FM transmitter dropping signal

[Nancy Harris]

I have a LOR Whole nHouse FM Transmitter and we get good reception in the drive and about 100 ft from the house. At that point we pick up some background voices and when we come back toward the house and into the driveway it remains garbled. Should I have gotten a different transmitter?

Thanks,

Nancy

[George Simmons]

Yes.

[Nancy Harris]

Which one?

[George Simmons]

Any.

[JBullard]

EDM has my vote

[George Simmons]

Ditto. And don't skimp on the antenna. Match up a good transmitter with a good antenna and you're set for years.

[gizmomkr]

Also NOT a fan of whole house.

I bought an "Ele FM" unit off e-bay. (cost me 65.00 bucks, and goes about 2 blocks with standard antenna)

A quick note about signal gonig bad as you head bac kto the house:

I would guess that your cars antenna is mounted to the rear. The car body gets in the way of recieving the signal. I bet if you stop the car somewhere along the way and turn it around, the reception gets better.

Getting your Antenna up higher will help, but getting a better transmitter will help more.

[larry oneill]

had the whole house that i got from lor could not get to the driveway bought a mobile black box 4000 and get farther than i really want to expecting the men in black vans anytime now

[Nancy Harris]

When I google EDM it looks like something I would have to build a case for, is that correct? I need a plug and program.

Thanks for all the help from everyone on this problem. I love the LOR products but this is definately a weak link in the setup of a great show. I'm disappointed that I spent this much money and the quality of the controllers didn't carry over to the FM transmitter.

Live and learn,

Nancy

[Max-Paul]

Gizmo

It would seem that the car gets in the way. but actually it is the opposite way. The car body is the ground plane to the vertical wire. I like to call it the hot element of the antenna. Now if you had an antenna dead center on the top of the passenger compartment you would get good reception to the front and back and a little lower to the sides. Now if the antenna is in the back of the trunk (think old 60s car's trunk) most of your receive would be towards the front with some to the back and sides. Now same old fashion car but you mount the antenna to the front driver corner of the trunk. You would receive better to the front and better yet to the passenger's front corner. You would also see better reception to the passenger's side versus the driver's side.

So, in short the car body helps to direct the antennas gain pattern. The gain is where there is more metal from the antenna to the edge of the car.

Pick up an old Amateur Radio Hand Book and do some reading. Interesting stuff in that book. But get one of the old ones if you can. Cheaper and more building of stuff back then. Now days the Radios use surface mount stuff and makes the radios do more back flips. But if one breaks, your screwed. An old KWM-2A is field repairable for all but a few things.

[Linda McDonald]

Nancy Harris wrote:

I have a LOR Whole nHouse FM Transmitter and we get good reception in the drive and about 100 ft from the house. At that point we pick up some background voices and when we come back toward the house and into the driveway it remains garbled. Should I have gotten a different transmitter?

Thanks,

Nancy

We use the one supplied by LOR and it works great. We have an elderly couple that drive by every night. Last night I could hear the bass thumping in their car (Silent Night by the Temptations was playing) as they were coming down the street. My brother has an awesome Bose system in his car and he drives by almost every night and he can get reception from about three or four houses away. He can't believe how great the sound is (and still can't figure out how we do it). However, tonight, I heard a car honking outside, it was my brother. I ran out to see what he wanted and he told me that the reception was horrible -- he said lots of static. When I went in to checkout our system, I found that my daughter had turn the speaker volume on the laptop to 100%. As soon as I turned the volume control back to 50%, he said the reception was great.

I also dropped it the other day and found that I had accidentally turned the volume way up on the transmitter. When I turned the speakers on the laptop back to 50%, I also put the volume on the transmitter to 50%. However, since I wasn't listening to the radio at the time, I don't know if the change in the volume of the transmitter made a difference.

I didn't have a clue of what an FM transmitter even looked like before we got our LOR a couple of weeks ago, that's why I went ahead and purchased the one from LOR. But, I don't have any complaints.

[Nancy Harris]

Excellent suggestions and I will try them because I do have my volume up all the way.

Thanks, Nancy

[Max-Paul]

Ladies sorry but lets just call this possible "guys revenge". So, either the transmitter did not come with instructions. Or the ladies are just as guilty of NOT READING THE INSTRUCTIONS as us guys. Please do not take offense. Just have a little fun back at the gentler gender.

