Help selecting a FM Tranmitter

[Scrubs63]

Hi Folks,

I was hoping someone could help me in selecting my FM Transmitter.:? I have read about the Whole House Tranmitter and the Ramsey FM25B.

I want one that I don't have to put together, has great output for the folks in their cars that come to see my show and is easy to install. My street is less than 100ft. from my computer. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Scrubs:cool:

[evan.a]

stay away from hobbytron.

http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/view_topic.php?id=16050&forum_id=25&highlight=hobbytron

[tikilights]

I bought a ramsey kit from hobbytron, didn't know I was getting a kit, but anyways after 2 days of soldering, then 3 or 4 missing parts, had ramsey send em, tried everything to get it to work, nuthing....

finally bought one of these http://cgi.ebay.com/2-5W-FM-stereo-broadcaster-transmitter-TNT-express_W0QQitemZ250266670493QQihZ015QQcategoryZ4675QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

it works great, ditch the crappy input cable and get a good antenna. I tested yesterday and it worked for about 8 blocks clear as a bell. had it in less than a week from china.

[Ponddude]

I use the Ramsey one, however I did not put it together. Marty Slack used to put them together, however I think he stopped. It was a great deal. I have the FM25B and it works great. It gets great sound quality and easily transmits about 2 blocks away. Ramsey does sell the assembled one on their site if you don't want to do it yourself. If you ask nicely on here or PC, someone do it for you too...

Greg

[Dennis Cherry]

I recommend the EDM unit. Quality is excellent and so is the audio.

Yes it is a kit but all you have to do is solder a power connector and insert a IC into a socket.

I recommend the LCD model, wait for a group buy this fall and order at that time and save some money.

I have heard the Ramsey unit and IMHO the EDM is better. The EDM unit is about half the price of the Ramsey and the EDM comes with a power supply.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[cmoore60]

Scrubs,

I bought one of the EDM transmitters that Scott was able to arrange a group buy on.

You can read more information in this thread. http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/forum81/16278.html

There is very minimal soldering involved. I assembled mine and tested it in all of about a hour.

Chuck

[Brad]

I use the Whole House FM Transmitter which can be found at WholeHouseFMTransmitter.com, though I don't remember buying it from them. Where ever I got it I only paid $79 plus shipping. The way my block is set up I'm not broadcasting to cars parked very far away, like across a large field or an open park like some, so distance is not important to me. It did sound great on my car stereo when I set it up, though I have not tried any others to compare quality. The only draw back is the frequency selection. The only channels you can set it to is 106.7 to 107.9 which only gives you seven channels to select from.

Hope this helps

Brad

[rJosh]

I just got the C. Crane FMT as a birthday gift. I've found the range to be quite good for my needs and it can be set for any frequency. It can be powered from either batteries or the included wall wart DC transformer. I didn't read the directions, but popped in a few batteries, set the frequency in the middle of an unused range and didn't hear anything coming out of the radio I was listening to. Then I noticed the dial on the side for "Input Level". I turned that up and got perfect stereo sound. If I turned it too high though there was distortion. I left it on inside my garage and closed the door which is a steel sectional. I hopped in my car outside and ran some errands. I found I could get clear reception to about 4 or 5 houses down. About 90 minutes later I came back and found that it was still working. I hear there is a hack to increase the range by turning the VR2 trimpot inside the unit all the way clockwise. I haven't done that but I did place the unit on top of a metal tool box to act as a ground plane and noticed the range increased by another 50 feet or so. Using the wall wart also seemed to increase the range a little. I can reasonably get 275 feet of range. I live in a canyon though where we don't get any regular broadcast TV or radio stations.

I am very happy with the C. Crane FMT unit.

Josh

[Brian B.]

I have had very good success witht the whole house transmitter. This will be my first year using an FM transmitter and like you, I was trying to decide on a product that required no soldering, and was plug and play out of the box.

The whole house transmitter works great for me, the boradcast comes in crystal clear for about 1/3 of a mile which is way more than I was expecting or intended.

If anything the drawbacks are the lack of station choices, the Gold Edition has a selection between 106.7, .9 107.1, .3, .5, .7 & .9 but even in my rather populated area of San Diego, I was able to find a suitable station.

I know there are a lot of folks on here that have their favorites like Ramsey, EDM, etc. but if you are a best buy, target, brick and mortar type shopper the Whole House Transmitter is right up your alley.

