I am building a mobile transmission setup and would like advice. My goal it to be able to walk around with a battery powered FM transmitter and antenna in a backpack and have a clean signal broadcast at least 3-4 city blocks.
What products do you think would be best suited for use case? What do you think some of the pitfalls I will encounter are? What is the best type of antenna to use in this situation?
I would love to give you more information if you have any questions.
Well hell.. 3-4 city blocks wouldn't require much power at all. You could probably pull that off with legal Part 15 type transmitters. Maybe just go the easy route and get a ramsey FM25B or the likes, pop it in the backpack running off a battery and somehow attach a whip dipole antenna to the back of the backpack.
Not sure what your goal is but walking around with such a low powered transmitter really isn't going to get listeners unless they know to tune in while you walk past them lol.
I think it was the Free Radio Berkeley guy who backpacked a 1 watt transmitter and walked around with it talking into a mic. I forget though, it has been a long time since I remember reading about it.
I have looked into the Free Radio Berkeley stuff. I have a 1 watt Ramsey FM35 and it seems to be working pretty well but when I walk around I get static every once in a while. I think its just from the connections moving around. I am using Tru Match antenna from ramsey right now. I may try a few other options out. Could you share a few links to antennas that would work well and be portable?
You know the Whole House FM Transmitter has a secret high power mode? By holding the cycle button down and mute at the same time for 10 seconds you'll see a lightning bolt? This means your in High Power mode. It will then go about 1/4 mile from that stock antenna. You can plug a mic onto it or broadcast from a laptop which I would recommend using NextKast with its built in audio compression. You can set up a Radio station and even have ads every 4th song or so to sell things. It is the easiest way to be portable but this transmitter is $125