The employment of wireless and spectrum management for the ceremonies began in early September with a trip to the venue in Vancouver to do a site visit and a scan of the local RF landscape. This was accomplished thanks to the use of the roof space of an adjacent hotel building. Scans were also done inside the venue. The scans did not reveal anything that we did not already know, as the availability and thoroughness of spectrum information from the government regulator (Industry Canada) was second to none. If all our international spectrum requirements could be met this way, I would be a much happier man.

Having this accurate information made band choices for the RF gear very easy. We were given special permission to utilise both the US/Canadian Radio Astronomy ‘keep out’ band at 608-614MHz for use with our radio microphones, and the recently (almost) cleared 700MHz ex-terrestrial TV band for our In-ear monitors. All spectrum management and frequency solutions for the Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies, the nightly Victory Ceremonies, and the adjacent rehearsal venue were all done in-house by Norwest. Industry Canada did not have the expertise or experience at that time to deal with this quantity of wideband frequencies that were required in such a narrow plan, while maintaining suitable compatibility. Close to 200 frequencies were used across the two venues for Radio Mics, IEM, and ancillary RF such as Broadcasters, Pyro, Automation, and staging set control. All frequencies were compatible to varying levels, and while not guaranteed 100% trouble free if all transmitters were brought into the one venue, all venue could be used simultaneously in its own right, and all survive a reasonable percentage of ‘contamination’ from adjacent systems. This enabled both the Closing Ceremony rehearsals, and the nightly Victories Ceremonies to run simultaneously inside the one venue. The victories Ceremonies themselves had 12 nights of up to 3 bands per night. Each requiring their own radio solutions so as not to interfere with either other bands that night, or the ceremony rehearsals going on ‘behind the curtain’. All performing acts were asked to submit RF requirements prior to the dates, and from here I resolved suitable frequencies, all based around existing gear in use.

The complete RF spectrum was monitored continuously by myself by both a Winradio spectrum scanner, and a Custom waterfall plotting spectrum analyser. I was also given access to an externally sited Doppler Radio Direction Finding system by Industry Canada. With the exception of 3 unauthorised broadcasters detected and shut down with the help of the Industry Canada personnel assigned to police the airwaves (all turned out to be over 800m from the venue), not one RF issue was had over the two and a half months of the gig. This included the 30 odd band setups, over a dozen live performances, and about 8 live ceremonies.

Steve Caldwell