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That exciter/transmitter is the last one you’ll ever need! It runs in at a neat $6000 though aha :p
Sigmacom, that looks amazing!
Hey, I’m in europe (Twente, Netherlands) all summer. Maybe I should come visit you, show you the Omnia.9 and talk more about future cooperation. 🙂
I’d also like to buy one of those exciters from you. Heck, it sounds like Greece’s economy can use it right now 😉.
///Leif
Peatgy, I don’t know what your budget is, but if you’re looking for excellent and inexpensive, I’ll second Jesse’s recommendation for the Broadcast Warehouse (BW) PLL+ 1W is excellent! Rock-solid modulator, no overshoots, no tilt. It’s about $200, and it’s also available at http://www.progressive-concepts.com/info/item.php?id=45 . I’ve heard it’s difficult to buy it directly from BW in europe, but this american company ships anywhere.
It is, however, only 1 watt, so you will definitely need an amplifier to reach the power level you need.
I have an older version of this 100w amplifier from Aareff: http://www.aareff.com/en/100w-fm-transm … lifier.htm . I have successfully used it with my BW exciter.
Taking my limited RF experience into account, I can recommend this amplifier.
However, DON’T buy an exciter from aareff — it’s useless (overshoot city). Low frequency response is anything but flat.
Here’s some images to show you what I mean.
Test material is a falling slow sweep, 200hz to 2 (!!) hz, length 30 seconds.
Marian Trace Pro (completely DC straight output) -> Exciter -> Belar Wizard modulation monitor (essentially DC straight MPX output) -> Hardware Oscilloscope and Marian Trace Pro Input
The BW PLL+ was completely flat at 2 Hz (according to the hardware oscilloscope), however the trace pro input is not DC coupled, so there is a slight rolloff in the extreme infrasonic range of this image:
This is what a perfect exciter looks like, recorded through that sound card.
And for comparison, here’s what a bad exciter (i.e. Aareff’s) will do:
I contacted them, and they were not able to resolve the performance to acceptable levels.
Here’s another way of looking at it.
30 Hz squarewave through BW PLL+ 1W:
And here’s the aareff exciter:
Honestly I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry what I saw it.
Despite this, I can recommend Aareff’s amplifier, just not Aareff’s exciter. Take it with a grain of salt though — I have extensive MPX experience but limited RF experience, and I do not yet own a spectrum analyzer so I have not looked at the actual spectrum RF spectrum.
///Leif
[quote author=”Leif”]Sigmacom, that looks amazing!
Hey, I’m in europe (Twente, Netherlands) all summer. Maybe I should come visit you, show you the Omnia.9 and talk more about future cooperation. 🙂
I’d also like to buy one of those exciters from you. Heck, it sounds like Greece’s economy can use it right now 😉.
///Leif[/quote]
Hahaha! 😆
Make your visit happen, and you will go with a DDS-30 Exciter under your armpit – for free.Wow, I will definitely take you up on that! I’ve never been to Greece — this could be a lot of fun!
What airport is closest to you?
///Leif
Aareff’s exciter is junk.I’e never seen any exciter perform so badly..The little BW 1 watt is superb and really a steal for it’s performance…
[quote author=”Leif”]Wow, I will definitely take you up on that! I’ve never been to Greece — this could be a lot of fun!
What airport is closest to you?
///Leif[/quote]
The Thessaloniki International Airport (SKG) is the closest.
When and if you decide it, just give me an early warning. I have some thoughts… 😉Ray, it’s not unheard of. Check some of the curves on Greg Ogonowski’s page:
http://www.indexcom.com/papers/loud3.html
Those are professional broadcasting products (albeit very old) and some of them look a lot like Aareff’s exciter frequency response.
This is what happens when you measure and verify only the RF and don’t pay attention to the actual audio path.
///Leif
Stelios, count on getting a visit! Not too awful expensive, under $400 from Amsterdam.
Hey, PM me your contact info (skype, e-mail, phone or whatever you like), it’s time we catch up!
Best regards,
///LeifLeif ,
Can i meet you also when you come to the " thessaloniki international airport " ?please give me , date and time!!!
i cam come from Crete island to Thessaloniki ( Greece)
stelios, ( sigmacom ), please accept me!
hehe, my apartment in Athens is available 🙂
[quote author=”Q106″]Aareff’s exciter is junk.I’e never seen any exciter perform so badly..The little BW 1 watt is superb and really a steal for it’s performance…[/quote]
How can say the Aareff is junk, what do you know? The Veronica Aareff design has been around 15 years, it is the most copied PLL in the world, it complies with ETS 300-384, will operate from -20 to 50 deg C and stay in this spec and will easlily live for 15 years plus without failiure in the worst enviroments on the Earth. In addition it is low noise, low distortion and has excellent top end frequency response for RDS etc. I agree with Leif, we will look at that bottom end problem and see what we can do. But a sweeping statement it’s junk, is out of line. Many people skilled people have put many hours in, burning the midnight oil to produce the Aareff designs to a spec and a price. Okay we are not perfect, but we have the passion just the same as you.. Please…
I learned my lesson about not trash talking products, only saying what is technically facts, a while ago. The hard way. It was the time that I said "Our Barco wall makes these Daktronics look like shit wiped on a portable DVD player." at the Fargodome… without knowing one of Daktronics main engineers was literally 5 feet away from me, in the same circle.
When I realized what happened, my face got more red than any O-face I’ve ever made. I felt like a total asshole. And I kinda was. Ever since then, I am very careful about that, even in private… unless I really really trust everyone who is around. It’s not worth acting like this… technical facts are always better than opinions, if you are trying to convince someone. 🙂 And of course – what I said was highly exaggerated. And Daktronics is actually a way better value than Barco.
Good to see more radio companies around here, Aareff person. 🙂 Hope you hang out and enjoy our silly processing talks too sometimes. Cheers.
Thank you for your support JesseG. If it’s any consolation, I think the BW exciter is good too. I have respect for BW and NRG, over the last 4 years the UK manufacturers have all had serious hassel from Ofcom trying to terminate our operations, but we are still here, not for the money, because we love what we do.. people buying our creations and using them. You have no idea how frustrating it is when Ofcom say we cannot sell our products over stupid technicalities, that we know are good, safe to use and spectrum clean, and then the Chinese just flood the market with stuff that really is dirty and will cause serious interference to the spectrum and Ofcom can do nothing about this.
I will pop into your talks now and again and continue to read your threads. Thanks.
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