If anyone has the external antenna for Talking House and would like to sell it I will Gladly purchase it from you.
I found the operating manual PDF. It is at the TalkingHouse site, buried in the "Newsletter" section. It is at
http://www.talkinghouse.com/realtors/newsletters/2004/pdf/pdf_print_options_manual.htm
It is only 12 pages, but covers the operation of the transmitter.
"Move the Transmitter and/or Basic Antenna away from large windows.
Glass blocks radio signals".
This idiotic statement appears on Page 9, along with some other interesting old wives tales about how radio works.
I hope this document was written by the marketing department and not the engineer who designed the thing!
WEAK-AM
Classical Music and More!
Yeah I noticed that and had a good laugh! Also notice that the transmitter power is listed as "100 MW average". Average? It better be the max!
The TH is so easy to use, the manual isn't really needed. But it's still nice to have it.
Some one in this series of posts mentioned that they had there Talking House transmitter set to 1700 and it was transmitting at 1690 or so. I had the same problem on one of my TH transmitters, I increased the supply voltage to 14 volts and it locks on fine now. I use a different power supply than suppled with the transmitter on which I can adjust the voltage. I see some adds on ebay who are selling the TH transmitter, they are listing the supply voltage as 18 volts but that dosent seem right, I thought it was 12 volts, I dont have anything in front of me to check right now, but im sure normal supply voltage is 12. I dont have a service manual for repairs or modifications, no manuals to be found for us guys on the face of the earth it seems, TH wont help, I tried. I have had good luck with the few TH transmitters that I have. A lot of problems like hum, distortion, poor audio quality all come from using an antenna near the transmitter. I use an outside antenna and battery power supply and the combination of those got rid of many problems. Couple of things I wish for is: service manuals, or at least a schmatic and it would be nice to see the bare bones TH transmitter with out the memory chip deal, I dont use that part but have some uses in mind so as long as you can by pass it fine with me. The hottest deal on ebay right now is talking house transmitters, so thats the place to get them. TH wont talk to us about anything,so we can go to ebay for them. I have learned a lot about the talking house transmitters by working with the product. Its a good transmitter,The talkiing house company is selling themselves short by not working with the general public on sales and accessories. If you can find one, get the ATU unit, it works good, only thing I have found is the tuning will change when moisture is present on the antenna, and if you want to change tuning you have to go out side in the weather and re tune. I am sure this is because of the tuning network inside must be high Q and tunes sharp,so moisture on the antenna may change the tuning. The tuning always comes back in dry weather. Not a big deal but one I have noticed. Operating frequency dosent change just the tuning of the antenna. I dont know why this shoud be but it does happen. I would write more but I have transmitting to do !
Radio Joe
Hey, where did you get your Talking House ATU.
I cant find one to save me.
Thanks
I found one on ebay last year, buy it now for $125 and 25 shipping that included the 102 inch whip. Kind of hurt money wise but I knew they were rare to find and this one was unused never had been mounted. They are a very good turn key good performing antenna.
Joe
The TH Power supply is 18 volts. If you are running it on 12 volts, that is probably why it won't lock on frequency. The user manual PDF is available, see a couple of posts above this one.
Yes 18 volts. I am glad you let me know that, I didnt look too close on the back off my transmitter to check dont know why I missed that..., but I can see in the PDF that it clearly says 18 volts so ill have to dial up 18 volts ! wonder what my range will be now ! I still cant figure out where all the surplus transmitters are comming from on ebay, but I dont care, as long as there on the market they sure work out good for me and some of us other guys. If anyone has problem with the auto tuner not locking up on the frequency they want if they are using the correct ten foot piece of wire ( not the coax out ) you may want to check the trimmer cap on the inside of the transmitter near the output. You will need a field strenght meter so you can adjust, just put the meter near the wire antenna and when you get close to seeing the strenght peak, adjust the trimmer slightly so the auto tuner locks. Some times if the auto tuner wont work its because that trimmer wasnt set right at the factory.
Radio Joe
Yeah, with the correct voltage you will probably get better range and sound quality.
I think the reason they are so plentiful these days on eBay is because the U.S. Real Estate market is in the toilet right now, so many realtors are dumping them - especially if they have more than one. I remember about a year ago these things were rare and expensive on eBay. Now they can be had for under $100 including shipping.
I may pick up a 2nd one at these prices. I agree it is a nice transmitter with good sound quality. I am having no problems with mine. What model is yours? Mine is a 4.6 - it's on the sticker on the bottom.
I expect to see the Talking House company change their attitude toward us very soon. New sales of TH transmitters are probably tanking right now, along with the general Real Estate market. They will come to their senses and realize that turning away hundreds (thousands?) of 2nd hand owners who are looking for antennas, power supplies, etc. is probably not a good idea! A sale is a sale! Why should they care where we bought the transmitter?
Model Numbers
I have about five TH transmitters right now, but only use one.. dont ask me why I have five, you know how us guys are with this stuff.... Anyway, I have a bunch of different model numbers of TH, the latest is TH 5 which has the best sound of all of them I have, but the others work just fine with an equilizer to tailor the sound they all can be set to sound real good. If I would have a choice I would go TH 5 right now,( latest model?) but I only own one of those so maybe I just got a good one. There seems to be some degree of this or that between the same models. I can remember only two duds, one the transmitter wont lock tune, the other just had pure tinny sound, so I saved it for parts, im sure it can be fixed but no schmatics or service information so what do you do? (A big thank you to Talking House on no support) On the voltage, I watched the output with a field strenght meter, and at any thing over 15 volts the output stayed the same, so Im sure inside there is a voltage regulator for the entire unit which holds at 15 volts over the input voltage or the RF section is regulated either by output or or voltage going to that section, either way the output wont go up if you go beyond 15 Volts even though the device is rated for 18 volts, but that im sure is to insure proper regulator operation.
Radio Joe
Naddy69 wrote: "Why should they care where we bought the transmitter?"
I am going to hazard a guess that the "no support unless bought from them" policy may be due to the FCC certification which is voided if the units are repaired or modified other than by the original manufacturer and that perhaps they don't want to be a party to this. Just a guess from me since I don't actually know.
Neil
I had a THII here at one time. I concure in that the adio sucks big time.
as for the ATU and talking house II or ACT Radio System pricing is $850.00 + $20.00 S/H for a THII and ATU from Act Radio.
Thank You,
Rev. Robert P. Chrysafis
Universal Life Ministries
http://www.ulc.org
Moderator Hunterdonfree
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hunterdonfree
Here is what needs to be done. we have some RF genius' on here. one of these guys needs to get a THII and ATU. Do a Full Test and Review on it and then take the system apart and draw out a schematic of the TX and ATU since Act radio is of no help.
(Act radio suffers from what i call "Motorola Syndrome" overly anal retentive about selling to non government users or in this case non real estate agents)
Thank You,
Rev. Robert P. Chrysafis
Universal Life Ministries
http://www.ulc.org
Moderator Hunterdonfree
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hunterdonfree
If you think the audio "sucks big time", then you must have had a defective unit - or else I got a great one! With a good quality input source and a good radio, mine sounds VERY good indeed.