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FM Transmitter


djewell

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halfast wrote:

Happy New Year. Does anyone have a recommendation for an antenna I can purchase for use with my new EDM. Whole House now relegated to use in the truck! tx.


The wire antenna which comes with the kit should be good for most applications.

What are you trying to do which would require more antenna than the provided antenna?
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My Whole House FM Trans Gold Edition doesn't sound so well, even in close proximity.

There is an annoying hum on all of the available frequencies that you can choose from (which isn't much).

Stan

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I just tried another ebay transmitter. It had a buzz and the music sounded muddled. The seller did have a return policy which was honored.

Anyone have experience with a Ramsey FM30B?

Thanks

Curtis

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stanward wrote:


There is an annoying hum on all of the available frequencies that you can choose from (which isn't much).

Stan


make a trip to Radio Shack,and buy a couple snap-on choke cores. (2 per bag).its a magnet to wrap around the power cable, make a loop on the power cable than snap on, and the noise or hum will go away.

Part numbers are 2730067 (small power cables) and 2730069 (spt power cable) its about $3 each.

stay away from ebay when ordering any fm transmitter with power like 15w or 18w, these unit goes about 6 miles. Fcc rules are: no more than 200 ft from your antenna.

here's another site to look at for a fm transmitter under 100 bucks.
http://www.mobileblackbox.com/

just my 2 cents
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Oh, it's my excuse to my wife to buy the EDM FM transmitter with the RDS feature! I just hope she doesn't see this post, otherwise I can't upgrade to a better FM transmitter.

Stan



evana wrote:


make a trip to Radio Shack,and buy a couple snap-on choke cores. (2 per bag).its a magnet to wrap around the power cable, make a loop on the power cable than snap on, and the noise or hum will go away.

Part numbers are 2730067 (small power cables) and 2730069 (spt power cable) its about $3 each.


just my 2 cents
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John, I'm just trying to cover both the front and back of my house and out to the street. Less than 1/2 acre. The Whole House wouldn't even reach from about 70 feet out in the back yard to the house.

Will I need to put the antenna outside? I'm use RF to get to my controllers so can drive the audio off my PC, in the house. I'd like to keep the antenna in the house or near the house if possible.

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FYI

The EDM group buys for 2009 are on hold for at least 2-3 months ... perhaps longer. I hosted 12 group buy batches in 2008 ... and I must say, folks (including myself) have been happy with these transmitters.

The LCD has better quality than the LED, but I don't know that anyone has every done a direct comparison of the two. The LED will be discontinued in the coming months. The LCD evolved from the original LED model ... and just has higher specs all the way around. THE LED has a simple red (sometimes green) 2 digit display, and the LCD has a single line LCD (not backlit) which shows the FM frequency and not much more. The LCD is slightly bigger and might have a better enclosure than the LED.
The LED model I recommend is part# EDM-TX-110E.

Generally 10mW is fine for most folks. The EDM units with a good antenna are capable of transmitter quite far, further than most folks will need. With the included antenna, usually a short block of range is typical. If you live in a highly wooded area or next to a deep canyon or ravine ... your range will be worse.

If you order from EDM, then you must choose the option that specifies both the Enclosure and PS (power supply) ... otherwise you are getting just the transmitter board. In all cases, assembly is still required ... but is fairly easy for those with a skill level of 3 or higher. If you want an EDM LED, I would buy it soon.

I am also selling some EDM LCD transmitters currently from Colorado ... and at a slight premium cost (because I pay more for them myself ... then have to double ship them) ... but I offer assembly and pre-tested for $20 more for those not wanting to mess with any assembly ... and can get them to you in 3 days (vs. 3-4 weeks from EDM). This is discounted 10% from my normal ebay pricing. And my ebay pricing does not include shipping either.

My special for members of this board: $199 for the EDM LCD kit (3 day priority shipping included), or $219 for the EDM LCD assembled&tested (3 day priority shipping included). Yes, its more than from EDM direct, buy no paypal to S. Africa and no waiting 3-4 weeks either. You can look at my posts from the past year re: EDM transmitters ... there are hundreds here and on the PC boards.

