Talking House ver 5.0 Tx Test

Wow 1/4 to 1 mile not too shabby for inside antenna.  Its what I was hopeing for.  Not bad for 100mW about the same range as those old 100mW CB Walkie Talkie's I use to play with as a kid with my friends.  I got a big idea as a child to connect a 10 foot long copper wire to the 100mW talkie talkie and I did notice about the same range as you described.  Sort of makes me think if I don't get my FM Transmitter this could be an option as I love the antenna tuner demo on the talking house 5.0 transmitter.  It looks very solid and should last a long time from what I've seen in the demo.  The connections in back are nice and easily readable so you know where to connect the patch cord to the unit and into my computer.  Did you get that hum that was shown in the video?  If so did you use a filtered power strip that you can buy at high end audio places?  These filters filter out line noise from the power line usually caused by florecent lighting, dimmer switches, ect.  By the way a dimmer switch will certainly cause hum as I use to have a FM Transmitter when I lived in Lansing, Michigan and I had to use a filtered power strip on count of dimmer switches in the house.  It caused my transmitter to hum but when I used the filter it helped to get rid of the hum.

I'd like to see a range test on youtube while music is playing into the transmitter.  Maybe some CCR, or Zeppelin or at least James Taylor if your a mellow sort of person.  It would give some sort of reference as to what I'd sound like on AM playing something like Stairway To Heaven.  I know Moody Blues might not sound so good on AM, but Zeppelin, some Queen, harder Rock you may not notice the poor quality so much.  But something like Nights In White Satan you may notice poor quality in the mellow parts of the song on AM.

Thanks for your testing at least it does put some ideas in my head if my FM transmitter doesn't arrive and I have to buy another one.  It may be an AM transmitter to play with and I'll probably get the referbished Talking House V5 as I like the construction of it.

Hi Thelegacy:

We have had allot of noise and interferance issue where i live and i been trying to get it resolved, But having problems getting some of it resolved, lazy stupid people can't do there jobs., it's been going on for awhile now.

We had some electrial noise issue and rf issue here i did notice i had a small amout of hum in the carrier this round but it wasn't bad and i had the tx in same place before where i never had a hum issue before.

As the music i like 80 music allot so i tested it with 1980's music like zz top and some pop alternative from the 1980's.

Music sound good, But could  use a eq to bring the highs out better other wise the music sound good but a little to much bass running straight from source with no eq.

At least when you run an am and fm station people can hear you on one or the other station so i one unit goes down your still on the air with the other station.

Where i'm at the fm band is over crowed so it would not be a good idea for me to be on fm at all, But i have fm tx here would like the ramsey 100 fm tx but it cost too much.

I have never done a video and upload on y-tube before.

But i have worked in broadcasting for over 8 years from doing on air announcer, control operator, music director, program director, Running transmitter, testing tubes, office personal, remote operator, using patch panels, I also worked in tv doing everything as well. A man of all trade in broadcasting. I received 3 trophies and awards for my work in radio and tv.

Station i worked for is defunked now but it was WCSQ 89.3 fm mono 1500 watts with 2 collins halo antennas. We had 3 full contol rooms for fm station Each had 2 turn tables, 2 reel to reels,  2 -12 channel control boards & 1 small control board, 2- separate announcer both for split ops, 2 cart machines, 3 Patch track panels, 1 - collins fm tx,  Tv station was just 1 control room. We were more equipped then most commerical stations.

I do miss working in radio at least with part 15 my dreams came true again.

station 8

Just the 10 ft wire with no ground! 1/4 mile from inside the house(good signal) surprised me. Even with the wire bent in an L shape?

Not surprised it was a little better with thicker copper wire.....thicker wire has less signal loss and copper is a better conductor than aluminium. Was this on the main floor?

Would be interested to see what happens from the basement with the same set up.

Mark

Hi Mark: 

The transmitter was in a single level home place in center of home.

Antenna was bent i a L shape.

I have run a am transmitter in the basment when i lived in upstate n.y., But that was back in the early 1970 to mid 80's.

And my am tx didn't not do very well in basement do to the house had alumium siding which i beleive that gave me the issue for range.

But when i took the am tx out of basement and put the tx 50 feet away from home the tx did allot better in range.

Let me know how your result are in your basement.

I do know the unit works better with the antenna in a full vertical position.

Station 8

Sounds like I could run AM if I had to.  I ordered my FM Transmitter before memorial day weekend started.  It was on Thursday.  I've been tracking it and it was stuck in Flushing, NY.  I'm afraid it got stolen somewhere because it left Flushing, NY @ 8:30 PM on May 30th and has not updated since.  That is very unusual for a pakage to sit on one place that long.  I called SainSonic and they told me to call again Tomorrow if nothing changes but they said they can't do too much about USPS.  I hope if I don't see any action by Tomorrow they'll send me another FM TX if they can't do that I want my money back.  It was $54 and that is a lot for me on a fixed income to waste.

