fm transmitter from phono sockets

[jon cann]

is it possible to buy a transmitter that sends the audio from my receiver to an fm radio in the same house? i know that sky produced one called a gnome, but i was wondering if there is a cheaper alternative?

 

[David J Robinson]

There are loads, just try e-Bay or Google. I have a 'Songbird' one (try songbird transmitter on Google) the sound quality of which is excellent. Most of these units have a 3.5mm jack plug as the input, to suit an iPod, so you need to buy or make an adaptor to go to phono plugs. Also the battery life is rather short on my unit as it only takes AAA cells, so I would recommend using rechargeables or a mains adaptor (the Songbird has a DC power socket on it).

 

[PaulR]

David

A question about these FM transmitters that I haven't been able to find the answer for elsewhere.

I suppose that as they are so cheap that it's only a mono signal that's transmitted. Is this the case with your transmitter? If so, are there any that you are aware of that can transmit stereo?

Incidentally, I think that the Gnome uses a different sytem to transfer the signal and it's in stereo.

 

[David J Robinson]

It's stereo all right. :-righton I think they all are. My unit uses this chip:

http://www.datasheetcatalog.com/datasheets_pdf/B/H/1/4/BH1417F.shtml


The Sky Gnome is no longer available, also the Gadget Show said the sound quality was rubbish.

 

[PaulR]

Interesting link David, thanks. It also explains why a lot of the transmitters are limited to below 100MHz.

Didn't know the Gnome was no longer available either. Sound quality was probably judged from the built-in speaker(s) which are usually poor on small devices.