C. Crane FMT Digital FM Transmitter with AC Adapter

This review is somewhat of a corroborative of previous reviews and a background of how I aquired the c.crane fm transmitter and how I got it to work for my situation by doing the mod as described elsewhere. Many of the reviews regarding the mod are quite old and I was concerned that possibly c.crane had made changes to their fm transmitter to keep people like me from doing the mod. First a little background. I got a used sirius sportster4 from my son as a gift. I had been considering getting satelite radio to listen to at work. I work in a very noisy confined area and cannot hear the company music service. I have a little Sandisk Sansa mp3 player plus fm that I listen to mostly downloaded music and some npr radio with. I thought it would be nice to have more variety so I was excited to try the satelite radio. After getting raped ($12.95 monthly fee, $15.00 activation fee, $2.00 a month royalty fee, and taxes) on a 6 month subscription I was almost ready to go. I bought a home dock kit from Amazon, took it to work set up the antenna plugged everything in and viola!!.......nothing. Signal strengh was only 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. I plugged my Etymotic Research ER6i Isolator In-Ear Earphones directly into the sirius radio home dock and got a good signal but I could not get any signal to my sansa wirelessly from the home dock unless I actually put my hand on the home dock. Obviously that wasn't going to work. I need abut 10' to 30'of transmission signal for my application. I went home that night and started doing some research. I found out that the fm signal transmisson on satelite radios and devices with fm tranmission capability had been substantially reduced a few years ago by the FCC so that now fm signal transmission was little to none. That explained why the Sirius unit wouldn't work in my truck without an fm modulator directly wired to the radio. That night as I surfed the web I eventually stumbled upon various devices called fm transmitters. Some were inexpensive as is the c.crane unit and some were over $100.00 and up. Most provided minimal results. I was intrigued when I read about the hardware mod to the c.crane unit and it didn't look too difficult so I thought I would give it a try. I recieved the unit in only a few days with Amazon's standard shipping. I unpacked the unit installed a couple of AA batteries and went out to my truck and tried it out. It actually worked. The signal strength however, quickly faded as soon as I got out of the truck. I took the satelite radio and the c.crane transmitter into the house to give it a try there. I set up the home dock, the antenna, etc and I got maybe, 8ft and the signal faded. I thought "how pathetic". This thing is practically worthless (due to the fcc regulations of course.)I was disappointed however that c.crane boasts 30' to 70' out of the box. I'd like to know how they did that. I haven't read about anybody getting that kind of result right out of the box. Ok,long story, sorry. I removed the label on the bottom of the c.crane but scratched it in the process so I thought "well, there's no sending it back now. I looked down in the little hole as shown in the various illustrations and could not tell if it was a phillips or a flathead slot to insert the mini screwdriver. Looking at the customer photo on Amazon I could see it was a phillips head. However I couldn't see that peering down through the little hole, besides that I was concerned that I wouldn't feel the adjustment stop through the little hole so I opted to disassemble the unit. I was aware of people breaking the little thumbwheel volume adjustment. Looking at the back of the c.crane unit if you weren't familiar with how it comes off I can see where you could easily break it off. After removing the 3 screws (1 in the battery compartment and 1ea. under each of the little round rubber feet. (easily pryed off.) I learned from reading various posters around the web that first you "gingerly" start separating the c.crane from the opposite side of the thumbwheel. once you do that you very carefully push the bottom of the c.crane unit in such a way that you push the little slot that the thumbwheel is inserted into past the thumbwheel. Once you do that the unit will come apart and the adjustment of the variable resistor marked VR2 on the circuit board is a very delicate and very easy 1/4 turn CLOCKWISE untill you just feel (and see) it stop. Don't force it as some have done. This whole process sounds more complicated than it is. I plugged everything back together and was anxious to see if my results resembled what others have attained. I turned on my Sandisk Sansa and got a very clean signal. I live in an 80 year old colonial, 3 floors and a basement. I walked about 8ft to the area I had lost the signal the first time and it was still working great. add another 15' to the end of the living room, still getting a great signal. Went upstairs to the bedroom, still working great. I went all the way up into the attic before the signal started fading a little. All this with the antenna on the c.crane retracted! I extended the c.crane antenna and I went out to the truck (about 50')in the back yard turned on the trucks fm radio and tuned to the selected channel and got a perfect signal! Ok, let's walk down the street. I turned on my little sansa and started walking. I probably walked a 100' to 125' or so before the signal started fading. I thought that was pretty impressive considering the pathetic signal distance straight out of the box. All in all this is an easy tweak as others have said, considering you're somewhat adept at working with small parts. If you're a bull in a china shop I would seriously consider getting someone to do the mod for you. It's unfortunate that you have to modify the factory setting to get accecptable results beyond a few feet due to FCC regulations. However I figure c.crane designed their transmitter with the mod in mind. I'ts not their fault if someone "hacks" their transmitter to increase the power of the transmission signal. I hope this review gives you some real life insight into what's involved to get improved reaults with the c.crane fm radio transmitter. One more thing in closing. On the Sirius satelite radio be sure to turn "off" the fm signal transmission of the satelite radio located in the menu.

