The transmitter is power adjustable down to 1 mw. Going straight to the ground plane the signal only went a couple houses down the street.
I was planning to turn the RF output down and use an attenuator which I have. However, if I scale the power back the transmitter heats up to the point where it feels like it'll burn itself out.
I'm not very happy with this unit. I think it's cheap and leaves much to be desired in terms of build quality and sound quality. For right now, I'm using a self made dummy load which contains the signal enough.
Did you ever buy this transmitter and if so what do you think about it? I just got one and am waiting for it to be delivered. I was looking for a transmitter where I could use my existing ground plane antenna, but scale the power back enough to keep it legal.
Can anyone recommend a low pass filter to deal with harmonics and spurious emissions from an FM transmitter? I looked on ebay but I have no idea which one to get or how much I should spend.
I play a mixture of obscure classic and modern rock. Primarily deep cuts but some hits as well. Personally, I hate House or any kind of electronic or dance music; but to each his/her own.
Thanks for the replies. Do you have any recommendations on where to get an SWR meter? I bought one at the ARC thrift store for about 20 bucks and sold it for about $115. Whish I'd have kept it now...
I found an online calculator for antenna lengths based on frequency. Can this be used for FM? I don't have an SWR meter so I was trying to get by with this.
If I adjust the telescoping legs and the top antenna to a quarter wavelength, where should I assume the length starts? At the beginning of the piece before the bend or after the bend? And for the top antenna, would the length start where the BNC connector plugs into or where the antenna bends?
Below is the picture of the antenna I'm using to help illustrate what I'm talking about.
I have that exact transmitter and it's pretty good, but doesn't get much range with the supplied ground plane antenna. Then again, I haven't tuned mine.
It seems like when I limit my bandwidth to 15 KHz in breakaway broadcast it causes harsh, crisp highs. Hence, I'm running at 16 KHz. I still have a problem with that, but not nearly as pronounced.
I hooked my 12v power supply back up to the transmitter and am having an issue. Before, when I was running on 7.5 volts, everything was fine. Now that Im running at the full 12v the heatsink that the resistor is mounted to is getting hot as hell!!! And, there's a bit of warmth coming from the transmitter. Is this OK?
If you're on a hill overlooking neighborhoods you'd be surprised at how far the signal goes. A 5w (especially a 15w) will probably go a lot further than 1 to 3 km if nothing's in the way to block the signal. I'd go with 5w just to be safe.
I'm using the demo version until it runs out and will probably end up purchasing it. However, there's an alternate option. I won't name the site, but it starts with a pirate and ends with a bay dot org.
By the way, I'd recommend 2 sound cards. One for the input and one for the output to the transmitter. Any sound cards should do. I'm using onboard realtek HD and an SB Audigy I got from Walmart. I had to lower the L/R Ref level to -19.5 db to avoid distortion.
I'm glad I didn't give up on breakaway broadcast. After playing with the tilt and PEQ settings, I was able to adjust the "curve" of the audio to get the flat sond I was looking for on the Cleveland preset. The meter bars on the BSR equalizer I have made for a good audio monitoring tool whie I played around. My transmitter now sounds identical to a professional radio station and i no longer have to ride the volume knob.