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WANTED: Part 15 FM Equipment

JustinSaysRadio

JustinSaysRadio

Hello! I am looking for Part 15 FM Equipment for my internet radio station, Free 99. It plays a mix of today's and yesterday's hits and indie.

Please contact me at [email protected] for more information.

I would prefer it to be free, since I have no job and am still in school, but if you need payment for it, then maybe we can work something out.
 
JustinSaysRadio said:
Hello! I am looking for Part 15 FM Equipment for my internet radio station, Free 99. It plays a mix of today's and yesterday's hits and indie.

Please contact me at [email protected] for more information.

I would prefer it to be free, since I have no job and am still in school, but if you need payment for it, then maybe we can work something out.
Click to expand...
Are you looking for an ultra low power transmitter? Check out the Signstek ST-05B

I have one and I love it! Whatever I have streaming on my computer, I can enjoy on any FM receiver around the house. They're about $80, so that may be out of your budget, though

If you go with this model, be sure to set it to low power (100 mW) before you start using it. The default setting is high (500 mW), which would run afoul of FCC rules. It must be manually switched to low during setup, but once you've done that, it'll stay on the low setting
 
Even 100 mW is illegal. The maximum power output allowed into a 1/2 wave dipole or 1/4 wave vertical is roughly 11 nanowatts ERP, aka 0.000011 mW.

That being said, unless the FCC gets a complaint (probably from a station being interfered with, or a listener to that station), I don't thnk anyone's in any danger of getting busted as long as they don't call attention to themselves or have a range greater than 300 feet. The FCC is not going to bust a church for using one of these, but they might if one deliberately attempts to target the neighbors with it as a wannabe-broadcaster.
 
Not to mention that "whatever you have streaming on your computer" is most likely able to also stream via a smart speaker which you can locate anywhere. For the particular configuration described above, there are cheaper, easier (and completely compliant and legal) ways to hear content throughout your home vs. buying an $80 FM transmitter.
 
KeithE4 said:
Even 100 mW is illegal. The maximum power output allowed into a 1/2 wave dipole or 1/4 wave vertical is roughly 11 nanowatts ERP, aka 0.000011 mW.

That being said, unless the FCC gets a complaint (probably from a station being interfered with, or a listener to that station), I don't thnk anyone's in any danger of getting busted as long as they don't call attention to themselves or have a range greater than 300 feet. The FCC is not going to bust a church for using one of these, but they might if one deliberately attempts to target the neighbors with it as a wannabe-broadcaster.
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A 1/4 wave vertical "whip" would be about 29" long, right? The antenna that I'm using is the "rubber duckie" that came with it - it's only about 10" long, so that undoubtedly reduces the gain. Not to mention that my house is all masonry, which should further attenuate any signal passing to the outside. As a result, the signal doesn't extend much beyond my property

I didn't even know that these particular transmitters were around until I drove by a "talking house" several years ago. I contacted the Realtor and found out that these are available on Amazon (which is where I purchased mine), or directly from Signstek

I appreciate the info, though! I might need to do another "field check" with my car stereo - if the signal is traveling farther than 300' from my house, I'll look for an attenuator to splice in between the output and the antenna
 
Mikey Radio said:
Not to mention that "whatever you have streaming on your computer" is most likely able to also stream via a smart speaker which you can locate anywhere. For the particular configuration described above, there are cheaper, easier (and completely compliant and legal) ways to hear content throughout your home vs. buying an $80 FM transmitter.
Click to expand...
That's true :) Had I been setting this all up from scratch, I might have gone the smart speaker route. However, I already have a number of FM receivers around the house - bedroom, kitchen, garage, patio - so much easier to just pull up my online music source, power up the transmitter and turn on the receiver(s)!
 
Am in the search for one of those wee Ramsey 10 (?) FM xmtrs that I'd heard were discontinued a decade or so back.

If possible, one that's wired, lol. I'm all thumbs when it comes to soldering.

It would be for general 'hobby' use, very intermittently. BBQ's, around the yard while landscaping -- nothing nefarious.
I wouldn't need the wall-current adaptor. There are lots of batteries here.

Tia !

EMail here is [email protected]
 
Ramsey transmitters were a bit iffy in terms of their Part 15 compliance. They sold higher-power transmitters that were not Part 15 compliant, which anyone could buy as long as they signed a letter promising that they were going to export it out of the U.S. Also some of their designs could be easily modified for higher power just by cutting a resistor out of the circuit. The FCC cracked down on them for this practice.

And of course if you're buying a kit that someone else put together, you never know how well they constructed it. Even if it works, it could be full of sloppy construction and cold solder joints.
 
