Interesting, Barry. The SpitFire has a two prong plug. Nothing is attached to the terminal marked Earth Ground. Yet the audio is clean and hum-free. All over the building, across the street, next door. It must be grounded through one prong somehow.
I still have testing to do. I want to try setting the ATU to the wire. I may need the ground then. A coil & whip are next. For now, this thing WORKS. I am impressed.
Doug
Now tell me does the Spitfire have a external antenna/ATU jack like the TH? If it has a built in ATU I can imagine you can tune up to just about anything maybe up to 8 foot? I wonder if I can use a short piece of wire connected to a 6 Ft copper pipe and get good range?
I assume this transmitter is fully assembled? Let me know about the range when connected to a good outside and inside antenna. If I want to transmit on 1630 Khz what do I do? This thing sounds like something I should try and get with my Radio station donations. How much is it?
$107 delivered on eBay. Fully built, plug & play. I taped the 10 foot wire to a piece of wooden siding trim, and it's leaning against the wall. It's terminated with an RCA plug. That alone covers this fourplex building, the houses across the street, and next door on both sides. No further though.
A tuned whip, mounted out the window (2nd floor) should hit downtown, two blocks away, like the TH did. I still am building my SSTRAN 3000. I have a feeling this performs in a similar way.
"Now tell me does the Spitfire have a external antenna/ATU jack like the TH?"
No, Legend, just an RCA jack. Same as the SSTRAN.
"If it has a built in ATU I can imagine you can tune up to just about anything maybe up to 8 foot? I wonder if I can use a short piece of wire connected to a 6 Ft copper pipe and get good range?"
10 foot copper pipe. Or a 9+ foot with connecting wire. The ground wire, I might run a cable out the window to a ground rod. Eff the stupid ground lead rule. I'll just take the whole thing down if I get a visit. No biggie. I just wanna see what works best.
This thing will cover a good size apartment building as it is! So will the SSTRAN! These are a better deal than the Talking House "i.AM Radio" improved audio version at $295. Smaller, too.
No question the SSTRAN is superior, but the SpitFire comes BUILT at the same price! I like the challenge of a kit. But I needed to get back on the air ASAP! And the clarity now, compared to the old TH 5.0, is night and day!
Now, there is a Tube Transmitter at $264 on eBay right now. If you read the description, you see why I am interested:
Many years ago, before building codes were changed for electrical service in homes, outlets would only accept two prongs and in some cases the ground was strapped to the neutral and sometimes there was no ground. I'll take grounded 3 prong outlets for $300 Alex.
The SStran power supply is routing the ground to the neutral prong which can be bypassed of course. I have noted in the past on this forum that part of my coverage is extended by the RF coupling with the power lines despite being on the opposite end of the house away from the breaker box.
On a good day my signal covers 1/4 mile via the power lines running along the road I live on and the main road up to where two or three transformers stop my signal cold.
But considering I live on a mountain, this is pretty amazing.
Sounds like you're on the right track though and more importanly, enjoying that Spitfire.
Have Fun,
Barry of BBR 1620 AM
In the smokey Appalachian Region of Kentucky
Right Dugger, those tube rigs seem to be more about nostalgia, if you're an old radio collector, you'll want something with tubes. It would be fine around the house but isn't crystal locked, so there would be some drift and the carrier most likely will have FM on it too, as well as AM.
Old radios wouldn't care as much with continuous tuning and wide IF bandwidths. I see those "patterned after" transmitters as more like collecter art than something serious.
These things look very interesting!
(I'm new to this page, and I am 12 years old)
If I get this, what is the range with the supplied antenna outside? I don't want to waste £60 for it to reach short distances. Any measurement. (Preferable meters or miles/km)
As is, wire antenna, and internal ATU turned OFF...maybe 100 feet. Less at night. Now with a coil loaded and tuned whip antenna, ground-mounted with radials...maybe a mile. Maybe more.
Doug
Seriously, we cannot expect any serious Community Radio with Part 15, unless we:
1. Invest money. One CANNOT be broke. Find another hobby.
2. Develop and maintain an ideal condition for your SSTRAN, SpitFire, ProCaster or Hamilton RangeMaster. Mounting, tuned, correct antenna and ground, etc.
3. Forget FM. It ain't happening (legally).
If you are galvanized to get 1-3 miles from a transmitter...forget Part 15. If you are not willing to experiment, tweak and try stuff, forget Part 15. Most importantly, if you're not willing to obey FCC Rules, definately forget Part 15! It's all or none. Break one rule, ya may as well have gone Pirate!
The SpitFire, SSTRAN and other micro AM transmitters will NOT make you a broadcaster. ONLY with a LICENSE can you do that. Then you BUY a 1Kw AM somewhere and really do it!
