mics to any location in the church and have a perfect experience with it.”