dknahoolewa Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 So i must be missing something. I got my EDM in a couple days ago a put it together and hooked it up but can get it to transmit past my driveway. which only fits two cars. the sound is great if your sitting in my drive way.so all my controllers, mini director, and EDM are mounted on my garage wall. I have the little antenna taped to the wall.Any thoughts on way I'm not getting the distance that i hear others are getting(EDM-LCD-CS-EP) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Is the antenna inside or outside?You may need to move the EDM where you can get the antenna outside or taped to a window, if your garage happens to have windows.If the antenna is taped to a concrete wall and there is any metal conduit or wiring between it and the outside world, that may interfere with the distance you can transmit out to the folks watching your display. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dknahoolewa Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 I'll try that. i did have the garage door open when i tried this if that makes any difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hamilton Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Can you explain a little more about your setup, type of antenna, length of cable to it, etc? It sounds really unusual for an EDM to have that poor distance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radioguy1007 Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 I just received one last week Wednesday. The power switch was set in the low power mode (1-10 mW) and the output power pot was set to minimum. Did you check that (since it may have been from the same batch)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caleb Linburg Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 I just orderd an EDM about a week ago, and was wondering how long it has been taking people to get theirs. So if you can tell me when you ordered and when you received the transmitter that would be great!Sorry to go off topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawes Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Inside the box is a power adjustment dial.I started in the low power mode and even with the dial fully clockwise (highest output) I could not get a signal inside the house.I switched to high power mode and turned the adjustment dial fully counter clockwise to the lowest setting (which is coincidentally equivalent to max in the low power setting). Then I slowly turned up the power until the signal made it through my double pane windows to the crappy radio in the kitchen.Outside the signal now travels about 6 houses, where as before it traveled 4.I'm using EDMs rubber ducky antenna, the transmitter is on a balcony above my front door, and the balcony is enclosed with 1"x3" wire fencing. (we let out indoor cats out there for fresh air). I'm sure it acts like a Faraday cage thus limiting my range even more. Considering moving it inside (and unfortunately down a floor) for future shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dknahoolewa Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 so I'm using the test antenna that came with the unit. the power setting is on low (10mW).so if i change it to the (100mW) it should work. what do you guys run it on?can i leave it in the garage and just run an antenna outside?I'm guessing the output power pot are the two dials next to the audio in cables. I tried turning them up and it didn't help. But then again it was on the low power (10mW). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dknahoolewa Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 it took about two weeks to get it. i got an e-mail saying i would receive it any time now and then it came two days later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radioguy1007 Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 The two "dials" (potentiometers) next to the audio in jacks are the audio in adjust levels for left / right. The RF adjust potiometer is inside (accessible only by removing the cover) next to the RF power level switch. See the online manual:http://www.edmdesign.com/docs/EDM-TX-RDS.pdfI run mine at max - gets a nice signal about a block and a half sitting on a second floor bedroom floor (with aluminum siding). The RDS needs a good quiet signal to decode properly. Do you have aluminum siding on garage? If yes, then getting the antenna outside will help. If no aluminum, just give it a try.Again, if you did not touch the power pot inside and just moved the switch, you were adjusting between 1 and 2 mW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulanator Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 I am in a single story house, transmitter is in front bedroom next to the street, I have it up high in the room. Using a rubber ducky type antenna with a BNC to RCA adapter.Getting about 2 solid blocks on low power. Very clear and very happy with the unit. The RDS works great, and it is a really cool feature.I have it running music on Zara radio right now, and all the songs are sent out on the RDS. Once the signal weakens, about 2.5 - 3 blocks, then the RDS gets garbled.If you are using the wire only, make sure you have it running up as high as you can and vertical. Also keep it away from other electronics such as the computer and monitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dknahoolewa Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 so i maxed out the power output and that helped. anywhere inside my house is great but i still can only get two houses away before i loose signal again.i'll try moving the antenna outside and see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surfing4Dough Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 I would suggest changing