The best testimony for our products was definitely the article in the PLAYBOY (Yes, playboy!!!) magazine, published in the US issue in June, 2002. Read below for some of the emails we got from our customers.

PLAYBOY magazine, June 2002

This is the article that was published in the June issue of the Playboy magazine:

1.) Satellite FM 89 Megahertz, New Zealand
Your also welcome to use Satellite Communications Ltd. as a reference. r 89 FM Bay of Plenty New Zealand. i.e Quote

"The Max Pro I transmitter makes us sound as good if not better than other Commercial stations. The transmitter is very stable and runs day in day out without a hitch". "We highly recommend them".

Satellite FM 89 Megahertz
A Division of Satellite Communications Ltd.

>Any news on type acceptance with our MAX PRO I unit?
>
>Best regards,
>Marko - PCS Electronics

Hi Marko,

Yes the unit was accepted. We also had a visit from a "Radio Spectrum" field officer wanting to test the unit with a spectrum analyzer while it was running at our site.. End result was it was well within spec and he said it was one of the cleanest signals he had seen, if that means anything to you.

The disappointing part is that with the Government elections etc here the issuing of the new frequencies has been put on the back burnner. They are now saying they will look at it early next year :(

You can keep an eye on what's happening with Radio Spectrum at their site http://www.med.govt.nz/rsm/

We are very happy with the unit and it still remains the best price and best quality available here.. We just hope Radio Spectrum get their act together and make 107 to 108 available across NZ for small local stations (under 10 watt) as they have been saying now for the last 12 months.

2.) Grogster, New Zealand

Here in NZ, one of my clients has just finished submitting a Tx based on the MAX PRO-1 module for technical testing. The unit passed, with excellent results, spurs and harmonics better then -55dB down.

This module i brought as a ready made module from PCS, saving me the assembly time.

The output power was measured on our HF CRO scope that has a digital RF power meter on it, reading 7.5W of power at 13.8v DC!!!

Most excellent - and this is 7.5W is clean watts too!!!

3.) Bob
 ...Well it's working well and 5 miles is nothing for the MAX. I'm getting into xxxxxx township a good 6 miles from here and xxxxxxx (the area where the pirate I think is FCC), that's a good 8 miles and a girl I know can hear me on her car radio. I'm on the 4th floor and use a radio shack telescopic mast. On top of that I have a 10 ft. mast. The lower 3 feet is clamped to the RS mast. I'm going to measure the building later. It's the second highest building in this Island of a town so my antenna is looking down on everyone. Tell me more about MAX 2::))

4.) Bill Xxxxx
Hello Marko, (30 Sep 1999)
Yes, I received the MAX-1.  During the extremely simple Tune-Up step, I was able to set the audio signal so low that it actually stopped; I thought this might be too much, so I adjusted it so the audio barely started again.  This method of Tune-Up is just fantastically EASY!  My enclosure is an old PC-AT power supply (box, fan, and big red switch only), and I'm building a copper J-pole; if the antenna tests well, I will forward the dimensions to you to possibly share with others. Thank you for a fine product.  I wish you success with MAX-2 and more.

5.) When my MAX-1 arrived, I cruised my scrapheap for an acceptable box.  When I spied a dead power supply from an old IBM-XT, I laughed, cried, and damn near died! With a 12VDC fan already mounted, vent louvers, giant red on-off switch, and an FCC-approved sticker, it almost smirked at me.  Scavenging standoffs and dinky mounting screws from within was more fun than running to rat-shack, and sure, drilling/mounting is tougher than aluminum, but the result is relatively compact and nearly bulletproof. With the cables disconnected, it looks like it belongs back on the heap (except I wiped the dust off).  I sometimes muse about a more 'professional' look, but the thought of an agent overlooking it in a search just compels a silent belly-laugh. Other goofy ideas: a 300-baud external modem; an ethernet transceiver, router, or hub; anything from Heathkit;  the underside of a 50-in-1 electronics kit (with the earphone still attached).

