loud and seemingly random static noise from Sennheiser G3 wireless set

inca

New member
I have a Sennheiser G3 wireless transmitter/receiver set with a lavalier microphone.
I connect this set to a Zoom H4N when I am recording presentations in a yearly summer school. Out of 20 or so presentations there will always be a handful that has this loud static noise that peaks occasionally, ruining the audio experience. As they are short bursts of static noise, sometimes getting rid of the audio only for that split second of video is the best I can do in post, but sometimes the noise is too bad to remove without making it obvious in the final video. I could not figure out the reason for this, to prevent it from happening again. Any ideas?
Thanks.

A few seconds of sample video is here:
https://copy.com/XIP73EeyTFq2LSeO
 
I did not hear anything like "loud static noise".
I did hear several examples of what sounded like peak clipping.
And perhaps even some circuit overload while recovering from the clipping.
I heard nothing resembling RFI, from audience cell phones or from any other source.
What frequency/channel were you using?
Did you gain-stage the transmitter, receiver, recorder, camera (whatever) properly?

 
I don't hear any atypical 'RF hits' either. The apparent dropouts could be caused by high squelch setting... or if the OP added a gate/expander. Clipping could be caused by an excessive preamp gain or the transmitter's 'sensitivity' setting.

FWIW, Frequency selection is one of the most important setting in using a wireless system (at least for the VHF/UHF systems).
Furthermore, the Sennheiser G2/3 series receiver's internal scanner is next to useless in a populated RF environment and many folks use an external RF scanner to find a 'vacant' slot. At the least, consult an online frequency finder, to eliminate interference from local TV transmission.
 
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