FM Transmitter... San Diego North County?

[kb08807]

If anyone lives in the North County area of San Diego and has tried using an FM transmitter for their iPod in their car, can you tell me how well your FM transmitter works? And what brand of FM transmitter you are using, and what station/frequency you have used?

I would very much like to get an FM transmitter, but I haven't had any luck in finding an "empty" radio station. I live in Oceanside, and drive mostly around Encinitas to Oceanside area. I can hear at least garble talk on just about every station on the dial.

The best option for a static station seems to be 96.9, but I can even hear some talk on that a bit. So I'm afraid that perhaps an FM transmitter won't work in this area?

If you have used an FM transmitter with your iPod in North San Diego County, I would be very grateful if you could tell me about your experience. Thank you very much! :-)

[gregmeach]

If you can hang on a bit longer I've just ordered the 87.7 freq version of Nerwer Tech's transmitter. I'll post back with my results which should be over the weekend or on Monday.

I'm moving to Vista this Friday so it will take me a day or two to check it out.

:-)

[gregmeach]

Update: Well FedEx didn't deliver my FM transmitter but in my unpacking I found my missing iTrip so I decided to give it another try:

I left it on its default setting 87.9 and surprisingly enough it actually worked fair to okay. You have to keep the volume around 20% to 35% any more and you can hear the white noise (static). This makes the iPod about 20% quieter than other radio stations.

I expect to get the Newer Tech unit today and I'll let you know.

BTW from what I've heard, my car is better for FM transmitters because the radio antenna is in the back window. Which probably means I get a weaker FM signal and that allows the transmitter to work better.

[kb08807]

Thanks for your replies, and good luck with your FM transmitter. Please keep me posted as to which one you decide to use. Thanks a lot! :-)

[TheDoctor]

The Griffin site lets you download frequencies for the iTrip that run from 76 to 108.

The US uses 87.9 - 107.9
The UK uses 88.0 - 108.0
Others run from 76.0 - 90.0.

Check your radio to see what frequencies you can pick up outside of your "national" bands.

I'm in the UK and although our frequency runs from 88.0, all my radios can go as low as 87.5. This gives me 87.5 - 87.9 as "free" frequencies. I use 87.7 and never have any inteference.


Damn, forgot the link. Hurrah for the edit facility...
http://www.griffintechnology.com/software/software_itrip.html

[gregmeach]

Originally posted by kb08807
Thanks for your replies, and good luck with your FM transmitter. Please keep me posted as to which one you decide to use. Thanks a lot! :-)

Thanks, thought I'd follow up with some information. I was showing a buddy of mine at work how the iTrip (barely) worked in my car and we went over to his car to try it and it sucked. Didn't work at all, just static. As TheDoctor pointed out I could have screwed around trying different settings but I didn't feel it was worth it.

Anyhow... he let me try out his iRock. It worked great, very good sound, in fact better than the iTrip in my car.

I guess what I'm trying to say is the iTrip depends on your car and if you have any available "quiet" frequencies. For us (So Cal) I don't think there's many.

BTW the iRock is switchable to only 4 settings, something like 88.1, 88.3, 88.5 and 88.7. Here's the iRock (http://www.myirock.com/players/irock400fm.asp)

I have just ordered a new Sony CDX-F7700 head unit to replace my OEM so I won't be needing an FM transmitter.

PS I will still test the Newer Tech unit, once my new head uhit is installed. I tried it with my OEM and the FM doesn't go to 87.7, it stops at 87.9... guess I should have checked BEFORE I ordered it!
;-)

[kb08807]

Thanks for the update! :-) I looked at the link you provided for the iRock, and it sounds nice because of the power adapter. That is something I didn't like about iTrip is that it sucks down the iPod batteries. I'll look into iRock some more. Bummer about the only 4 frequencies though.

I noticed something in PCConnection magazine called the Diskgo! FM Transmitter. It says that it can use 87.7 "on the dial" to transmit through. I haven't checked in my car yet, but I believe that 87.7 might actually be available in SoCal (I don't think it's actually a real station or anything). http://www.pcconnection.com/ProductDetail?sku=5186182
(But further down on the page, it mentions the frequencies again, and doesn't mention 87.7 in this part. Only in the top description on the page. So which is it, I wonder.)

I don't know about it though... doesn't seem like anyone has ever heard of this DiskGo before.

[GavinD]

I don???t think it???s going to work very good at all in the city. I had a radar detector that worked good everywhere except SD. Your best bet is to pay a little more and get an adapter that plugs into your cd changer port if you can. I would only use an fm modulator for a temporary solution ??? like going on a trip or something.

[nathanbeer]

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[gregmeach]

Originally posted by nathanbeer
Well in ******* I use 88.1 . Actually today along PCH 91X was working great. A friend of mine was driving behind me and could pick up my iPod broadcast crystal clear on 91.1 .

I use the
Belkin TuneCast II Mobile FM Transmitter (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0001F22PA/qid=1102580697/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-1233146-5683919?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846)

WOW! that is indeed very cool....