I've been made aware that the junction between the telescoping antenna and the circuit board depends on a spring-tension clip, a piece of shiny-smooth metal with two-teeth at the contact with the RF spot on the circuit card.
In too many cases that technique has failed, as in our case, solved by soldering a wire in place of the telescoping antenna.
To restore original conditions I may fabricate a better antenna connecting method so-as to restore the certified antenna.
Drill a hole in the antenna at the bottom and then buy a horse shoe connector and solder it to the small wire and screw rhe screw into the hole with the horse shoe touching it.
The bottom of the telescopic antenna has a screw that firmly attaches the spring-tension metal, which bends downward like a phono-styles where it is meant to pierce into the solder bump at the RF point of the card.
Therefore the telescopic antenna already has a firm attachment screw, so we need a piece of metal that can be soldered down below where it touches the card.
There could still be a problem as the antenna is swiveled and adjusted, putting tension on the connection... but that can be solved by using a piece of highly flexible braided shield wire which can absorb the movement.
I might even install an RF output connector so a cable can be run to an antenna at a different location.
The certification allowed C.Crane to market the transmitter. It does not obligate me to do or not do anything.
Only 15.239 is of importance to my use of the transmitter.
By "Holy Reviews" I'm taliking about a review of the Wholehouse 2.0 that is full of holes. I ran across it at a website somewhere.
In the "includes" section of the so-called "review" there was no mention of the small lavalier microphone packaged with the transmitter that effectively allows using the Wholehouse as a wireless mic.
Tonight, after owning the Wholehouse for several years, I thought I'd test the microphone function.
From the outset it sounded distorted even when I turned the modulation level down, and the graph on the Audacity screen showed flattening (clipping) at the top and bottom of the display.
By backing several feet away from the microphone I was able to hear it without distortion.
Conclusion, the microphone pre-amp inside the transmitter is set very hot and has no adjustment.
Go figure.
Here's a very good one about the C.Crane FM 2 Transmitter
http://radiojayallen.com/c-crane-fm-transmitter-2/
There is NO WAY this is FCC Certified with a starting freq of 76 MHZ. 🙂
If out of the box the transmitter does not drop down to 76 Mhz it still can hold the certification. But yes I know it should not be reprogram able to drop down to that frequency, but since Radio's in the USA can't receive that far down who is honestly going to drop an FM Transmitter to 76Mhz in the first place? Also the Whole House FM Transmitter 2 and 3.0 are both certified and yet can be programmed for higher power. Nowhere in the manual does it talk about this however. Hackers figured it out and published how. That is not the fault of the manufacturer that their logic circuit was hacked. It only proves that the circuit for the Whole House Transmitter 3.0 may not have originated in the USA. SainSonic however as well out of the box is set to low power and 88.1-107.9 Mhz. If you re program it yes you can go to 76 Mhz. They talk about the High power mode in the manual however so again its gray on that one. Ramsey's FM Transmitters on some web sites are being accused of not being certified or somehow “Cheating” on the rules. But no one (Yet) has had a full 250 uV/M (Tested by the patomac FIM 71) and was able to report that range. Again all of this is dodgy and speculative until we have concrete solid testing and data. Hopefully in a few weeks Tim will be able to start to debunk some of the speculations running around for several years. I thik it may even surprise that other site as well.
Bruce: I am told by the FCC that seized equipment is destroyed if it is not being used as evidence. Now in a case in South Florida a few years back, the Delray Beach PD seized a transmitter from a pirate radio station after it was shut down under Florida's Pirate Law. The PD contaced the FCC in Miami but they never responded. After some time, the PD returned the transmitter to the pirate operator. That was the last the PD is ever going to do the FCC's job again. True story. I know the cop that handled it.
Here is your schematic for the C.Crane FM1 Transmitter
http://scwis.home.comcast.net/~scwis/files/ccsch.pdf
As suggested by Bruce MICRO 1690/1700 Dog Radio Studio 2 WLP 1590, I am going to use the official FM Channel Numbers in place of frequency when identifying any of the KDX-FMs.
If you do not have a chart showing the FM Channel Numbers you can assemble your own chart by simply knowing the beginning and the end of the numbering:
Channel No. 201 = 88.1 MHz
Channel No. 300 = 107.9 MHz
To raise a related matter, the channels 201 to 220 are designated as non-commercial channels, and all those 221 and above are commercial channels.
Yet a Part 15 station operating in the non-commercial portion of the FM band can operate commercially and be entirely uneducated,
Good point carl I wondered when that would be brought up.
Someone will eventually spill the beans, so you might as well hear this from me.
It's true that I just ordered a C.Crane FM2 Orphan Transmitter.
Why would I do that?
After learning that the Wholehouse 2.0 puts out spurs all over the educational band, I needed a reliable transmitter that won't cause inteference.
"Orphan" transmitters are those returned by unhappy campers and offered for re-sale by C.Crane, $10 saving.
Some people return those when they discover it doesn't go as far as needed.
All this talk about Part 15 FM has me filling every blank spot on the dial.
I hope they check it to make sure it's ok and not been tampered with....they don't mark orphans down that much. A new one for $10 more may have been best. I'm just wary of things like this.
Mark
Maybe the orphan transmitters have been set to Full legal porwe.
Carl Said:
To raise a related matter, the channels 201 to 220 are designated as non-commercial channels, and all those 221 and above are commercial channels.
MrBruce Says: That may have been true at one time, but now channel 221 through channel 300 has many LPFM's scattered about which are non-commercial in nature. I've seen some licensed high school radio stations in the upper FM band region as well.
I do realize LPFM is a totally different class of radio station service, but in the old days, all stations above 221 were commercialized radio services.
Bruce.