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Author Topic: Question for anyone who knows about FM transmission/reception
Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004


 - posted 06-01-2019 11:44 PM      Profile for Justin Hamaker   Author's Homepage   Email Justin Hamaker   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Our drive-in uses FM for the sound. When we closed our season last year the signal was crystal clear over our entire lot. When we opened this year we've had a lot of static, especially in one area of the lot. The entire lot has direct line of sight to the antenna, and the furthest distance is about 400'. Nothing has change in our system that might be causing the static, but we have tried several transmitters and changed the cable on the antenna.

One thing that is making me wonder is we installed a new water pipeline between our cinema and drive-in last year. It wasn't operational until after the drive-in closed last season, so I don't know if this is related. What I do know is the pipeline runs along the outer side of the field which has had the most complaints. The pipeline is 2" Schedule 40 PVC. There is a fiber optic cable and a CAT-6 cable buried in the ditch with the pipeline.

I've checked our frequency to see if there might be interference and that doesn't seem to be the issue.

It does seem like there could be an issue related to the lights along our fence as the static is less pronounced when those lights are off, but the static is still there even when the lights are off.

Any thoughts or feedback would be appreciated.

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Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004


 - posted 06-03-2019 05:40 AM      Profile for Justin Hamaker   Author's Homepage   Email Justin Hamaker   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I figured out the source of the static. We had attempted to hook up the VIN channel to use with another transmitter, but found the VIN was bleeding over to the regular channel.

When we gave up on the idea of the VIN channel, I didn't disconnect the wires I connected to the phoenix plug, and this was creating the static. I had left the connections to the RCA plugs in place thinking we might try to get this working at another time.

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Dave Macaulay
Film God

Posts: 2321
From: Toronto, Canada
Registered: Apr 2001


 - posted 06-03-2019 11:51 AM      Profile for Dave Macaulay   Email Dave Macaulay   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I was about to suggest you look for the feedline being chewed through by rodents - that's happened at two DIs I visit. But not this time!

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William Kucharski
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 244
From: Louisville, Colorado, United States of America
Registered: Oct 2012


 - posted 06-03-2019 07:50 PM      Profile for William Kucharski   Email William Kucharski   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Justin Hamaker
We had attempted to hook up the VIN channel to use with another transmitter, but found the VIN was bleeding over to the regular channel.
VIN? My apologies but my brain isn't decoding that for some reason.

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Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004


 - posted 06-03-2019 08:09 PM      Profile for Justin Hamaker   Author's Homepage   Email Justin Hamaker   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Visually impaired narration, or descriptive audio.

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William Kucharski
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 244
From: Louisville, Colorado, United States of America
Registered: Oct 2012


 - posted 06-04-2019 12:04 AM      Profile for William Kucharski   Email William Kucharski   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Thanks - I knew it was something obvious.

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