Any experience with FM transmitters.

I was looking for something to play MP3/CD's in my truck (no audio hookups on my radio). And remember seeing FM transmitters like this one from C. Crane.

Do they work, and sound good? Are there any that are better than others?

For me personally, I'm looking for something under $100, but for my job, I would also be interested to find one that can transmit several hundred feet through walls without having to get any kind of special license or have the FCC stop you.

Ebay. Look up FM TRANSMITTER

Warning: some have a range of only a few (20) feet.

www.dak2000.com sells one too.

Figger about 20 bux.

PS: I've seen a CD player with one BUILT IN!

My experience with the kind that try to transmit through the air is rather negative. I had one from radio shack cost about $25 I think and it did not do a very good job of transmitting to the car radio. On one long trip I had to attach another wire to the antenna and run it out the window and wrap it around the car antenna to get any decent reception at all. Course, they may work fine for you...

Now I have one that actually goes inline between the antenna and the radio. The brand name is "Audiovox" and it works great. Cost me $50 at the local "Car Toyz" store. (was tempted to get some neon while I was there Installing this does require that you can get behind the radio to plug it in, but it doesn't require any special radio input plugs and it blocks other radio stations when it's on so that you don't get any interference. You also have to mount the power switch somewhere and get power to it. Initially I just had a 12v car adaptor hanging out under the dash that I would plug in when I wanted it on, but I have since mounted the switch and wired it in. It works great.

So if you need to move it to other vehicles easily then this is not what you want.

-James

I believe Ted said something (At Darksbane "recently") about the C Crane transmitter. Seems he has one and, get this, likes it!

Ebay. Look up FM TRANSMITTER

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I looked up FM transmitter on Yahoo and found a bunch, just wanted to see if anyone had good/bad experiences with certain models.

Now I have one that actually goes inline between the antenna and the radio.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I actually have a broken CD changer that has the transmitter that goes in between the antennae and the radio. I can get one like that, but it would be neat to have a freestanding transmitter for other applications (although I don't know what yet).

I believe Ted said something (At Darksbane "recently")

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">What thread?

Is that Ted Bear, I mean Toilet Pig, or Ted the Led you are referring to ?
Yup I got the Ccrane transmitter, (of course they're cheaper now..) and the sound quality to my FM radios is very good. But the range isn't very far, I think they claim 70 feet clear air..and if the transmitter is in a trailer and the receiver is in a wooden shed 20 feet away, you will want to mount the transmitter high and with as a direct view to the receiver as possible, then a little antenna adjustment of the receiver you can get good reception. I am in a poor radio reception area, in a canyon, and have found the Koss radio in the trailer gets better reception than the Ccrane radio in the shed (unless I place the Ccrane radio up near the ceiling -- makes turning the volume down during commercials a bit difficult, having to climb a ladder to do it!) But if I connect the transmitter to the Koss I can transmit to the Ccrane pretty well...the transmitter uses 2 batteries OR a wall wart.
They should remove that coiled cord from the transmitter though, it is far too light and small to stay in place with any tension whatsoever on the coiled wire. You have to velcro it down, or better yet up on the ceiling, near a window..
this help?

If you're handy with a soldering iron, try these. Well worth it. I use the model FM25B, and it covers my whole 'hood, so to speak. Adjustable output power incase the man comes sniffing around. I've been in operation since '77 from the same location and haven't been caught yet. Just have a look at their offerings:

FM Xmitters

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Any opinion on the FM 10a ?

Not from first-hand experience, but looks like a fine unit. Please note that the kits do NOT include the case or antenna that you see, just the components and circuit board, and of course instructions. But I think that the grand total was around 59 with case, antenna and AC powerpack included. The only diff I can see between the 10a and 25b is that the 25b is "programmed via dip switches" thus is frequency locked. The 10a looks like it has a tuning control. Considering the price, I thisk it should foot the bill. Depends on what you want to do.

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For the moment I'm just looking for a way to play CD's/MP3's or whatever in my truck from a CD/MP3 player. But I'm sure I can come up with other uses for a stand alone transmitter.

