Hey guys
I was wanting some professional part 15 input here from you guys.
I am thinking about buying a Talking House tx for Christmas I was wanting to know if it is worth it or not. Does it have the Maximum amount of ERP allowed by the fcc (100 milliwatts). Also I was wondering what the audio quality of the transmitter sounds like? I would be using it of course for broadcasting music and programming and not selling homes . Any ideas on this little rig would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you guys know of a better tx that would be more suited for a p 15 broadcast application .. let me know. I am basically trying to start out simple with a good little tx.
Hey guys
I was wanting some professional part 15 input here from you guys.
I am thinking about buying a Talking House tx for Christmas I was wanting to know if it is worth it or not. Does it have the Maximum amount of ERP allowed by the fcc (100 milliwatts). Also I was wondering what the audio quality of the transmitter sounds like? I would be using it of course for broadcasting music and programming and not selling homes . Any ideas on this little rig would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you guys know of a better tx that would be more suited for a p 15 broadcast application .. let me know. I am basically trying to start out simple with a good little tx.
Thanks Guys... I love this site! I frequent it often!!
J.R.
If I were going to spend around 100.00 for a AM tx, I would investigate the SSTran. For a little more, theres a fellow selling them already built. If I had the extra dough, I'd look to the Rangemaster.
BUT- I am curious as to the experiences of others with the talking house as well... anyone?
From the reading I've done on the TalkingHouse, the primary design parameters for that unit are ease of use and commercial viability.
It seems like an OK unit, but I've hesitated because units like the SStran, the Metzo and the NCR AM 88 are specificaly designed for experimenters like ourselves.
The Metzo is pre-assembled, the SStran can be ordered from several firms assembled and the AM 88 is an easy kit to build, so there are many options.
I've seen a lot of TalkingHouse units sold on ebay, but nobody ever drops by Part15.us to tell us how it went...
Experimental broadcasting for a better tomorrow!
So far I have had very good luck out of my SSTRAN AMT 3000. It does not get the distance like a rangemaster, but it is worth the money. Oh, by the way, I have heard about the talking houses. From what I've read off the internet they have "poor" sound quality. Hope I cleared things up some.
Travis
Does it have the Maximum amount of ERP allowed by the fcc (100 milliwatts).
Just a technical note, the ERP has nothing to do with the rules. The 100 mW. specification for AM is the input power to the final stage of a part 15 transmitter. The ERP is not addressed in either the part 15 AM or FM rules. If you find a transmitter that is "FCC certified" then it meets the final amplifier input power requirement.
Feel free to ask questions on this board. You will find a wealth of technical and practical experience from those here who will gladly share with you. Unfortunately, I have nothing to offer regarding the transmitter you mentioned. Perhaps someone else here will.
Neil
I've been using a Talking House for about a year. I checked it's output on a Motorola Station monitor and the output from the "external antenna tuner" jack was almost 100 milliwatts. The modulation runs up to about 98% and then hard limits.
Out of the box it's fairly simple to use as it has a built in auto-antenna tuner that works with the wire antenna supplied with the unit. On the wire antenna at 1500 khz, the solid range was about 1/4 mile with the transmitter/antenna on the second floor inside a frame house. Beyond that the signal drops quickly.
Using the external antenna jack feeding a 3 meter vertical the usable range was almost doubled. The antenna was ground mounted with practically no radial system. I'm sure with some effort put into the antenna system, the range could be much better.
The internal RAM audio recorder/player can store about five minutes of program. It must be a fairly low sample/bit rate as the audio is only suitable for voice. There is also a "live" audio input which when fed with good audio, sounds fairly good. There does seem to be some very low frequency carrier shift when modulated. Wether or not it's acceptable is subjective.
I got a deal! I bid at the last second on Ebay and got it brand new for $9.95 plus shipping. Seems it was listed under some obscure listing. No one else bid on it. If you get a good deal like that, it's worth it.
I have a Metzo also and the Talking House beats the Metzo on output power and ease of use. The Metzo has a nice audio section (gain, compression, limiting) but you'll find yourself tinkering all the time to get a better sound. Besides, I use ZaraRadio automation which has an excellent audio processor so the Talking House doesn't have to do any processing.
