[Dyer13] sent in his Zune antenna mod. It’s a simple one, but we haven’t seen too many Zune mods yet. It’s really just a matter of adding more surface area to the transmitter. I’d suggest adding a wire that’s actually tuned to an appropriate wavelength. If you want something with a bit more power, check out this Belkin Tunecase power upgrade.
I definitely thought he was modding the Zune WiFi antenna. This isn’t technically even a Zune mod. Its a “Zune FM Transmitter” mod. Now, if he modded the antenna that picks UP the FM stations better (on the internal antenna), that would be a Zune mod.
Maybe this is just showing that the Zune accessories are more fun to mod than the Zune itself.
Posted at 8:36 am on Feb 9th, 2007 by Doug
I find the tunecast rf amp more interesting myself. Of course, if you want to get into RF amps Free Radio Berkeley is *the* place to go for info on hacking FM band amps: http://www.freeradio.org/ They even sell kits and give seminars on how to build various transmitters – up to 40 watts.
The question is, how long does the antenna need to be, to actually reach another Zune owner =D
Posted at 2:03 pm on Feb 9th, 2007 by Nathan
The wavelength of FM signals is 9-11 feet (see http://www.1728.com/freqwave.htm )
For a quarter wave antenna, keep the wire from 27-33 inches. Anything longer than a quarter wave starts to work against you, so don’t exceed 27 inches.
Not coincidentally, that’s about the length of the antenna you’d find on an old car.
The point of the mod was to extend the range of the fm transmitter. The original transmitter straight up sucked. Of course it was nowhere near the power and quality of Belkin FM transmitters, but I received this for Christmas, so I might as well work with what I have.
@doug
The antenna for the internal FM receiver in the zune is whatever pair of headphones you have plugged in. They use the ground of the headphone jack for the antenna. I can’t help that people changed the article name to be deceiving. My original name clearly said it was a mod for the fm transmitter.
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Posted at 7:22 am on Feb 9th, 2007 by andrew