general questions: model, software, and output power

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zurn
New registered user
New registered user
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2005 3:28 pm
Location: Albuquerque, NM

general questions: model, software, and output power

Post by zurn »

Hi there,

I just received my PCI MAX card--thanks!!

In general it worked great with little effort. I'm just trying to get simple reception within my small (1200 sqft) house and yard, and it seems to have done that even with the simple antenna, so that's great.

My questions are around the version of the card and software: the card itself was stamped with 'PCI MAX 2004 RDS' and the software also says '2004.' It's working well enough as is, but i understood there to be some improvements to the 2005, so am i missing out on anything?

Same goes for the software: it just doesn't look as pretty as the screen shot on the page:
http://www.pcs-electronics.com/en/produ ... c_fm_trans
:wink:
Is there an update for that?

All of this really leads up to the only minor problems and questions i have. I don't see anywhere on the software to adjust the output power. Since i only need it for a pretty small space, i want to make sure the FCC doesn't notice! There's a little slider next to the frequency adjuster, but it seems to have little effect on anything, and doesn't really display anything either. Is that it? And is there some guideline on adjusting it?

Then, i had some trouble adjusting the volume. To make it as loud as other radio stations, i would turn both my WAV and speaker vol all the way up (this is how i would normally do it when using wires), but then i would hear some distortion on downbeats of music and other louder portions. Do i simply have to find a happy medium volume, or is there something else i can adjust to eliminate that?

Then--this isn't really a problem, but just wondered about it: i was adjusting the equally short/small antenna on my main receiver, and at first i had a lot of ambient fuzz/noise. Then suddenly, it sort of just popped off, and was completely clear. It continued to work fine with no interruption or reverting back to the former fuzz, but i'm just wondering why this would happen. In then end, i imagine that to ensure good reception i need a better antenna, but just wondered about that.

Thanks for any help or advice!
-steve
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