Why FM Radio can not route sound to BT A2DP? - Touch Cruise General

I know that 98MHz FM Radio needs a somewhat long antenna but I can not see why that antenna should hang from my ears and tangle around my neck!
It makes me mad I can not route FM radio output sound to my bluetooth A2DP headset as I can do with audio players.
If HTC is so dumb someone should find a solution!

oruam57 said:
I know that 98MHz FM Radio needs a somewhat long antenna but I can not see why that antenna should hang from my ears and tangle around my neck!
It makes me mad I can not route FM radio output sound to my bluetooth A2DP headset as I can do with audio players.
If HTC is so dumb someone should find a solution!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sony Ericsson's radio requires wired headset as antenna too. I gueess this is the norm, but, agree with you that it should be improved.

I agree. There should be a way to connect a pure antenna to the phone and route the sound to the phones speaker or to wireless speakers.
That pure antenna could be a simple fairly long piece of wire or it might be a solid short but high performing radio-antenna.

It really doesn't matter... if the radio waves of the antenna won't kill you, then the Bluetooth will do the job... either way you're f*cked whith cancer...
Also using the headset as an antenna is common practice (Nokia, Motorola, SE, Siemens,...)... you're not gonna see anything new until the backgound technology of commercial Radios will change...

gnick666 said:
Also using the headset as an antenna is common practice (Nokia, Motorola, SE, Siemens,...)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, dumbness is a common practice. So what?
gnick666 said:
you're not gonna see anything new until the backgound technology of commercial Radios will change...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No new technology is required.
No (sensible) people expect a micro antenna for 98 MHz, a 50 cm piece of wire is completely acceptable.
What is required a little less dumbly written piece of software that can route the audio output (obtained using the 50 cm piece of wire pending from, let's say, my back) to the A2DP headset.

Related

Radio FM without the headphone

Is it possible? sometimes i am walking through the street without the headphone, wanting to hear FM, and i cant...
does anybody know a way?
Wavelengths from radiostations are like a foot or more in length.. so you need an antenna thats atleast a foot or so to pick up those radio waves.
The phone uses the earphones as a antenna, so I guess you have to have it to pickup those waves.
mmm... well just have your headphones, conect them, and place them on your shoulder hanging to your back (it can be inside your clothes so no body see it) and put the phone on speaker (or what ever that its called on the radio program)
anyways the phone doesnt sounds too high, are you going to be able to hear it??
egk-69 said:
anyways the phone doesnt sounds too high, are you going to be able to hear it??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea the FM volume is too low to listen outdoors. Anyone has figured out a fix? I don't have that problem with Sling player.
I don't know why, but lately I put the usb>3.5mm converter in my phone and started up the radio, and it worked!
The signal wasn't as strong as with the headset plugged in, but it was decent to say the least. Only stations that already have bad reception don't work (naturally).
So yes, it is possible.
egk-69 said:
anyways the phone doesnt sounds too high, are you going to be able to hear it??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i always listen to stuff (audio and video) using a bt headset after converting all sound to it. i use a software called "bt audio" for that purpose. so, if anybody can find a way to receive fm reception without the headset, that'll be great.
AthenaLod said:
iif anybody can find a way to receive fm reception without the headset, that'll be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why don't you read the post above yours?
Scalage said:
I don't know why, but lately I put the usb>3.5mm converter in my phone and started up the radio, and it worked!
The signal wasn't as strong as with the headset plugged in, but it was decent to say the least. Only stations that already have bad reception don't work (naturally).
So yes, it is possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange, it doesn't work with my Fuze. I have to still plug in a 3.5mm headphone to get it to work.
Anything change in the registry when you put that in?
It doesn't matter if anything changes in the registry or not. Do this: find an FM radio like one of those cheesy little things with the collapsable antenna. Take off the antenna and then see how many stations you can get. If you don't want to put forth the effort, the answer is "None". There's no difference. No antenna means no stations, period. It also seems that you can't just jam any old USB connector in there, also.
Well, my usb converter is very small and cheap, so I'm sure there's no antenna in there. But still my radio works fine with the converter inserted
It makes no sense, but it works.
sdbe said:
Strange, it doesn't work with my Fuze. I have to still plug in a 3.5mm headphone to get it to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just stick my stylus in my 3.5mm jack and it thinks it has headphones, but the some stations are still weak
What about the TV Out cable?
I have a HTC original TV out cable as long as the headset cable. Does anyone know how to trick the device to see it as an antena for the FM radio? Thank you.
Confirmed - My fuze running Romeos latest ROM works with a simple 3 inch long mini headphone jack (2.5mm) adapter without any headphones. Works great on loudspeaker.
Scalage said:
Well, my usb converter is very small and cheap, so I'm sure there's no antenna in there. But still my radio works fine with the converter inserted
It makes no sense, but it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, I plug in my chinese 3.5mm adapter and the radio works so obviously it doesn't need anything for an antenna. Someone must patch that software to get the FM to work without plugging in anything.
Daved+ said:
Same here, I plug in my chinese 3.5mm adapter and the radio works so obviously it doesn't need anything for an antenna. Someone must patch that software to get the FM to work without plugging in anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually that 3.5mm adapter has copper wire in it. Even though it's a short length, the phone still uses it as an antenna. Plug in a pair of headphones and you will see an increase of signal.
you can change the headset state in the registry and i ran the program with it like that and saw that i got signal but no sound was coming out.
The only way i can think of not using ANY headset would be a hardware hack to add some length of antenna to the USB port.
It's really down to physics.. here's a link for TV's: http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/siting.html
You may be able to get some signal from a few cm of antenna, chances are you're not getting a very good one.
The Jack of Clubs said:
you can change the headset state in the registry and i ran the program with it like that and saw that i got signal but no sound was coming out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you tell me please where in the registry is the key for the headset state ?!
sure thing. its at hklm\system\state\hardware\headset. change to 1 to make it think you have headphones plugged in.