I am a audio program junkie.My habit started with Sondra Gair's program on WBEZ and Studs Terkel on WFMT. It was further fed with the addition of more programs on WBEZ. I knew the schedules for the discussion and music programs on WBEZ, WFMT, and WDCB. Eventually internet technology, and the very nice stations providing live streams, allowed me to broaden my listening area beyond Chicago's Southwest Suburbs. With the aid of [...] I have found many new-to-me shows and stations. Many of these radio shows offer mp3 downloads and I can find many more interesting mp3's on iTunes and from searching through open courseware.I can throw the mp3's on my Sony Walkman, but the for the live streaming shows, I was tied to my computer.The most convenient, cost effective solution seemed to be an fm transmitter, so I tried C. Crane's.The reviews for this product vary greatly, and I found this worrisome. I wanted it to work, but I did not want to throw 70 bucks down the drain. I planned to do the tweak.Out of the box, I went to my back porch, worked out what seemed to be the emptiest frequency on the fm radio in my 4GB Sony Walkman NWZ-E436F digital media player, tossed the batteries in the transmitter, attached it to my laptop, adjusted the volume, and listened to it through my Walkman. It sounded okay a couple of feet away. At 7 feet, it was too scratchy to understand what was being said. The computer volume was at 100%. Adjusting the volume control on the transmitter only showed that I had previously optimally adjusted the volume.I was a little disappointed because although the pre-tweak distance varied considerably in reviews, the difference between pre-tweak and post-tweak distance seemed to consistently max at about a 10 fold increase. I was hoping for greater than 70 feet post-tweak distance.Having no very close neighbors, I performed the tweak.I do not recommend anybody else do this tweak. It is illegal and voids the warranty.Repeat: I am not in any way suggesting that you do this tweak.I did this awhile ago, so I am trying to recall what I then encountered.After removing the batteries, first I tried peeling back the sticker and rotating the dial. Although I had searched the internet for information and found a photo of an opened transmitter with the V2 control clearly pointed out, I had difficulty understanding what I was trying to do through the little hole under the sticker. I am comfortable with replacing computer parts and adjusting DIP switches, but I have not otherwise played with electronics.I put the sticker back. I removed the feet. I realized I removed the wrong feet, put them back, and removed the two little round feet and the screws underneath them. Being careful of the volume control and wires, I took the device apart. It was easy. I then carefully turned the V2 dial. I think I used a small screwdriver? I was careful to try and be sensitive to the dial ceasing to turn. I think I turned it far enough. It stopped turning, but it was a soft stop and I did not want to break it by attempting to turn it further. I put the batteries back and tested it out.The reception was greatly improved and it worked as I expected. At about 70 feet, I could no longer understand what was being said. I reassembled the device. I have had no problems with the the round feet/stickers coming back off.Setting the device on the dining room table next to where I usually have my laptop, I can easily listen through my Walkman throughout the house - upstairs, basement - but toward the garage door, about 55 feet and 2 interior walls and 1 exterior wall away it is a bit scratchy. Not bad at all. Sometimes I forget I am listening to streaming media over the radio, not a mp3 on the Walkman, and I start to walk out of range about 30 feet out the back door.I tried replacing the antenna with one of appropriate length from Radio Shack, but it was too wide to insert where the current antenna is screwed in. Attaching a copper wire, besides being cumbersome, did not seem to help much. Placing device on a cookie sheet did not seem to help either. I am soon moving to another location, perhaps I'll try increasing range again then.While I do wish the range was even farther (more, more, I want more), it does pretty good, especially for the price. I like very much that I can choose the frequency.After giving this device 5 stars for working so well for the price, I was asked to give stars for Sound Quality, Distance, Ease of Use, and Compactness. I gave three stars for each of these, except 5 stars for compactness, because the mod was necessary for this device to be at all useful to me. I found the mod easy, and, post-mod, I have found the device very liberating. I expect I would feel differently if the range was any less, or if something went awry in performing the mod.If I were to do anything different, I maybe ought to have tried to exchange this device for another one upon discovering that the range was only nearly 7 feet before the mod.