The low price caught my eye as this will be an experiment for me.

Do you think the tuning controll will drift considering it will be in a moving vehicle?

I have been using the Ramsey FM-25A I built up as a kit, for re-transmitting XM radio and MP3s, works great, I can get over 1/4 mile out of it, using a 19 inch telescoping whip antenna. Granted, I am in a fairly rural area, and near the top of a 1000 foot hill. Just find an unused frequency and set up there.

The old adage, "you get what you pay for" definitely applies here.

The FM-10A works, but drifts like crazy, you'll be chasing it all over the dial. PLL synthesized is the way to go. The $20-25 radio shack and other units are junk, plain and simple, worse even
than "LED Club" flash lights from LOO LOO Industries...

If you are in a *really* rural area, middle of the desert, or some small caribbean island, then kicking it up a bit with a 1 (or 10) watt RF amplifier) might be in order, but don't even think about doing this in any urban or suburban area, unless you want a quick visit from the FCC.


/ed brown in NH

So it seems the Ramsey FM-25 is not powerfull enough to be a concern to the FCC. How powerfull is it? Less than a watt I assume.

Originally posted by Hemingray:
If you are in a *really* rural area, middle of the desert, or some small caribbean island, then kicking it up a bit with a 1 (or 10) watt RF amplifier) might be in order, but don't even think about doing this in any urban or suburban area, unless you want a quick visit from the FCC.

/ed brown in NH

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Not that I have any plans to do this, I do not! But how would the FCC find out? I can't believe that the FCC Police just drive around to listen for illegal signals. Do they respond to complaints from your neighbors?

It seems unlikely that my neighbors would call them up to say something like "I can no longer tune my radio to an unused channel to listen to static, all I get is music now!"

If I was getting bad interference from something my neighbors were doing do I call them?

I understand that very high power "amature" transmitters would potentially cause problems for all kinds of other things, but whats an extra watt or 2 on my MP3 transmitter if I'm on a 4 acre wooded lot?

Thanks,
James

The Ramsey units look veeery interesting! I may get one..don't know about tuning using the dip switches though -- on the CCrane you just push a button to scan up and down the entire frequency range on an LCD readout, and you're done.

There is an upper limit for these "part 15" devices, so don't kick up the power...
The FM-25B should cover 4 acres cleanly. The DIP
switches are pretty much of a "set and forget"
thing, once you set the frequency it is unlikely
to have to re-program them often. They set in a
BCD (1, 2, 4, 8) pattern, so no complex math is needed ;-)

The FM-25A is last year's model, the 25B has surface mount components already installed and a
couple of improvements with their connectors.

/ed brown in NH

additional info from Ramsey tech support;
"...The FM25B comes as a kit and when you're finished with it it will look like the picture on the website. It comes with the whip antenna, case and power supply, along with a step-by-step instruction manual that guides you through the kit building process. It is only one unit, not two. The power output is adjustable from 5uW to 25mW.
..."

Thanks

Just a side note: Don't even consider Radio Shaft's newest offering, the i-Rock Wireless FM transmitter specifically designed for rebroadcast of MP3 & other personal stereo devices. I bought one on a whim, and so did my neighbor. Firstly, you can only tune it to one of four freqs, namely 88.3, 88.5, 88.7, and 88.9 Mhz. The output freq is set via a four position slide switch, and the spec sheet touts a whopping 10 foot range. This is assuming clear air transmission with no metal obstructions. Unfortunately, my car is metal, like 99.98% of most automobiles. From inside a car, my digital FM receiver tunes it in, but very weakly(lots of background hiss), and at times loses the signal completely. And my radio is pretty sensitive, pulling in local radio stations from the 'burbs from 40-50 miles away. These aren't even high power stations. So in summary, the unit flunks my bare minimum criteria: To be able to reach my car antenna(external) from INSIDE the vehicle with full quieting. Just a forewarning....

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Good to hear, I just saw those on eBay.

Personally I have never had any luck with FM transmitters, but I haven't tried for a few years.

-Mike