Ground Loops...basic elimination steps!?

[joaquin]

Hi. Yesterday I had to feed two cameras for a TV show that I was recording for. At one point, one of the cameras, feed with a 10Pin betacam snake started to get the annoying ground buzz. That specific one's audio was for sync pourpose and not indispensable, so after moving my cables, blaming the lights, etc, we keep shooting. The noise went away after a while, and in the end, the client was very happy with the results...fhiuuu!.
My question is, what are the basic steps in order to resolve in a time stressful situation when this happens?
Thanks for the advice.......................Joaquin.

[Remoteness]

Joaquin,

Did you ever find out what made that intermittent noise? Was it their cable, your gear or those damn lighting folks with their dimmers?

You must totally isolate your gear's chassis from their gear's chassis. We use video and audio isolation transformers for this purpose. It's the key to making your life easier on a location shoot. We place XFMRs on our video feeds, video black, mic & line level audio, SMPTE TC and AC power.

Supplying your own cables and connections will also improve your confidence level as long as they're in good working order. We check our mission critical devices and harnesses before we head off to the gig. It's a choice -- Many folks don't bother with that kind of stuff and deal with it on location. I prefer to come prepared and confident that all equipment and cabling is in good to excellent working order. I'm funny like that. Things seem to break when you least expect it. Why show up with faulty items, you surely wouldn't need the extra drama.

[joaquin]

Hi Steve!! Good to have you back Hope we'll eventually get to hear the stories from your last gigs

Did you ever find out what made that intermittent noise?

...No. There wasn't much time to look around and it actually went away (the noise). Pretty sure it was coming from all the cables lying around. I did use my own cables tough, and never had a problem like that, but it must happen a lot I guess. The Mixer was a portable one, so I had it on my lap...isolated...I guess!? and The noise was specifically on one of the cameras, the other one was perfect. The three, 2 cameras and mixer, were powered with portable batteries. Lights, monitor, and the Gib-crane were pluged, but tried to avoid power cables the most.
Thanks for all the advice, I'll look for the transformers in the internet so I'll learn something.
Thanks again.....................Joaquin.

[Westmalle]

What transformers can be used here?

[Remoteness]

Sescom IL19 barrels work well for 600/600 Ohm lines, but any decent 600/600 XFMR will work. I've been using ProTech Snap Track XFMRs for decades with good results. Of course, Jensen makes them too...

Jensen and other manufactures like North Hills make video XFMRs.