FM Transmitters

[DZ]

Hi all, I've been looking at FM transmitters lately and I am having a hard time figuring out what I need. I just want to be able to broadcast audio from my computer about the distance of a football field. This is something that I'd only used once, maybe twice a year for a couple hours. I'm guessing I'd need at least a 1W transmitter and a decent antenna? I don't know, there seems to be a ton of choices out there and I was hoping someone here might have some experience with this stuff.

[GoolGaul]

I've used this: http://www.hllyelectronics.com/05w-f...olor-p-43.html with excellent results. I sold some to Sea-Ray dealers for Aquapalooza - their multi-location boat party, to transmit rafting commands (to link 100's of boats together) and to transmit the DJ afterwards...

I fired one up, and started driving away (in the car) got almost a mile away before even the slightest bit of static was noticed.

the sound quality is very good too.

if you're only looking to blast signal over a 300' radius, you probably don't even need any specialized antennas either...

[Retina Burn]

This unit has great range and good sound quality..http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/cgi...tion&key=FM25B

[liteglow]

I use this http://www.wholehousefmtransmitter.c...r-20-p-66.html

btw, seems like the same as first link!
But it works fine

[flecom]

as a note anything exceeding part 15 is illegal...

/fcc police off

these are excellent if you want something nice instead of a toy tugicom is your best xmiter/$

http://www.tugicom.com/fm-exciter/tx190.html

also those hlly transmitters are dirty as a mofo on their RF output...

[liteglow]

390$ vs. 72$ ...

I got a 50$ FM transmitter, and I transmit 5-600 meters (depend on the TX antenna) !
And I will say that is more than I need :-) the law (in Norway), says maximum of 1meters transmit range in personal FM transmitters

[flecom]

yes but most of those $50 xmitters have really noisy RF output... so more odds of the FCC coming to mess up your life over here...

Over here we have to obey Title 47 CFR Part 15 for small FM transmitters...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_4...d_broadcasting

the one I posted also has balanced line in, proper filtering, and a RDS encoder if you want to stream text to fm rxers that support it

[DZ]

Hey guys, thanks for all the info! Still on the fence a bit about it, this will certainly help me determine which one to get!

[mixedgas]

I like the Ramsey FM25B if you feed it properly limited audio. The kit is easy to build, and noise is low. I do not buy their limiter processor box, so I have no idea how well that works. Spurs are low, Ramsey was raided by FCC once long ago and tends to put in filters. Not brick wall filters, but still decent filters to keep things reasonably clean.Are the spurs 60 dB down like I would like, NO. The dip switch programming works well, and the center frequency is ROCK SOLID.


Not bad for about 100$.

Remember, better antenna = more range.

Steve

[flecom]

Remember, better antenna = more range.

Steve

ya, but with VHF, height is king