FM-01 FM Transmitter Interest Thread

ukewarrior

ukewarrior

New member
With the recent covid issue, it became clear to me and others that there is still not an affordable LPFM (low power FM) transmitter available here in the North America.

In the past the VAST FM-01 and FM-02 transmitters were generally available with a price under $30.

So..... I have found some more FM-01's and would like to see if there is interest in them.

I have personally used an FM-01 for my show for years. It's a workhorse tank in my opinion. I think I paid $15 for it.
It has decent stereo quality with PLL tuning.
The FM-02 is basically the same transmitter only it was broken up into two boards while the FM-01 is a single board.

The FM-01 is rated at 15mW output when fed a 12V input.
I expect the cost to be $20 for the FM-01.

We can discuss if there are any other 'bits' I should include like a 12V voltage regulator, etc...

So.... if interested, please post your interest in this thread.. If you can't post, PM me your interest.

Click on the pic to enlarge:
fm01.jpg
 
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and...if I am not mistaken, there are some files floating around here for a 3D printed case as well. :thup:
 
Can I ask a stupid question: how is the sound quality compared to, say, the $10 eBay special that many of us are using? I, for one, would be willing to pay $20 (or even a little more) to have another transmitter available. Count me as an interested party.
 
Been using this for few years now
e3b24282941b7835c367e9e3d30c69d3.jpg

How different is that as I probably could use a back up ? So I’d say I’m interested


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I would say the sound quality is at least as good as those.
Its a bit of a subjective subject as you can imagine.
Stormyblade said:
Can I ask a stupid question: how is the sound quality compared to, say, the $10 eBay special that many of us are using? I, for one, would be willing to pay $20 (or even a little more) to have another transmitter available. Count me as an interested party.
Click to expand...
 
I used the FM-01 for a couple of years (2009) and I bought it because I thought it was 100mw. I always had a buzz issue that I could never resolve and bought a couple of FM-02's to replace the FM-01. The sound quality was much better but after a couple of years, the first one quit working. After that, I also bought a Signstek ST-05B and have had no issues for at least 5 years. Even at 100mw (low power) I have been concerned about too much power, but putting an attenuator on it choked it too much. Otherwise, the sound is very good.

ukewarrior said:
So..... I have found some more FM-01's and would like to see if there is interest in them.
Click to expand...

I was curious as to this statement. You found new old stock, or a manufacturer to make new ones?

Thanks for posting this.
 
I don't know if they are NOS or new.
As best I can tell, VAST is only making the USB based unit these days.
But, the FM01 and FM02 were clearly sub-assemblies for a finished product and we we able to reap the benefits as both units have a DIY aspect to them.
So these may be the overruns of a batch someone else had ordered for a finished product.
When these are gone, the availability may go away again.

The units are one of the few available that pretty much meet the legal LPFM standards.
Everyone that is using a unit that can transmit a mile is clearly not close to being compliant.
 
Stormyblade said:
Can I ask a stupid question: how is the sound quality compared to, say, the $10 eBay special that many of us are using?
Click to expand...

These are not that good, mostly because they bleed all over the place. There is an old thread on here that shows the bleed over.

ukewarrior said:
I don't know if they are NOS or new.
But, the FM01 and FM02 were clearly sub-assemblies for a finished product and we we able to reap the benefits as both units have a DIY aspect to them.
So these may be the overruns of a batch someone else had ordered for a finished product.
When these are gone, the availability may go away again.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Didn't know there was a finished product.
 
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