Too lazy to convert from unbalanced to balanced audio at the computer output, drill a hole in the floor, run a wire down in the basement 20′ to the kitchen, drill up into the room, convert back to unbalanced audio and feed the SSTran at 1550 KHz, I instead used an STL (Studio Transmitter Link) from the computer to a kitchen FM receiver to the SS Tran.
Based on previous trials, I realized the FM antenna had to be flat against the wall to reduce standing wave multipath on at least one plane, so I hooked a small paperclip around the top nub of the telescopic antenna of our C.Crane FM transmitter, hooked the paper clip to a large sized paper clip that connects our wall calendar to a sock hanging hook salvaged from the retail store which hangs from a nail in the wall, and set the dangling FM xmtr for 88.5.
Out in the kitchen the Panasonic rack-mountable Technique Tuner receives a solid signal which feeds the SS Tran at 1550 KHz and the rest is history.
Sounds like something i would do
LOL I love it !
STL
Hi Carl and everybody!
I do the same thing with the same 2 transmitters.
The mixing board and audio sources are on one side
of the room. The C.Crane unit sends the signal
about 20 feet to the other side of the room. It is
received on a Sony stereo tuner. From there the
stereo signal is combined to mono and goes to
an audio preamp with a VU meter. The output
of that goes out to the SSTran in the back yard.
One nice thing about this is that you can listen
to the stereo FM signal in your house. I don’t
get much coverage in my yard on FM though.
It goes about 50 feet into the back yard. (Although
that’s fine with me. I really don’t want the FM
signal to go anywhere.) I also am fortunate enough
to have an old Kenwood KT-8300 FM tuner, which
actually has a deviation meter in it. This is very
helpful. The KT-8300 is 30 years old and all the
light bulbs inside are burned out, but it works fine.
I think a lot of part 15 set-ups have STLs like ours.
Best Regards! Bruce, Micro1700
More STL Experience
We don’t know why but the vertical C.Craig FM antenna laying flat on the wall on a calendar worked perfectly when the SS Tran, at the other end of the path, was set to 1550 KHz. But I did a test at 1640 KHz because it was less noisy at night and all of a sudden my presence seated at the computer work station blocked the FM signal and blanked out all the audio. Luckily the solution was simple.
Because the FM receiver is connected to one of those “T” shaped twin-pair antennas, which I think cover both vertical and horizontal reception, I simply clipped a 1-foot wire to the C.Craig’s vertical telescope and ran it horizontally across the corner of the room, and the multipath interference was gone. That’s almost scientific.
Yet More On S.T.L.
Part 15 mindedness requires small thinking. I was just pondering the consequence of what was described earlier, namely adding about 1-foot horizontal to the C.Crane FM transmitters in-built 1-foot vertical. Let’s see if anybody agrees with my rationale on why this probably does not exceed Part 15:
FM is polar sensitive. Adding a horizontal element does not increase the vertical power, it simply adds an approximately equal amount of power on the horizontal plane.
C. Crane might even consider adding a little splitter at the bottom of the antenna allowing two telescopes: V + H
It does improve multipath behavior in the effective reception area.
Thinking small for over thirty years.
Something New
Paging through the latest MCM catalog, I spot a new wi-fi STL opportunity.
Stellar Labs 2.4GHz Wireless Audio System is a transmitter and receiver that sends stereo audio up to 164-feet.
As many receivers as you like can be added at different locations with the same transmitter.
$42.99 / $42.99 for a total of $85.98