PC-FM Transmitters

[jblnut]

Anyone here have any experience with PC-FM transmitters ? Having MP3'd most of my music collection it would be nice to be able to access it via radio when I'm outside, in the garage, etc.
Just wondering which units you may have tried and how the range and sound quality are.

This is an example of what I'm talking about if you have never heard of this:

http://www2.mobileblackbox.com:8000/usb_transmitter.htm

Thanks!

jblnut

[boputnam]

Dood...

I haven't tried that, although was thinking about it, until I went a different route:

With my wireless LAN at home I can take my laptop into the shop/garage and access anything "shared" on my "server" PC. I can play any .wav or .mp3 file stored there. I even stream Internet radio with no buffering gaps.

I come-out of the laptop using the stereo headphone mini-plug, adapted to stereo RCA's into my garage preamp.

Works great... ;)

[jblnut]

That's what I've been doing up until now, but it's a hassle and not very convenient if you have stereos all over the place and want to be able to hear the same "stream" through all of them.
Plus laptops are fragile and I pefer to keep them out of the garage and away from the hot tub :-).

jblnut

[boputnam]

Hey, jblnut...

Have you had a chance to try this, yet? Anything to report? :hmm:

Yesterday, my neighbor introduced me to Arkon's SF100 - http://www.arkon.com/sf.html - a very cool local-field FM transmitter device for the car/boat. He uses it to get his XMRadio signal into the in-dash radio without butchering the dash (or radio). Works really nice. Smart solution... :yes:

[Don McRitchie]

Here's another way to go if you are running a wireless LAN:

http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=33&scid=38&prid=554

This has the advantage of transmitting a digital signal from your PC to your stereo without the bandwidth and dynamic range limitiations of FM.

[boputnam]

Hey, cool, Don... :coolness:

I've got one of these on the way: http://www.hobbytron.net/R-FM25.html. Nice folks... Should allow me to hear my danged XM radio in the garage shop where I can't accomodate the south-facing antenna, and can't keep the car running all the time... :rotfl:

[jblnut]

Sorry, just crawling back to life after pneumonia and a double ear infection. So nice to have young kids around to perfect all those viruses before passing them on...

I ordered a USB-driven transmitter over the weekend. I'll post some results once I've had a chance to play with it.

jblnut

[boputnam]

Originally posted by jblnut
...and a double ear infection. Man! Stay away from the keyboard!!

Sorry to hear ;) of your ills. But, was that two infections of one ear, or one infection of each? Or...

Syntax! Hahahaha... :rotfl:

[jblnut]

and let me tell ya, you just don't appreciate a fine loudspeaker with 80% hearing loss. I still can't hear crap through either ear but they are slowly returning to normal. The doc says 2 weeks before full hearing is back. I'm dying here - I just got the sub1500 installed and working then whamo - virus city.

Sure makes you appreciate what you have when it's suddenly gone....


jblnut

[boputnam]

Man, not the ears!! Whoa... Take the Doc's orders, man.

Rest, good music and plenty red wine. :thmbsup:

Here's to a speedy recovery!

[jblnut]

OK - I finally had some time to get the receiver installed and working. I bought one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3471246103&category=180

The cool part is that it hooks into the computer through a USB port, so the sound stays in the digital domain right up until broadcast. It emulates a "USB Speaker" on the computer and requires no drivers. When you plug it in, it mutes whatever analog speakers you had and begins broadcasting. When you pull it out, the regular speakers work again. It's a little limited in the frequency range of broadcast (106.7->107.9), but other than that there are really no drawbacks. I LOVE being able to finally get all 5 sound systems playing the same music at the same time. The sound quality is decent if a bit noisy during quiet material.
To be honest my ears are still partially blocked from the illness so I can't make any true quality conclusions.

I don't think you can go wrong for $50 - and it works all the way to the end of my street (.25 mile ) !

jblnut

[boputnam]

Update...

I upgraded to the Ramsey FM30 (http://www.hobbytron.com/ramsey-fm-transmitter-fm30-wt.html) this week. Nice...

The FM25, talked about above, has been updated with digital tuning, making the frequency setting precise, and the antenna fitting has been materially improved over the past 3+ years - mine had a wobbly attachment through the top case (older version of the one pictured in post #6, above) which was never very stable - required an occasional "toaster tap" to settle it. :p

The FM30 is a great upgrade on the FM25. All necessary I/O settings are available through the digital display, allowing for greatly optimized performance.

I use this to transmit the home "main" system into the shop - whatever is playing on the home system is available on an FM tuner over short distances, with great signal quality, stereo.