Earlier today I was wondering why 89.7 FM was sounding so bad, there was interference in every radio i tired. This sounded like noise from another transmitter on the same channel or a weak feed over cable tv lines, hard to explain.
I checked the voltage to make sure the Ramsey 25b was set to the right frequency and put a vom meter on it to measure the voltage , everything was where it should be.
So why was the signal so noisy? Even turning off the transmitter revealed no other station was on 89.7 fm, nothing. So i was thinking i should take it apart and see if a part had failed.
As I was unplugging cords i came to the short coaxial cable that feeds rf to a dipole on the wall and thats when i realized that there was no antenna plugged into it.
I had unplugged the antenna the other night to use it on something else and never plugged it back into the Ramsey.
Deerrrrrrr! Is this what happens at the age of 49? Becoming more forgetful?? lol
Barry of BBR World Wide
Hope you didn't blow the transmitter when transmitting without an antenna.
Naw Troy,
The Ramsey FM 25 B is pretty forgiving 🙂
You would know if you fried the output because there's no middle ground...it either works or doesn't. If you connect the antenna and set it up like before and it's the same you did no harm. That GAL-5 used in those is the weak link in that transmitter. Any static on the antenna when you touch it can blow it and even if you have extras it's a mini surface mount that ain't easy to do. Had one 3 or 4 years ago before I learned that you can't use these in Canada because no certification and found the GAL-5s on ebay and had a bunch of them and got so tired of replacing them I got so fed up and just threw the damn thing out. Ramsey had a "fix" for this and it was a micro miniature component you installed between antenna and ground...but...it was SO small, actually the size of a speck of dust...you had to see it to believe it! Didn't even know anything was in the little zip lock bag when I got it. A bead of solder was 10 times the size of this thing.
Not an exaggeration.
Mark
It's kind of funny in a way,i bought 3 extra GAL 5's and never once had to replace one.
The only thing added to my FM 25B was a better input jack, the one that came with these kits shatter if you're not careful and they tend to wiggle enough to create a loose connection either in the solder joints or inside the jack.
I have had plans for a long time now to re-locate the transmitter into a metal case, i just haven't found one that i like or i just don't have the cash at the time.
Barry of BBR World Wide.
I miss the RCA jacks the earlier kits had.
I won't go into all the details about the transmitter my buddy bill for me when I lived in Michigan. What I will tell you is that the coax came off the connector while I was in the other room. This happen from moving the transmitter and when I came back to my rumah founder transmitter had fried. So that is why I thought of this.