FM Transmitter works in cars... but, inside the caravan ??

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JohnI.Stephen

Aug 31, 2005
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Some will recall that I have a radio in my Bailey Senator and that I wanted to be able to play my MP3 CDs. So, upon recommendation, I bought a cheap and cheerful FM transmitter which outputs the signal from an audio device on one of 4 pre-selected FM frequencies.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-MP3-iPod-Mini-Shuffle-4-Channels-FM-Transmitter-FA4_W0QQitemZ5824652012QQcategoryZ58350QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I tried it out in the car; it works a treat! I tried it in the caravan (with its omni directional Status aerial); and what I got was 50% hiss. I tried all the pre-set frequencies and each was the same. I tried moving the transmitter within the caravan; to no avail.

Could it be that my Status aerial (which I confess I have never used but for radio) is being shielded from the (limited) signal because I am inside the caravan? However, is that any different from being inside the car and transmitting through the windscreen to the aerial? Does one need a better aerial for FM reception? (However it seems to work fine when listening to Classic FM, Radio 4 etc?!)

Thoughts please?

John
 
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WatsonJohnG

Mar 14, 2005
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The Status should be OK for FM but not as they say for AM

Have you tried with the sender unit outside the caravan to eliminate thoughts of shielding?

I find with my boosted car radio type of aerial in the caravan I get 12V whistling on AM .

Could be interference coming via the 12 V in the same way.

You could try using the car cigar lighter etc as a separate power source to eliminate that theory.

Good luck with it
 
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Icemaker

Apr 13, 2005
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John, i think you may have got a bit confused with the recomendation that was given. The modulater that i recomended plugs in line with the aerial wire it does not not transmit to the aerial via a signal as you state. to get the modulater working you unplug your antena wire from the radio plug this wire in to the modulater then plug the modulater in to the radio, you then plug your mp3 / video / games machine, in to the flying leads of the modulater. the unit still works on the fm frequency but puts the signal straight in to the aerial wire so you get no interfierance at all. the best one i have seen is available off the shelf at maplins. from experiance with radio transmiters most of the cheap fm modulaters are very prone to receiving spurious signals. you will probably find it would have been cheaper to buy an mp3 player in the end as they are less than hundred quid now. i saw a brand new standard din size car radio with mp3 and dvd playback on e-bay recently for 80 pounds, obviously not the best quality but its a start.
 
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WatsonJohnG

Mar 14, 2005
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John, i think you may have got a bit confused with the recomendation that was given. The modulater that i recomended plugs in line with the aerial wire it does not not transmit to the aerial via a signal as you state. to get the modulater working you unplug your antena wire from the radio plug this wire in to the modulater then plug the modulater in to the radio, you then plug your mp3 / video / games machine, in to the flying leads of the modulater. the unit still works on the fm frequency but puts the signal straight in to the aerial wire so you get no interfierance at all. the best one i have seen is available off the shelf at maplins. from experiance with radio transmiters most of the cheap fm modulaters are very prone to receiving spurious signals. you will probably find it would have been cheaper to buy an mp3 player in the end as they are less than hundred quid now. i saw a brand new standard din size car radio with mp3 and dvd playback on e-bay recently for 80 pounds, obviously not the best quality but its a start.
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Confusing ---As we know nothing is more confusing than lots of John's !!!!
 
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JohnI.Stephen

Aug 31, 2005
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Dear Ice Make, you did not give me any advice last time as far as I can see (see Topic "CD Player but need MP3"). In any case, the fact that this little unit works a dream in the car, makes me keen to understand why it's not working in the caravan, sited not 12" below the status aerial; wheer one would normally have the TV sitting.

Yes I could just buy a new unit but then I would have wasted a perfectly good RDS car radio / DC player and a portable MP3 player that I bought for the purpose.

Yes, I agree that I could try powering outside the caravan but then that rather defeats the object of thsi excercise :)

All help and suggestions considered!

John
 
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WatsonJohnG

Mar 14, 2005
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You asked for thoughts and my suggestion of powering from outside the caravan was to enable 12V interference to be eliminated from the equation.

If it proved successful you could then investigate filters etc
 
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JohnI.Stephen

Aug 31, 2005
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You asked for thoughts and my suggestion of powering from outside the caravan was to enable 12V interference to be eliminated from the equation.

If it proved successful you could then investigate filters etc
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OK Thanks John G. Will do.
 
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Colinn

Nov 7, 2005
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My caravan Sony radio/CD player emits a slight background whine, even when off (when "off", it displays time and control panel light so it's still being powered). It's annoying in the night silence and the only way I can get rid of it is to remove the radio fuse. Any answers, or is it simply a faulty unit??
 
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rob_jax

Jul 15, 2005
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Colin,

Car radios have a twin power feed, one to power the internal station memory, and a second (switched feed) to power the unit, turn the display on, and drive the amplifier.

In a car the second feed is switched on when you put the keys in the ignition and prepare to start the car.

It is likely that your Sony radio has both the permanent live and the switched live both going to the battery - so the unit is always fully powered - and the radio control panel is live.

Caravans don't usually have the same switched ignition system as in a car, so you may want to fit a heavy duty switch to the second feed (car switched live feed).

Robert
 
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WatsonJohnG

Mar 14, 2005
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Following on from what Rob has just said.

I always put a switch in the power lead (not the memory)

This is sited just above me when I am in bed so that I can switch the radio on without getting up !!!

You could easily incorporate this by forming a loop from the radio fuse with a switch in the loop at a convenient place for you.
 
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JohnI.Stephen

Aug 31, 2005
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Hang on chaps, don't hi-jack the topic plase; the question's about FM Transmitters!

