0.5 W Fail-Safe Long Range FM Transmitter - FS CZH-05B - Newly Revised: Dual Mode now with RCA Inputs

When COVID-19 hit, we stopped gathering for worship and switched to a drive-in worship experience. We patched the output of our soundboard to the input on this transmitter and it has worked flawlessly. Right out of the box it pushes a clear signal easily up to a half mile which is much bigger than our church campus. Participants can park in the parking lot and tune into the service on their car stereos...everyone is safe but still together. Since starting this, I have recommended it to several other churches who are having positive results. WARNING! Do not power up the transmitter until you have attached the antenna. Also make sure to leave area around it for ventilation. The unit doesn't get very hot, but you don't want to risk overheating the circuitry. Results will depend on FM noise in your area, walls or other enclosures through which the transmitter has to push a signal, and the quality of equipment hooked up to the unit. We have not had any hum, feedback or interference - just nice clean sound. This review is voluntary and I have not been asked to submit a review by anyone. I am an end user and have not received any gratuity for my opinion.

I wanted to blast my 3 acre square plot of land with an FM transmission from my computer's 10 dollar analog stereo soundcard. This works really well! But as everyone knows, there are two power outputs: H and L, for high and low, and the low power is still very high for us in the United States. The FCC isn't super clear on how far you can broadcast - they seem to recommend a distance in feed, not wattage. Also, I am not a radio engineer and this is not advice. I'm just sharing what works for me. I ordered a 10dB and 20dB attenuator, and hooked them together, and now with the antenna that came with this product, all screwed together in a long tail, I find that my radio cannot pick the signal up by the time I am two houses up the street. Considering that without it, I was doing about a mile, this is a nice improvement. I am not sure you can get them on amazon, but a FC12MF-ATT1-20-1-2 and a FC12MF-ATT1-10-1-2 used together, did the trick for me. Good luck!!!

Excellent sound quality. No hum or buzz from unit. To ensure no hum/buzz with device connected, I put a Jensen ISO-MAX stereo isolation box between mixer output and transmitter input. Tested playing back multi-track audio recordings on Behringer X32 Rack with a little limiting and a +1dB high end lift starting at @10.5k on the output bus. Monitored on a nice sounding boom box in another room. Sounded great. Also tested with phone playing FLAC audio files plugged directly into transmitter (no isolator box - just 1/8" to 1/8" cable - still no hum/buzz) and drove around neighborhood in my car. Even with transmitter sitting on my kitchen table inside my house, had good range (a couple of blocks - on high setting) and very good audio quality. Unit is not compliant with FCC Part 15 regulations so be careful out there. Be courteous to licensed broadcasters.

With the arrival of CV-19 and lockdown in many senior centers, reaching our congregations became a stone-age accomplishment. FM Broadcasting to a complete facility was the solution. Problem was that every preacher all thought of this idea the same time and the small frequency agile transmitters were back logged. Adam gave us good and sound advise and we followed his lead, praying we might have it by Easter Sunday. WE DID! It performed just as claimed and over 60 precious souls were able to partake of the Resurrection Sermon live over a standard FM radio through out the compound. What a blessing, Thank You LORD! For giving Adam the sollution!

Quick Summary first. And no, I did not get this unit free to write a good review . . . .PROS:- solid construction- rear panel RCA input connectors (better than problem-prone 1/8" phone plug)- clean signal (low distortion)- low noise even with low input signal- sufficient range even at low power (0.1 watt)- included antenna (some models don't come with it)CONS:- no over modulation indicator- slightly rolled-off high frequencies (75us pre-emphasis not working?)Don't read any further if you are easily bored . . . .I have had a cheaper C.Crane FM Transmitter installed and operating for about ten years. It has always worked, but even after the internal tweak it's range has been marginal. I had to experiment with the receive-side antennas to pick up a strong enough signal at the "distant" locations of my office and pool shed. It has a hair-trigger input control and highly sensitive to input levels (causing over-modulation distortion).I tried a different brand/model "high-power" FM Transmitter a few years ago, but sent it back due to low quality audio. So when I saw this new batch of same-looking FM Transmitters I took a closer look. I selected the Fail-safe brand model due to the overall good reviews, even though it is more expensive than most of the others. I suspect, without evidence, that Fail-Safe unit is either the designer/originator, or they have some special tweak that the others do not. I also steered away from the high power versions since they were reported to have noisy fans, and I would be using it inside the house. I also did not need the high power, or the potential problems with the FCC!The Fall-Safe CZH-05B:As you can see from the above PRO list, I am happy with the unit, and it is much better than the C.Crane unit (for twice the price). I only have two minor gripes with this unit:1) I noticed that the high frequencies are rolled-off slightly, as did another reviewer. This will be subtle to most people, and might be counteracted at the receive end(s) by the use of a treble control (if you have one).2) without an over-modulation light you have to tweak the input level by ear. The good news is that even very low input levels will produce a good noise-free FM signal, so you have a safe range to work with. You should use a fixed output source or you will be constantly fiddling with the input level control on the transmitter.You may notice that I haven't answered the question, "how far did it go?". This is because I only care that I makes it out to my three receive locations and sounds good. It has to go through several walls about 50 feet. The unit came already set to the 1/2 watt level, and in my situation worked equally well at the low 1/10 watt, so I have left it there. There are too many variables to predict how far this unit will transmit in any other situation, but the 1/2 watt level has the potential for going hundreds to thousands of feet.I leave the unit on all the time so it does not need attention every time I use my system. I connect it to Zone 2 output on my receiver. You can also use the Tape Out, or Tape Rec output on some receivers or pre-amplifiers, which is also a 'fixed' level.Jan 2019 - unit lost a channel! I was using the rear RCA inputs, so I tried using the front panel 3.5mm (mini-phone) jack. That did not fix the problem, . . . lost the other channel as well! I will see if the company offers any kind of service on these units, and edit this if they do. But for now, at least I enjoyed it for 2 years.