Comtek BST 75-216 – a quick review

The new Comtek BST 75-216 is a 12-volt DC powered mini-base station transmitter that’s roughly half the size of the Comtek BST 25-216. It’s small and rugged enough for bag use and is capable of a much higher RF output than the 10mW belt pack M-216 transmitter.

At 100mW, the BST 75-216 has enough power to drive a Phonak Invisity in-ear receiver. With this application in mind, I did a quick walk test inside and outside our office building using a Phonak Invisity and the range I got from the BST 75-216 was very similar to that of the larger BST 25-216. I was around 50-60 yards away from the transmitter, with 3-4 walls in between, before I started getting any signal drop-outs. The BST 75-216 can be externally powered from a Remote Audio BDS system using the BDSCL33 cable or from a battery cup like the NPADCL33. You can also use an external antenna like the Remote Audio MW216 Kit to extend the range. It only weighs 17 oz. & draws just 200 mA of current, so it would be similar to adding one Lectro UCR411A to your sound kit. One other thing of note, it will only accept a +4 line or -10 consumer line level source. It will not provide enough gain to use a mic level signal.

At only $672, the BST 75-216 is the perfect fit for the ENG sound mixer needing more range for their IFB receivers, or the cart-based sound mixer looking to add a small footprint IFB transmitter to their kit. Comtek also offers rack mounting options for the receiver. They have face plates that will hold up to 4 transmitters in a single rack space. In addition, Comtek has recently started offering 2 different EQ options of the BST 75-216. The “pro audio” EQ has a lower frequency response while the “speech” EQ version cuts low frequencies and is ideal for use with the Phonak Invisity in-ear receivers.