Myself, after 40+ years in the business, I like the hobby aspect of it.
Doug
First of all welcome to the new member Europedx!
@ Radiodugger....I think this new forum member is in Europe and in his country the rules could be different than the FCC in the USA.
In Canada we can almost get on FM the same range as you can with AM in the USA.
With AM the only way to get the range like up to a mile is with the expensive elaborate set up and needing to have your own property to do it.
The new member is 12 years old and maybe doesn't have the money or expertise to do what you are suggesting.
Mark
“If your broke forget part 15”
That is the type of attitude that another website had and he ran a few good people off the hobby. You CAN get donations and a sponsor if you are in the right place and know what you're doing. Even get others to be “repeater” stations for your broadcast so you can reach a wider audience. Already a restaurant in Deltaville likes my station but has issues with my station fading when people walk near it. I can go AM with the antenna near the business or on top of it and they will hear it better. I could get a Procaster and have the antenna above the business and then I’d cover Deltaville. I saw a youtube video of one that got 2 miles and that would cover my little town. Or I can modify a Archer Space Patrol base station as I have a friend who will help me with it. On Ebay you can get them for $7 and beat the Talking House transmitter all to hell. Plus that base station would transmit through a series of coat hangers twisted together up to 10 feet (I did it on CB). So I anm looking into this as a way to do it. The Yapper CB (Bike toy CB) can also be modified for AM and still sound better than the Talking House. And you know what they modulate FM onto an AM carrier so guess what you may be able to modify them for AM Stereo. So $7 for the TX and buy a few parts and then set it up for Stereo. And to boot you spend far less than $100.
Also I’m broke because of my disability and because of people who took advantage of me. I started Rich like some of you where as I could buy a 7K stereo without blinking an eye and most of the time pay CASH MONEY. I could have had a Rangemaster or Procaster and mixers and everything it takes to make a kicking A Radio station and get out.
One thing about this hobby is that I don’t see people trying to help the average apartment dweller who may have had some hard luck and now can’t put up a huge antenna. My landlord has allowed me to bend some rules as long as the antenna is not an eye sour. So worst case I can get 100 coat hangers and put them inside a plastic pipe and run my modified Archer Space Patrol base station and maybe get out 2 miles with that. We’ll see cuz I may have my friend help me do it just like he did.
Here ya go 2 1/2 miles on AM and part 15.
Part 2
Hi Europedx and welcome! 12 is around when I started to get into radio broadcasting too, using a build it yourself kit transmitter from an electronics store. It had a board and all of the parts to plug into the holes and wire underneath, it wasn't too hard. I could broadcast all through my house and down the block a little way, not bad!
Since I started that way, I think everyone should build their first transmitter from parts. 🙂 Really, it is a good way to start out and you'll learn more.
Besides that, it can be very cheap to hack out a circuit yourself. Look for MRAM 1500's transmitter here on the site that uses just 3 main parts. That costs something like 5 dollars/pounds.
Good luck, and what kind of show are you planning to do?
By the way, here's MRAM 1500's transmitter:
http://part15.us/forum/part15-forums/transmitter-talk/nifty-am-transmitter-three-components
Here's the project on a science page:
http://makerf.com/posts/fun_with_crystal_oscillators_part_1
I always get atleast 5 1/2 miles of coverage during the day from my AM. About 1 mile at night, decent coverage is certainly doable on AM.
I kinda have to agree with Dugger Legacy, it takes a very good chunk of change to build a significant AM footprint. It can be done cheaply but I've found coverage is nearly directly related to cost.
The key for this kind of range:
- outdoor antenna, with low(er) loss pipe & coil (although technically his ground lead is over the legal limit - the transmitter appears to be mounted at about 6 feet above ground)
- rural, so minimizes noise
- radials in addition to ground rods (lots of radials, 4 ground rods)
- flat terrain, few man-made obstructions
- most likely a sensitive car receiver (although we don't have any info on it, at least in the first video - I didn't watch the 2nd).
You're not going to get the same range in urban or even semi-urban environments. Or with indoor antennas.
Somehow balance is achieved, city range is smaller, with more buildings and noise, but the population is concentrated closer to your antenna, where rural has the distance, but fewer residents in homes or driving along. It seems to be the same with Carrier Current broadcasting as with antenna, city to rural.
I think part fifteen radio is great for a small neighborhood that has its own identity, especially if it's a rural place, like a one horse town with a strong identity that the station can lock into.
It's different for a station close to a major city, lots of high power stations that get all the attention, but that's where a neighborhood station can work, because people can feel assimilated in cities, and might like a small station that talks about what's happening around their block, though it takes foot work and staying in touch with the beat of the street.