I have had some experience with FM transmitters. I autocross at one club
(name withheld) that has a great unit. I leave my car radio on, and hear
my time as I cross the finish line. I also listen to the announcements
while in grid. While you can rarely hear the PA at this club, you are
always in touch.
Now. Why is their system so great? Because they have a powerful
transmitter. And no license.
The maximum system that you are allowed to use without a license is 100 mW
with a 10 foot antenna (both AM and FM). The FCC has talked about making
low power licenses easy to get, but the last time I checked, noone had
actually made it through the approval process.
The maximum range for an FM transmitter of legal power is a bit over 100
feet. I estimate that you would want 300 feet of range, for this to be
useful.
AM has a bit of an advantage. With these limits you should get more range.
_Extensive_ research by a friend and I indicates that in the real world
this is unlikely to happen.
At a smaller club, transmitting illegally wouldn't be such a big deal. The
FCC rarely catches the tens of thousands of illegal stations. Plus, they
are required to send you a warning letter first, giving you a chance to
shut down without penaly. But for a big region, like Atlanta, we decided
to stay within the rules. And thus, no radio transmission.
Still interested? The best place we found to buy an FM transmitter was
"Radio Free Berkley", on the internet. Kits are just a couple hundred
dollars.
Chris Eckles
White M Roadster
>I am looking for opinions on a new PA system for our club.
We rented a peavey system for our divisional and it worked great, but the
speakers were too big to deal with for every event. The speakers like they
use at Nationals are a little smaller and might work.
I'm looking for general suggestions of how much wattage, etc. Also, I like
the idea of the FM transmitters. What do these involve and does anybody
have any experience with them?
Thanks for the Help
Dave
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