How to transmit FIP legally!

In the absence of a Brighton wide FIP service we thought we’d look at how to do this legally.

Since January of this year Ofcom have permitted the use of very low power FM transmitters. These are primarily aimed at the iPod market, but can be used with any audio source, such as a satellite tuner or the soundcard output of your PC.

This means it is possible to transmit FIP around your house and grounds (and possibly a bit of the neighbourhood) using the FIP satellite feed or the internet stream.

Your reporter has tried various makes to assess the merits of them.

Some were useless, especially the Maplin one, which we couldn’t hear the other side of the room! We found detailed reviews on the Nanotransmitters site below. The best of them for audio quality and range is the Goldfly GF-ES2007 / 8. Not to be confused with the Belkin which is NOT as good, but looks similar.

It covers the entire FM band and your chosen frequencies can be stored in memory and remain there even with the power removed.

If you decide to use one we recommend transmitting on 91MHz, this is a clear frequency in Brighton and won’t cause problems to other services.

It also has three methods of powering it too, Batteries, USB lead from a computer, or using an external 5-volt DC power supply.

A picture of it and a more detailed review we found on this website: (there are also some modifications here).

We got ours on eBay direct from Budget Electronics store for about £12; it arrived promptly after 5 days. Their website address is http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Budget-Electronics-Store

Most rely on the audio input cable to form the transmit antenna. As supplied this is a very short lead ending in a 3.5mm mini-jack. The instant trick for a bit more range is to get a 3.5mm stereo extension lead from Maplins Only buy the 1.5 metre lead L34BA. Longer leads will not improve the signal!

We recommend you put the unit high up with the audio lead running down vertically to the audio source.

The unit has one drawback though, if the transmit is turned on without audio going in, it will turn off after exactly 1 minute. And will NOT turn back on without removing ALL power (including batteries if fitted). There is a modification to defeat this for the electronically able on the nanotransmitters site.

So, there you have it!