Where do you have your FM transmitter?

[tjflory]

Greetings.

 

I bought a "fail-safe" FM transmitter and am pondering where to locate it.

 

Inside, outside, use existing antenna, locate unit inside with antenna outside... non of the above?

 

 

Help/ advice appreciated!

 

tj

[Maine Lights]

I have an emd fm transmitter that I put in my basement with my lor computer and it transmits fine

[75redman]

I'm probably one of the few that use a Whole House Transmitter and like it.  I have it mounted to the wall by my garage door facing the street.  I get great signal about two blocks.

[shfr26]

Put it where it works, you may have to test a few different places.  One thing I can tell you is make sure the power supply is not too close to the computer, lots of static.   Only my opinion.

 

     Good luck and let us know how it works.  BTW, what is a "failsafe transmitter"?

[Orville]

When I was in an apartment, inside and antenna next to the window, when in a house, mounted inside a box with my LOR DC-MP3 Showtime Controller and antenna outside on a wall facing the street, now in a mobile home, transmitter, antenna and showtime director are all mounted inside my shed over the door in the back of the home.  I might move the antenna outside temporarily {we're not allowed to have any type of permanent or even semi-permanent antenna mounted outside} during the lighting season for better transmission, but even inside my shed I cover the large circle I live on and a little past that on a clear day/night.

 

Like others said, it all depends on location and you will want to move it around to locate the best area for placement of transmitter and antenna.

[viennaxmas]

I have my TX in the basement and the Antenna in the Attic.. Works really nice...

[caniac]

Put it where it works, you may have to test a few different places.  One thing I can tell you is make sure the power supply is not too close to the computer, lots of static.   Only my opinion.

 

     Good luck and let us know how it works.  BTW, what is a "failsafe transmitter"?

I think he is referring to this:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003FO4UHW/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and I "hide" mine in the bay window of my house.

[scottam67]

I have an emd fm transmitter that I put in my basement with my lor computer and it transmits fine

Do you use the original short wire antenna in the basement with your EDM, or did you upgrade to a Rubber Duck antenna or something else?

 

Thanks

[Brian Mitchell]

I have the Ramsey 25B. It's in my basement and I still get coverage for a couple blocks around.

[rwertz]

The term "fail-safe" implies a backup system. I think a lot of us have redundancy at almost every level of operation. The ideal failsafe is located at an off-site location that can be easily activated (or retrieved) in the event of a catastrophe.

 

For me (relative to the transmitter), that's a CCrane transmitter in a box in the basement away from the show transmitter in the garage. If your failsafe xmitter requires an external antenna, I would have a "rubber duck antenna" with the transmitter just in case. I would figure that the existing antenna could be used. But I would be prepared if it didn't.

[Dave Batzdorf]

I have an emd fm transmitter that I put in my basement with my lor computer and it transmits fine

I have the Ramsey and in same location!

[PaulXmas]

Whole House and EDM inside the house on the wall close to the ceiling.

[viennaxmas]

Fail-safe is actually a brand name of Fail-safe electronics, http://failsafetransmitter.com/ - they mainly seem to sell through a amazon store front. The Amazon store indicates the company being located in Indiana....

[Steven]

As usual, I over-engineered it:

That's a quarter-wave vertical with sloping radials, made with some brass from the hardware store, a SO-239 connector, PVC pipe, solder, and black spray paint. It sits there 365 days a year thanks to the hot glue I used to fasten it to an eyebrow vent on the roof.

 

Previously, I had used an antenna in the garage, but our steel roof distorted the radiation pattern, causing null spots to the left and right. This antenna is connected with 50 feet of cheap 50-ohm coax, which attenuates the signal, but that's actually desired in this case. I turn the power low on the EDM transmitter, and the signal still goes a block.

[viennaxmas]

As usual, I over-engineered it:

That's a quarter-wave vertical with sloping radials, made with some brass from the hardware store, a SO-239 connector, PVC pipe, solder, and black spray paint. It sits there 365 days a year thanks to the hot glue I used to fasten it to an eyebrow vent on the roof.

Previously, I had used an antenna in the garage, but our steel roof distorted the radiation pattern, causing null spots to the left and right. This antenna is connected with 50 feet of cheap 50-ohm coax, which attenuates the signal, but that's actually desired in this case. I turn the power low on the EDM transmitter, and the signal still goes a block.

Nice! On first sight it looked like the purchased 50W LPFM tunable antenna I use... Those are nasty - I have to be so careful on the power setting, I had a friend who is working at a local radio station run the contour of mine at full 5 W - close to 10 miles... TX is now at 100 mw with two attenuators which keeps me below 1 block radius...