Right, I have now checked the FM transmitter outside the van; result lots of hissing background noise (but I can hear the music; just not very well). The FM Transmitter using battery power and not 12v; result - the same.

I then tried the FM transmitter against my inhouse stereo; result; the same ! So this is NOT a caravan aerial issue per se.

So these little FM transmitters work a treat in the car but not outside ??? Does this make any sense ?!!!

John
 
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Icemaker

Apr 13, 2005
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Hi John, sorry it seems that somebody else must have been asking the same question as yourself and i thought after seeing this post that it was you. I understand that you are reluctant to buy a purpose built unit for mp3 but i found it much easier and when we sell the van we will refit the original stereo and put the mp3 / dvd in the new van. I assume that your van is at your home and you are trying the unit in the same locality which would sugest that due to the very low power of the transmitter it is unable to penetrate the walls of the van without picking up some of the thousands of spurious radio signals that are all around us. I used to own a dj agency and supplied sound systems to pubs and clubs and we had many many problems with rogue signals interfiering with radio microphones and other equipment, usually this sorted by changing the frequency slightly but in some cases mainly in city centers we had to hard wire equipment which is why i would only recomend the hard wired modulater for your application. have you noticed that this years top end vans from coachman and swift all come with a mp3 / dvd player as standard but no car manufacturers supply one as standard kit yet, unless the car is serious money. who says the caravan industry is behind the times.
 
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JohnI.Stephen

Aug 31, 2005
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Hello IceMaker (reminds me of my CB radio days when we all had 'handles' !!)

OK, yes the unit is at home and I don't really believe that it's due to spurious signals. Why? Because I can pop out of the caravan into the car and the units works a treat. My own suspicion is that the Status omni aerial is fine with strong signals but anything less and it cannot tune properly. My home stereo's the same, it'll pick up BBC R1-4 easily but not weaker stations.

So, if I could improve the FM reception on the Status, that should solve it? But I doubt there's any way to do that, is there. And if there were, it'd doubtless cost me much more than a new radio/MP3 player combination.

Oh, BTW my new KIA Sorento DOES have an inbuilt CD/MP3 player as standard! Not sure what people use DVDs for in the car / caravan unless it's purely for the additional storage capability?

Thanks. John
 
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Icemaker

Apr 13, 2005
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Hiya again John, icemaker is my old cb handle i started to use it when the confusion with names was riff on the forum, i was using the name johng but of course we know that theire is another johng also on here, icemaker seems to be unique. well done to kia then a bit of forward thinking, the one in my seat was an option. we use the dvd player in the car to keep the kids happy on the longer trips and the one in the van is used for films on rainy days or for playing interactive games like beat the intro at night, great fun after a few beers. I have found that i can get round about 160 records on one cd in mp3 format which is great, no more changing cd's every hour.
 
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JohnI.Stephen

Aug 31, 2005
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Hiya again John, icemaker is my old cb handle i started to use it when the confusion with names was riff on the forum, i was using the name johng but of course we know that theire is another johng also on here, icemaker seems to be unique. well done to kia then a bit of forward thinking, the one in my seat was an option. we use the dvd player in the car to keep the kids happy on the longer trips and the one in the van is used for films on rainy days or for playing interactive games like beat the intro at night, great fun after a few beers. I have found that i can get round about 160 records on one cd in mp3 format which is great, no more changing cd's every hour.
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Dear John G (aka Icemaker); 160 'records' as in tracks yes? Well i rip my CDs at 192 kbps and easily get 8 CD albums on a single CD in MP3 format. I agree, it's like having a CD changer for free!

Anyway, back to the aerial; any thoughts?

John (aka Elk1 in CB land; but that was SOOO long ago; around 1980 ..!!!)
 
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JohnI.Stephen

Aug 31, 2005
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Nicholas; thanks. In fact I have to say that the small unit that I purchased for a couple of quid (plus postage!) worked a treat over the weekend in the Caravan. I think that I was getting a large amount of interference from radio stations locally etc.

It's still not perfect and I get too much background hiss. I tried to locate your unit but the auction for the item has concluded.

Thanks again

John
 
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merv1

Mar 14, 2005
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The item is still available on Ebay - take a look at the item via the URL supplied by Nicholas. Then click on the sellers shop link, the search the shop page for MP3 - it will show lots of gadgets for MP3s, including the one recommended by Nicholas.
 
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Chris_5110241

May 1, 2006
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Hi John,

I know it is some time since you put this message on, but I am serching the database for something else. I have never seen the unit you have bought but have a number of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Linex-Wireless-FM-transmitter-PDA-MP3-iPod-Nano-iRiver_W0QQitemZ9716633196QQcategoryZ111694QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem for my office an home. In the office it can be picked up about 1-200 ft away! I am an electronics engineer in communication and this device is in my opinion great.

Hope that helps all these months later!

Regards

Chris
 
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JohnI.Stephen

Aug 31, 2005
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Hello Chris : Funnily enough I too bought one of these devices but I found that the output was so pathetically weak as to be unusable ! I am please with my cheap devices from HKG and they work well!

Thanks

John
 
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Chris_5110241

May 1, 2006
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Hello Chris : Funnily enough I too bought one of these devices but I found that the output was so pathetically weak as to be unusable ! I am please with my cheap devices from HKG and they work well!

Thanks

John
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Hi John,

No worries as long as you are OK. I have bought two of the battery powered ones and when I put one on the pc, I can then receive all over the house and in the jacuzzi in the garden. I also have two of the usb powered ones but both have far to much background humm/buzz to make them usable.

Best regards

Chris
 
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john_5040735

Mar 14, 2005
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Hi folks

Just taken delivery of one of the Linex FM modulators and - whilst not yet tried in the van - it works great in the home and in the car!

John
 
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