Just my two cent....

[zman]

Scrubs,

I have both the EDM (LCD) and a Ramsey 100B. I think for the money and ease of "kit" concept, you can't go wrong with the EDM unit.

Mark

[taybrynn]

I will likely sponsor another LOR/PC 'members only' group buy on the EDM LCD 10/100 mW transmitter this Fall if your not in a hurry to get one right now. I will post a thread when that sale starts. You can always order from EDM directly as well, as they are priced competitively to start with, IMHO.

http://www.edmdesign.com/orders.html

The group buy price was ~ 10% off the normal price and for PC/LOR folks only.

I was originally introduced to the relatively uncommon EDM tranmitters by Steve of radiobrandy, who seems to really have vast experience with transmitters and wrote a review on the EDM LCD and I've seen or heard nothing in the last 6 months to indicate that his review was anything but spot on.

http://radiobrandy.com/Transmitters.html

I'm sure you can assemble the EDM, as others have said, its an extremely simple kit. Even me, with no soldering experience put mine together in just 15 minutes ... and I was being really slow and careful / paranoid about it. The hardest part is buying or borrowing the soldering iron and the solder. Any simple soldering iron should do to attached the power leads.

Regards,

Scott / taybyrnn

[Scrubs63]

Hi Folks,

After reading all the posts, I have decided to go with the advice from Dennis Cherry, Chuck/cmoore60, Mark/zman and Scott/taybyrnn, (Thanks Guys;)) and go with the,

EDM-TX-LCD-EP
10/100mW PCB, Parts, LCD display,
Antenna, Regulated 12V PSU,
Metal enclosure
RF adjustable (1-10mW and 2-100mW).

I was not only considering the easy assembly, but also the price range and the output sound quality. I do hope it is as easy as you guys say to assemble, cause I have never used a soldering gun.:? (Hope I don't burn the house down!! :shock: lol)
Again Thank You All for the Great Feedback!Scrubs:cool:

[taybrynn]

You made a good choice. You'll have no problem putting it together.
I'm am the most uncoordinated and shaky person I know ... and I did it.

Just take your time and be careful. Make sure to insert the IC chip with the
proper orientation and make sure the pins are not bent before inserting it.
If you put in the chip backwards, you can make it non-functional.

Here is a video posted at the EDM on how to solder ... it's more than you'll
need to know:

http://allspec.vodpod.com/video/838549-circuit-board-soldering

I have posted the correct orientation of the IC chip on prior posts and it should also be in the installation instructions which will be email to you ...

[Jeff 1S.A.H.D.]

Not to be the bringer of bad news but won't that one require a FCC licence

Part 15 transmitter

Unlicensed broadcasting Unlicensed broadcasts on the FM broadcast band are limited to a field strength of 250 µV/m at a distance of 3 meters from the antenna.
The FM broadcast band is limited but not restricted to 87.6 MHz (but see note below on TV) to 107.9 MHz. Any unlicensed broadcasting over a signal strength of 250 µV/m at a distance of 3 m from the antenna is punishable by law and confiscation of all broadcast equipment.
Unlicensed broadcasts on the TV broadcast bands are prohibited, except for certain medical telemetry devices. 87.5 to 88.0 MHz is considered part of the VHF TV band (channel 6 audio is on 87.75), though it shows up on most FM tuners. For TV, 15.241 and 15.242 deal with high VHF (channels 7 to 13), 15.242 also deals with UHF.
On the standard AM broadcast band transmission is limited to 100 milliwatts of power (with restrictions on size, height and type of antenna) or, alternatively, under 15.221, if the AM transmission originates on the campus of an educational institution, the transmission can theoretically be any power so long as it does not exceed the field strength limits stated in 15.209 at the perimeter of the campus, 24000/F(kHz) µV/m.




That is why I got the CCRANE Digital FM Transmitter also

http://www.ccrane.com/radios/fm-transmitters/fm-transmitter.aspx



good luck

Jeff 1S.A.H.D.

[taybrynn]

I'm afraid the effect of the last post might be to cause irrational fears of using a transmitter and to create a misunderstanding that FCC certified units result in 100% FCC compliant operation. Not true at all, and could not be further from the truth.