192khz said:
I have a low power Transmitter if you want it. Fully adjustable from 1 watt to 15 watts with FCC certification.
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Not legal for Part 15 without a huge attenuator between the transmitter and the antenna.

Despite the calculated power output of 11 nanowatts into a dipole for 250 uV/m at 3 meters, you'll get away with 1 microwatt (or maybe even a milliwatt if your house is lath/stucco) into a short antenna as long as you keep the signal from interfering with anyone else.
 
For my church I bought one of the part 15 transmitters on Amazon at the beginning of covid so we could do parking lot services. It also has a USA/EU setting. I might have accidently forgotten to switch it to the USA setting. :) The church is only 1/4 mile from the Shepherds Ln candelabras and we get lots of FM splatter across the dial. It only works about 300 feet. It is using the rubber antenna that was included.

Luckily, we are now back in the building and I was able to convince them to spend $30,000 on getting a more professional camera system (Tricaster) and upgraded digital sound system for streaming.

Oh... that reminds me, we are going to be looking for someone to run the video board a couple of hours a week on Sunday mornings. Very part time. We will have a volunteer cover the sound board which is now an iPad. If you know of someone, send me a PM.
 
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BarryATL said:
For my church I bought one of the part 15 transmitters on Amazon at the beginning of covid so we could do parking lot services. It also has a USA/EU setting. I might have accidently forgotten to switch it to the USA setting. :) The church is only 1/4 mile from the Shepherds Ln candelabras and we get lots of FM splatter across the dial. It only works about 300 feet. It is using the rubber antenna that was included.

Luckily, we are now back in the building and I was able to convince them to spend $30,000 on getting a more professional camera system (Tricaster) and upgraded digital sound system for streaming.

Oh... that reminds me, we are going to be looking for someone to run the video board a couple of hours a week on Sunday mornings. Very part time. We will have a volunteer cover the sound board which is now an iPad. If you know of someone, send me a PM.
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If you need a professional FCC certified part 15 FM transmitter I have 1 to sell.
 
UPDATE: I have some money to spend on a Part 15 FM Transmitter. I want to try to spend about $50 on one, if not $60.
 
For around $69, C.Crane sells the Digital FM Transmitter 2, item #FM2. For the money, it is a very decent Part 15-compliant transmitter. It isn't the absolute greatest, but you won't find anything else like it in the price range. Your best bet might be one of those.
 
KeithE4 said:
Even 100 mW is illegal. The maximum power output allowed into a 1/2 wave dipole or 1/4 wave vertical is roughly 11 nanowatts ERP, aka 0.000011 mW.

That being said, unless the FCC gets a complaint (probably from a station being interfered with, or a listener to that station), I don't thnk anyone's in any danger of getting busted as long as they don't call attention to themselves or have a range greater than 300 feet. The FCC is not going to bust a church for using one of these, but they might if one deliberately attempts to target the neighbors with it as a wannabe-broadcaster.
Click to expand...
A gentleman in our area has an FM transmitter for his holiday light show-music choreographed to effects. You can still hear the music several miles from the house. I probably should clue the gentleman in (LOL). It goes about 2 miles north of town, and to the southern city limit. I really need to give him a 'heads up,' as he's done this service for several years. I don't want him on the FCC's 'naughty list.'
 
Greg Goodfellow said:
A gentleman in our area has an FM transmitter for his holiday light show-music choreographed to effects. You can still hear the music several miles from the house. I probably should clue the gentleman in (LOL). It goes about 2 miles north of town, and to the southern city limit. I really need to give him a 'heads up,' as he's done this service for several years. I don't want him on the FCC's 'naughty list.'
Click to expand...
He needs to cut that signal by about 60 dB. If all he's doing is broadcasting Christmas music to those driving along his street, a few microwatts ERP will work without running afoul of the FCC.

However...

The problem is if he puts a sign in his front yard that says "Listen to my Christmas music on xx.x MHz." That means he's deliberately broadcasting to the public. I don't know what the Music Mafia would do about that (although I have my $u$spicion$).
 
Greg Goodfellow said:
I don't thnk anyone's in any danger of getting busted as long as they don't call attention to themselves or have a range greater than 300 feet.
Click to expand...
300ft is roughly a city block.
I've been operating a 150 watt transmitter @10watts into a quality dummy load and the range is about 1 block.
If the transmitter you purchase has an external antenna hook up this will work without any complaints.
If you buy the numerous cheap China stuff make sure you get a good lpf. I haven't heard anything good about them.
Just remember a good transmitter will not get you into trouble. The antenna will.

Quote:: Despite the calculated power output of 11 nanowatts into a dipole for 250 uV/m at 3 meters
==
Nearly impossible.! So basically only legal transmitter is cigarette lighter car fm modulators/transmitters?
No.. You have options.
 
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