If your interested, see my web page for the EDM sale information and paypal purchase button. All purchases from me include the standard 3 year warranty and support from EDM.

http://www.rockinchristmas.com

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halfast wrote:

John, I'm just trying to cover both the front and back of my house and out to the street. Less than 1/2 acre. The Whole House wouldn't even reach from about 70 feet out in the back yard to the house.

Will I need to put the antenna outside? I'm use RF to get to my controllers so can drive the audio off my PC, in the house. I'd like to keep the antenna in the house or near the house if possible.


Sounds like 400' range should be more than sufficient. Most anything can block the signal to some degree, so the best coverage to both front and back would be realized from having the antenna on the roof so that no part of the house blocks the signal. But this would likely be a pain to set up.

Since my controller and transmitter are outside, having my antenna outside was the only way which made sense. I had the included wire antenna in the 'most optimal' configuration, sticking straight up into the air. Set on 10mw and whatever value it came from the factory with, I got line of sight range of perhaps 1000' and heard bits and pieces of it perhaps 1/4 mile away as the signal found gaps between houses.

Best thing to do would be to just try it. Find a location in your house which has the least obstructions (particularly metal) between it and whereever you want the signal to go. Run the wire antenna straight up the wall, start transmitting some music, and walk around the areas where you want the signal with a radio and see how your reception is.

If you are good, fine, possibly even turn down the power a bit if your signal goes 'too far'. If nearly good, you can try playing with power and/or location to improve it. If it just does not work, then its time to consider a better antenna or a rooftop location.
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My Gold Edition worked great for me this year. I'm glad I don't need to spend more money on this at least. I have it set up in a rear bedroom and get really great reception on the street in front of the house to about 150'-200' My neighbor acrosss the street even sat in an upstairs room and watched the lights and listened in. Pretty lucky I guess to have it work that well.

Lenny

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John and everyone,
Thanks for the information. I'm going to give it a try with the "test" antenna that came with the unit and try different locations inside the house. I'll use the power adjust if I have to.

It's great to have this forum and I appreciate the time you have taken to respond. Keep 'em lit.

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Hi Lenny, Can you please tell me how long is the stereo cable that goes in between your computer and the FM transmitter? I used 2 stereo cables joined together, one was about 3 feet, the other was about 4 feet.

However, I removed the stereo cable and I tested the "hum" on the transmitter, hum still there.

Stan



LENNY RUEL wrote:

My Gold Edition worked great for me this year. I'm glad I don't need to spend more money on this at least. I have it set up in a rear bedroom and get really great reception on the street in front of the house to about 150'-200' My neighbor acrosss the street even sat in an upstairs room and watched the lights and listened in. Pretty lucky I guess to have it work that well.

Lenny

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Stan:
I'm using a coiled 25' headphone extension cord. One thing I made sure of was keeping the power on an isolated outlet, or at least one that had no other transformer plugged in to it per the instructions that came with it. I have the computer in the basement and the instructions also said the transmitter would not work well there. So I ran both an extension cord and the headphone line upstairs along the shower plumbing which has an access door in the closet in the back bedroom, and mounted everything with Velcro on the door frame. I ran the power there because pretty much every circuit upstairs has a transformer of some kind either for a phone, baby monitor or something charging. The circuits down stairs have no such devices plugged in so are "quiet". I have a very slight hum during the dead air between songs which I feel is probably being picked up from the baby monitor in the next room. But when the music is playing, even turned to a very decent volume it is not detectable. Even on the house stereo and surround sound system we have for the TV, which is very powerful it sounds like an FM radio station should.

Lenny

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hey Scott,

I'm interested in getting an EDM with RDS or just an EDM LCD. I've gone to your site and it's an dead link for the EDM sale. Please get back to me about this or if your having an group sale I would like to be included.

Thanks,

Cliff

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Actually, I just sold the last one today.

