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digital radio in my car
chrispbug
Posts: 202 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
With the age of digital radio / tv upon us, is there a way of converting a car cd player / stereo radio to digital ?
What happens when it all goes digital ? Do all existing car radios just stop picking up channels ?
Anyone's help and views ?
What happens when it all goes digital ? Do all existing car radios just stop picking up channels ?
Anyone's help and views ?
0
Comments
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Firstly radio isn't going to go digital-only. You will still be able to pick up FM and MW long after the TV digital switch-over.
There are now DAB radios available which transmit the broadcast to your conventional radio. (You've probably seen those gadgets for playing Ipods etc on an unused frequency - it's the same pricnciple). I haven't used one, so can't comment on their effectiveness.
Personally, if I particularly want to listen to a Digital-only channel such Radio 5 or BBC7 when I'm in the car, I just take my Pure DAB radio from the house and use one of those transmitters to play it through the car radio, and it's pretty good, but will cut out in some areas where the signal is weak."The trouble with quotations on the Internet is that you never know whether they are genuine" - Charles Dickens0 -
Couple of options are the Revo IN-CAR DAB Digital Radio Car Stereo and the Pure Highway In-Car Dab Tuner. Plucking up courage to get one myself for Planet Rock but coverage in my area a bit patchy.“I look like Spiderman at a funeral”~ Karl Pilkington0
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Just bought the Pure Highway (Amazon was £10 cheaper than most places BTW).
It works beautifully under most conditions but in narrow streets with high buildings the signal is lost
You can also use it as a portable radio with a couple of AA batteries & headphones
Do follow their advice on trying the aerial in several places BEFORE removing the sticky-back on the aerial (blu-tack or sellotape works well) as it's surprising the difference in reception0 -
Funny that you can buy a Freeview TV adaptor the size of a matchbox that hides behind your TV and uses the existing aerial for £30. Plugs straight onto the Scart socket (is not much bigger than a Scart plug).
But: but no matchbox sized DAB car radio adaptor that fits behind the normal car radio, fits inline with the existing socketry, intercepts the FM aerial and power supply there (so can get and send an excellent signal) exists - let alone at £30.
Manufacturers can't be bothered to go forwards.0 -
Demand, demand, demand.
The other problems are where do you put the controls - you'll need at least one button to go up or down between stations, how will you know which channel you are on, how to use the current aerial to provide signal - and of course the biggy, fitting the s*dd*ng thing as there isn't an equivalent to a Scart socket for cars to provide commonality.
In short - similar to the problems on fitting an mp3 player or multiple CD drive, satnav...
You can BTW get a DAB radio from Roberts that fits iPods that is really really tiny0 -
All solvable: A remote control, can be stuck to the dashboard maybe, controls it (as they do with the behind-the-TV adaptor). This is common already with in-car gadgets. And the display works via RDS: Text can be sent to the car's radio display - this is already used in phone & I believe DAB adaptors. Finally the ISO socketry standard is used which applies to the power supply and aerial in this instance.0
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