Camera and comms specialist, HDwireless, delivered a Clear-Com digital wireless system supplied by Audio-Technica to power communications during a submarine expedition to the bottom of the deepest lake in Austria.
Part of the Tiefenrausch research project which aims to discover “the sounds of the Earth”, reliable communication technology was essential to support the five, 12-hour days of diving, which required approval from the Austrian military.
HDwireless specified Clear-Com’s FreeSpeak Edge wireless system due to the range of applications and audio quality. The submarine crew and guest were equipped with FreeSpeak Edge beltpacks, enabling all crew members to communicate with each other and send feeds to the TV production’s OB van on land. The van was equipped with an Eclipse HX digital matrix system and V-series Iris keypanels.
The land-based crew and pontoon boat based crew were also able to communicate via the Agent-IC mobile app.
Patrick Nußbaum, Managing Director, HDwireless, commented: “We were not only responsible for the communication within the submarine and to the crew ashore, but we also used the FreeSpeak Edge system for the entire broadcast sound of the television transmission
“At a depth of nearly 200 meters, you have to be really safe. If you’re out there and have no way to communicate with the submarine, the OB van or the crew on land, you have a real problem. It’s a big security factor. The products simply work. And we would do this all again using that equipment.”