I don't have any more EDM(s) to sell at this time, so I removed the sale links.
I will probably order more in the next month, if you can wait.

There probably won't be any EDM group buys this year till June or July at the earliest. It was fairly big disappointment to me that EDM didn't want to do as we did last year ... where we had 12-13 group buys. If we do them in 2009, it won't be as early or as often as in 2008.

(June-July) ... Thats also when the RDS model will (hopefully) become available. It may still require the pira RDS chip and custom cable to be added, so its really not such a huge deal to wait in my mind. In fact existing owners may get there first by way of an RDS PCB upgrade offer.

EDM will be providing a one-time RDS upgrade opportunity for existing EDM LCD owners by way of a PCB upgrade ... again, not for a few months, but probably before the EDM with RDS socket model is available. It will require the RDS chip, cable and a small case modification. I've talked with Harrison about this and he might be willing to host a group buy on the RDS chips and perhaps facilitate the RDS mods somehow. This is still VERY preliminary at this point.

So I'll hopefully have some more transmitters in a month or so ... and would appreciate your business very much.

I've been selling them with some nice options included: computer to transmitter cord, rabbit ears antenna and adaptor ... and free shipping.

I'll post more when I have more in stock.

Scott / taybrynn

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Scott is the man!

I purchased my EDM LCD just the other day and it arrived at home and finally after a few days I had some time to play with it. For the last three years I've been using my Belkin Tunecast II and it's been "ok" but, somedays it was a bit fuzzy.
I did the antenna mod and was actually getting wicked range out of it; 4 homes in either direction and that was with the Antenna and unit IN the house!

However, the EDM is a completely bigger badder unit. The signal is Clear, crisp and PUNCHY! I'm getting about the same range with the stock antenna but, I want to get a better antenna just to really drive the signal out. I spent the extra $20 to have him test it before it left however, I missed out on the rabbit ears deal but, I'm sure I can find something around this town that will do the job. Scott, also sent a great information booklet on the EDM and even put in a printed sheet on where to get decent Antenna's online.
He also answered all of my questions prior to me purchasing one and he is truly an asset to the Christmas lighting Community!

The only thing I have to work on is where I'm going to end up putting my transmitter and whether or not I can find an inexpensive antenna in this town.
I had my transmitter down stairs last year right at the front of the house which is less than 100 feet to the cars but, I'm toying with putting the Antenna outside or in a window this year...

I'm thinking about trying this Antenna this weekend and see how it compares to the stock wire provided by Scott.

http://www.thesource.ca/estore/product.aspx?language=en-CA&product=1511863&category=Indoor+Antennas&catalog=Online&tab=1#more

Scott is there any worry about plugging a different antenna into the EDM???
Thanks again Scott/taybrynn

Evan

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NWSanta wrote:

Scott is there any worry about plugging a different antenna into the EDM???
Thanks again Scott/taybrynn

Evan



The EDM is fairly tolerant of antenna mismatch, so can survive most any antenna attached. However, do your homework first so the antenna you attach is at least theoretically 'close' to matched. Any mismatch delivers the transmitted power to the transmitter/cable/antenna rather than into the air. Most cases will not be a problem due to the low power involved and the quality of the SDM and its design. But I suppose it would be possible to create a damaging situation if you really worked at it.
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  • 2 months later...

Its looking like late June or July most likely.

EDM is in the process of getting a new enclosure supplier that
won't raise prices on them (3 times in 2008) ... and will thus make the units more affordable and keep their prices stable.

They have the new RDS PCB(s) and units are being tested with great results thus
far. The new transmitters will come with a cable to communicate with the PC (the RDS information from LOR).

The new base price being advertised (but not sold) is $232 shipped ... but I have no idea what the actual group buy price will ultimately end up being. I think 10% off was what we got last year, so I would hope for the same or similar discount this year.

Either way, its a great transmitter, great company (and support) ... and their 3 year warranty is unheard of these days. If your looking for a transmitter ... the wait should be well worth it.

Regards,
Scott

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