My understanding is that they will only investigate after someone that is licensed to use those frequencies experiences interference and makes a complaint to the FCC. If they do cite you for causing interference on those frequencies, you will be shut down and the actors will have to learn to project. Do you dare take that chance? That's up to you factoring in the skills of your actors.

 

I suspect that your odds of not being shut down any time soon are pretty decent, but it is a gamble. I don't know if they will even fine people that get caught, assuming that the venue using the offending mics stops using  them immediately.

 

Fortunately my venue has new enough mics that work on legal frequencies, so I don't have to worry about it.

 

Another critical aspect is that some of the '700MHz' spectrum is assigned for first responder or public safety use and people are running into local public safety officials looking for other operations on those frequencies.  Not to mention the potential legal or public relations issues should one of your mics interfere with a public safety use.

 

Adding to this, many of the legal users of the 700MHz spectrum are starting to implement their new services, in many cases making them unusable for wireless microphones.  People are finding that 700MHz wireless systems that worked last week or even last night may suddenly be no longer be usable.

 

 

The first responder issue has been brought up by Shure in the context of an emergency at the facility using the wireless mic.  Their point is that if there were a medical emergency at your theatre do you want to assume the potential liability of interfering with any related communications?  It does seem that many life safety agencies are actively enforcing the availability of their spectrum before it becomes a problem.  One person related being rather surprised when a state police officer stopped by their high school theatre to tell them the police had traced interference with their communications systems to the theatre's 700MHz wireless systems and they had to cease use immediately.  At the same time, some of the legal users of the 700MHz spectrum are starting to implement their new systems on a much broader basis and this will make much of that related spectrum untenable for wireless mic use.

 

This actually seems to be a good opportunity for many to reevaluate their use of and dependence on wireless mics and some people are apparently surprised to find out how well they can still function with wired mics or even no mics at all where they used to automatically apply a wireless system.

 

I put the old ones in my junk closet for now.  The mics are not very old and still in good working order, so it would be a shame to trash them.   I wonder if we could sell them off to someone overseas or something...?