Hey all, I'm trying to find out what's the most effective equipment I could buy for a budding campus radio station.
Our campus is made up pf multiple buildings and very large in square footage. We don't need it to cover a huge distance because we're located near the center, but the most distance is obviously what we're going for.
We're hoping to keep this station indoors while still being able to broadcast across the high school campus, but having outdoor components is not an impossibility as long as we get results.
Can anyone could recommend a good combination of transmitters/antennas/other broadcasting stuff.
Any advice is helpful!
Thank you.
There are choices to be made starting with AM or FM?
For FM, a legal transmitting system will have a line of sight range of about 200 to 600 feet depending on the receiver used. Transmitters can be inexpensive types which are intended for use with iPods, etc. to kits such as the Ramsey FM-30 at about $130. The antenna should be outdoors for best results.
AM will give greater range if the proper antenna system is used. Range with a car radio can be a mile or so but with portable or table top radios will be considerably less. The typical indoor environment for AM reception has noise which will limit range further.
Kit transmitters for AM run from about $100 to $250 for the SSTRAN models AMT-3000 and AMT-5000 and the Ramsey AM-25 is about $125.
Assembled and certified transmitters cost in the neighborhood of $700 to $800. The Rangemaster and the Procaster are two popular models.
Whatever you decide to pursue, start small and proceed slowly. FM is fairly straightforward to use since the antennas are simple and easy to build and connect. AM can be a real challenge due to the need for an effective RF ground but the range can be much greater than for legal FM.
This is just a quick overview of the topic and if you would like more focused answers please ask more questions. You are probably at the point where you don't yet know what to ask but if you search this site using some of the keywords and transmitter brands I mentioned you will probably have questions.
Neil
Getting the "best and the cheapest" all in one order can be done, but mostly by someone who knows a lot about the technology.
Several members of this board know plenty about the technology and, like Radio8Z who just posted before me, could guide you toward the objective, but hard physical facts are required before a plan can be written.
How large is the campus, how many buildings are there, what is the architecture of those structures, and this is impotant... where will the potential listeners be located?
If you want to get signals into several buildings there is carrier current for AM and cable for FM.
Equipment can often be found at basement prices on eBay, but watch out, not all of it is "the best".
Radio8Z made an important point.... things should start small and grow based on experiment and discovery. An educational process indeed.
If it were me I would use all available outlets.... AM, FM, several antenna locations, carrier current, cable, the works.
Most of all, don't give up on the idea. It is VERY worth doing!
FM Range is too short. Get a Procaster or Rangemaster AM Transmitter as mentioned above. You could also consider streaming online also for the fringe areas and better sound inside the buildings.
While AM will get you the greatest range, you're going to have difficulty penetrating buildings to your AM receivers, particularly if they're common consumer type radios (they have poor sensitivity and interference rejection).
One alternative is to build an intranet (or wifi local area network) using Part 15 wireless technology and use streaming to go to Internet Radios, programmed with the local IP address - a side benefit is potential access to the stream via smart devices such as iPhones. I'm currently experimenting with Engenius 7550 dual band access points/bridges (one band to provide connectivity to devices such as computers or smartphones, the other to link to other 7550's). You can cover a large area with similar wireless devices (the Engenius just happen to be relatively inexpensive, approx. $150 apiece).
Another would be Part 15 carrier current. I don't have much experience with that, but there are some here who do who I'm sure can give you advice.
thanks for all the replies! I will definetely look at other transmitters as well as look into carrier currents. Thanks again!