[wglyons]

I have the Range Star from Dagco Electronics...Amazing range, and very clear...I'm surprised I don't hear of anyone else with this transmitter...At $140 shipped, it's a great deal!!!

Greg

[JBullard]

wglyons wrote:

I have the Range Star from Dagco Electronics...Amazing range, and very clear...I'm surprised I don't hear of anyone else with this transmitter...At $140 shipped, it's a great deal!!!

Greg

It's the same as / and made by Hilly from China.

Dagco is just a reseller, not a mfg.

[Jim Saul]

Hi Nancy, I have the whole house 2 from LOR, and it is working great.
Did you attache the antenna wire and trim it for your frequency?
Where is it located?
I had to put mine in a plastic box outside of the house, with the antenna wire running to the icicle lights from the roof. Once I relocated it, all problems went away.

also, make sure that the antenna wire is going vertical.

[gizmomkr]

Max-Paul wrote:

So, in short the car body helps to direct the antennas gain pattern. The gain is where there is more metal from the antenna to the edge of the car.

My REAL WORLD experience is that when I drive with the antenna away from the house / transmitter with the car body inbetween - my distance is limited to about half that of the car when facing the oppisit direction. I offer my experience as reason why nancy states "we come back toward the house and into the driveway it remains garbled"

Besides the point because what nancy really wants is a better stronger signal. I dont think gain / volume is the issue as nancy says its good in the driveway and about 100ft from the house.

Unfortunately transmitters are an item thats hard to say "this works for me, and will work for you" we cant control or predict many of the factors that various perople will encounter. Anything fron the weather to near by transmitting equipment to antenna to grounding to antenna placment (just to name a couple) can effect the transmition.

1. Pick a good frequency - My advice: find a station with static. move up and down the dial, make sure at least 2 clicks up and down fro myour channel is also nothing but noise. - thats probably a good open channel.

2. If your using the whole house unit - get it as high as you can and as close as possible to your street as you can. I have seen some folks make a capsule out of PVC. If you have a porch in front - great. Whatever you can to get it closer to the street.

3. Use good clean power source.

If none of these bring you the range you are seeking, I would encourrage you to seek a higher power transmitter.

[Max-Paul]

Gizmo,

There is also little things about FM demodulation you need to know or remember to apply to the situation. Have you heard about capture being applied to FM radio receiver? Maybe there is a strong signal from an adjacent frequency. That sounds like static but is really blocking the reception of her transmitter. I mean think about it. Do you think she backed out of her driveway and then didn't she more than likely pull back in when she returned. What is the difference before and after? Seems to me that the car and antenna is in the same position in both cases. So, what changed? You sir do not fully grasp a troubleshooters mentality. Tell you what, I wont discuss this any further. To many engineers have written about antenna radiation/reception patterns. And have given examples that you can read about. Like I said before. If you want to better understand what is what. Then get yourself an Amateur Radio Handbook. Many community Libraries even have had these manuals. Due to the lack in interest in Ham Radio. These manuals might be harder to find now days used or in Libraries.

Due to you not being a Amateur Radio operator or a person that has worked on radio systems as a professional. You have to understand why I will not talk to you about this issue. I no longer wish to wrestle with a pig. You just getting your jollies and I rather not have to clean the dirt off of me.

[gizmomkr]

Max,

Im not here to get you all worked up. I have at least offered Nancy 3 SOLID items to improve her situation - thats my "troubleshooters mentality"

Meanwhile you have offered Nancy lots of advice about MY lack of knoledge about RF Demodulation.

Its funny because I actually started writing about Noise floor and Radio Spectrum - but quickly erased that line because telling Nancy she may have poor reception due to a High Noise floor or overlapping frequencies - and that she could go purchase a spectrum analyzer... Well I tihnk thats just going to confuse her and make her feel lost and helpless. "Finding a fuzzy radio station" sounds a lot easier.

[Bernie S.]

Ok, i got my Whole house transmitter today plugged it in, straightened out the antenna and i'm getting nothing if i move it next to the radio in my house it sounds great, but more then 5 feet nothing, my car out front of my house roughly 20-30 ft i can just barlie hear it very disappointed any advice i see a lot of people say there great did u extend the antenna or anything please help super disappointed.