Cheap FM Transmitter

[harrison0550]

That would be perfect! I will be by around 2 ish. It would be better if you weren't there just in case you have second thoughts.

[JBullard]

I'm taking my girlfriend to the Windsong to see a movie, picking her up around 1:30.

[Surfing4Dough]

l0chte wrote:

I think I'm going with Tunecast II and going to try a mod, If I have to Ill run a sort of super long audio cord out to the road..
Thanks!

Great deals on such cords:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218

[l0chte]

I was going to splice my own if I had to but those are just unbeatable.. Might have to impulse buy..

(Shipping is around 6 bucks from my quick testing) Still sweet!

NVM, its smaller for small cords. Like this site.

Also, everyone on this forum is so helpful and I think I'll like it here. I'm sure I will be visiting the newbies section for some rather basic sequencing questions soon...

[jstorms]

Belkin mod to get more range.

[harrison0550]

I think I may have found a cheap solution here.............
http://wlcventures.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19

Everyone gives this thing rave reviews over at DIY Christmas. As many post that there are here about the EDM their are the same about the FM02 over there. Here is the kicker though, if it works as good as they say it does and it's a fraction of the price of the EDM and to top it off the guy sales them in the US so no international shipping it might just be the new hotness. I ordered one 2 days ago and it shipped today so I will keep you posted on how well it works.

Here is the wikki on it.......
http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Vastelec_FM02

Keep me posted on the belkin and I will keep you posted on the FM02 and maybe we can come up with a sub $50 good FM transmitter for those on a budget.

Oh and actually it looks like it has been in a few select threads over here as well and the ones here who have it say it's awesome as well. This thread has pictures and price in it http://forums.lightorama.com/view_topic.php?id=26777&forum_id=81&highlight=Vastelec
But it looks like the previous issues people had with it were the shady over seas companies you had to deal with to get it. Would be pretty cool if this guy over at WLCVentures keeps pumping them out locally at that price.

[l0chte]

harrison0550 wrote:

I think I may have found a cheap solution here.............
http://wlcventures.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19

Everyone gives this thing rave reviews over at DIY Christmas. As many post that there are here about the EDM their are the same about the FM02 over there. Here is the kicker though, if it works as good as they say it does and it's a fraction of the price of the EDM and to top it off the guy sales them in the US so no international shipping it might just be the new hotness. I ordered one 2 days ago and it shipped today so I will keep you posted on how well it works.

Here is the wikki on it.......
http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com/wiki/index.php?title=Vastelec_FM02

Keep me posted on the belkin and I will keep you posted on the FM02 and maybe we can come up with a sub $50 good FM transmitter for those on a budget.

Oh and actually it looks like it has been in a few select threads over here as well and the ones here who have it say it's awesome as well. This thread has pictures and price in it http://forums.lightorama.com/view_topic.php?id=26777&forum_id=81&highlight=Vastelec
But it looks like the previous issues people had with it were the shady over seas companies you had to deal with to get it. Would be pretty cool if this guy over at WLCVentures keeps pumping them out locally at that price.

Dang that seems great. The Belkin should be here today or Monday.. Its hard to tell from this because our mail comes so early:

Class: First-Class Mail®
Service(s): Delivery Confirmation™
Status: Sorting Complete

All sorting has been completed at the delivery unit for today's deliveries at 8:55 am on November 12, 2011 in CELINA, OH 45822.

Sorting Complete, November 12, 2011, 8:55 am, CELINA, OH 45822
Arrival at Post Office, November 12, 2011, 7:14 am, CELINA, OH 45822
Processed through USPS Sort Facility, November 12, 2011, 3:38 am, TOLEDO, OH 43601
Dispatched from USPS Sort Facility, November 10, 2011, SAN DIEGO, CA 92186
Electronic Shipping Info Received, November 09, 2011
Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility, November 09, 2011, 8:16 pm, SAN DIEGO, CA 92186
Accepted at USPS Origin Sort Facility, November 09, 2011, 7:49 pm, SAN DIEGO, CA 92186

-- Anyways I'm out to put up lights!

[l0chte]

--Ahh, it updated, its out for delivery!! I should get it in the next 2 hours.. I'll do a dry run with it and mod it if I have to.. I'm really not going very far and found a really dead FM Station so we will see..

[Surfing4Dough]

l0chte wrote:

--Ahh, it updated, its out for delivery!! I should get it in the next 2 hours.. I'll do a dry run with it and mod it if I have to.. I'm really not going very far and found a really dead FM Station so we will see..

