FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

Below is a compiled list of the frequently asked questions with answers. Please check them out before contacting us with your questions. Thank you!
1. Technical: I want to start a radio station, where do I start?
2. Technical: Questions about PC based transmitters (PCIMAX cards)
3. How much range can I expect?
4. Questions about shipping, import tax, returns and warranty
5. Payment types offered
6. Legal questions
7. Interference problems
8. I have more questions, how do I get answers?

1. TECHNICAL: I want to start a radio station, where do I start?
Q: I want to start a radio station, where do I start?
A: Generally you can should start your search here.
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Q: Can you show me a few examples of complete configurations?
A: These FM transmitter packages are very popular.  They are pre-configured complete solutions with antenna, cable and optionally also other accessories.
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Q: Are there any suitable books out there?
A: Definitely, we recommend the ARRL handbook especially. This is “The Holy Bible” for antennas, basics of electronics and radio – communications in general. A list of recommended books is available here.
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Q: I want to build everything myself, where do I look?
A: We recommend you look at our FM exciter boards, Stereo encoders(some exciters don’t need them), Amplifiers, Filters and Enclosures. Check Our Guides drop-box at the top right, they are a good source of various schematics, design ideas and solutions.
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Q: I want to start a radio station, please send me all info!
A: We do get such requests occasionally. Of course this is impossible. The equivalent would be something like this: “I want to build my own house, please send me all info”. Of course to cover a subject this complex would require several books at least. The only reasonable way to go about this is to check our website first, get familiar with the subject a bit (the suggested links above are great help) and than ask a more specific question.
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2. Technical: Questions about PC based transmitters (PCI MAX cards)
Q: What is a PCIMAX card?
A: PCIMAX is a computer card, you install it into your PC just like a network or any other card. It contains a small FM stereo PLL controlled transmitter with optional RDS capability. It makes it possible to transmit sound from your PC to any radio receiver in your apartment or further away and can even form a small community radio station. A simple windows program lets you set the frequency, power and other parameters.
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Q: What is the latest version of PCIMAX?
A: We’re currently at version 3000+.
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Q: If we want a big radio station with considerable range, is a PCIMAX3000+ a good way to go about this?
A: Not really, PCI MAX cards were not designed for that kind of application. It is better to have a stand-alone solution, such as our Cyber Max series. You can still feed any of our Cyber Max series transmitters with audio from your computer.
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Q: How does the sound from computer get inside PCIMAX and to my radio?
A: PCIMAX cards are shipped with a short audio jumper cable. You will plug one end of this cable into your sound card and the other into PCIMAX card. This means that the PCIMAX card transmits any audio from your PC to the tuned nearby radio receivers. They can therefore be used to transmit real-audio streams or internet radio station streams to your household receivers.
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Q: Is PCI MAX stereo?
A:Yes, it is STEREO!
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Q: Can PCIMAX transmit any PC audio including Internet radio, either Real Player or Windows Media, or is this strictly for use with MP3 files? Looks like a nice product.
A: Absolutely. It will transmit anything your sound card plays. You can transmit “Everything” audio. You can even connect it to an external MD player, CD player, cassette deck, turntable, audio mixer……The sky is the limit.
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3. How much range can I expect?
Q: How much range can I expect realistically?
A: You really should read through this page, it explains everything here.
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4. Questions about shipping, import tax, returns and warranty
Q: What shipping types are offered, what is your warranty and how are returns handled?
A: Information about shipping types, returns and warranty is available here.
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Q: Do you ship to xyz country?
A: We ship worldwide. We’ve probably shipped to just about any country out there excluding Iran and North Korea.
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Q: Do you have a distributor in xyz country?
A: We cover most of the world directly from our EU office. However, we have a few distributors and whenever we receive a request for information from a region covered by our distributor we forward it directly to the appropriate distributor.
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Q: How do I become your distributor?
A: Send an email to sales (Use Contact-us link) and include as much information as possible.
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Q: I sent you an email but you never replied
A: Please enter your e-mail carefully. You would be surprised how many people mis-type their own e-mail address and how many have incorrectly set their e-mail reply-to addresses. We can’t help you unless you provide a valid e-mail address and set your reply-to address correctly. It is extremely frustrating to write an extensive answer and see it bounce since e-mail is not valid. Lately, people are using SPAM filters. Quite often such a filter will delete a valid e-mail (ours). Sometimes your ISP installs such a filter without your prior knowledge. MSN is notorious for that. If you are using hotmail or yahoo/gmail, make sure to check the junk mail filtered folder and make sure it did not mislabel our mail as junk.
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5. Payment types offered
Q: What payment options are available?