FM transmitter

Anyone got a good one for N1?
I want to listen to music while driving. I have been using FM transmitter for my Tilt2 and iPod touch. Wondering if there's a good one for N1 too.
MY car stereo doesn't have BT so that's not an option for me :/
Unfortunately there is no FM radio yet for Nexus One as it's not supported
Anything that plugs in to your 3.5 mm jack will work just fine, differing quality depending upon price. There are no limitations when it comes to external devices, meaning you can plug anything into your 3.5 mm jack so long as the dongle is not expected to be managed by the device.
i'm still holding out hope that the chip inside our nexus that is capable of transmmiting and receiving gets enabled by update eventually
wesbalmer said:
Anything that plugs in to your 3.5 mm jack will work just fine, differing quality depending upon price. There are no limitations when it comes to external devices, meaning you can plug anything into your 3.5 mm jack so long as the dongle is not expected to be managed by the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had bad experiences with fm transmitters that take audio from the headphone jack...so I would prefer something else
malicious85 said:
i'm still holding out hope that the chip inside our nexus that is capable of transmmiting and receiving gets enabled by update eventually
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what I'm hoping for
I just use a universal FM transmitter that you plug in the 3.5mm jack, works like a charm. Tried a couple of cheap ones first, but they had seriously lousy range, so I decided to kick it up a notch and bought a Whole House FM transmitter. Works over 50m/150feet away and sound quality is very good, it does cost a bit more than the cheap and lousy ones though. Use it in my car all the time since it doesn't have BT or AUX input.
edit:
Just to add a couple of things which I like about it: It runs on batteries/car charger/normal outlet and is one of the first products I've ever owned that works as good as advertised. I was quite shocked
Motorokr T505
Works awesome.
I bought a cheap FM transmitter to use while I was in Italy, as my rental didn't have the Aux Input functionality that I've grown so used to... Of course, it sounded like ****, so I fixed it. The antenna wire ran the length of the audio input cable... I cut that ***** open and spliced about 12 feet of solid-core wire pulled from a bit of CAT5 onto it, wrapped that around the interior of the car. Works damn well - so well, that I continued to use it after returning home just because it was easier to use than the Aux Input on my head unit :-D
http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Syst...2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1276618259&sr=1-2
i bought this and it works flawlessly
GldRush98 said:
Motorokr T505
Works awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks promising...I need to save some bucks for it though
codesplice said:
I bought a cheap FM transmitter to use while I was in Italy, as my rental didn't have the Aux Input functionality that I've grown so used to... Of course, it sounded like ****, so I fixed it. The antenna wire ran the length of the audio input cable... I cut that ***** open and spliced about 12 feet of solid-core wire pulled from a bit of CAT5 onto it, wrapped that around the interior of the car. Works damn well - so well, that I continued to use it after returning home just because it was easier to use than the Aux Input on my head unit :-D
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow Sadly Im not that of a mechanical guy
Zephyron said:
http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Syst...2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1276618259&sr=1-2
i bought this and it works flawlessly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the heads up
I've been using some Belkin one for a few years.. Full FM band in half-channel increments, and pretty easy to modify.. I added a 3.5mm jack to the thing so I can plug in an antenna to it easily. There's also some modification to increase the output, but I did not do that.
And yeah, they still suck.. SNR is low, volume is low, easy to clip the audio going into the transmitter even though it needs the volume almost all the way up because it's not very sensitive, etc...
And you STILL have to change channels on trips, because they're too weak to overpower other stations. This is especially fun on mine since I accidentally broke the LCD adding the antenna wire a few years ago, so I gotta tune the thing blindly.
Aux input is really the only way to have any quality audio... Why this isn't a standard on ALL decks, OEM included, is beyond me. I could buy a $80 CD attachment for my radio which is intended to use with the optional CD player which installs in the trunk but the input is just Aux-in so you can use it with mp3 players etc, but $80 + taking out the radio and installing this thing in a car I don't plan on keeping much longer doesn't seem like a good idea.
I'll be stomping puppies if my next car doesn't have Aux-in though.
I've been using some Belkin one for a few years.. Full FM band in half-channel increments, and pretty easy to modify.. I added a 3.5mm jack to the thing so I can plug in an antenna to it easily. There's also some modification to increase the output, but I did not do that.
And yeah, they still suck.. SNR is low, volume is low, easy to clip the audio going into the transmitter even though it needs the volume almost all the way up because it's not very sensitive, etc...
And you STILL have to change channels on trips, because they're too weak to overpower other stations. This is especially fun on mine since I accidentally broke the LCD adding the antenna wire a few years ago, so I gotta tune the thing blindly.
Aux input is really the only way to have any quality audio... Why this isn't a standard on ALL decks, OEM included, is beyond me. I could buy a $80 CD attachment for my radio which is intended to use with the optional CD player which installs in the trunk but the input is just Aux-in so you can use it with mp3 players etc, but $80 + taking out the radio and installing this thing in a car I don't plan on keeping much longer doesn't seem like a good idea.
I'll be stomping puppies if my next car doesn't have Aux-in though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should've tried the Whole House FM transmitter I mentioned. You can keep it on the same channel all the time as it easily overpowers other stations. The sound quality is also good.

