Procaster, the makers of the famous Procaster AM has released a new FM transmitter for the hobby radio enthusiast. This has been in the works for the last year and a half or longer and I knew about this from the start as I am friends with Gerry, the manufacturer and some of my input went into the design of the final product. I had to keep it quiet till now until HB did the review which I will post here. I was at the lab to see how all the testing went for certification.
This rivals the Decade in quality and has some features that are an improvement like:
operating on a common 12 volt DC power supply, considerably smaller in size and weight but still in a steel cabinet, digital read out of frequency, bass treble controls, operating on a off the shelf telescoping antenna easily replaceble and not proprietary, also has reverse polarity protection and static protection from giving the antenna a shock. I was at his place with the FIM and seeing the difference just changing antenna positions and a metal surface make to the readings. Audio is every bit as good as the Decade.
Like the Decade this is certified BETS-1 for broadcasting in Canada and is the only transmitter made that has ever been BETS other than the Decade. I will be getting 1 or maybe 2 of them and this will replace the Decade MS-100. It will be on the Procaster site in the next few days.
I will post the HB review here as you all can see it.... https://www.hobbybroadcaster.net/reviews/chezradio-procaster-fm-transmitter.php
Yeah his post the other day with the field strength setup pictures made it pretty clear the rumor has been true but was hoping it was an Am transmitter, but the FM one pretty cool too. I had no clue anyone here knew for sure but a first I had suspected Rugster knew.
You mention you were fortunate enough to be present for the lab certification... I'm curious if you know what that certification had cost? .. I'm always flabbergasted when I hear it takes 10 thousand or more for a part 15 transmitter certification, it's never made sense to me and I've always suspected it's an extreme exaggeration
@richpowers The lab Ultratech charges I think $1000.00 an hour. Gerry had to go back a few times as first and second testings needed redoing to comply. In total he spent as he told me about $8000.00 in lab fees. Very eleborate testing is done on 100s of thousands of $$$ worth of equipment including a freezer/oven combination to test for frequency stability at all temperatures from negative 20 to plus 50 degrees F for the BETS test. The lab fees include registration with FCC and ISED. It's not easy getting certification and there is all the paper work also. Depending on the lab and their costs and how many times you have to go back for retesting it can get to $10,000! If you are lucky and can get a pass on the first try it may be only a few thousand dollars. Was very interesting at the lab and the special chambers where the testing is done. The cost of setting up labs like this as the government standards dictate is why it costs so much and why the transmitters cost so much as it is a niche market and the manufactures have to recoup their expenses. There is not much money to be made with these transmitters and manufacturers as I mentioned before do this out of the "goodness of their hearts" and without them there would be no hobby radio. It's just a hobby for them too.
Very cool, wish I had been there with you.
. There is not much money to be made with these transmitters and manufacturers as I mentioned before do this out of the "goodness of their hearts"
While I feel sure that's true, about it being for the love of the hobby, I'm not so sure they don't make a handsome profit, it only takes a few sales to break even then its gravy after that. Consider the Scholckwood proccessor, that required certification too, he hasn't really sold that many in a relative sense, but when you figure his sales it puts him tens of thousands in profit..
Though certification is expensive I only takes selling a few units to break even.
@richpowers A bit more. For example Procaster FM has to sell at the price of $395 quite a few to recoup the lab costs and all the time spent on development of this. Also consider the cost of having the boards and the cabinets made. And quality goes into these so no built in obsolescence. You have to sell quite a few to make any money on these. This just a side venture done at home. ChezRadio is a one person company in his home. It is a hobby done on the side. You can't make a living at this.
The actual review of the transmitter is pretty sparse with details. It's mainly about Hobbybroadcaster.
Mark gives much more information about the operation of the transmitter in his post. Of course, he's been working with the manufacturer for some time now.
I've also known about the transmitter for a while (through Mark), but was sworn to secrecy. It's been certified and ready for a bit, but Hobbybroadcaster insisted on doing the "exclusive" review and for some reason that was agreed to. In the process, it's delayed the introduction of the transmitter, and potentially affected sales.
If anyone had any doubts about what Hobbybroadcaster is most concerned about, they now have their answer.
@artisan-radio I had to delete the comment you made in brackets after saying HB insisted on doing the exclusive review. You are scaring me here!
I agree with artisan about HB but the delay wasn't all because of them it was also the delay in the BETS-1 approval and the mistake that was made in the first sample that was sent to HB for evaluation and figuring out what the problem was.
No problem if I was inaccurate or out of line. Don't want to scare anyone!
I do agree that the delay was not all the fault of HB. But waiting for them to do their "exclusive" review did cause a delay. Usually, reviewers who are interested in truly disseminating information take a production sample once the product is being marketed. It's more accurate for the consumer, and doesn't cause undue distress to the sales efforts. I look to the efforts of Jay Allen as to how reviews should be conducted.
Unfortunately, it appears that HB was more interested in one-upping what they perceive as competition, rather than information dissemination.
We're all interested in the same things. I don't know why cooperation, rather than competition, isn't more in play.
I look to the efforts of Jay Allen as to how reviews should be conducted.
Man I couldn't agree more.
He just posted the news in his forum Chezradio Procaster FM Transmitter May 2025
https://www.hobbybroadcaster.net/community/index.php?topic=19538.msg84195;topicseen#msg84195