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I’ve just ordered the Insignia Universal FM Transmitter. It’ll be at the RFCC-Lebanon studios before the end of the month.
This transmitter is FCC Part 15 Certified with the FCCID being 2AEI7M35.
This transmitter, like the Prime Audio Wireless FM Transmitter and the Scosche TuneIt, has an 1/8″ jack (3.5mm) for taking in audio from anything that has a headphone or 1/8″ (3.5mm) output.
The Insignia also like the TuneIt, can use all frequencies between 88.1 MHz and 107.9 MHz and has to be powered via cigarette female to wall AC. There are some cigarette adapters that are cigarette female to USB-A male, which you can then use a USB female to wall AC plug to power what you want, or the kind I’ve been using which is just cigarette female directly to wall AC.
The hope is that it performs as well as the Prime Audio and the TuneIt or even better. Right now both those transmitters can make it about 200 to 250 feet before a complete fadeout, provided you are outdoors.
Sometime early next month, I’ll let you know what I get out of it.
Yes. I’m very interested in this and also
the adapters that allow one to use the device
In places other than the car.
These transmitters don’t last forever. They break
and we keep having to get replacements.
My C Crane transmitter is about 15 years old
and it’s getting pretty rough around the edges.
The thing doesn’t have to go very far because I’m just
transmitting through vintage radios in my house.
Now a bunch of us are talking about radios for the old
FM band, which – in the 1940s – ran from roughly 42 to
48 MHz. When the “then new” 88 to 108 MHz band replaced
it in or around 1948, about 350,000 of the “45 MC”
sets hit the junk pile. But some of them are still out
there. If I have more to say about THAT, I guess
I`’ll start another thread.
Brooce
replacements.
So the Insignia Universal FM Transmitter arrived sooner than I thought it would, so I have some test results from the home studio.
Currently the Edirol UA-3FX USB Interface is feeding audio to the Insignia, and the Edirol UA-3FX is being used as the sound card for a Dell Latitude D630 laptop that has Winamp running RFCC-Lebanon’s automation.
The frequencies that work best in my area are 101.5 MHz and 101.7 MHz, although I take in a little bleeding from stations 40 or 50 miles away, but not too overpowering to where I can’t use those frequencies.
So far, the Insignia’s signal starts to wane at around 120 feet and dies at around 220 feet. The signal is best 100 feet or less from the transmitter. This is just an initial test around my home studio, but results could be different in another location and with different radio receivers. The sound quality is really good, better than any FM transmitter I’ve used so far.
As for how it stacks up against the Prime Audio and the Scosche transmitters at my disposal, the coverage area of the Insignia is less than the Prime Audio and Scosche, but has far better sound quality. It could be that the Insignia sacrifices coverage area for better sound quality.
I’ll continue playing around with the thing to see if it maintains or improves what it’s currently doing, or if things turn sour, but all in all, I think the Insignia is a fairly useful FM transmitter.
Your receiver is also a big factor in how far you will go with a good signal.
A lot of crappy radios image strong stations all over the band and weak ones don’t get through.
The “bleeding” is just what I am referring to.
I have two AM/FM/SW receivers at my disposal, one analog (Kaito WRX911) and one digital (Radio Shack 2000669), so that’s what I’ve been using to monitor my Talking House AM Transmitter and my assortment of FM transmitters originally designed for use inside cars. They’re not the best receivers, but not the worst either, but pick up my signals within 200 to 300 feet away from any of my transmitters. I’m sure if somebody knows what they’re doing with their receiver of choice, they’d get the same results I get.
UPDATE: After using the Insignia Universal FM Transmitter to broadcast some softball games live, my initial assessment was ironically enough “in the ballpark”…the signal dies at the outfield fences, which are about 200 to 220 feet away from home plate, then adding in about 20 feet from the press box to home plate, the maximum range in any direction is about 220 to 240 feet.
Pretty good for a transmitter made for getting your MP3 player to your car radio. Assume the audio cable acts as the antenna?
Guess if you need to get a better signal to the outfield fence it would have to be done by a better radio and not a better transmitter.
One good receiver easy to carry around that would be very good is this…
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F3SOR0S/ref=twister_B00J2M8Z4A?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
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