[TODO] Enable FM Transmitter

The combined WLAN / Bluetooth / FM chip in the Defy ( WL1271 ) is able
to not only receive FM Radio, it can also transmit Audio !
Both solutions support Bluetooth specification v2.1 + EDR, and provide FM transmit and receive functions to turn the handset into a personal area broadcast device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wt...993&DCMP=WTBU&HQS=ProductBulletin+OT+wilink_6
So another locked feature that would make the Defy even better.
This thread is to collect informations that could help to enable it.
I always wondered why nokia is the only company (I know of anyway) that puts FM transmitters in their phones.
It is such a good way to listen to your music in unfamiliar places like friends house, rental cars, work cars.
This would be awesome to see working!!
-={antibyte}=- said:
The combined WLAN / Bluetooth / FM chip in the Defy ( WL1271 ) is able
to not only receive FM Radio, it can also transmit Audio !
http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wt...993&DCMP=WTBU&HQS=ProductBulletin+OT+wilink_6
So another locked feature that would make the Defy even better.
This thread is to collect informations that could help to enable it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know this will be the dumbest question to ask, but can we also use it with mic and speaker for it to make it work like a two way communication device. Eg; police radios
In my opinion:
everybody must wait for the motorola that they would open the bootloader for the developers who will write the necessery drivers... like the 720p record and touch to focus
AtomCity said:
In my opinion:
everybody must wait for the motorola that they would open the bootloader for the developers who will write the necessery drivers... like the 720p record and touch to focus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And continous-autofocus video recording? xD
Nokia N86 have special internal antenna for FM Transmitter.
Wow, this would be awesome if you got it to work. The one thing is miss from my old SE w980
Sent from my Defy
Interesting...
Aerial
1806 said:
Nokia N86 have special internal antenna for FM Transmitter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you have hit the nail on the head there. unless the defy has suitable aerial which i doubt because you have to use headphone cable for the aerial.Might be wrong thought. hope i am because this was a great feature of nokia's
its posible FM transsmisor on Defy ???
insestito said:
its posible FM transsmisor on Defy ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's hard to tell.
There is no datasheet and the drivers are closed source.
If the chip does not require additional circuitry for the transmitter,
then there is a chance to get it working.
As antenna you could just cut the cable from an old headset and plug it in
while transmitting, if the same antenna is used for receiver and transmitter.
chaihg said:
I know this will be the dumbest question to ask, but can we also use it with mic and speaker for it to make it work like a two way communication device. Eg; police radios
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think in theory this could be possible.
But as the range of the transmitter is max 10-20 meter, this would be
very limited
Maybe from one room to the other.
-={antibyte}=- said:
I think in theory this could be possible.
But as the range of the transmitter is max 10-20 meter, this would be
very limited
Maybe from one room to the other.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yayy, feels good to know i can think electronics thanks.
so.... if defy have an internal antena, i can listen the radio via bluetooth?
It could be a very nice car kit for the people they don't have bluetooth inside.
n7650_fun said:
It could be a very nice car kit for the people they don't have bluetooth inside.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't care about others listening to your conversation while you are in a traffic jam . It's OK for music but i would never use it for conversations.
The defy would be one hell of a phone if you could get it to work, and the one/ones behind it one hell of a developer. At least to me. Can't understand how you guys discover everything and a few days later you show up with new stuff to play around with.
Is there anything you cant do with the Defy?
Crazy phone, freeking unbelivable talented developers!
Sent from my Defy
-={antibyte}=- said:
It's hard to tell.
There is no datasheet and the drivers are closed source.
If the chip does not require additional circuitry for the transmitter,
then there is a chance to get it working.
As antenna you could just cut the cable from an old headset and plug it in
while transmitting, if the same antenna is used for receiver and transmitter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The transmitting antenna has to be a tunned length known as the SWR (standing wave ratio).The length of the antenna is extremely critical.
If a driver enabled the transmitter , but the was no antenna present irreversible damage could be coursed to the hardware.
The antenna will be internal.if the is one.
7iain7 said:
The transmitting antenna has to be a tunned length known as the SWR (standing wave ratio).The length of the antenna is extremely critical.
If a driver enabled the transmitter , but the was no antenna present irreversible damage could be coursed to the hardware.
The antenna will be internal.if the is one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is basicaly true, but those transmitters are only allowed to have some nanowatt (in most countries) . I think its rather unlikely an untuned antenna would break the output stage at this energy level. But i am not shure
But anyway, after reading some infos about the chip it looks like it has a seperate Antenna output for the transmitter that needs to be connected.
It seems unlike the Bluetooth part, audio cannot be send to the transmitter over any data path. It has to be connected to dedicated analog or digital (I2S) audio inputs. So the only way this could work at all is that Motorola connected all needed lines and just did not add software support.
I dont know how likely this scenario is ...
The transmitter is normaly controlled over the Blutooth interface via HCI.
Commands can be found here:
http://wiki.lsr.com/GetFile.aspx?File=/SWRU193G - Bluetooth Vendor Specific HCI Commands.pdf
This would be the first.app I pay for.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Transmitter of any kind (bluetooth or FM)