Talking House advertises a "remote" antenna system (antenna and tuner) but I've yet to get a response from them regarding pricing. Some would say it's illegal under Part 15 but buried in the rules there is a section that states when designed as a system, it's OK. I'm sure this will be argued at length. In fact the rule goes so far as to say that an external amplifier can be used at the antenna as long as the input power does not exceed the 100 mw limit.
That should open a can of discussion.
$9.95?
SCORE!!!
Great buy. For that price your could buy it and throw it in the street if your didn't like it.
I, too, was wondering about that "remote" antenna system.
And now, I will officially steal this post and put part of it in our Transmitter Review section, because that's the kind of guy I am 🙂
The perfect crime:
Experimental broadcasting for a better tomorrow!
I feel the same as mram!
Its a great little transmitter and it works VERY well for the money.
I bought mine on Ebay new in the box for $60 and it is WAY worth it.
I use mine with a Kenwood ant tuner feeding a G5RV ant with open wire line.
Using the enternal ant and bypassing the clever ATU I get well over 200 milliwatts.
If I push the audio to the very edge of distortion I see peaks close in the 1/2
watts range.
At a standard 50 ohm load it is right at 100 milliwatts.
I am usei a OakHills QRP watt meter
On a clear freq I can get 2 miles and still hear the program material.
Its just above the noise level but its there!
All in all it a very nice rig.
If anyone buys one. PLEASE open it up and watch how the ATU tunes the inculded 10' wire antenna. It is a sight to see the iron powder core rods move in the coils as it flattens the SWR. Very cool!
...open it up and watch how the ATU tunes the inculded 10 wire antenna.
It is a sight to see the ferrite rods move in the coils as it flattens the SWR. Very cool!
Most AM BCB ANT tuners I've seen for the low power market consist of tapped coils on a toroid with a 12 position switch to select the number of windings included in the matching circuit.
I haven't seen a moving ferrite tuner since my crystal radio 🙂
Experimental broadcasting for a better tomorrow!
It is very cool and they hold a patent for it.
Its a little electric motor the pulls two ferrite rods in and out aof the coils.
Take a minute for it to reach a good SWR and then transmits.
Here is the patent they got last year for it
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6973294.html
Its a fun read.
To all looking for a talking house make sure you find the newer units that look like a VCR.
I understand the older silver boxes were not that great.
Happy holidays everyone!
Thanks for all your responses guys!
I went ahead and bid a pretty price for that puppy today... and won... so it better be worth it. I will also say alot of folks were biddin on this little rig .. so it must be better than a toy tx. like the wprdj:) I got one of the new ones ... the one that looks like a vcr. I sure hope it comes with the live audio broadcast mode. I didnt see it on the auctioners page... but I am assuming it will.
I will give yall my report of this thing once it arrives
Happy New Year Everyone!!
Jim Richmond
Good luck Jim!
Make sure to use the external ant.
When I got mine it had a piece of clear plastic blocking the swith so it could only be used with the enclosed wire antenna.
Take a small Xacto blade and pop the plastic out.
Now you can swith between ext and wire antenna.
I did notice the power out swings very high if you hit it with a lot of audio.
Seems like you have to get a level that breaks thru the AGC.
Down side is a little distortion but twice the output.
Bill
Thanks for your tips ... I have a few more questions...
Do you use an external Antenna with your unit? Where can I get one, how much do they cost, and how big of a difference will it make in signal as compared to if I were to just use the wire that came with my unit?
Also, I was wondering about what type of audio sorce I would need to connect to the audio input?
Thanks
Jim
I connect a MP3 player to the audio in.
Use what ever you have.
CD player ect.
You can even use the internal 5 min loop to make a repating test audio
I use a outside wire ant.
I also use an old Kenwood Ant tuner to tune it.
Indoors with a wire you may get a block.
Outside tuned antenna one to two miles on a clear freq.
At two miles its way in the noise but there with a car radio.
Please experiment amd HAVE FUN!
No matter what you do you would be hard pressed to hurt the unit.
Bill
A nice library of newsletters from the TH company is here:
www.talkinghouse.com/realtors/newsletters/newsletter.htm
Some of the older newsletters are 404, but the newer ones are there and a searchable index is also available
These are the units you DON'T want:
There is also an older black model with big, red readouts (1980s, maybe) that's cassette & VCO. Definitely don't want that either.
Experimental broadcasting for a better tomorrow!