RF Transmitter Mod
By: AlphA
|
Here's a mod that has been gaining popularity due to all of the portable
music players available today. When one wants to jam out to there MP3s in
the car, they usually look to the RF transmitter solution. There are plenty
available. Unfortunately, some of their specs are hard to find. It is my understanding
that most do not work well in the city. From what I've read, the ones that
can be manually tuned are the best.
So, I picked up this
thing.
The results of the first run where typical. The main issues were static, hiss
and distortion. I performed the notorious antenna extension mod. This did
extend the range quite a bit. But, low end sounds were full of static, I could
still hear a lot of distortion and the hiss was still present.
Then, I remembered I had this old thing. I picked it up in the late 90's and
never really used it. Well, I did use it to overpower the lite rock station
at the pizza shop in order to blast Christmas techno. To accomplish this,
my transmitter had to be right next to the radio's receiver antenna.
I found some interesting info
about my transmitter. Later versions of this unit had been modified from the
original design in order to limit this unit's broadcasting ability. I assume
this had something to do with a violation of FCC regulations. Pictured above
is the evil limiting resistor.
With the resistor out of the way, you can see blatant trace cutting.
A small wire lead was all it took to complete the REPAIR. While I was at it,
I replaced the original antenna with 3 feet of small gauge wire.
The results: My old Rat Shack transmitter completely spanked the competition.
As soon as I turned it on, it claimed complete domination of the 88.9 frequency.
The radio became completely silent. So I hooked up my juice
box and played an MP3. The sound was loud and very clear. The bass was
solid and distortion was nil. I could detect slight distortion if I maxed
out the volume on the juice box.
I moved the transmitter about the cabin and had minimal signal interference
. I haven't tested
the range, but I'm sure it's decent. So, if you're listening
to your radio, and the music suddenly switches over to techno, look to see
if there is a dark mustang nearby. If so, I apologize. I'm just passing through.