The price's all look good untill you convert the price to NZ $.
Then you start to cry. (well I do)
Continuing to study the Wi-Fi systems at 2.4gHz, it appears that interference between devices is being generally experienced in some cases.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_interference_at_2.4_GHz
Since Wi-Fi home equipment is subject to the Part 15 Commandments:
I. Thou shalt not cause interference;
II. Thou must accept interference...
We are in the grip of a conundrum.
Unless we cause interference to ourselves, which I wrote about up above, we do not know if we are causing interference.
My USB audio wireless system works great here in the house, but what about the neighbors on all sides? What if I've blown their Wi-Fi router connections all to hell?
There is no third commandment...
III. Thou shalt do a door-to-door interference survey.
But I do wonder.
Today everything got shut off for equipment safety during a lightning storm.
Coming back on is a slow process now that I need to activate the Virtual Cable software which allows sending line outputs on both wired audio cable and USB wireless audio.
Because of a small error, I wasn't getting the USB audio, and I discovered something very unexpected...
The Wi-Fi wireless receiver that picks up the audio has up/down level controls, and I was astonished to discover that it causes ALL output level to go up and down, including Winamp itself! Huh?
That means the Wi-Fi receiver is sending a volume control signal back to the computer!
Later today I will be getting delivery of a second USB Audio Wi-Fi which I ordered so I'd have a second receiver, but now that I know that the receiver also transmits, I am worried that two receivers might not get along with each other.
When things appear to be going well it is only a prelude to failure.
It was MRAM who mentioned the USB Wi-Fi Wireless Audio Kit from MCM Electronics for use as a Studio-Transmitter-Link (STL) to replace an FM transmitter.
As reported, I ordered one, worked out routing issues by adding Virtual Cable, and was very pleased with the performance of the USB device.
I ordered a second one in the hope that I could use the same system for a 2nd STL.
But no, it is not possible to use two of these Wi-Fi USB devices on either the same computer nor in the same house. Why? Because the transmitter and receiver communicate with each other and form a dedicated connection. The USB transmitter will not work with two receivers at the same time.
Therefore I will be contacting MCM to request a Return Authorization.
Still, the one working unit is great and I will keep it.
As I've already mentioned MCM is discontiuing this device as soon as supply runs out. So, for one very interesting STL, order yours while supply lasts. And get a Virtual Cable while you're at it.
Here is the tricky Part 15 question of the day.
While taking into account the fact that my connectioon to the internet is 100% hard-wired through a router and ethernet, I am wondering what adventures might be opened up if I installed a Wi-Fi Access Point card (not connected to the internet) and simply "sniffed the air."
For one thing I want to see if I can detect the MCM USB Wireless Wi-Fi device that is in operation.
Second, I am thinking of discovering what kind of Wi-Fi "hot spot" I can devise containing only features that I install, such as a portal to my website and radio stream.
Will it work?
Having tried a second MCM Wi-Fi USB Wireless device, only to find that it conflicted with the first one, I talked to MCM technical and they knew the devices used a single channel and thus only one could be employed per location, and I was extended the courtesy of a Return Authorization minus a restocking fee.
We now move on to a buzz problem I noticed, a "hum" induced on my carrier while using the USB device. The problem has been tracked down and solved.
Keeping in mind that this wireless device delivers audio to an AM transmitter, I became aware of a tendency for buzz to occur unless radios were rotated to a null position to eliminate the buzz.
It was soon observed that the power supply walwart for the Wi-Fi receiver caused the buzz, and it was introduced through the ground side of the audio cable.
So I wrapped the audio cable several turns around a toroid and reduced the buzz to an acceptable level.
To improve it further I want to explore either an audio transformer or a "ground isolator."
How does a ground isolator work?
Carl, I'm sure I am missing some important point somewhere in your posts in this thread, but I'll take a stab. You said you have an Ethernet router. Why not just go out and buy a replacement router that has Ethernet jacks and wireless. They only cost about $50. That will give you a wireless port for your home network. It will function just like the hardwired Ethernet cables. You can set up secure operation so your neighbors can't leach on to your signal. Then you will have your own private Wi-Fi hot spot plus you will have network connectivity between various wireless devices just as if they were hardwired with Ethernet cable. If you can stream on your home network now, you will be able to do it over the wireless link the same way. Also, a wireless device, like a wireless computer or laptop or internet radio will also have access to your internet provider over the wireless link in your router. Is that what you're looking to achieve?
