USB FM RDS Solution with sofware

Bj · 11-29-2006, 07:36 AM

Mouser still sells them - I got mine the other day.

These little tuners are fantastic! It performs 1 billion times better than any of the previous usb radios I have used. I attached an external antenna (75 ohm) to a standard house type splitter between my tv tuner and the silabs. I used to use the magic box pro for FM, but the performance (even though it was the best I had found at that point) is absolutely no match to the quality and signal strength of this tiny little radio! And to make things even better it supports RDS.

Here is the antenna mod I did...

Fitted in car

Here it is running a full 75 ohm system and splitter to both the silabs and the DVBT tuner part of the magic box pro

The only issue I have found is that the RDS info is all jumbled up, or it doesn't refresh at the rate it comes in at. I downloaded the demo from this thread, and all I get it chopped up sentences, it seems that the data coming in is scrolling, but the app can't refresh at the same rate as the scrolling....

Any ideas on this?

Other than that I have got this functioning in my car, all but the rds..

I'm using the vb6 example from a thread I can't find now, but thanks to whoever it was

**SmoL** · 12-01-2006, 01:33 AM

awesome work! how's the receoption in car compare to the stock radio head unit? also where did you order it from? I notice your from Aus, yet i cant find anywhere that ships here!

Bj · 12-01-2006, 09:48 AM

Originally Posted by SmoL

awesome work! how's the receoption in car compare to the stock radio head unit? also where did you order it from? I notice your from Aus, yet i cant find anywhere that ships here!

I just followed the link and ordered it from the mouser mob and used fedex to ship it to my door. It ships to oz no dramas. It is better reception that my Sony explod pile-o-crap that's for sure. I'm very impressed with it. It also scores highly for having minimal resources on my M10000 EPIA. The previous Magicbox pro sucked all the juice from the little C3 processor and left me with a laggy bucket of crap. This tuner is truly a piece of art. I love it

**lez** · 12-01-2006, 12:59 PM

emm I really want ond of these but its $60 from mouser, + I might get hammered another $40 import screw fees.

Or azzuri, £27 / $50

I'm thinking seriously.........

I want one.........

Can I justify $50, or should I wait for them to become a mainstream item on ebay for $30, or maybe that wont happen, decisions decisions.......

**Iceman_jkh** · 12-07-2006, 10:25 PM

Just received mine today.

As soon as you plug it in, its detected straight away - no drivers

Downloaded and ran the software from the site. FM radio coming in nice and clean. Love it.

Gonna mod the antenna like BJ did, and see how it goes in my car.
So far I'm very impressed. Most stations come in atleast 80% strength and thats inside my room (which is a notorious radio/phone reception blackspot)and using the tiny little wire they provide as the standard antenna (1m hookup wire).

Results to follow shortly.

**SmoL** · 12-08-2006, 12:55 AM

excellent, how are you all finding it with radiator? Did ther dll that was posted work ok? any bugs there?

**Iceman_jkh** · 12-08-2006, 12:58 AM

I havent tested with radiator or RR yet, I only used the SiLabs application.

Took it out in the car just now....WOW!

I had to make up a connector/cable just like BJ did.

I used these exact parts:
4 metres of Tv 75Ohm Cable (Air Space) (http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.st...uct/View/W2082)
1 Radio Antenna Socket (http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.st...uct/View/P2002)

I got the "Air Space" which has a copper braid instead of the slightly more expensive aluminium quad shield version (product code: W2087) because I was told that its not possible to solder to the aluminium braid with much success.

I made up the Motorola socket at one end of the cable and soldered the other end directly to the SiLabs FM USB board (same as BJ did in his pic - Signal = Right, Shield = Left).

Took the gear out to my car, extended the radio antenna, plugged the 4metre coax cable into the car's male motorola plug and fired up the PC...

The radio reception was excellent. Sound was excellent. All stations came through very clearly, with only minor static now and then. In the future I will probably bypass the motorola connection and wire some quad RG6 directly from the FM USB Radio to the antenna terminals.

I also tested the device while driving... same excellent reception whether parked or doing 100kph!

Thus far (with my very limited testing) I am extremely happy with this unit!

Ice

**Iceman_jkh** · 12-08-2006, 02:37 AM

Where can I find the latest RoadRunner plugin for this device?
I'd love to test it with RoadRunner now that I know it sounds great using the default software

.

**SmoL** · 12-08-2006, 07:33 PM

fI'm not 100% sure but from what I understand you just need radiator (which rr uses) you can try the DLL thats posted earlier in this thread. or try what they do here: How to make your bt878 or other radio/tv tuner work with Radiator to get any tuner to work with radiator.

Let me know how it goes