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Seeking info on Whole House Transmitter

R

RadioMan203

I had received some queries regarding the performance of this alleged Part 15 compliant FM transmitter. From the information I had been able to dig up online it appears this transmitter's output far exceeds those of the certified Part 15 FM transmitters on the market. The companies own marketing information also seems to imply that their unit will outperform

Multiple queries to the manufacturer have gone unanswered, making me think they don't wish to address this in writing. I would like to either find a unit to evaluate or perhaps find someone who had actually tested one with a calibrated field strength meter and documented the actual field strength of these units.

Several inquires I received were individuals asking me to review the unit but I am hesitant to review FM units which are questionable.
 
Bill, I know of several companies selling so-called: Whole House FM Transmitters. From the feedback I have gotten, someone is better off with the CCrane; Probably the best Part 15 compliant FM transmitter on the market for the money. Only the Decade would preform better and cost almost ten times as much.


It would help to know which company it is.



Steve
www.radiobrandy.com
 
The one I'm referring to actually markets themselves as the "Whole House Transmitter" located at wholehousefmtransmitter.com. With a marketing slogan "We go the distance" it sure appears makes one question just how "by the book" their unit really is.

I've heard many positive things about the C. Crane unit and personally have two of them. I met a gent who is covering a fairly large condo complex with a pair of the C. Crane units and he's quite happen with the results his "condo-radio" system has.
 
The FCC has issued a citation (link below) to the importer/seller of the Whole House FM transmitter, which includes the following clip:

"According to tests conducted by the Commission’s Office of Engineering and Technology Laboratory (“OET”), the emissions of the WH FM Transmitter exceeded the authorized level under Section 15.239(b) of the Rules. Finally, Section 2.925(a) of the Rules requires that intentional radiators be properly labeled. It thus appears that TAW has violated Section 302(b) of the Act and Sections 2.803, 2.925(a) and 15.239(b) of the Rules by marketing a non-compliant and unlabeled radio frequency device in the United States."

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-437A1.doc

RF
 
Great sleuthing, Rich! I didn't expect to see anything from the commission on this on, especially as recent as a few weeks ago. They seems to very aggressive as of late advertising their product which makes me wonder what they plan to do about this.
 
Bill, as your posted test show; the CCrane has to be the best Part 15 compliant FM transmitter for the price, the Whole House Transmitter does not hold a candle to the CCrane Part 15 compliant FM transmitter. The Whole House Transmitter does come under a few names; same XMTR different name.

We do have a direct link to your review on www.radiobrandy.com


Steve
www.radiobrandy.com
 
Thanks Steve for the review link as well as the info. I know I had received several inquires about whether or not there were other FM transmitters in a similar price range with the C. Crane unit. It seems that Whole House is very aggressive as of late in advertising their units in spite of the recent citation they received.

I had seen a few units that have output powers that grossly exceed the limits of Part 15 and while they may be able to be used in an on-campus setting, the vast majority of hobbyists are not going to be able to tame those units to comply with the regulations. Granted, Part 15 FM is very limited but for an area with a high density of residents it may prove to be worthwhile.

FWIW: I've seen a few low-priced units and they are usually disappointing. I would like to lab test something like a Decade unit although I understand the price difference is rather significant in comparison to the C. Crane, which is within the reach of most hobbyists.
 
Bill, here is one company that sells low cost transmitters:
www.mobileblackbox.com/content/view/5/6/
You will see that the whole house transmitter has been discontinued; it's second from the bottom, the transmitter in the middle is a HLLY under the hood.

The EDM LCD FM transmitter is still hands down the best, and can be turned down to 1 milliwatt; A New RDS version is now available. I have also used them to feed old MATV systems that are no longer used in large apartment complexes (600 unit), motels & condo communities; I simple put little one to two inch ant stubs on the old taps to radiate 50-100 feet;enough to cover the condo or apartment; very little if any radiates outside the property.

Two to three hundred feet a legal part 15 FM transmitter like the CCrane is good for; can cover a good sized apartment complex. Linked together, you can easily cover a pretty good sized community population wise in a fairly small physical area. Just think of the number of units a Las Vegas hotel has. Allot of smaller broadcasters would be pleased to have 5,000 people in their coverage area. One Reno television station considered their newscast a success with only 2,200 nightly viewers.

Our Multiple Dwelling Unit (MDU) stations clients include:
Pizza Delivery
House Cleaning
Daycare
Laundry Service
Mobile Car Wash & Detail
Office assistant
Appliance store
Gofer
Tutoring
We do trade outs for food, beer, DVD's, studio cleaning.

Next time you are in a place like Las Vegas, just look at all the MDU's and how big they are.
You pick and choose the demographics you want to serve, by the MDU community.


Steve
www.radiobrandy.com
 
We had been threading about the Whole House unit for awhile at HobbyBroadcaster.net along with the fact that it all seemed "... to good to be true" when it came to their "superior coverage" when compared to other Part 15 transmitters. It is like comparing 2-liter bottles of soda and saying our bottle has more than the others. Unless they have a bigger bottle, there's not way they are the same.

I am fortunate to be working with local engineers to gain access to calibrated field meters to check the units we have available for our lab reviews. The evaluation lab already has on hand equipment such as AM and FM modulation monitors which allow making off-air observations and measurements to assist in creating the comprehensive equipment reviews on my site. Since I had received several inquiries regarding Part 15 FM in the context of covering a high-density population (i.e., small condo complexes) it was important to see just how well some of the more popular Part 15 FM modulator/transmitters actually performed. Unfortunately we were unable to secure an evaluation unit for the Whole House transmitter and with noting the recent citation it's pretty apparent why our directed queries to them had gone unanswered.

The users asking about the Whole House unit had believed it was a decent unit from the other information they had seen online. While I don't have any first hand experience with the unit it seemed strongly apparent from others I've contacted that in many cases the signal generated by this unit was very often in excess of Part 15. I was hopeful in reviewing some others units to compare to the current bench standard, the C. Crane digital FM transmitter.
 
I wasn't aware of that. I don't think I've noticed that limitation in any of their marketing materials.

I just picked up my second C. Crane FM unit and I'm quite happy with its performance.
 
I wasn't aware of that. I don't think I've noticed that limitation in any of their marketing materials.
Click to expand...
How convenient that gets left out, and those seven frequencies are all at the top of the dial.

For me the C. Crane's big advantage is to be able to reach normal modulation levels as you measured without sound like a Ramsey, and still have fair coverage. And being to cover most of the FM dial is a plus too; what I find hard to believe is the Whole House Transmitter cost more than the C.Crane and nearly as much as the EDM LED.

Buyer beware; you don't always get what you pay for!


Steve
www.xrqkfm.com
Radio On The River
 
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