Hi PhilB.
What you are describing is what I already (partially) have.
I guess I've talked about a lot of different things in this thread, so let me reduce the description down to the present arrangement.
The Wi-Fi wireless device I am using consists of two peices: the Wi-Fi transmitter is a USB "thumb" device which I connected to the computer with a long USB cable and the device is mounted to one-leg of an indoor bamboo tripod tower.
In another room is the Wi-Fi receiver with stereo audio outputs and its own walwart power supply. The system uses a single Wi-Fi channel and delivers very excellent audio quality.
The hum that I have been reducing with toroids is originating from the device's walwart power supply and traveling on the audio ground to the AMT5000.
My success with noise reduction is already close to 90%, so I have just a little more isolation to achieve.
Other issues raised in the course of this thread are separate and apart from what I have just described, so let me turn to the most recent one, since that might be what PhilB is addressing:
I wonder if adding a Wi-Fi Access Point card to the computer would allow me to enter Wi-Fi space on the LAN (Local Area Network) side of my system, NOT connected to the internet. My purpose is experimental only.
My actual internet connection is hard-wired by router and I intend to maintain that method for security and reliability.
I think that summarizes my curiosity about Wi-Fi.
I am also a bit lost in what you have tried and what you want to do. If your plan is to stream wirelessly from your source to a receiver using wifi then there might be an issue since all wireless LAN connections I know of require some sort of handshaking between the router and the receiver. Each receiver will be assigned its own IP address on the LAN. In this sense, the receivers do not pick up a "broadcast" as is done with conventional radio, rather each receiver exists on the network as a separate connection. The result can be the same as if the signal is broadcast but the actual nuts and bolts is different.
I hope I am not complicating something simple with this comment and offer it as some more information to consider.
Neil
Every attempt to learn something new always starts with confusion, caused by not yet knowing the new subject.
My first and only Wi-Fi experience so far is this USB Wireless Audio Device from MCM Electronics. It has been found that only one of these can exist in a given location.
Case closed on that first step of discovery.
Wanting to obtain access to Wi-Fi space with an access card in the computer NOT in the path of my internet connection is a desire to experiment with Wi-Fi in general, not necessarily for purposes of providing further S.T.L. (studio-transmitter-links).
But for now I will drop the subject until I am better able to pose a good question.
Carl, it would seem what you want is a closed, wireless network with no internet access.
The security provided by wireless routers seems to be very secure. I'm not aware of a case where someone hacked into one, not to say it couldn't happen.
I have two wireless routers. The main unit has four wired connections. I connected an eight port switch to the main WIFI unit to provide a total of eleven wired connections in addition to the WIFI.
One of those wired connections goes to a second wireless router on the 2nd floor. It is used as a link between the house and garage.
The two networks, WIFI 1 and WIFI 2, are isolated from one another by virtue of the network IP addresses. If my PC is on WIFI 1, either wired or wireless, it can not see devices connected to WIFI 2. WIFI 2 does have internet by virtue of being connected to WIFI 1.
If I disconnect the wired connection between WIFI 1 and WIFI 2 the internet connection for devices on WIFI 2 is not there. However, the devices on WIFI 2 can still communicate between themselves. To connect to the PC in the garage, I use a WIFI adapter to connect to the garage WIFI network.
Your scenario is different in that you want two network connections in one computer; wired and wireless. My laptop at work has both wired and WIFI though don't know if when both are active how you would use them independantly.
The subject of Wi-Fi is still dancing in my brain, so I came back with a new question.
Given the fact that this MCM USB Wireless Device is now a permanent part of the system and works very well, it operates on "channel 38" according to the lit.
I do not wish to add any other USB audio or Wi-Fi devices.
But I wonder what could be done if I installed a Wi-Fi Access Point card in a PCI slot inside the computer....
I guess I'd need another computer with another Wi-Fi Access Point card so I could communicate back and forth... but if there are Wi-Fi systems open in the neighborhood I could look at those.... it would be kind of like DXing.
But I'm beginning to think that I don't need any more Wi-Fi at all for any reason.
Don't need a Wi-Fi radio because all the streams can already be accessed on the computer.
I just have this sense that there are experiments to be done with it, but I do not what those would be.