Sorry, that's never happened before...now it's "public"

I hear it, you might have overloaded the transmitter. Try turning the gain down to -10dB on the transmitter. That's a bit of a long shot though.

Are you getting this a lot? Try bending the mic lead while monitoring, you could have an intermittent in the mic cable / connectors. We only use the MEK Gold mics and have never had a problem but they are kind of expensive. They do include a pop /wind filter which helps as well.

Bob.

Sennheiser locking 1/8" TRS connectors (the male connector attached to the mic cable) are notorious for bad connections from use and stress.

I can't say for certain if this is the cause of your problem, but your description "static shock pops" accurately describes the noise when one is starting to go bad. You can't always reproduce the sound by wiggling the connector until it's ready to fail completely.

It takes a bit of a steady hand when soldering, but the all-metal replacements listed below work well for us. Be sure to use an extra layer of heat-shrink around the cable at the strain relief. We replace at least 10% of our connectors every big run and always have two spare mics with fresh connectors for rapid changeout if one fails during a performance.
Calrad 30-296-BK Plug

Thanks for the link to someone that sells those locking plugs!

We've never had a problem with ours, probably because we use the better mics with the kevlar / teflon cable. Even so we have other gear that uses the same plugs that does fail.

Bob.

[edit] Other thing to check is the aerials, we have had a couple fail over the years when they got bent more than they would tolerate.

Thanks very much guys,
Musicvid, I may have to PM you when I get ready to do this (ie do you just cut the cable at the connection and then solder to the new connection...you know...dumb questions like that).

Bob, I found some
at B&H (below) but can't seem to determine which frequency, A,B,or C I should get. The transmitter is 520-600 but how does one know if it's A,B, or C?



Thanks again,
Randy

Randy,
It's not your antenna. If that was a problem you would experience dropouts and a loss of range, possibly accompanied by low-level static (if your squelch is not set properly); but not audio pops or clicks. The RF bars on your receiver let you know if you have a good signal.

Your problem is in the AF section, most likely the mic section. Try a different mic first to verify. The next step would be to replace the connector on the bad mic, the third step would be to replace the mic completely. There is little else in the AF section and nothing in the FM or RF sections of the bodypack that can cause that kind of noise. An audio issue in the receiver is a less likely possibility.

BTW, Sennheiser's 518+ Mhz frequency range is "A" band. There is only about 1/4" difference in the quarterwave antenna lengths so a lot of people use "B" range antennas interchangeably among various sets with no apparent range problems.
Police routinely use a 9-10" (halfwave) antenna on the bodypack to increase the transmitter range -- they are easy to make and can save your butt by reducing dropouts when you are 300+ ft. away from the receiver.

Another note: The basic vinyl restoration tool in Sound Forge will remove those
pops and clicks like a dream . . .

You can email my user name at gmail if the connector is the problem.

Thanks musicvid,
Unfortunately I don't have another mic to test it with but maybe I should consider just buying a new one (it would be good to have a back-up anyway). I have SF6 and I know I used to have the vinyl restoration tool (cause I've used it on vinyl records) but I didn't see it but I applied Click and crackle removal and it "magically" removed it.
Thanks again musicvid, any suggestion on a mic replacement for a EW 100 G1 ?
Randy

Doing mostly interviews, weddings, speeches?
The Sennheiser ME2 is the standard model (maybe the same one you have, looks like a little mushroom on the end), about $100 on eBay (the connectors on these require replacement from time to time, too)!

The model Bob mentioned (I think he meant the MKE2 EW Gold Omni) is about $375 on eBay; you can also pick up the older MKE2 "Red Dot" used. Other options are Countryman (a little delicate) and the broadcast-standard Sony ECM77BPM (I hesitate to recommend that to you because I haven't actually tried one on a Senny bodypack and don't know if it needs any modification).

Hope this helps. I still strongly recommend you locate another Senny mic to test (ask your local church or theater company) before cutting off connectors or buying a new mic. One quick test is to wiggle the connector or pull on the wire with the bodypack transmitting (mute off) and if the orange AF light blinks, it is bad. But as I mentioned, this does not always tell the story if it is just starting to go bad.

...Another note: The basic vinyl restoration tool in Sound Forge will remove those
pops and clicks like a dream . . ...

What version of Sound Forge has this tool? I'm using version 6 and haven't found it after a quick flick around the menus.

Wayne

I am using Sound Forge 7.
Tools->Vinyl Restoration brings up the "Sony ExpressFX Audio Restoration" plugin.

My guess is that since the NR plugin is included with most later SF versions not everone may not have this little plugin on their machine. Works great though for this type of stuff.

"The model Bob mentioned (I think he meant the MKE2 EW Gold Omni) is about $375 on eBay"

That's the one. I can't really comment on the sound quality but I can say the thing is very robust. You could probably garrote someone with the mic lead.

I'd be very careful buying Sennheiser stuff that seems too cheap to be true on eBay. There seems to be fake Sennheiser gear around. Then again USD 375 is in line with the local dealer price for that mic.

Bob.