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Hold on a sec. I have the same unit, and the exact same problem when mine arrived. I have that external PVC antenna, and after hooking it up, I could transmit a whole 10 feet.
BUT, I found out discreetly that Ramsey ships the unit with the output power turned WAY down. You can open up the case, and there is a potentiometer inside that controls output power. The plastic tool that comes with the unit is perfect for turning this unit clockwise.
Needless to say, about a 1/2 turn clockwise and you'll transmit over a mile and it will sound as good as any local FM station nearby.
Checking the power level is a good call, but as Jim said it worked before.
chuckd wrote: I found out discreetly that Ramsey ships the unit with the output power turned WAY down.
As I have previously mentioned Ramsey Electronics does not sell pre-assembled transmitters, they sell kits. There are various companies that assemble the kits and some have even included Ramsey in their name giving the false impression that it is Ramsey, some may even be authorized dealers, but they are not Ramsey Electronics.
And as Jim mentioned he purchased his from HobbyTron, and if he does happen to send it to me for repair, I'll be real interested in seeing the quality of the soldering, I'll even breakout the microscope and take pics for all of PC to see.
Bill
____________________ 16 sequenced Christmas song's, 104 channels of LOR (up from 88 last year), audio transmitted on 105.7 FM, about 20,000 lights and over 3000 feet of extension cords.
My bad about Ramsey, I bought mine from Hobbytron pre-assembled as well. As a hardware engineer myself, I have virtually no interest in soldering anything together. I do that way too much already!
However, I haven't disassembled my unit to check out the soldering quality. I'll probably do that after this Christmas season just to make sure. Now you've got me worried! I'm picturing a bunch of school kids soldering these things together for some quick cash. I purchased an assembled 1 watt FM100B from Hobbytron.
Assembled the antenna and tested it, it works.
I put the antenna in the FM100B and it isn't transmitting. The input is registering on the FM100, but the radio that is 3 feet away doesn't get the station (99.9)
Thank you
Jim
Did you get a PM from Jim? I read his first post to mean that the antenna worked, but when he connected it to his transmitter he hardly got anything.
I've communicated with about 6 other FM100B users who had this same problem as I did. For some reason, Hobbytron turns R36 virtually ALL the way down before shipping. This is in the FM100BEX unit (1 Watt, export only unit). I imagine this is to avoid any FCC problems like the ones Ramsey had awhile back. I'm being nice when I say I barely got reception 10 feet away. What really happened for me is I held the PVC antenna right next to my radio receiver (1 inch away), and barely got more than static! This was the same for the other 6 users I talked to.
All it took was removing the cover, and turning R36 clockwise. Range goes up very quickly, and as I said, after about 1/2 turn or so I was transmitting clean for a mile (which is of course too much power to be legal).
Of course, if Jim's receiver did in fact work before, then this is all a moot point. If it didn't work before, this is quite easy to check out before he ships it off to you.
Chuck
Update: After reading all the 'stuff' out there about Hobbytron, I'll 'definitely' be disassembling mine after this season. Sounds like most of us might be lucky the units even work at all. I believe Ramsey is a good company, but the other one here might not be quite the same level.
Last edited on Wednesday December 19th, 2007 07:42 pm by chuckd
chuckd wrote: ...... I'm being nice when I say I barely got reception 10 feet away. What really happened for me is I held the PVC antenna right next to my radio receiver (1 inch away), and barely got more than static!
This is basically the same problem I had. The unit was sitting on top of my receiver and you could barely hear it through the static, that it would fade away.
chuckd wrote: I'm picturing a bunch of school kids soldering these things together for some quick cash.
My thought's exactlly, My Brother-in-laws FM30 he purchased from HobbyTron worked last season, but didn't work when he fired it up for Halloween this year, he sent it to me and the soldering was crap, I'm surprised it worked at all last year.
I'll get Jim's working right.
Bill
____________________ 16 sequenced Christmas song's, 104 channels of LOR (up from 88 last year), audio transmitted on 105.7 FM, about 20,000 lights and over 3000 feet of extension cords.
