Equipment Review
C. Crane Model FT-007 Part 15 Certified Digital FM Transmitter
C. Crane - Fortuna, CaliforniaThe C. Crane Comppany has always been one of our favorite catalogs to browse through. Among the products they are best known for are their excellent variety of radio receivers. We were very happy to discover their Part 15 Digital FM Transmitter.
Several members of our community forums asked if we could review this transmitter as it is becoming an up and coming choice among the Part 15 broadcaster. The great folks over at C. Crane were kind enough to loan us an evaluation unit for review and lab testing.
Opening The Box:Our unit arrived via FedEx Ground shortly after we had received word that it was shipped out. Boxed in retail packaging, the FM Transmitter is supplied with the FMA "wall wart" AC power adapter, a stereo phono plug patch cord to accomodate the line output of consumer-grade audio devices as well as the operating instructions. This compact unit, measuring in at 3 1/4 inches by 3 1/2 inches, also has an attached telescopic antenna.
The Inside Story:The exterior of the transmitter is simple to operate and includes only a few controls. Besides the power button there are buttons to control the tuning of the trasmitter. An L.C.D. display indicates the output frequency of the device. In the side of the unit is a coiled cord with a 1/8-inch three conductor plug to connect to your portable audio player or computer. A volume control is located on the side of the unit to adjust the audio / modulation level.
Fire It Up:Our bench test setup is similar to our previous transmitter tests. The FT-007 is connected to our test computer running the StationPlaylist broadcast automation software. We tuned the transmitter to an open frequency and connected it to the computer. The transmitter provided a strong signal to both our local monitor receiver as well as our Belar FM modulation monitor anaylzer.
Crank Up The Audio:We configured the Sound Solutions audio processing plug-in portion of StationPlaylist to emulate the popular Orban Optimod 8400 broadcast audio processor. Using the modulation monitor we set the volume control on the side of the unit to equal 100 percent with occasional peaks of 110 percent. The audio was quite clear and the fidelity was very impressive. The low-end bass response was much better than many other low power FM modulators and transmitters we've looked at. There is plenty of range on the transmitter's volume control to accomodate audio devices with low output levels.
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