FM Transmitter - Everything put together and connected - It's actually transmitting on 100.3 in this picture, but the cameras flash washed out the LED Display.
I had a LOT of hum from the wall wart I used, (I snipped off the end and connected it to the terminal block) so I put the ferrite choke you see here on the power cord and that virtually cut it all out.
FM Transmitter mounted in a case.
SWR & Power Meter.
RDS Board - Top.
I got the RDS Board here.
Pinouts Vastelec Transmitter Mod
Chip Specs Connection Diagram
RDS Board - Bottom.
PVC Tee and Plug with BNC Connector.
Drilling a hole in the plug for the BNC Connector.
BNC Connector with the wires soldered on.
Notice the colors used :)
I put green on the shield and red on the center.
In a Vertical Dipole you want the center wire pointing up.
BNC Connector attached, wires threaded through Tee, ready for glue.
I will be broadcasting at 100.3 FM, so each leg of my Dipole needed to be 28 inches.
(The formula is 468/freq for total length, then divide that by 2 for each leg length.)
I cut the pipe a little shorter because of the Tee size, and notched the ends to pull the wire tight and keep it secured and straight.
The final cut lengths.
Close up of the notch with the wire pulled tight and crimped.
I marked the ends before painting so I could make sure the center wire is up.
Finished product!
It's hard to notice, but I painted the whole thing flat black and painted the top cap a dark red / burgundy color.
The vinyl decals arrived today - I ordered them from www.vinzdecals.com.
I plan on applying these to the back of a sheet of plexiglass (That's why I had them cut backwards) and then I'm going to spray over them with red paint. When the red dries, I'll remove them and spray white where they were.
Decals applied to the plexiglass.
Plexiglass flipped over.
First coat of red spray paint applied over the vinyl decals. (Looks orange in this picture.)
All red coats done, vinyl decals peeled off.
Applying the first coat of white.
Two coats of white.
You can see that the white is not as thick as the red in this one.
I stood it up (Still wet!) to see what it would look like.
All dry! - waiting for a nice box.
When I made the box for the sign, I made it hold the webcams too.
3 on top (1 is missing from this picture)
Another top view.
1 on the back.
I glued Aluminum Foil to the back board for better light reflection.
The box in the front yard.
Taken with no flash so you can see the brightness...