Assembled radio from ontheair3.com

YEs just bought one, I ordered it it took a week or so before her sent it out, as I assume he builds them when you order them.. It arrived functioning and very nicly packaged.

I have it setup with the stock wire antenna.. it covers almost my entire house, My house is 80 foot in length.. and its in a back bedroom (the server room) and I have lots of electronics in the house causing a lot of interfierance..

I just finished building and mounting my entenna and gound system so I will begin the needed mods for it to be used outside on diffrent antenna, I think if you request these mods he will do them for you..

Im not very happy with the range using it indoors with the wire antenna thats included, I can cover the street in front of my house, but this is what is advertised by the stock setup with the wire antenna, He however does highly reccomenda "real antenna" and reccommends one from a builder that i believe is posted here.. this design is basicly the one that is on the front page of this site.. a 3 meeter air coil loaded copper piped antenna..

I have limited access to tools but have freinds/family with tools and I have a decent grasp on costructing things like this.. I had to take my copper pipe to my folks to chop off a foot of it and solder on the cap and thread other wise i did everything with very few tools any one would have.. So I build my own antenna useing the antenna XLS doc calculator in the magna antenna thread in this forum.. Calculated my coil from this..

My design consisted of a 5 foot section of 4" ID PVC, a 4" pvc cap a 10 foot piece of 1" copper pipe, cap and thread for this pipe/mast. A 1" threaded pipe flange and a 100 foot roll of 18 Gauge stranded copper insulated wire.. a 100' of 14 gauge solid copper wire for the ground (i stripped off all the insulation by hand because my local shops didnt have bare wire) A small can of fiberglass resin, and a weather proof project box, I have under $50 into the entire antenna, i was able to get all the needed stuff in a few trips, (working as I went)..

The work wasnt hard, only took a few hours to build , it was much harder and possably took longer to dig the post hole and trenches for the grounding system.. I have yet to use this antenna but it should work out great.. It looks really good, very "pro looking" Its right in my front yard 🙂 I may post a turtorial on this when I build another one for my next repeater location.

IFyou need any mor einfor on ordering this transmitter, just let me know what exactly you need to know.

Jason

Thanks for the note, Jason.

I ordered the assembled radio a few days ago. I was initially a little skittish, as I had not received an order confirmation. I did receive an email from Ryan yesterday stating the radio would be mailed within a week.

I won't ask to have it modified for the base loaded antenna. I'd like to try it out with the wire antenna first. I do, however, plan on using a base loaded antenna as described by the plans on the SSTRAN site.

I am very excited about broadcasting. I'm not sure why, as I don't really have any ideas about what to broadcast, other than things like what you suggested in other posts. I have no desire to put my own voice on the air. I used to be a ham, and maybe this is a way to ease back into the radio hobby.

I have bought some materials to start constructing the coil. I've priced out some of the major components, and it seems like it may cost over $100 to build this antenna. For example, a 10' section of 1/2" copper pipe is around $30. A 10' section of 1 1/2" rigid metal conduit as a mast is about $40. A waterproof box is around $20-$30.

In any case, I think time and money spent up front will be well invested with a return of high quality in the finished product.

My idea is to mount it with the transmitter box at eaves level on my house. This will get it up about 20' in the air. Since the mast will near the house, I can't use radials. I'll probably drive 4 or 5 grounding rods into the ground next to it. That will be about another $20. I could probably save some money if I mounted a smaller mast to the side of the house and just ran the ground lead, audio and power cables down the side of the house. Does anyone know the right way to mount a mast to the side of a house?

I know some interpret the rules as not counting the ground lead as a radiator. I wonder if one could use shielded coaxial cable as a ground lead. If any signal were in the ground lead, then it couldn't escape the coax, right?

Let us know how your signal gets out after you attach the new antenna.

Regards,

Scott
Soon to be on the air in Omaha, Nebraska

Wow your prices are high..

My 1" copper pipe ten foot long was $13 and change , my project box was 17.99.

I used 4" PVC for the base and coild form, so i dont have a price on the mast pipe your lookig at..

As for the ground, Thsi is how i interpreted the rules and how i built mine.. I feel the rules state than in total yoy radiator and gound cant be longer than 3 meters, but where your ground touches the dirt is the end even if you have chicken wire or radials under the dirt.. that... Other wise if it included all the radials ect you could than clam that if you put your ground to the dirt and the dirt would conduct the signal more than 3 meters.. That just makes no sence then tyere saying that you cant have a antenna.. because the moment you ground the transmitter you have used up your 3 nmeters and beyond because the ground wave will utilize more than 3 meters of dirt..

This is the reason i stuck with a ground mounted antenna and not a on the roof one, Luckly My homeis on the edge of town and it all feilds behinde me so my coverage area is right in front on my home, thus any waves that are hampered by my home will net be lost..

As for content, My station is basicly music durring lul hours.. middle of the day ect and in peak hours morning and evenings ect.. this is all talk content, that is liberal in base.. Really my station is my way of speaking my opinion to the masses... The Best part is everyone that leaves town or comes into town.. has to drive right in front of my yard where a nice lighted sign will sit advertising teh station.. Oppertunity knocks and i open the door 🙂

Jason

WOW!

I just got a email from SSTRAN, there sending me the needed resistor for the mod for the coil loaded antenna, FREE OF CHARGE!

I must say, Thats service. In this day and age nothing is free, and if it is you pay shipping on it... SSTRAN still believes in quality service for its customers, I highly reccommend this company.

Opps i dont want to confuse anyone its a capacitor not a resistor.

Jason