You can buy a FCC part15 certified unit and operate it against Part 15 regs ... or you can buy a non-Part15 certified unit and operate it legally and within Part 15 regs. The unit being certified might help in compliant operation (because they limited to 10mW -- low power) ... but will not assure it. You can certainly become non-complient by adding a better antenna, booster, making mods, etc. You can certainly violate part15 by over broadcasting and making poor choices. You might even violate part15 with a certified unit, so unless you can turn the power down from say 10mW to 6mW ... your still in violation with the ceritified unit. The units being dicussed in this thread can be turned down as low as 1mW ... so try that with most 10mW Part15 certified transmitters! ... can't do it.

One of the nice things with the EDM and most Ramsey units is the variable power control ... so you can (and should) turn down the power so it works (as needed) but stays within the Part 15 boundaries and within the range needed for your light-show audience. If you have a big audience, you have to decide whether to exceed the part15 range, because your simply not going to allow 30 cars to watch and stay within 200' at the same time. But for most of us, 4-6 cars can be served and stay within 200' at the same time. Its a balance ... and how you do it.

My point is ... and I've posted extensively on this both here and on part 15 boards ... is that there are many aspects to responsible part 15 operation and most members here are doing that or could learn how to do that ... regardless of whether you buy an overpowered transmitter or an underpowered transsmitter and whether its part 15 certified or not.

One should consider whether they really need a better antenna, or just use a simple whip (short wire) antenna. The EDM, for example, works for most with the included 'test antenna' ... and nothing more.

One should consider which frequency that are going to use, and choose wisely. SOme transmitter are poor choices because they only give you a few frequencies to choose from ... very limiting and highly likely to be part 15 non-compliant if you live in a more populated area ... because you'll be forced to broadcast over an existing station and thus stand a much better chance of getting reported.

One should not operate the transmitter when not needed, so turn it off except when the show is going. Don't just turn it on and run it 24x7 when you don't need to. This only increases the chance that you'll interfere with someone else.

One should not ever broadcast over another station ... but if you must, choose the weakest and most distance station possible. There is a great website to help you figure this out. I don't have the URL right now, but its been posted (here) before a lot.

One should adjust the tranmitter power downwards to the minimum necessary to satisfy your show requirements. Thats what is really nice with the variable powered units ... you can go up or down and needed. Sometimes 12mW might be needed ... and still be part 15 compliant ... but if you have a 10mw unit, your stuck with poor coverage, perhaps.

One should be aware and look to see if their operation is causing interference with any neighbors' radio or TV reception. If so, things can be done to remedy this. Interfering with a neighbor is the best way to get FCC cited, because they will report you for interference. So just make smart choices and operate the unit wisely and you will be fine.

Regards,

Scott / taybrynn

[Dennis Cherry]

Here is the FM locater website:

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/vacant

Use the Zip code or City at the bottom of the page, not the top boxes. You will get a very good idea on whats available in your area.

Dennis

[Brian B.]

Dennis Cherry wrote:

Here is the FM locater website:

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/vacant

Use the Zip code or City at the bottom of the page, not the top boxes. You will get a very good idea on whats available in your area.

Dennis

Great link Dennis... it is good to be able to verify that the channel I use is vacant.



Thanks for this post.

[Brian Fields]

Last year, I purchased a UX-555 from Hobbytron and hooked it up to a Lights and Sounds controller and had pretty darn good results. It did not fade or wander like the one I got from Ramsey. But, it looks like they no longer carry it. The biggest thing is to get one that is PLL..Phased Lock Loop. It won't wander all over the place!

[Bubba in NV]

I have the Ramsey FM25B it works fine..... used it all last December for 8 hours a night.

[jeremy11]

I too was in the same boat needing an FM Transmitter. I did a lot of searching and reading and was going to go with the Whole House FM Transmitter but read to much about the limited channel selection. I went to the site http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/vacant to see what frequencies were available in my area and found the whole house didn't match up to the ones I could use.

So I searched on and decided ultimatly with a Ramsey FM25B after reading lots of great reviews on them. I found a members site at http://shop.christmasincruces.com and he is selling the FM25B at a decent price, plus he will assemble it for you for a modest fee. If you search around you can find a 10% off coupon for his site. In the end I got a new Ramsey FM25B assembled and tested for $158. It was more then I wanted to spend but based on the reviews it seemed like the right direction to go, plus the fact you can control the station without any frequency drift and believe even control the power output.

I placed my order on Saturday and received an email Monday afternoon that it was shipping. According to UPS I'll have it by Friday to start playing with! Talk about fast shipping.