Having used the Belkin in the past, I have no doubt in my mind that you will have to mod it. It is intended to transmit about 5 feet, primarily within your car from you mp3 player sitting on the car seat to the car radio for older cars that don't have a mp3 jack to play your mp3 player through the car speakers. I probably got about 150 ft with the wire antenna mod. Make sure to make your wire antenna the proper length based on the FM frequency. Below is what I did when I modded mine for use with LASOC/Mr Christmas box. Switched to EDM when transitioned to LOR since I wanted better sound quality.


The existing antenna is a blue wire inside the cord of the Tunecast. I snipped off the blue antenna wire and soldered a new one to a different place on the Tunecast circuit board (see step 4 on the instructables.com site below.) In their picture though is looks like they disconnected the inductor (has yellow box around it in picture) and rotated it out of the way. On mine, I just soldered to the end of it. Try holding the antenna wire to this area first before soldering to make sure it lengthens your transmission distance. I stink at soldering, so my guess better soldering improves signal strength. For my antenna I just cut a wire from an old dead set of christmas lights--worked fine. Maybe true antenna wire from Radio shack would be better though. Read online about length of the antenna based on the radio frequency (FM station) you use. 3/4 wavelength antenna is what you want--from what I have read. Mine was roughly 94" long. Try different frequencies though, since I found much different clarity with different frequencies. I used 91.9. Check here for what is open near you http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/fmq.html I used a large tupperware container to put the FM transmitter inside to keep it safe from snow/water, with holes drilled in the container for the wires/antenna to come out--again sealed with silicone. The Tunecast can run on batteries, but goes through them fast. Tunecast has a 12V DC/AC car power adapter with it, so I bought a cheap AC adapter at Radioshack that matched the input specs--again put all this inside the tupperware container. I read that using an insulator at the end of the antenna helps. Read that a plastic spoon works well--drilled 2 holes in it, one at each end--one for the antenna to tie to and one for a wire to hang the antenna up on my house. Not sure why this helps, but I played along since I was clueless.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Belkin-Tunecast-II-FM-Transmitter-Mod/

[l0chte]

Surfing4Dough wrote:

l0chte wrote:

--Ahh, it updated, its out for delivery!! I should get it in the next 2 hours.. I'll do a dry run with it and mod it if I have to.. I'm really not going very far and found a really dead FM Station so we will see..

Having used the Belkin in the past, I have no doubt in my mind that you will have to mod it.  It is intended to transmit about 5 feet, primarily within your car from you mp3 player sitting on the car seat to the car radio for older cars that don't have a mp3 jack to play your mp3 player through the car speakers.  I probably got about 150 ft with the wire antenna mod.  Make sure to make your wire antenna the proper length based on the FM frequency.  Below is what I did when I modded mine for use with LASOC/Mr Christmas box.  Switched to EDM when transitioned to LOR since I wanted better sound quality.


The existing antenna is a blue wire inside the cord of the Tunecast. I snipped off the blue antenna wire and soldered a new one to a different place on the Tunecast circuit board (see step 4 on the instructables.com site below.) In their picture though is looks like they disconnected the inductor (has yellow box around it in picture) and rotated it out of the way. On mine, I just soldered to the end of it. Try holding the antenna wire to this area first before soldering to make sure it lengthens your transmission distance. I stink at soldering, so my guess better soldering improves signal strength. For my antenna I just cut a wire from an old dead set of christmas lights--worked fine. Maybe true antenna wire from Radio shack would be better though. Read online about length of the antenna based on the radio frequency (FM station) you use. 3/4 wavelength antenna is what you want--from what I have read. Mine was roughly 94" long. Try different frequencies though, since I found much different clarity with different frequencies. I used 91.9. Check here for what is open near you http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/fmq.html I used a large tupperware container to put the FM transmitter inside to keep it safe from snow/water, with holes drilled in the container for the wires/antenna to come out--again sealed with silicone. The Tunecast can run on batteries, but goes through them fast. Tunecast has a 12V DC/AC car power adapter with it, so I bought a cheap AC adapter at Radioshack that matched the input specs--again put all this inside the tupperware container. I read that using an insulator at the end of the antenna helps. Read that a plastic spoon works well--drilled 2 holes in it, one at each end--one for the antenna to tie to and one for a wire to hang the antenna up on my house. Not sure why this helps, but I played along since I was clueless.

 http://www.instructables.com/id/Belkin-Tunecast-II-FM-Transmitter-Mod/

I got mine, and you can hear it from the road but its staticy (I wasn't expecting perfect signal..)

Where do I find how long of a antenna to attach?
And which part did you solder the wire to? The part it looks like they removed/ or the part they soldered theirs too..
Thanks!