PCS Electronics
www.pcs-electronics.com
PCI MAX 2005/RDS
PC based FM stereo transmitter card
PCI MAX 2005/RDS is a high performance PLL controlled FM transmitter for your everyday PC compatible
computer. It is a all-in-one solution, perfect for transmitting your music throughout your house, your yard
and further, if you couple it with our 15W booster. It can even serve as a local, college or a community radio
station, with the features and quality you expect from the professional setup, with amazing audio quality and
stereo separation. It is perfectly suited for homebrew DJ’s. Easily tunable anywhere on the dial with a simple
click of the mouse.
BEFORE YOU START...
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A word of caution!
Our PCI MAX card is legal to use in many
countries, but may not be legal in yours. Please
consult local authorities before you start using this
product.
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Antenna
You have to realize that antenna was, is
and will always be a crucial part of the system,
especially if you need extra range. A good antenna
placed as high as possible can massively increase
your range. We recommend that you look at many
of the designs for homebrew antenna projects at our
website (guides section) or any of the factory
produced models. It is usually a good idea to place
your antenna away from your transmitter and audio
system and connect it via coaxial cable!
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Coaxial cable
The common RG-58 from Radio
Shack is not the best you can do. Use it only for
short runs – up to about 10m. BELDEN makes
terrific coax in various qualities and with very low
loss (measured in dB’s…decibels). Don't buy more
than you need to make the long run to your antenna
and do not make too many "jumpers" between your
exciter, SWR meter and your antenna as all you'll
do is create a higher SWR and more line losses.
Don't use cheap TV coaxial cable.
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Audio equipment.
This is obviously going to be
your PC, but you can easily power PCI MAX from
any other audio source. Win Amp or any other MP3
player will be very useful. Plug-ins are available
and take care of limiting-compression. You are
advised to pull down the equalizers above about 15
KHz as the broadcast standard requires them to be
attenuated. They can produce hiss as they can
interfere with the pilot carrier signal at 19 KHz.
Get a good sound board! Check
http://www.pcs-
electronics.com
for tips.
SETTING UP THE PCI MAX CARD
Setup basically consists of two major steps:
STEP 1 – SOFTWARE INSTALLATION
Insert the PCI MAX installation CD in the
computer's CD-ROM drive. NOTE: Some
computers will start the CD automatically and
others will not. If the CD does not begin after a
couple of seconds, you need to manually run the
"Setup.exe" file in the root directory of the CD. The
setup program makes a backup of every file
installed so that you can simply uninstall the
program, if you experience any problem with your
computer.
Fig. 1: You’ve just started the Setup program…
The install itself is pretty straight forward.
Fig. 2: Just follow the installation process…
A PROVIDED PIECE OF WIRE WILL WORK, BUT
YOUR RANGE WILL BE LIMITED!
