Bluetooth Interruptions 1.2.1 Firmware

[Mark]

I have the CQ12T in my home studio and have found that if I use my phone on one side of the room, 10ft at most from CQ it will work fine until something blocks line of sight. This could be me over the CQ working on the screen, or sitting at my desk in between the two and my head moves into the path. It could also be as simple as touching the Bluetooth symbol on the left side of the CQ with just one fingertip. This is very repeatable.

We also have the 20b in our group studio. I have not had a chance to test with it in detail but I have had it at events, 30ft away from phone and many people walking in between and never had any issues.

I found this because of people complaining in other forums and started to test with it myself.

Mark

[KeithJ A&H]

@Mark

The CQ-12T uses a different Bluetooth module to the CQ-18T and CQ-20B.
The CQ-18T and CQ-20B make use of the built-in external antenna, where the CQ-12T has a smaller internal antenna.
“It could also be as simple as touching the Bluetooth symbol on the left side of the CQ with just one fingertip.” – the bluetooth symbol is on the plastic ‘window’ which is required to let the signal in/out of the unit, as the rest of the chassis is metal. So yes, blocking this ‘window’ will affect the connection.
Like all Wireless connections, the performance of the Bluetooth will be affected by the environment it’s used in and can be blocked by metal, water, people etc… as well as suffer from interference from other wireless signals.

The Bluetooth on all CQ’s is intended for use close by to the CQ with line of sight. We added it mainly for convenience because most modern devices do not have a analogue audio (headphone) output.
It’s not intended to be used at distance or through walls and people, it just so happens that the Bluetooth on the CQ-18T and CQ-20B work very well!

Thanks,
Keith.

[Mark]

I understand your explanation, but the performance is really bad. Just because my head passes between the path to the device 7ft away shouldn’t cause such disruption. I can completely cover the antennae of the CQ20B with my hand while standing over it. I can have a sea of people 30ft away intersecting line of sight and have it work perfectly. One show was probably even partially blocked by a concrete wall and it still worked without interruption. There is a drastic performance difference.

For my needs this isn’t really an issue, I use the 12T as an audio interface and since its just BT4 I always knew if I really wanted to use it I would connect a BT5 receiver to the ST1.

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