FM10A

[ru4ron2]

How far doe's the FM10A transmit?
Do I need a permit to broadcast on it?

[ October 18, 2002: Message edited by: ru4ron2 ]

[ October 18, 2002: Message edited by: ru4ron2 ]

[ryan_ctXhc]

not as far as you can throw a baseball

no

[Phil]

Ryan can throw a baseball pretty far - good major league draft picks often hand around the forum, except for yours truly - who can't throw a baseball [but is amazingly adept at throwing bubbling balls of solder!

Range on the FM10A? Like any transmitter, its largely based on the antenna. With the built in whip, maybe 150 feet. A good external antenna will up this a fair bit. A sensitive receiver helps too.

The weakest link with the FM10A is its drifting. Some folks have had decent luck in this regard. My old FM10A got so bad it would drift all the way from 90 mhz to 108! Don't let the entry level FM10A discourage you - the FM25B is a wonderful rig!

[Fletch]

Sheesh Ryan,

That's kind of a silly statement, considering my FM10a will cover about a 1 mile radius, unamplified... but I did get a chuckle out of it none the less... it's quite funny, but it could give a newcomer the wrong idea. (If I could throw a baseball a mile I'd be a millionaire).

It ain't the tools it's how you use them.

Granted the FM10a is basically a toy. However when the proper (or in my case improper... er - bordering on the obsurd but never the less very effective) engineering principles are applied you can bend the rules quite a bit.

For ru4ron2... The FM10A requires no license to operate. All you need is a soldering iron, some solder, and the ability to follow directions, and assuming you have never built anything electronic before, about 3-4 hours of your time to put it together. Plug a CD player or other source of audio into the thing, and you're on the air with a puny 7 milliwatts output (If you're lucky).

Ditch the supplied telescoping whip antenna (assuming you bought the matching case and knob set) and build or buy a good external antenna (ramsey sells them), plug the antenna in and put it up high as you can. Now you still have a puny 7 milliwats, but your signal will travel much farther.

Now we get to Ryan's point. Jokingly, in microbroadcasting circles, the FM10a is the black sheep of transmitters. It's a simple kit, designed for the beginner. Build this one, and you get a taste for bigger and better things. You can expiriment, and try new things. It's a good self-teaching tool.

As Phil noted above, the FM10a tends to drift away from your set frequency alot and requires re-tuning every so often. Ditching the Ramsey supplied plastic case and putting the circuit in a metal case helps with this alot.

As it so happens, I use the FM10A as my main transmitter here at Stereo 106.5 - The Station Everyone Wants To Hear, But Usually Can't!

I have modified mine to the point where it barely resembles the little kit I originally bought.. More so in function than in form. It now covers roughly 5 miles and is every bit as loud as the commercial heaters with better sounding audio to boot.. On some material it sounds AWESOME and on some it is mediocre, then on other material it sounds like warmed-over crap at best.

It all depends on what you want to do and the resources you have available with which to do it.

Don't try to make a stock FM10 sound like your commercial neighbors. It WON'T WORK! You'll end up with a distorted sound nobody wants to hear.

If you want to sound like your local FM rock station, chances are that ain't gonna happen unless you have alot of knowledge of audio processing and signal routing.

If you just want to play music, or want to learn about broadcasting, start with the FM10a. For the modest cost, it's worth it by all means. Get a kid involved too. It might be the start of a great hobby for them smile.gif

-Alan

[ October 18, 2002: Message edited by: Fletch ]

[ru4ron2]

I have'nt done any of this sence high school but i would like to transmitt a message about 2 to 3 miles without any trouble. Would the FM25 be a better choice. I want to add the BS1 to the transmitter. I don't have any where to put an external antenna.