Static/White Noise in Chapel Audio

[kreeve]

1990's building. Chapel audio has loud white noise/static coming from speakers. Podium mic still working but white noise much louder. So had to turn the system off for sacrament meeting.
My first thought was satellite receiver, however that audio feed was turned off at podium control. When I turned it on, the satellite feed worked fine.
Power cycled the on/off at the podium and still the same.

Ideas?

Kevin

[Biggles]

Hearing aid loop system? These are common in the UK and can cause problems, if the gain is set too high.

[lajackson]

When I turned it on, the satellite feed worked fine.

And did the white noise go away? If so, your problem is probably a loose microphone connection. I would start with the sacrament table microphone plug. Ours comes loose about once a quarter.

[russellhltn]

Podium mic, sacrament mic, satellite, and organ are the usual inputs for the chapel. But there are two other mic inputs for hand mics that need to be checked. Perhaps a tech left a test device behind.

I'd you fall to find anything, if recommend reporting it to FM via the FIR app/webpage.

[kreeve]

All great ideas. Thank you! Interesting enough, they tried to turn it on several times during the meeting to see if it went away, however the loud white noise was still there. After the meeting was over I went in and turned it on, and the system was fine. So will go start playing with all the mic inputs and see if I can find the culprit.
Thanks all for the ideas.

Kevin

[lajackson]

As a very temporary fix, if the noise goes away when you turn the satellite system sound on, you can do that and turn the satellite volume all the way down. That will still give you a pulpit microphone, but it will be about 6 dB lower in volume (because the satellite is on). Better than nothing, though.

Hopefully, you will find the errant connector and, if not, do submit a FIR to the FM Group. And put it on a 7-day deadline since it affects sacrament meeting. If you have it in by Tuesday, they are supposed to have it fixed by Sunday.

[russellhltn]

As a very temporary fix, if the noise goes away when you turn the satellite system sound on, you can do that and turn the satellite volume all the way down. That will still give you a pulpit microphone, but it will be about 6 dB lower in volume (because the satellite is on). Better than nothing, though.

IIRC, it disables the sacrament mic. It also disables the other microphone inputs.

The theory of a forgotten noise generator starts sounding better.

[mevans]

Does your building have a sound masking system around the bishops' and stake presidents' offices? Could the output from the masking system noise generator somehow be going into the chapel? It depends how it's set up how easy it would be to make that happen by accident. If you're still living with a 1990s audio system, it's more likely a mechanical issue somewhere (connection, dial, etc.). If it's a newer system, it's all controlled by connecting a laptop.

If it's a newer system, I think your options are limited to prayer and calling the FM group. If it's an older system, there could be options, which besides the obvious mechanical connections might include dials or dip switches on circuit boards.

[rmrichesjr]

If it's a newer system with Ivie DSPs and such, there's a slight possibility the DSP or switch matrix simply had a soft error and got into an odd state, possibly routing masking noise to the chapel amplifiers. If that were the case, power cycling the whole rack (either by circuit breaker or by pulling the plugs to the PDUs if you can get into the rack) _might_ clear it up.

[davepet]

1990 building - We have a similar problem but it is the satellite feed bleeding into the chapel PA instead of white noise.
Our problem just started,
If the satellite sound push-button switch is off (NO LED light) with volume set to zero, the satellite audio bleeds through at a low but VERY noticeable level.
If the satellite push-button switch is on (RED led lit) the satellite volume can be controlled, and when satellite volume is set to zero there is no satellite sound.
I have witnesses (me includes) that this did not happen before.

Is that just the way it is nor or is there a problem developing ?