A: All major credit cards are accepted (VISA, Master Card, American Express) through PayPal processing engine (creating an account with PayPal is not necessary for this to work), as well as bank transfer (wire transfer). .
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Q: Is Western Union accepted?
A: Western Union transfers are NOT accepted as they are illegal here for business transactions.
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Q: How do I pay/order?
A: Add the products you want to the shopping cart and check out. You will be presented with several payment options. Select preferred type and press continue. Follow instructions. The process does not differ from the usual process with other websites.
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Q: In what currency will I be charged?
A: Our prices are fixed in Euros, all prices are converted to your currency (US$ or other currency) according to exchange rate on the day of credit card authorisation. Exchange rates vary from day to day. Your credit card bill will appear in your local currency. Our website will display prices in EUR, USD and GBP for you. The dropdown is available at the top right side of the header next to the shopping card icon. If you want to check current exchange rates for any of the world currencies, visit this page.
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Q: I am from US, do I have to pay VAT?
A: In short, NO. We are obliged by law to collect VAT on every product sold within the EU (European Union). Prices quoted on this website show prices with VAT and without VAT. The VAT rate is charged depending on the country of shipping. If you are outside the EU (for example from USA), you may ignore this VAT notice. So, EU customers do not have to pay VAT! Please contact us if you need help regarding VAT.
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Q: I am from EU, do I have to pay VAT?
A: In short, YES. PCS Electronics is a VAT (Value Added Tax) registered business, we are obliged by law to collect VAT on every product sold within the EU (European Union). Prices quoted on this website show prices with VAT and without VAT. The VAT rate is charged depending on the country of shipping. If you are outside the EU (for example from USA), you may ignore this V.A.T Notice. Please contact us if you need help regarding VAT. Good news for EU customers is there is no import tax inside EU.
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Q: I am from EU, do I have to pay import tax?
A: No, there is no import tax inside EU.
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6. Legal questions
Q: Do I need a licence to operate a transmitter?
A: It is best that you check local regulations in your country. These regulations vary widely from country to country. Many countries have a certain maximum power level which can be used without a licence. Others strictly require a licence. It is up to the customer to ensure that they are operating in compliance with local laws and we cannot accept any liability for the use or misuse of our products.
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Q: What is the maximum power that is allowed in my country?
A: It is best that you check local regulations in your country. These regulations vary widely from country to country. Many countries have a certain maximum power level which can be used without a licence. Others strictly require a licence. It is up to the customer to ensure that they are operating in compliance with local laws and we cannot accept any liability for the use or misuse of our products.
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7. Interference problems
Q: If I use filters can I place my antenna anywhere and use any power level and there will be no interference at all?
A: Wrong! Low pass filters only attenuate harmonics. If harmonics are not the cause of your problem (they almost never are – our exciters are very clean!) removing them won’t help. What causes most radio interference problems? Too strong local fundamental signal! A high power fundamental signal (your clean transmitted signal) in CLOSE PROXIMITY to ANY type of receiving or audio equipment (TV, radio, telephone, PA system etc.) will blow right past any tuner or filtering on this equipment and enter the amplifier stage along with the intended signal where it will cause interference. This type of interference is called “fundamental overload”. All the harmonic filters in the world won’t help in this very common situation. What will help? Increase the standoff distance (vertical, horizontal or both) between your antenna and what you are interfering with. This is one of the many reasons high power FM radio station antennas are located on high towers or even on hills out of the city . A 10 KW radio station in the middle of the city would cause a lot of RFI even though the harmonic levels meet FCC requirements.
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Q: What about spurious emissions? Do filters help with that?
Spurious emissions are unwanted transmitted signals which are not located at a multiple of fundamental signal frequency. 2nd harmonic of 100MHz signal is 200MHz, third at 300MHz etc. A spurious signal would be for example 121MHz. Low pass filters only attenuate harmonics and spurious emissions that are above fundamental signal and sufficiently far from fundamental signal. Low pass filters are not sharp so any spurious emissions close to the fundamental signal just pass through unobstructed. To filter spurious emissions very sharp cavity filters are needed. These will not pass any signals below or above and are much sharper. If interference is caused by spurious emissions this filter will help. The problem with these filters is that they are fixed-tuned in factory. Re-tuning requires special equipment and experience. If a cavity filter is de-tuned slightly due to mechanical damage, vibrations or even if antenna impedance changes a bit it can quickly cause a very reflected power (bad VSWR). So try to avoid using them unless absolutely necessary. They are also expensive, bulky and heavy.
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8. More questions? 
Hit Contact us and leave us a message, we’ll get back to you ASAP.
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