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Decade FM Transmitters


Spud67

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Hello fellow members, 2008 was my first year with LOR. I purchased one kit during the sale and it it put together in no time at all. For 2009 I plan on getting three more kits and many more lights.

We had lots of comments from the time we turned the system on, everyone just loved the simple animation and several songs I sequenced. Now I would like to add a FM transmitter so everyone driving by can hear the music as well as enjoy the light show. I can across a company called Decade and the transmitters they offer look pretty good but there is no pricing on the web site. I contacted them this afternoon and I am waiting to hear back from them with a price on the LX-75S transmitter.

Is there any members using a Decade transmitter and if so how is it performing?

Thanks and all the best in 2009.

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I like the EDM transmitter. I also was new to this this year. I had no problems with the EDM transmitter. It seems that alot of meembers use them along with some others.

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In all the posts I have read on transmitters, this one never came up. I did a quick search and could not find info on the boards either.

The XLs looks interesting. Apparently they won't ship to the US. Interesting that they don't post prices and have to get back to you? Did you have to leave a message or did they not know!?

I don't know enough about transmitters specs to comment, but the fact they post their specs is good.

Let us know the price.

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I suppect that the issue with the XL75 series is that the power output exceeds the FCC limit. Noted power is up to 80 mW. Now the ???-100 is importable and instead of giving the power in milli Watts, they give the 250uV/M. That reads 250 micro volt over meters. And this units power is fixed. There are a lot of people putting up FM transmitters that could get themselfs in deep do-do if to many people raise heck about them disrupting local broadcast, though highly unlikely.

I believe that is why Decade are not going to export to America the 75 series.

Max

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I sent the company an email this afternoon and never heard anything back by the end of my work day here in Saskatchewan.

The web site address is http://www.decade.ca/ if you have not already checked it out and there is a Regulations page that has some information about the CRTC and DOC in Canada and the FCC in the U.S. The laws for transmitters in the U.S. are much more strict than what they are here in Canada, at least they have other models available.

I was looking at this one because it is Canadian made and I don't want to run another cable just for an external antenna, this company has a transmitter with an antenna attached. Of course I just started looking and have taken a short look at the EDM transmitter but I should look again.

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I have to second the vote for the EDM. I got one from the group buy last summer. I get a crystal clear stereo signal in about a 1 block radius of the house with just a little wire taped to the window. Its worth it.

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Well I found out the price information on the Decade FM Transmitter and I now know why there are none in use for LOR users. The price I received for teh LX-75S model was on sale at $890.00 Canadian funds. I was thinking about buying Canadian and not have to worry about the exchange rate being so poor right now. I guess the exchange rate looks really good for the EDM.

Which EDM model should I consider now? We live in a rural area and there is really nothing around other than some trees in the yard around the house. Our house is about 1/8 mile west off a main highway and 1/4 from a gravel road to the north. Those are the two area that I would need to have good coverage for since that is where people will be veiwing teh light show from. I really don't feel like having lots af visitors driving into my farm yard during the light show viewing season.

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Spud67 wrote:

Well I found out the price information on the Decade FM Transmitter and I now know why there are none in use for LOR users. The price I received for teh LX-75S model was on sale at $890.00 Canadian funds. I was thinking about buying Canadian and not have to worry about the exchange rate being so poor right now. I guess the exchange rate looks really good for the EDM.

Which EDM model should I consider now? We live in a rural area and there is really nothing around other than some trees in the yard around the house. Our house is about 1/8 mile west off a main highway and 1/4 from a gravel road to the north. Those are the two area that I would need to have good coverage for since that is where people will be veiwing teh light show from. I really don't feel like having lots af visitors driving into my farm yard during the light show viewing season.

The EDM LCD model is the preferred unit. It has two power settings 10mw and 100mw and both can be adjusted to lower power outputs if needed.

As for range per your description, I would recommend a ground plane antenna. I am using one this year and the EDM set at 10mw and getting a easy 1/4 mile in a housing development. Antenna is 10 feet off the ground.

You could probably get 1/2 mile easily.
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The antenna is part of my trouble, I don't have an easy way of hooking up an antenna and don't feel like drilling another hole in my new home to run a cable outside to the roof and install a good antenna.

This is just for a short time frame over the holidays and would rather have something sitting in the computer room window and then take it down for the rest of the year. Maybe I will install something permanent then I will be able to broadcast my own music to listern to while I cut grass in the summer time on the farm.