If worse comes to worse I could run on AM it sounds like to me.  I have a built in processor on NextKast but if its too much base I'll have to look into some sort of EQ software and lower the base and raise treble.  I'm worried about buzzing and hum here too cuz I live within a few feet from a traffic light and it causes buzz buzz on FM on some frequencies.  I can't imagine too much luck on AM but who knows.  Its worth a shot to see what happens.  May do a video on youtube if I can figure how to do it but should not be too difficult.

Blank FM stations is not an issue here.  There is one on 96.3, 92.5 (although during an inversion I do hear a station on that one so don't know), 107.5 (But I'd be afraid to interfere wth 107.7).  The best two choices are 96.3 and 92.5 here.  AM I think 1610 is blank and I've been outside to see.  I'll have to check on a car Radio if I can.  All I have after I lost everything due to fiancial issues is a boombox now so the high end receivers I use to have are no more but we're slowly re building.

It's really sad if I did get ripped off cuz its gonna make my choices far and few.

Don't worry about delay....holiday proabably delayed. If you ordered from China, not Amazon, customs can delay it too.

Mark

I don't have one myself.....was just wondering about your results and was currious about how much the basement would affect the outside range with AM.

Mark

I thought AM follows the curve of the earth meaning that the waves are closer to the ground where as FM travels up further hence when there is sporadic E or a temperature inversion the band opens.  AM does have DX but its pretty much predictable and the same stations come in at the same time.  With that in mind if your below ground you can't be picked up.  However if your antenna is a few inches above ground in a horizontal position you'd be picked up but directional from what I understand.  Its why if you have wood siding on your house you can get out.  And why AM has more range.  Sort of follows the MUF or Maximum Useable Frequency rule.

Hi Thelegacy & Mark:

I had issue before not seeing updates very well with usps system at times and i have also had stuff held over in one area for awhile as well give it some time, then contact them.

And also idepends how it was shipped 1 day 2 day or ground shipment. don't count the day they process your unit being shipped. I have worked in shipping deptarment for several years and thats's how it works.

As for eq and compressor/limiter software there is some that are open source that you can use for your am and fm tx to make sound really good i have a friend who has a web radio station and he uses breakaway software and it sounds really good clean and keep audio loud without distortion.

As for basement we don't have one where i'm at now. I like basements.

Forgot to tell you when i did the drive test i have a panasonic am/fm radio in truck.

Also notice the tx ends where facing in a north south direction.

the horzontial antenna was facing in a northeast,southwest direction, With tip of antenna wire ponting in a east direction.

Had to get more info together about drive test here is a little better results.

The drive test when i went out, That the west direction was good with some dead spots.And when i was heading back into station (east bound ) i was 1/2 mile away and it came in very very strong, But could hear aprox 1 mile out ( weak ) in spots.

It did not do very well (weak ) north but i heard bout 1/4 mile away.

I did not have a chance to go south or east more,But i assume it did ok as well do to when i was near the station/passing the signal was good and strong. In my experience with the area & tx i would say it might of reach between 1/4 to 1/2 mile more in east and south.

I haven't been sleeping good so i stop and test and went back to bed.

If you guys would like to talk to me about stuff i will be at the ALPB meeting this saturday june 6,2015 at 9pm est. Free to join

Hi Guys: Issues i found today june 4, 2015

I went back out today on a drive test to see how the south and east was covered and notice a difference in range i even checked the good area again and notice about half its' strength.

I got home checked to make suere automatic turner was working and it was, I tried different antennas to make sure it was tuning and it was.

Then i checked the power supply and found the output voltage was jumping up and down,I plug in it took about 5 min to get somewhat steady then at times the output voltage would go down then be fine for a bit then go back up again and keep repeating it self. I ran it for a half hour with a meter on the power supply with no load allready went from 18.00vdc to 19.70vdc .

I'm going to get another power supply and redo the range test.

I know the power supply for the talking house/iam radio tx are not a good unit i have taken them apart and they are a switching power supply and they don't have good filters on them.

You where better off going to radio shack and get a power supply, They still have a store open on the other side of river here that i will check out what a friend told me.

Personally i would buy a new power supply before i run transmitter.

At least you have a clue what the tx range was doing even with something was going wrong.

Station 8

I'd love to hear what the TX will do on a filtered power supply.  The range could double as you'll probably get the full 100mW out of it.  That makes all the difference.  I'm thinking it should have the same range as those old CB Walkie Talkie's around 1976-1979.  On a Midland on Channel 14 I could squeeze a bout a mile on it with a long wire antenna on the 3rd floor of a building.  I know AM Radio has a little bit of the same range.

See if you can upload a video of how the sound is.  If you have a digital video camera you may be able to make an mp4 file and upload it to Youtube.  I've not seen too many drive tests on Youtube.