Founded by Mark Kaltman in 2006, Kaltman Creations was never about doing things the usual way or creating “me-too” knockoffs. But perhaps that’s the way of many innovators who shape the direction of an industry. Now his latest product, RF-ResQ™ continues Kaltman’s tradition of coming up with something that redefines the way many of us will work in the future, just as he did with earlier inventions, like the Invisible Waves RF Command Center, the RF-id SOLO and Station, RF-intermodPro and RF-Vue.
Maybe it also has something to do with being in the right place at the right time in history. Over the years, Kaltman Creations have evolved into a major supplier of RF analysis and management solutions that address specific issues facing the pro-audio community, helping users achieve excellent, predictable results from their wireless gear.
And the world of the RF jungle gets more complicated everyday, with ever-shrinking frequency spectra, especially with the FCC’s auction of much of the 600 MHz band slated to go on the block in less than a year. (Note: For an update on what’s happening on this front, see the article on page 58 of this issue.) Unfortunately, even users who are not currently operating in that frequency range will also be affected by the FCC’s upcoming reallocation changes, as with the closure of much of the 600 MHz band, some users from that range will migrate to wherever you might be today, creating more congestion and spectral squeezing. Meanwhile the demand for pro wireless is on the rise, with more users turning to IEM’s, wireless intercoms and RF mic/instrument systems.
“I’m not one that likes to prey on people’s bad luck, but our whole company is kind of founded around the FCC’s re-allocation that goes back to when the company started in 2006,” said Kaltman in a 2013 interview in FRONT of HOUSE. But in any case, a lot of pro users have benefitted from extensive line of products that are designed to provide solutions to RF issues, whether in the form of analysis systems to identify clear spaces (or problem frequencies to avoid or highly efficient antenna systems, such as the high-performance CPAntenna.
Evidently the concept has caught on, as Kaltman Creations products have been road-proven on countless tours including artists such as Peter Gabriel, U2, Michael Bublé, Zac Brown Band, Neil Diamond and Cirque de Soleil; networks such as CBS, NBC, FOX; and sports events throughout the world. And the company shows no signs of slowing down. At this month’s InfoComm 2015 show in Orlando, Kaltman will expand its offerings with the official launch of the RF-ResQ, its latest innovation.
A Whole New (RF) World
Kaltman Creations’ RF-ResQ reaches out and redefines an entirely new category of pro audio gear: signal processing applied to antenna signals. Actually outboard devices in the antenna chain are nothing new, and products such as splitters, combiners, distribution amplifiers, signal boosters and active antennas of every possible configuration have existed for decades.
But a signal processor that actively shapes, tweaks (and eventually boosts) an antenna’s signal for improved performance — and increased wireless channel population within a space — is something entirely new. And that is exactly what the RF-ResQ does.
The irony here is that we all exist in an industry where DSP and signal shaping, whether in the form of equalization, filtering, compression, limiting, spatial manipulation (i.e., reverb/delay), modulation effects (and even Autotune) are all part of our daily lives. Yet the concept of selectively tweaking certain parts of the RF spectrum had never been done in pro audio up until now. In fact, at this point, every person that works with pro wireless (myself included) should be slapping their collective foreheads, saying “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Enter The RF-ResQ
In a pre-InfoComm announcement, Kaltman, made the initial briefing that explained part of the technology behind the RF-ResQ. “We secured the rights and ownership to advanced filtering technology, which was previously used in military, nuclear plant and critical data communications. After two years of development, we have successfully produced a filter technology with Q-values over 6,000 which we have adapted to function in the UHF bands for professional audio wireless applications.”
The result from all this is the RF-ResQ (Receiver Enhancement System), an antenna signal processor that will rescue and salvage unusable RF spectrum and substantially reduce interference, but “that’s only the beginning,” the announcement hinted.
“First and foremost the RF-ResQ is the world’s first, standalone wireless microphone filtering system employing multiple military spec, very high-Q bandpass filters,” Kaltman states. “The ResQ will clean-up the received RF spectrum allowing for closer adjacent channel spacing (potentially doubling the available channels with no sacrifice to power), substantially reduce interference, reduce intermodulation and improve the reception of weaker transmissions.”
The RF-ResQ also functions as an 8-channel antenna distribution amplifier with an RF router that allows its filters to adapt to various receiver and distribution configurations. This means one filter/frequency per receiver channel, which ultimately means that the receiver only sees its assigned transmitter frequency — and nothing else — with no out-of-band RF interference to bog down and de-sensitize the receiver’s input, as shown in Fig. 1. Or select “combined signal routing” to feed receiver/distribution integrated systems, as found in some newer digital mic systems.
After the RF-ResQ assigns a single, frequency cleaned-up, bandpass-filtered feed for each transmitter frequency, the ResQ’s per-channel amplifier can be used to maximize the individual RF signals up to 10 dB. This negates the need for amplified antennas in many instances. Or as Kaltman stated, “Why amplify all of the RF including the RF noise when the ResQ amplifies only specific frequencies as needed?”
The RF-ResQ also incorporates a new antenna diversity technology, called DiverseQTM, which pre-filters the antenna A/B signals in the IF stage for fastest, accurate and quiet antenna switching. With this improved Diversity function being performed within the RF-ResQ, there is no longer a need for a two-antenna connection at the receiver input.
The RF-ResQ works with industry standard antennas and with both analog and digital wireless microphones in the 470 MHz to 928 MHz range; so it’s one model for worldwide operations. Frequency, gain and routing assignments are easily performed via a LAN or USB/laptop connection to the rack-mounted unit. The RF-ResQ simply installs between the antennas and receivers. And with its router capability, the RF-ResQ can be used either as a direct replacement or in conjunction with an existing antenna distribution system.
Each unit has eight individual channels of RF-ResQ proprietary assignable wireless mic bandpass filter/processing, as well as features such as up to 10 dB of amplification on each channel, antenna distribution/routing functionality. The RF-ResQ can be controlled via a network or USB, but once desired parameters are set up, it can be locked and left alone, making it ideal in many fixed installation applications.
Once set up, operation is straightforward. The single rack-space front panel is Spartan with simply an illuminated power switch. The rear panel has two BNC inputs for antennas “A” and “B,” along with eight BNC outputs that connect to your wireless receivers and network and USB ports for communicating to the outside world. And operations occur in a matter of nanoseconds, so latency will never be an issue.
For more information about Kaltman Creations, go to www.kaltmancreationsllc.com or visit booth #1328 at this month’s InfoComm show in Orlando.