I was considering the LCD model now that I had a another look at it I just might order one. Any idea if the prices on the web site for EDM are in American funds?

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Let me rephrase my comment. I’ve hooked up an FM antenna from my old stereo before and it picked up an excellent signal when I couldn’t before. I was thinking this would apply here also…just a thought.

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Any idea if the prices on the web site for EDM are in American funds?

Yes, the prices are in US Dollars.

Last I looked, it was $172 (shipped) for the EDM LCD 10/100 kit.
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Thanks for the information.

Now too bad the Canadian dollar is only worth 84 cents in U.S. funds.

I will have to wait and maybe the dollars will get closer in value once again. It was nice when I bought my first controller in 2008, the value of teh dollars were almost the same, much closer then they are right now.

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Spud67 wrote:

The antenna is part of my trouble, I don't have an easy way of hooking up an antenna and don't feel like drilling another hole in my new home to run a cable outside to the roof and install a good antenna.

This is just for a short time frame over the holidays and would rather have something sitting in the computer room window and then take it down for the rest of the year. Maybe I will install something permanent then I will be able to broadcast my own music to listern to while I cut grass in the summer time on the farm.

I was considering the LCD model now that I had a another look at it I just might order one. Any idea if the prices on the web site for EDM are in American funds?

I didn't drill any holes for the antenna. I have my LOR controller bolted to the beam holding up the front of the carport, and screwed the EDM transmitter to the same beam several feet away (to avoid noise if the transmitter is too close). Then the antenna (the wire included with the EDM) could have just dangled down along the carport support post except there are cats roaming the neighborhood. So, I taped the wire to a wooden flagpole which was mounted right there to the side of the carport.
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I plan on placing the transmitter in the window of the room I have the computer in so I can connect directly to the PC. I am using one 16PC controller so far, until the sale in 2009. Having the transmitter in the same room as the computer I don't have to install another cable to connect the audio from the computer to the transmitter.

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Spud67 wrote:

I plan on placing the transmitter in the window of the room I have the computer in so I can connect directly to the PC. I am using one 16PC controller so far, until the sale in 2009. Having the transmitter in the same room as the computer I don't have to install another cable to connect the audio from the computer to the transmitter.

To me there is no other place to put it. The computer, radio and other electronics belong in the command room.
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  • 4 weeks later...

Spud67 wrote:

Hello fellow members, 2008 was my first year with LOR. I purchased one kit during the sale and it it put together in no time at all. For 2009 I plan on getting three more kits and many more lights.

We had lots of comments from the time we turned the system on, everyone just loved the simple animation and several songs I sequenced. Now I would like to add a FM transmitter so everyone driving by can hear the music as well as enjoy the light show. I can across a company called Decade and the transmitters they offer look pretty good but there is no pricing on the web site. I contacted them this afternoon and I am waiting to hear back from them with a price on the LX-75S transmitter.

Is there any members using a Decade transmitter and if so how is it performing?

Thanks and all the best in 2009.

Decade is certainly the way to go. It is well built equipment as well as approved by IC and the FCC. I currently have an FM-850 here, it puts out 1.8 Watts , which covers about 2 small towns in each direction. That is without any added amplifiers or antenna gain. I am going to be using mine as a small broadcast station as son as I get my licensing approved. This model is not the one you want for Christmas use, but all of the Decade transmitters are approved, which means there will be no interference with air traffic landing gear, like some other "eBay" transmitters. I think when this one was bought, it was around $3,000 (with shipping, I believe), but the price may have since dropped. It's far more power then legally permitted without a broadcast license, but you are able to turn the power down to as low as 0.05 Watts.

As for antenna structures, just get a magnetic mount antenna with a whip cut to the right length and mount it on a baseboard heater. It's not the best way to do it, but it will work. If you can, make radials for it. Just look up some information on antennas. If you need any additional cable, I would go with RG-8U or RG-58U, depending on how far away you place it. Remember, you don't need to cover a large area, just the location from which passer-bys can see the display. On just 0.05 Watts with a quarter wave antenna, I have been able to hear my signal from about 2,000' away with the antenna mounted only 10' off the ground.

So, with these Decade transmitters, you know that your signal is going where it is supposed to go, as well as getting out very clearly. If it's in the budget, I say go for it!


Attached files 171513=9834-Decade_FM-850_sm.jpg
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