Thread: USB FM RDS Solution with sofware

Any more developments on this? Is it worth the money and modifications to use it in the car, or is it necessary to spend > $100 on the HQCT?

anyone ever get this hooked up to an antennea properly?

i've been keeping an eye on this thread since it started, seems like no ones actually tried it in their car. If so they havent posted their findings or a comparison to the HQCT. Shame work seems to have stopped on this project...

Originally Posted by SmoL

i've been keeping an eye on this thread since it started, seems like no ones actually tried it in their car. If so they havent posted their findings or a comparison to the HQCT. Shame work seems to have stopped on this project...

You might want to read posts 35, 39 and 40 in this thread. As you can see, I posted WAY back that this thing didn't work well in my truck. I wasn't able to determine if it was a limitation of the hardware or an antenna impedance mismatch.

I've used it some in my car without an antenna but with a long USB extension cord (which I think acts a bit like an antenna). It works pretty well, although there is a little bit more flutter than with my HU. I've got so much other stuff going on with my carputer that I just haven't focused on the radio performance yet. I expect it'll be fine with an antenna, if I can ever get to the point of actually trying to attach one to it.

One problem is that the antenna it comes with is just a two-foot single-conducter wire, so it'll require a little fooling around to get it to connect to an antenna connector. Just haven't done it yet.

It's not very expensive, so why don't you do your own investigation and let the rest of us know how it goes.

Thanks Rando thaks Baudi,
And i did read yourt posts rando but just took it as a don't bother becuase I never heard you attempting it again.
Thanks for the feedback Baudi, I've actually got a rather accessible antenna cable so would be rather easy for me to connect to. Can you post another link for where to buy this product as last time I checked the product was cheap but only available in the US or the UK, since I'm all the way in AUS postage ended up costing more than the unit....
So if you know of a good place to get it I would appreciate it (especially if they dont charge 30usd for shipping!)

Hmmm. It looks like Mouser may have stopped selling it. I don't know of any other source. Sorry.

If someone could find a way to hook this up to a stock radio antenna they would be a hero on this forum = D.

My plan was to hook it up to a signal booster, you know tho ones that built like a rectangular box, they plug into an AC outlet, then you connect you TV to it, and your house antenna, and they giv you a better TV picture.

They make them also for FM, or some are dual (mine is) and I alread use one in my car to get better (read possible) TV reception, so I would have taken the FMout from that to it.

nearly all these boosters internally are less than 12v powered and usually have a transformer and regulator, just remove the transformer and connect vehicle ACC line to the regulator.

worked for me for TV, never tried FM but it should help.