AM Home Transmitters

Asus is a big computer mother board manufacturer, A router is what the cable or telephone companies use in your house to connect you to other home computers to form a local system/or hook you to the internet via cable or phone line. They can be wired or wireless (WIFI).

Sounds like an interesting, somewhat advanced system (not certain I fully understand what an Asus router is). Good to hear that it works so well for you and apparently solves your home broadcasting needs, which is the most important requirement of any system simple or advanced. Thanks for sharing.

I just stumbled across this transmitter thread.
Here's my setup:

I use this transmitter:
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I am using the improved version of the transmitter.
I use a 1300khz crystal I found on ebay.
The ant whip is about 48" long

The input into the transmitter is from an old re-purposed Asus router which streams several big band stations:
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I can change the streaming station, stop, start, adjust volume from any PC in the house.

I have the entire setup in the attic

Been using this setup for about 2.5 years with no problems at all.

My Talking House came in today and it works great, it even penetrates the brick walls. I'm thinking about either reversing the AA5 conversion, or just putting it on a shelf to look pretty. Thank you for the advice thought.

Something about using an iPod for audio source rings a bell, although I don't remember the details. It seems to me someone at another antique radio forum had a similar problem and an "expert" said that a preamp was necessary. Regardless, I now suggest that you try the output of an FM receiver tuned to a good strong station. Take it off either the voice coil terminals or, more conveniently, the headphones jack (assuming there is one). You might also try the output of a CD player. Let us know results.

I've checked over everything, antenna is about 20 feet of 14 guage stranded copper wire, audio input is an iPod set at max volume and the transmitter volume control is set as high as possible without causing distortion. With the antenna full stretched out (halo around ceiling) it will cover the whole room, but it works a bit better when it's coiled up and hangs behind the receiving radio. It would probably work better if I ran the antenna wire up into the attic. It would also help if I didn't have interior brick walls that are more than a foot thick.

Dave--Your problem has to be something is fundamentally wrong. I suspect your outgoing antenna is at fault, probably too short or located in an ineffective place. With all three of my conversions I can broadcast to any of the many receivers throughout my home transmitter and in an outbuilding in the back yard without moving the transmitter. I've also tracked the outdoors distance with the radio in my car and have found that my signal goes out about 60 feet in either direction from the front of my house. Are you certain that your audio signal is as strong as it should be? If you followed the directions and inputted your audio source signal via the first amplifier tube, make certain that it ended up on the plate of the second audio output tube and that you then took it to the G2/G4 pin of the converter tube. I get the feeling at this time that you're not sufficiently amplifying the input audio signal before it goes to the converter, and that is where I would start checking after experimenting with antenna length and positioning. Keep us informed about your progress. This project is too good a one and too relatively easy to carry out to not have success with it.

I built one from a late 50's GE clock radio. It turned out pretty well. The sound quality is decent, but the range is quite a bit less than I expected. I have to put the transmitter on top of the receiving radio to get a decent signal. Maybe I have a weak tube causing the poor range (I didn't bother to test them since the radio worked before the conversion). All in all, I'm fairly pleased with it. It was an inexpensive and easy project with functional results.

I've ordered a Talking House transmitter, which should arrive tomorrow. I'm hoping that the range on it is better, so I don't have to keep moving the transmitter around every time that I want to listen to a different radio. We'll see how that goes. BTW, i.AM.radio is having a sale on Talking House transmitters, normally $495 they're now $100.
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Never attempted conversion. But explain what you did, now that I would be interested in. Not that I would or would not do the same thing though.

I've waited anxiously well over a year now but still no one has replied to my request: "I'd like to hear from others who have had similar good results converting an AA5 receiver to a home AM transmitter. " Has no one in this forum besides me done this easy project? I consider using an AM home transmitter broadcasting to any or all of one's antique receivers a very special highlight of the hobby. Surely others here also think this way. Let us hear from you!

For you buffs of listening to your own homemade station, here's a link for a one tube Xmitter.

CLICK HERE

It looks like a fun project and has the details needed and a schematic for reference too.

I've had some very effective results constructing AM home broadcasters from AA5 receivers. I'm fortunate that in my area (central Michigan) I receive several stations that broadcast "my" kind of music, which provides me with all-day entertainment. I'd like to hear from others who have had similar good results converting an AA5 receiver to a home AM transmitter.