rock95seven

As you know from my last blog post the Sstran is on the fritz but that has been added to a list of things to be fixed soon.

Today i added another transmitter to my collection.

As you know from my last blog post the Sstran is on the fritz but that has been added to a list of things to be fixed soon.

Today i added another transmitter to my collection.

Walmart has Scosche FMT4 Fm Transmitters for about $10 bucks.
You might find them in the automotive section around the car stereos.

It’s not much bigger than a pocket sized box of wooden matches.

The FCC ID :RLQAT100
In the package you’ll get the transmitter, instructions and a customer satisfaction survey. Once you get it out of the tough plastic you may feel as though it wasn’t worth the $10 you spent.

It does not include batteries so if you get one of these don’t forget to pick up some AAA batteries too. It takes 2 AAA.

The transmitter is black in color with a silver face around the power button and a super bright blue l.e.d indicating the transmitter is operating.

On the top is a short 5″ stereo plug, on the right side is a frequency range switch to select channels around 87.7 to 88.9 and 106.7 to 107.9 mhz.
On the left side is three toggle switches (like the ones inside the sstran) that allow you to choose the frequency your going to broadcast to.

I chose 106.7 fm, according to Radio-Locator.com this is a clear channel in my area.
After plugging the FMT4 into my computer and selecting some tunes from a shoutcast station i immediately noticed the audio was over driving a small radio i was using to listen on.

I lowered the audio to 50 % and turned off the processing.
It sounded pretty good in stereo and static free at a distance of 1 foot away. Good bass and treble response.

So I turned processing back on and listened again, but this time i walked from one end of the house to the other.
So far so good. The signal stayed right in there without dropping out or static of any kind.

Now for the real test, i drove around the park here which would be a real test of range considering part of the park is in a valley while the rest of it is on higher ground.

Despite some drop outs and several dead places, the FMT4 covered at least 80 to 150 feet but was mostly line of sight.
(roughly 8 homes would have good reception)

I am guessing that part of the antenna is inside the FMT4 while the rest of it is built into the 3.5 mm plug. My home is roughly 4 1/2 feet above ground with aluminum siding and the desk adds maybe 2 feet at the most.

Really this test wasn’t bad considering all the things we have going against us. Maybe tomorrow I will raise the FMT4 up into the air on a pole or something outside and try another range test.

But so far, so good for no more than what it is.

From the manual:
Available Distance 3 Meters
14 Available channels
Powered by 2 AAA batteries
Run Times: In Use 15 hours
Standby : 45 days (1 hour per day)
FCC ID :RLQAT100