FM Transmitter Reception

[aidancar]

Hello all, over the summer I had built a Ramsey FM25B transmitter and am just now setting it up for my halloween display. When testing it today in my car without a whip antenna I got no reception at all anywhere in my cul-de-sac and some static when pulling up my driveway. I then tried it in the family minivan with a whip antenna and got reception throughout my entire cul de sac. Have any of you ever ran into this issue where only certain cars seem to pick up audio? The Transmitter is less than 100 feet from the road and is inside my house, i was thinking I may have to put it in some type of weatherproof enclosure closer to the road but before purchasing all the necessary (and lengthy) cables I'd like to hear some other opinions, thanks!

[Mega Arch]

probably just need to try a few different stations.

then try them again at night when you'd be broadcasting.

stations that show to be blank most times end up having crap on them.

 

[saxon]

7 hours ago, aidancar said:

Hello all, over the summer I had built a Ramsey FM25B transmitter and am just now setting it up for my halloween display. When testing it today in my car without a whip antenna I got no reception at all anywhere in my cul-de-sac and some static when pulling up my driveway. I then tried it in the family minivan with a whip antenna and got reception throughout my entire cul de sac. Have any of you ever ran into this issue where only certain cars seem to pick up audio? The Transmitter is less than 100 feet from the road and is inside my house, i was thinking I may have to put it in some type of weatherproof enclosure closer to the road but before purchasing all the necessary (and lengthy) cables I'd like to hear some other opinions, thanks!

I don't know if it applies to you but same thing happened to me,,,,,,,,come to find out my old truck, I used a fm transmitter for my MP3 (iPhone) to play on my radio. To fix the problem I bought a new truck but unplugging it would have worked too.

[Mega Arch]

3 hours ago, saxon said:

......To fix the problem I bought a new truck.....

Note to self:

Great reason to buy a new truck - radio sucks. 

Got it. Thanks. 

[aidancar]

3 hours ago, saxon said:

I don't know if it applies to you but same thing happened to me,,,,,,,,come to find out my old truck, I used a fm transmitter for my MP3 (iPhone) to play on my radio. To fix the problem I bought a new truck but unplugging it would have worked too.

That was it, thanks! Completely forget I had one in my center console, hadn’t used it in a bit. However now when sitting out front every few seconds the audio fades to static then comes right back. Any ideas on that? Didn’t happen in the other car

[Mega Arch]

Have you ran all your songs through Audacity and saved as CBR?

wait - never mind. You said good in other vehicle. 

Edited October 6, 2017 by Mega Arch

[Richard365]

I bought mine off ebay. At full power good for over 5 miles. Lol. 

[aidancar]

Ill double check all of the power settings in the transmitter later and if that doesn’t fix it I’ll try moving it closer to the road

[Richard365]

http://www.planetchristmas.com/index.php?/forums/topic/8736-fm-transmitter-not-going-the-distance/

 

three things to clean up the signal and extend the distance:

 

 

(1) Adjust the power setting - R25 on the board to the maximum setting. I think it's clockwise.

 

(2) Mount the transmitter as close to the people receiving the signal and as high as possible.

 

(3) Adjust the left and right volume setting - I think they are R26 and R27. Start with these set midway. I found that one problem I was having was distortion from having the volumes set too high.

 

I was able to eventually get 200' of good signal from the unit using the supplied rigid antenna.

Edited October 6, 2017 by Richard365