I know the phone has a fm tuner in it. is there any way to transmit from the phone to say the radio in my car without having to use an adapter. I was asked at work today by a coworker if there is anyway to stream. I use tune in radio or pandora to listen to most of the music i like but i have not ever thought about trying to get the phone to output it to my car. This would be really cool if possible. Does anyone know if there is a way either harware or software to make it work?
Thanks,
Joe
asadjewonxmas said:
I know the phone has a fm tuner in it. is there any way to transmit from the phone to say the radio in my car without having to use an adapter. I was asked at work today by a coworker if there is anyway to stream. I use tune in radio or pandora to listen to most of the music i like but i have not ever thought about trying to get the phone to output it to my car. This would be really cool if possible. Does anyone know if there is a way either harware or software to make it work?
Thanks,
Joe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As you note, it's an FM tuner, not a transmitter. I use the Bluetooth ADP profile to output audio to my car. If you don't have bluetooth builtin to your car stereo, but do have a line-in jack, you can use something like this to pick up the audio signal from your phone and transmit it to your car. I have one, and it sounds great!
thats what i thought but it never hurts to ask.
Thanks,
why not just use an AUX cable? seems to be the same concept and with out less static... those transmitters transfer alot of static too.
Im sure if your car has bluetooth A2DP streaming is available. i have it, but i just use the AUX less batter drain
Optimus-Prime said:
why not just use an AUX cable? seems to be the same concept and with out less static... those transmitters transfer alot of static too.
Im sure if your car has bluetooth A2DP streaming is available. i have it, but i just use the AUX less batter drain
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Bluetooth receiver I previously posted has always been static free.
but with an aux cable you get less battery drain and you use the hifi wolfson headphone amp/ultra low power audio codec (assuming you use the headphone jack and not the car dock which uses usb audio converted by a probably lesser codec/amp than the one the phone is equipped with)
also since when do we have an fm tuner? i dont see an fm radio app?
Dani897 said:
but with an aux cable you get less battery drain and you use the hifi wolfson headphone amp/ultra low power audio codec (assuming you use the headphone jack and not the car dock which uses usb audio converted by a probably lesser codec/amp than the one the phone is equipped with)
also since when do we have an fm tuner? i dont see an fm radio app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fm tuner is in the chipset
http://www.broadcom.com/products/Wireless-LAN/802.11-Wireless-LAN-Solutions/BCM4330
drowningchild said:
fm tuner is in the chipset
http://www.broadcom.com/products/Wireless-LAN/802.11-Wireless-LAN-Solutions/BCM4330
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm, that is the wifi chip. ok there might be potential as the chip works as a transmitter for wifi frequencies. but it may only work as a reciever on fm frequencies. it may be more plauible to use this as fm radio than the phones that have fm support in the gps chip though.
edit:
looked at the link and it describes is as a transciever, this might be posible, not sure if it is plausible. id imagine it would need a great kernel dev. without full documentation it is hard to tell if there needs to be supporting hardware like an external signal amplifier, i also doubt we have an fm antenna but it might not be too hard to add. but it does seem that we have atleast part of the equation here and the concept of an integrated fm transmitter for your car radio would be really cool.
Dani897 said:
hmmm, that is the wifi chip. ok there might be potential as the chip works as a transmitter for wifi frequencies. but it may only work as a reciever on fm frequencies. it may be more plauible to use this as fm radio than the phones that have fm support in the gps chip though.
looked at the link and it describes is as a transciever, this might be posible, not sure if it is plausible. id imagine it would need a great kernel dev.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its a multi chip wifi/BT/fm
the galaxy s2 has the same chip