the frequency to see if that makes a difference. Some will seem to "carry" better than others. I too use the wire antenna mounted vertically on the wall in the garage. I use the low setting (the switch) and it transmits for 1/2 mile clearly. I was told to not turn the dials unless absolutely necessary since it was "preset" in a sense for the best quality. I haven't heard of anybody needing to use the 100mW setting, so something doesn't seem right there.Just to troubleshoot, I would move it to another location (outside the garage) away from other electronics or electrical wire. Disconnect the mini-director from the controllers, and take it outside with the transmitter as well and test from there.Another source for help is the EDM Yahoo Group:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/edmdesign/Make sure to update us with what your fix is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hamilton Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 dknahoolewa wrote: so i maxed out the power output and that helped. anywhere inside my house is great but i still can only get two houses away before i loose signal again.i'll try moving the antenna outside and see what happens.Generally speaking. It you are running 100 mw with a short rubber duck antenna inside the house, then it sounds typical that you should get about 2 houses away... 500 feet through an exterior wall? How much farther do you need?If you want to go farther, considering that you have already set the output power to its max limit of 100 mw, then it sounds like you need a bigger antenna.This is probably not your problem, but I mention it anyway for the group because it is something that is often overlooked...I went to a friend's house last year to help figure out why he was getting terrible range from an EDM transmitter. He had it sitting in a window so it would make sense that he should be getting great range... well as I looked closely at the window, I saw that he had a film on the window to stop UV light from the sun to fade his furniture (south facing window), and also to save some energy. The problem is that most all of those films having a metallic or are metallic. It completely absorbed and obstructed the radiation pattern from the FM transmitter. As soon as I opened the window as a test, the transmitter could be heard far up the street. In summary, he moved the transmitter away from the window and it worked.Another issue is that some external walls in newer homes have an aluminum backed vapor barrier. It's hard for transmissions to penetrate that as well.My point here is that sometimes it is the little things that fool you. Look at the environment around the transmitter as well as looking at the transmitter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hamilton Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Surfing4Dough wrote: I too use the wire antenna mounted vertically on the wall in the garage. Just an fyi here. Don't assume that a vertically mounted antenna is always the best option. Cars in the last 15 or more years don't use telescoping antennas any more and have it built into the back window... You know that part. However, many of them are horizontally polarized. By testing, I found that I get the farthest distance by mounting my antenna horizontally along the top of the garage to match the plane or most receiving antennas.I'm just saying it works best more me. Your mileage may vary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dknahoolewa Posted November 1, 2011 Author Share Posted November 1, 2011 thank goodness for all of you guys...my EDM is now on it's lowest setting and i'm getting half a block range now. I moved it to the attic above the garage and added a home made antenna. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hamilton Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 dknahoolewa wrote: thank goodness for all of you guys...my EDM is now on it's lowest setting and i'm getting half a block range now. I moved it to the attic above the garage and added a home made antenna.That's great. The attic is a good place for an antenna since the attic usually has less of a barrier to penetrate and certainly is higher off the ground. Great job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregg Hess Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 I just received my EDM RDS but I am having trouble with the RDS. The FM reception is good but the RDS is unpredictble. Sometimes it mixes the words up. Sometimes it sends every other word. Sometimes it sends nothing. I cant figure it out. This is one of my messages "Wizards in Winter by Trans Siberian Orchestra". Ive seen it send "Wizards Winter in by Trans". Never know what it sends. What am I doing wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hamilton Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 Gregg Hess wrote: I just received my EDM RDS but I am having trouble with the RDS. The FM reception is good but the RDS is unpredictble. Sometimes it mixes the words up. Sometimes it sends every other word. Sometimes it sends nothing. I cant figure it out. This is one of my messages "Wizards in Winter by Trans Siberian Orchestra". Ive seen it send "Wizards Winter in by Trans". Never know what it sends. What am I doing wrong?Gregg, I guess the first thing to rule out is to look at it on more than one car radio just to make sure the issue is in the transmitter and not your car (cut the problem in half).This sounds familiar from a few years ago. I will review my notes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregg Hess Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 Ive tried on two cars - both chevys. Same results. Ive used two different antennas. Same issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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