I have been waiting all day and it has not showed up yet, I wanted to fire it up the first thing when it gets here and see what the field strength is, its 16:30 and my show starts in about an hour, so if it does shows up tonight, I will open it and check it out, but will have to wait tomorrow to check the power out.
The UPS tracking shows it's still in route from Dallas, I would have expected it to at least be in Tulsa by now, hopefully the truck didn't crash.
Don't worry, got the weekend off and will keep you advised.
Bill
____________________ 16 sequenced Christmas song's, 104 channels of LOR (up from 88 last year), audio transmitted on 105.7 FM, about 20,000 lights and over 3000 feet of extension cords.
Can you have a trace done to find out where it is, and I wonder if you can get a discount since you paid for second day and it did not make it.
Bill
Last edited on Saturday December 22nd, 2007 01:26 pm by gremler
____________________ 16 sequenced Christmas song's, 104 channels of LOR (up from 88 last year), audio transmitted on 105.7 FM, about 20,000 lights and over 3000 feet of extension cords.
____________________ 16 sequenced Christmas song's, 104 channels of LOR (up from 88 last year), audio transmitted on 105.7 FM, about 20,000 lights and over 3000 feet of extension cords.
Your package was on my door step when I got home from work this afternoon, it all arrived in good condition, I open the transmitter and the soldering was like I expected, I will resolder the whole board. I have not had a chance to turn it on yet, it is Christmas Eve and we have to open presents tonight because I have to work early tomorrow morning and my oldest has to work tomorrow afternoon.
I will keep you advised.
Bill
____________________ 16 sequenced Christmas song's, 104 channels of LOR (up from 88 last year), audio transmitted on 105.7 FM, about 20,000 lights and over 3000 feet of extension cords.
First I connected it to my antenna and tested it, only the right LED bar was responding to the audio, My field strength meter was barely readable (mine read's 450 uV at 3 meters) I went for a drive to check it out. The broadcast audio had alot of static and was of very pour quality and only the right channel worked.
I opened it up and and yes you have a FM100BEX - 1 watt transmitter. The soldering was of very poor quality (can you say globing), Please see the following pics.
So I re-soldered the entire board. Now both LED bars work, I went for a ride and it sounds as good as mine (clear audio in stereo- like a broadcast FM station) and with the power cranked all the way up it had about 2 miles of range and that was with the antenna vertically polarized with a receiver with an horizontal antenna. I want to try it polarizing the antenna horizontally and see what kind of range I get! The field strength was 9 mV at 3 meters. Keep in mind that part 15 of CFR Part 15 (Code of Federal Regulations) has a limit of 250 uV at 3 meters for unlicensed FM broadcast. What you set it at is your call.
Jim, I do not need the MRF557 or the GAL5 from Ramsey, its working fine. Only thing I need to know is what you want to do with the antenna?
Bill
____________________ 16 sequenced Christmas song's, 104 channels of LOR (up from 88 last year), audio transmitted on 105.7 FM, about 20,000 lights and over 3000 feet of extension cords.
Last edited on Thursday December 27th, 2007 12:04 am by gremler
____________________ 16 sequenced Christmas song's, 104 channels of LOR (up from 88 last year), audio transmitted on 105.7 FM, about 20,000 lights and over 3000 feet of extension cords.
____________________ 16 sequenced Christmas song's, 104 channels of LOR (up from 88 last year), audio transmitted on 105.7 FM, about 20,000 lights and over 3000 feet of extension cords.
____________________ 16 sequenced Christmas song's, 104 channels of LOR (up from 88 last year), audio transmitted on 105.7 FM, about 20,000 lights and over 3000 feet of extension cords.
____________________ 16 sequenced Christmas song's, 104 channels of LOR (up from 88 last year), audio transmitted on 105.7 FM, about 20,000 lights and over 3000 feet of extension cords.
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. Keep in mind that part 15 of CFR Part 15 (Code of Federal Regulations) has a limit of 250 uV at 3 meters for unlicensed FM broadcast. What you set it at is your call.