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Why FM Radio can not route sound to BT A2DP?

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,...)...
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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...
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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.

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??
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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??
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.

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
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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
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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.
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Click to collapse
its a multi chip wifi/BT/fm
the galaxy s2 has the same chip

Nexus S FM radio from i9000 Miui?

I was browsing the miuiandroid.com homepage today and skimmed over the changelog. I saw that they have added FM radio support to our Galaxy S cousin, the i9000 (http://miuiandroid.com/2011/10/miui-1-10-14-changelog/). Do you think it would be possible to get this going on our Nexuses? I always seem to be buying phones that lack FM radio

i thought FM needs hardware support?
or just via Internet like an online player plays radio?

It does need hardware support.. But considering the chip inside the nexus s is actually capable of fm radio, we just need someone to work out how to get it going.

I don't think it is possible, there is an app called Spirit FM Radio and this is what the developer said concerning the Nexus S
"Sorry, I think Nexus S can never work. No antenna, power or audio connections to Broadcom chip and it doesn't have the Silicon Labs FM chip that the Galaxy S has."
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18235624&postcount=1437
And here he said: "Yes. End of road. Google cheaped out. Unless you're very handy modifying the hardware...
It's a dev phone and no dev has enabled FM likely because it's not possible.
My Galaxy S is almost identical (except it has an SL FM chip). I've tried to get FM out of the BCM4329 that the Nexus S shares.
I even got a direct to Bluetooth headset mode going that doesn't need a wired audio path. Nothing, not even FM static.
The RSSI registers do the same jumping as those other phones that likely have the FM power pins disconnected."
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18104025&postcount=1411
So I'm afraid we're out of luck.

antenna or chip or some stuff like that , are not so called "hardware" ?

read somewhere on the forums saying that the chip is capable. just nothing is connected. good luck soldering

i think it is not working on i9023.FM need a hardware support.

praveenmarkandu said:
read somewhere on the forums saying that the chip is capable. just nothing is connected. good luck soldering
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If all it needs is some soldering then where do I find out what to solder to what? For FM radio I'd do whatever it took. Had a vibrant and added a ffc just cause I could and never used it. I'd actually use FM radio so I'd be that much more motivated.

joshthewaster said:
If all it needs is some soldering then where do I find out what to solder to what? For FM radio I'd do whatever it took. Had a vibrant and added a ffc just cause I could and never used it. I'd actually use FM radio so I'd be that much more motivated.
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Very few people are capable of, or have the equipment to solder/de-solder/re-work modern chips and PCBs.
The Silicon Labs FM chip used in some Galaxy devices isn't there. Perhaps there's a place to solder one in. If not only choice would be the FM portion of the Broadcom BCM4329 BT/WiFi/FM combo chip.
I think you'd have to:
- Re-connect the Broadcom BCM4329 FM power pins somewhere useful.
- Do same for antenna Rx pins. May have to add some components for headset cable as antenna.
- Do same for audio pins.
IMO, not practical. Trade for another phone is easier.
Apparently the new Galaxy Nexus is supposed to support FM...

Go to radio shack. Buy a cheap FM radio.

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
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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
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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...
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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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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