Best method for household FM xmitter

[NH4012]

FM low power transmitter

I've really been getting into web broadcasts for a huge variety of music. I have a little hp mini in my workshop that feeds the stereo system.

I live on two acres of property in a lightly populated rural area. I'd like to be able to xmit the station I'm currently listening to on an open freq so that I can listen via any portable FM radio that's handy for yard projects, working on my motorcycle out in the driveway, etc.

I did a little googling but am not really sure what might be the most appropriate, straightforward, and cheapest solution. Have seen many types of USB fm xmitters that I suspect are for very very short distance (same room). There are also the more involved fm xmitter standalone devices that are more powerful and expensive.

I might be wrong, but I suspect that a small fractional wattage xmitter for personal use like this is not bending any rules or requiring any paperwork.

Any suggestions?

My recommendation is to get a low power 12 volt power supply and use one of the cheap "fm modulators" which are actually closed loop transmitters designed to fit between a car radio antenna and the radio itself to inject an outside audio source into the car radio. If you cheat and connect its output to a car radio whip antenna instead, it will probably work for at least a couple of hundred feet. That's not actually legal but it's unlikely to go beyond your property line and disturb any neighbors so it hardly matters. These things cost about $25-50 and you could buy a half amp 12 volt wall wart to power it for another $15 or so.

 

[peace brainerd]

NH4012 thank you very much for offering that. Did you miss my post no. 19?
I found a perfect solution to this. Exactly what I was looking for and then some.

Thanks again everyone for the input.

 

[kerbdog]

Unit soldered to rabbit ears and vertically hung in upstairs closet.

Common rabbit ears are an ultra simple, inherently balanced, di-pole antenna. Cut the twin flat lead, common to all of these antennas, as short as possible, soldered to the board of the xmitter. I hung it vertically in an upstairs closet out of the way of harm, extended the telescoping elements according to a dipole calculator online for 106.3hz and ran 12ft of USB through the floor down to the workshop and plugged into my HP mini 110. I Xmit on a freq as far from any local broadcasts as possible and set the xmit to pretty much stop at my 2 acre fence.

Old post so sorry for digging up - if your still on this board, how did you connect the FM transmitter to the antenna? One side of the di-pole (top) to the antenna wire from the transmitter and then a common ground of the usb transmitter to the other side (bottom) of the antenna? Or is there another ground on the transmitter I should use?