6.) Eric
Just thought you might like to read an informal "review" of the Max-1 kit from PCS Electronics. After quite a bit of research I decided to order the PCS Electronics Max-1 exciter. I was looking for something that had more power than the other kits and needed the stability that a PLL circuit would provide. Also, the LCD display that helps tuning and trouble shooting sounded like a good idea. The kit arrived promptly considering the distance involved and was packaged very carefully. Marko includes very detailed instructions and some valuable advice for novice kit builders. I would not recommend making this your first project if you are new to kit building. It contains quite a few parts and some of the soldering requires very detailed work. Plan on some time to build this kit. I spread it out over three 1.5 - 2 hour sessions. The reason is that if you just plow right through it there is a good chance that you will make a mistake. Many of the ceramic caps are almost impossible to read values on. NOTE: This is common with most ceramic caps and not a fault of PCS Electronics. In fact, Marko has taken the time to label some of the more difficult ceramics. After I completed it and checked my work a few times I began the tuning and testing process. This design is unique as Marko has included in the circuit some diagnostic tools to help with initial alignment and tuning. Most of us cannot afford to purchase spectrum analyzers and the like which are needed to build a stable and efficient transmitter but all that is needed with this kit are a 50 ohm dummy load that can handle 5 - 10 watts, a volt - ohm meter and a VHF SWR meter. If you don't have these basic items either get them or find a different hobby. The initial power up went very well (no smoke). It was very easy to get the reported 5 watts and PLL lock from the transmitter. After a little more tuning of the coils and trimmer caps and the modification that Marko includes in the documentation I had over 7 watts of output and stable PLL lock! Marko says that you can increase the supply to 16 volts but I wasn't that brave. I followed the advice to enclose the transmitter in a metal case. This is important for any rf circuit and will definitely improve over-all performance for Max-1. I also opted to use a heavier heat sink and installed an old PC fan to the bottom of the enclosure. The final drive on this circuit gets very hot and I figured that the extra cooling would not hurt. I had built a J-pole antenna to use with this kit and it needed to be trimmed for the proper frequency. Using Max-1 to drive it and after some careful adjustments to the antenna I finally got a SWR of 1.2 : 1. At this point I was ready to apply an audio source and go for a drive. It is possible to overload the front end of the transmitter with too much audio signal so be careful to watch the PLL led while increasing the audio source for maximum volume. The area in which I live is very flat (lots of farms) and with 40 feet of elevation I had a good clean signal for 3 - 4 miles. This kit was fun to build and Marko is very quick to reply to email. I am unable to confirm his reports of spectral purity but I have no doubt that his claims are accurate. The circuit does include a low pass filter integrated into the design. I would recommend this kit to anyone who is looking for a high quality, stable and easy to tune transmitter.

Good work Marko!

7.) Jan Xxxx
No problem. It is for me an honor if you want to get pictures of my tx-er on your web site. Its my 1 week work - this box isn't buy - did am it alone. Metal plate is form my old rusty car Skoda1000MB SuperSprinterTurboGXT. Powered by hammer, pliers and based colour. (I forgot: many sticky paper for cover "nice flower" rust. After fall down techntechnical examination we are with my friends made big rally race on local tankodrom to total destruction of my car. Now I have latter model Skoda 120 from year 1978 :-))) Compressor/limiter is first tested version, now I made better (look) version. How I did you do the front plate? Its easy. I printed on sticky paper black background with white frame and text and placed it under nuts of potenciometers (I dont know if english language use word "potenciometers" for variable resistors - Im sure, that you know what I think). And the end I made cover for display. Its - complete.

So, you still think this guy's English is rusty? I think he's a real champ, just see and admire what he's done. BRAVO!

1.) NikosE, Australia (PC MAX is not called ISA MAX)
Hi folks,

This is a brief report on some tests with the PC MAX card, during my recent holidays "down under".

Following my purchase of the PCI MAX unit, I decided to give away my 2 year-old PC MAX, as a present to a friend.

