I've always had mixed feelings about the ProCaster, When it first came out, I purchased several, and maybe I just had bad luck, but I never really was satisfied with the sound or the range.
That's why I purchased a used Rangemaster, which blew those away. Unfortunately, when I realized that it was not legal to operate in Canada (hey, I was still relatively new to this), I shut it down and sold it.
The ProCaster I got from Mark definitely rivals that Rangemaster (from what I can remember, anyway). Great sound, even without the internal audio processing, not sure about the range, being in an apartment and in a built up area with lots of concrete, but it's really for my own use anyway (being RSS-210 certified, as opposed to BETS-1).
I'm not sure if it's because it is a V2, or I just got a good one (through Mark). I'm impressed.
Remember, I did that counter poise inside the cabinet....a sort of in the cabinet "ground" but doesn't radiate outside as the metal cabinet is a shield.
All I did was take a thin wire, 24 gauge, and on the back side of the board(I posted about this in the past) and starting from the ground terminal, wrapped about 3 or 4 turns of wire around the edge of the board and back to the ground terminal so to make a loop with both ends joined(soldered) to the ground point. When I did this there was a significant jump in the meter reading and had to adjust the meter to turn the needle back to get a peak. Before I did that I was getting to about 6 on the meter then all things being equal after I did that it was pegging the end of the meter past 10 so had to with the trimmer opposite the meter turn the needle back to see the peak. I asked Gerry at the time how that worked and he said I created a counter poise similar to placing an FM transmitter on metal.
That plus the 3 terminal earth grounded adaptor helps too as it now gets a ground through the building ground which is a stake in the earth. Eliminates the need for an outside ground for using indoors. That's why it works so good. Can be removed if desired. I just held the wire on with a few dabs of hot glue. I could have also just wrapped the wire around the inside of the cabinet but neater doing it on the back. It worked so good from a basement of all places!
@mark I recall you talking about that before but never really comprehended how that could make much difference, but at the the same time I understand what you're saying that it creates a counterpoise effect - but still can't imagine it making that much of a difference. Yet Artisian now has confirmed he noticed your transmitter outperforms any of the Procasters he has owned in the past. That's pretty interesting stuff.
@richpowers When I first thought to try this(in the cabinet ground) I didn't know if it would do anything and I was surprised at the result. What I did was the same effect as an outdoor ground with a stake in the ground or radials. Plus, important, using an earth grounded power supply( 3 terminal) as a ground is now had by the electrical ground in a building or house which is a stake 6 or 8 ft in the ground and the wiring now acts like a very long ground lead but nothing is physically attached to the Procaster. No wonder it worked so good from a basement indoors!