FM Transmitter

This is a multi part question. First of all, does our phone have an FM Transmitter? I'm looking to play songs off my phone to an older car without Bluetooth by broadcasting an FM signal. I don't want to buy a piece of hardware for it. This should be doable if our phone has the transmitter.
Second, if it does have these capabilities, what apps can handle doing this? I haven't found anything yet.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
PsiPhiDan said:
This is a multi part question. First of all, does our phone have an FM Transmitter? I'm looking to play songs off my phone to an older car without Bluetooth by broadcasting an FM signal. I don't want to buy a piece of hardware for it. This should be doable if our phone has the transmitter.
Second, if it does have these capabilities, what apps can handle doing this? I haven't found anything yet.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No i dont believe it has a transmitter just receive if you plug in headphones :/
As for apps, I dont know of any that do what you're looking for
PsiPhiDan said:
This is a multi part question. First of all, does our phone have an FM Transmitter? I'm looking to play songs off my phone to an older car without Bluetooth by broadcasting an FM signal. I don't want to buy a piece of hardware for it. This should be doable if our phone has the transmitter.
Second, if it does have these capabilities, what apps can handle doing this? I haven't found anything yet.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it does not have an FM "transmitter." It does have an FM receiver built-in to the chipset, however Verizon doesn't supply the apk to listen (as the other poster said, once you find the apk, which is available on xda, you need to plug in headphones which act as an antenna. BT earphones won't do the trick.)
If your older car has a cassette player, that's an option (although I suppose the adapter is a piece of hardware).
PsiPhiDan said:
This is a multi part question. First of all, does our phone have an FM Transmitter? I'm looking to play songs off my phone to an older car without Bluetooth by broadcasting an FM signal. I don't want to buy a piece of hardware for it. This should be doable if our phone has the transmitter.
Second, if it does have these capabilities, what apps can handle doing this? I haven't found anything yet.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Found this in another thread. Works perfect if you want to listen to local radio stations using your phone. I just installed it on my VZW M8.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=51629962&postcount=25
Wow, so no FM transmitter on our phone? Just a receiver? I'm surprised. Oh well, that about closes this thread up.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
PsiPhiDan said:
Wow, so no FM transmitter on our phone? Just a receiver? I'm surprised. Oh well, that about closes this thread up.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recommend Motorola Roadster 2 (if there's not a 3 already available.)
It acts in a manner very similar to a factory hands-free systems you get with newer cars -
it turns itself on and off with your car, so you only need to charge it like once every 3-4 weeks,
It does the basic voice dialing and answering pretty well,
It can output to an FM frequency so you can do stuff over the car speakers, and it has a dedicated play music button.
nabbed said:
I recommend Motorola Roadster 2 (if there's not a 3 already available.)
It acts in a manner very similar to a factory hands-free systems you get with newer cars -
it turns itself on and off with your car, so you only need to charge it like once every 3-4 weeks,
It does the basic voice dialing and answering pretty well,
It can output to an FM frequency so you can do stuff over the car speakers, and it has a dedicated play music button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a Roadster 2, and the sound quality over FM is pretty bad. Also, automatically turning on/off is based on motion sensing, and isn't as reliable as it should be; I've gotten into the habit of turning it off/on manually when I need it since I can't count on it to automatically be on.
If you want the best sound quality through an older audio system, look into a line-input adapter. They're usually $60-$80 and require that you remove the radio from the dashboard temporarily to install. I've installed one in my Chevy Silverado 2500HD and wired it to a 3.5mm jack I mounted in my dashboard; I can use a regular 3.5mm M-M stereo cable to listen to music from my M8 (and previously my Droid RAZR MAXX).