As this friend of mine lives in a smaller city (Hobart, Australia), I thought it would be a good opportunity to experiment with the PC MAX in a less “airwave congested” environment. The few public and commercial FM stations in that area are well spaced apart in the FM band and there is little interference from other radio signals.

My friend’s house is situated half way up Mt. Wellington and has a panoramic view of the western suburbs of Hobart and the coast further to the south. Ideally, for the purposes of broadcasting, the choice of a directional antenna would have been the best. However due to time limitations, we decided to build a quick and dirty “GP aerial”, based on PCS’s “PC MAX guide”. Because the thickest wire we could find had a diameter of only 1.25mm, the radials would bend down from their own weight; so much for the GP aerial. We hung up this wiry “octopus” with a nylon string at the porch of the house.

The PC MAX card was installed in a PC running WIN XP. There were some I/O address conflict problems, but those were resolved by changing the card’s I/O address jumper to another position (340H). The PC MAX software run on WIN XP without a hitch. Finally, the PC MAX was connected to the antenna with 8m of RG-58. Transmitting frequency was set to a free spot at about 97MHz, with the card at maximum output power.

Once we had finished with the setup of the micro transmitter, we got a Winamp (no plugs) playlist started and we took off in the car to see what was the range of the PC MAX. On our way towards the coast, the signal would fade in and out, depending if we were in the TX antenna’s line-of-sight or not. When in line-of-sight, the reception of the PC MAX from the car’s radio was overall from good to very good. The only difference of the PC MAX audio signal with that of commercial stations, was a shallower depth of modulation and a soft hum that could be slightly heard in between music tracks.

When we reached the coast (line-of-sight), the PC MAX’s audio loudness - as could be heard on the car’s radio, was consistently good and comparable to that of commercial stations. We also used a handheld Philips radio to check the signal strength (single red LED meter). Out of the car, the handheld radio - without it’s antenna being extended - would receive the commercial stations and show full signal strength (brightly lit LED). Our micro station would be received when only 1 of 5 elements of the radio’s telescopic antenna was extended. With the full antenna extended, the LED signal meter was brightly lit! The casual listener would not have been able to distinguish our transmission from that of commercial stations that have output power hundreds of thousands times greater.

From a map, we measured the distance between the spot we had stopped to do the portable radio measurements and the micro transmitter. It worked out to be about 10Km. The actual range was greater, as the signal was propagating out in the open sea. Next stop would have been the Antarctic!

We were impressed by the performance of the PC MAX, especially considering it’s micro power and the crappy antenna we were using. Just goes to show that a well-constructed micro transmitter, the height of the antenna from the ground and the lack of interference can give excellent results for line-of-sight reception.

Happy micro-broadcasting,

NikosE
February 2002

2.) BigJimW

If you're in the market for a PC FM trasmitter, get the PCIMAX card!

Marko and crew just updated the drivers, and it works sweet! I get over a half a mile signal with the card, not using the amp!

I did a little field test with this, using my car. I heard it over a HALF A MILE away! And I have YET to start the 5 watt amp I bought in the package!

Best investment I have done with the ol' PC since I can remember! Rock solid transmitting and range. It does sound like a pro FM station!

I will certainly recommend to others. A MUST HAVE in your PC!

UPDATE: We fired up the amp the other night. And lets just say, I am speechless. Easily a solid 10 mile radius of signal coverage. Field testing the signal for myself today, I heard for myself, after taking a cruise in my car, what this thing can do (PCI Max card/5 watt Amp/Comet Antenna package). I heard the rock solid transmittion 3 towns over!

The description of it being good for museums is an OVER KILL! At the high power setting, and without the amp, they'll still be able to hear you 3 museums OVER!

Marko, you got a winner with these PC Transmitter cards. I hope you sell a million of them.

3.) PLAYBOY magazine, June 2002

This is the article that was published in the June issue of the Playboy magazine:

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There are many testimonials about our products in the forum.