Re: CCrane
druhe said:
I use one of these. However I never really tested the range.
http://ccrane.com/fm-transmitter.aspx
--Dan--
Well... As it comes from CCrane it's not something that you'd really `shout' about distance of transmission-wise. (Though it *is* a whole heck of a lot better than those wireless transmitters like the "IRoc BeamIT" that `RatShaft' sells to allow one to play their CD player through one's car stereo radio! Not only does it let one use *almost*, 88.3MHz - 107.7MHz, the *whole* range of the FM band but it also gives one a *lot* more control over the input side, too.)
Now... after saying the above I have to admit that I decided to `fiddle' a bit with mine to see if I could do something about the range. The first attempt was trying to make the antenna resonant, ¼ & ½ wave, at the freq I picked to xmit on. That only marginally helped matters. {FROWN!} Though ½ wave was a tad bit more of an improvement over ¼ wave. (I chose those first because I happened to have a couple replacment telescopic antennas that happened to be able to extend far enough *and* also happened to fit, with only a very slight bit of filing, the existing mount so I wouldn't be carving up the case. Another reason I chose the antenna(s) I chose was that I happened to have 7 of one and 9 of the other so *if* they didn't work I wouldn't have `destroyed' an `irreplaceable' antenna with the `tweaking' of the mounting tab. [It *really* looked funny with this little tiny box precariously sitting on the table with this *huge*, in comparison to the original antenna, sticking up almost touching the ceiling! {CHUCKLE!}]) I only managed to add around another 25' to 30' of range with those. The next attempt was to add a `groundplane' or `counterpoise' to the setup. While that didn't really add anything distance-wise it `sounded?' like it sort of `firmed up' the signal. (At least that was how SWMBO described it. She said that after I'd added it to the setup she had an easier time tuning it in and it seemed to `hold up better' right up to the drop out point. To me it just sounded like I was getting *slightly* `fuller' audio.)
The next thing I tried was basically a fullwave dipole made out of wire with the unit hanging in the middle and a 25' headphone extension cable running from the two scanners up to the unit's cable. I hung the affair along the underside of the eaves on the side of the house that faced out into the part of the yard I was most interested in covering. (By this time I'd basically pretty much gotten rid of most of the case of the unit and was powering it off of one of the power supplies off of my `bench' via some `zip-cord' soldered to the unit's power jack's terminals and cable tied to the audio lead. [Obviously by this time all thoughts about any warranty had long since flown out the window. I was actually having some fun now. {GRIN!}]) *This* bumped up the range to a little over almost double the advertised range. (I probably could claim more range but I stopped around the time that I thought that the sound was getting what I would call `weak' though I suppose that what *I* would call `weak' might not be for others because of the hearing losses I have. Also... Whilst `doubleing' the range was fairly decent and allowed coverage of the majority of the area I was concerned with I feel that it wasn't all that good because there were still areas that were dead, comparatively speaking, that I would have liked to have been able to listen in.)
For those who only want to be able to listen around a `development' sized lot, around one eighth acre or so, *and* are willing to `hack and slash' on the unit it's not too bad of a `toy' to `play' with. *Especially* when compared to things like that "IRoc BeamIT" that RS sells! Without doing any `hack and slash' to it one could easily set it up in one's vehicle to xmit the sound from a pair of HH scanners to the car stereo and not have any worries about signal or frequency choices problems. (Just for heck of it I re-assembled the unit and then, using the headphone extension cable and running it off of the 2 AA batteries, stuck it all the way in the back of my Explorer and was able to have a nice clean signal, and sound, from it out of the factory stereo. [The "IRoc BeamIT" would hardly work sitting up on the dash with a clear shot at the vehicle's antenna!] If SWMBO happened, I actually talked her into doing it just `for giggles', to have her car stereo tuned to the set freq of the unit she could hear it well over a car length behind me to a tad bit over a car length in front of me. [I wonder just how someone who didn't know what it was would react to coming across it whilst tuning *their* car stereo? "10-64 10-64 All cars be on the lookout for a red SUV..." coming out of their radio would probably make them think their radio was `possessed' or something? {VB GRIN!}]) If one checks the `specials' or `closeouts' part of CCrane's web site one can pick one up for about $10 - $20 off of the `normal' price if one isn't interested in what colour it is. As for those who are interested in a lot more range the xmitter `kit(s)' from Ramsey are probably a better deal though I *do* wonder about the tuning and stability of of them.
Oh, well... Just an `Olde Fart's' 2¢ worth. YMMV {GRIN!}
