Case Study
Tour Guide System Rental in New York City
How iProbe's full service tour guide system rental enhances the High Line visitor experience

the client's need

we helped with

• a full service rental of a tour guide system

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the challenge

For a travel company to organize a private tour of the High Line in New York City requires significant preparation. To enjoy a great user experience the tour group needs to clearly hear the tour guide.

When a leading Brazilian luxury travel company booked iProbe to support their tour of The High Line, iProbe was tasked to design a solution to meet the needs of such groups.

the solution

local rental in NYC

when a group flies in from overseas to tour New York City sites, it's convenient to rent a tour guide system locally. The group doesn't have to be concerned carrying extra equipment during travel, and can count on equipment that meets United States' FCC regulations for FM systems. iProbe has its rental equipment in Manhattan available, minutes away from the High Line.

full service rental

an added convenience is the possibility to have someone from our team help with set up, a quick start system training, and to make sure everything is working well. We can provide a tour audio technician to stay and offer technical support during the tour. Support is available in English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch. At the end of the tour, we can have someone collect the equipment.

line of sight beween transmitter and receiver

it's essential to maintain line of sight between the tour guide wearing the body pack transmitter and the tour group members’ receivers. Specifically, line of sight between the bodypack transmitter and the earphone cable connected to the receiver, which acts as the receiving antenna.

following a route where the group can spread out, for example, by forming an arc around the tour guide, should help maintain line of sight.

A shoulder bag packed with a tour guide system.

A shoulder bag packed with a tour guide system mounted to a trolley.

packing tour guide equipment for the High Line

For outdoors tours, we typically pack equipment in professional moisture-resistant bags or backpacks, with a waterproof cover and/or poncho available. The bag needs to be sufficient large to contain main and backup equipment for a tour of about 30 people. For groups opting for a full service rental with our technician accompanying the group, the High Line involves quite a bit of walking navigating side walks and stairs. Our roller bag solution, composed of a shoulder bag and a trolley makes it easy for the group to be accompanied by our tour audio technician. If needed, the bag and trolley can be separated from each other and hand carried.

a near interference-free experience in a crowded city environment

When using tour guide systems in Manhattan where a lot of radio frequencies can be at play, there's an increased chance of RF interference. To mitigate issues at the High Line, it's important for tour guide systems to have various frequencies to choose from. At iProbe, we usually prefer frequencies in the 72-76 Mhz in the VHF band. Other permissable frequencies for unlicensed users can be found in the 216 Mhz band or 2.4 Ghz band.

Before delivering the equipment, we preset the frequency of the transmitters and receivers. Once on location, time permitting, we test with the tour guide to ensure the tour guide's voice is clear and transmission is functioning correctly. If needed, we switch to another channel as our portable FM tour guide systems offer many frequencies to choose from. It's also important to test the microphone level as excessively high levels could amplify certain sounds, which could be perceived as noise. Conducting such tests before the client's arrival is crucial, as troubleshooting during a tour is cumbersome and disruptive.

rental return

Returning the equipment after our full service rentals is a breeze. Our technician collects the equipment to be returned to iProbe.