This is the unit I purchased. It's for GM radios, but unfortunately is discontinued. Crutchfield has a "wizard" for searching for units compatible with your vehicle, though.
You can also get a wired FM modulator from WalMart for like $30.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Scosche-FMMOD02-Universal-FM-Modulator/19407742
It needs to get 12V+ and GND from your car (easily done by splicing it into the power leads to your stereo, really you can pull the pin out of the header and just wrap the leads and stuff it back in - no need for tape or sharp objects. It then physically plugs into the antenna input (and you plug your antenna into it), and when its switched on it cuts off the car's antenna and gets its signal directly from the device plugged into it. Since your car's actual antenna is disabled, you will get no interference, no matter what station you set it to, and the sound quality will be the closest to a direct line as you could get. I used to have one in an old Ford Explorer with the stock head unit, sounded great with my iPod back in the day.
Dodge DeBoulet said:
I have a Roadster 2, and the sound quality over FM is pretty bad. Also, automatically turning on/off is based on motion sensing, and isn't as reliable as it should be; I've gotten into the habit of turning it off/on manually when I need it since I can't count on it to automatically be on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree.
I too have a Roadster 2.
1) The sound quality over FM is very good. There seems to be a certain set of frequencies that the unit itself picks with its dedicated function, and those are usually free of interference from the existing stations.
Hey, Dodge DeBoulet, you need to increase the Bluetooth volume on your phone to maximum, not your car stereo volume, to get good sound.
2) The motion sensing (really sound sensing, if you want to be accurate) is very good on my unit. It turns on when I open the car door without fail. It seems to turn off when the BT signal is out of range. In other words, it works perfectly.
Dodge DeBoulet, you probably have a defective unit. You need to exchange it.
nabbed said:
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree.
I too have a Roadster 2.
1) The sound quality over FM is very good. There seems to be a certain set of frequencies that the unit itself picks with its dedicated function, and those are usually free of interference from the existing stations.
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Well, that hasn't been my experience. May be related to the fact I'm using it in a full-size truck rather than a sedan.
Hey, Dodge DeBoulet, you need to increase the Bluetooth volume on your phone to maximum, not your car stereo volume, to get good sound.
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Umm, yeah. I tried every combination of volume control on the phone, on the Roadster 2 itself, and on the radio. Volume wasn't the issue; it was interference no matter what frequency was selected, static, and overall poor fidelity
2) The motion sensing (really sound sensing, if you want to be accurate) is very good on my unit. It turns on when I open the car door without fail. It seems to turn off when the BT signal is out of range. In other words, it works perfectly.
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I never really looked into the technology used to turn it off/on without hitting the switch, but I do know that it was too undependable for me. Part of the problem may have been that in my usual parking locations, I would often find that my phone was still connected to the Roadster 2 even when I was inside my home (or camp). I'd go to answer the phone and discover that, even though I was in my office, the other end of the conversation was happening inside my truck.
It works OK for hands-free calls, as long as I don't have the windows open or the heat/AC cranked up high. I've given up on getting it to work with the radio, though.
Dodge DeBoulet, you probably have a defective unit. You need to exchange it.
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Well, I've had it for almost 2 years. I don't think it's under warranty any more. That said, I'll probably replace it shortly with an Audi A6 or BMW 535i. I understand both of those devices are great for hands-free smartphone use

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