Will this USB Radio Work? - Page 6

Lazyflip · 01-10-2008, 09:46 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by veetid

this happens with the current 1.46 and the Silabs radio plugin?

david

Yup, for me it does.

BGH · 02-14-2008, 06:45 PM

I am currently exploring my FM radio options for CF. Does anyone have any comments on this tuner now after a few months of use? Is the reception acceptable when connected to the car's antenna? Is the bug where radio starts after hibernation likely to be fixed any time soon?

ronjon228 · 02-22-2008, 11:12 PM

Just ordered one guys, thanks for the heads up. As of right now I have no external antenna on my car (stock one broke). I'll be buying an add on one, or finding some one who has one some time before I get the unit. I'll most likely solder everything on before I even try to use it.

I'll let you all know how it works out as soon as I get it and get everything squared away. I figured for $23.00 shipped, it's worth a shot. If it doesn't work I can always grab an HD radio tuner and go that route.

ronjon228 · 03-04-2008, 08:25 PM

Well, got mine in today, already tore it apart and soldered on a proper aerial. Reception in my office at work is GREAT. Better than any radio we've ever had in here. I actually made a regular antenna plug socket on the actual unit itself. That way the unit, and the antenna are easily disconnected from the PC and each other.

The only problem I have is that I'm getting skipping in my skin. I'm using FreeIce and every 10 secs or so the music will skip for an almost un-noticable duration and then go back to normal. Doesn't happen with the Silabs radio player, only in the skin. Therefore I'll for some different USBRadio.dll files and see which one works out ok.

Pics attached.

HiJackZX1 · 03-04-2008, 08:42 PM

Good luck with that.... its diffrent in a moving enviroment, my silab worked perfect in the house or when stopped, but as soon as the car started moving, it went all cr@ppy. If you really want a stable radio go HD. There is no plugin for CF yet, but David is going to be working on one. From what I understand he already has the Visteon HD Zoom HDZ300 and the serial cable created by Mitch to interface with the PC. Here is a link to the thread: http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/user...les-ready.html. It is more pricey but at least it will be CD quality and you wont have to worry about it going out. I here that its so good you can even get away with not having an antenna connected. If you buy the Visteon, buy it off of ebay, you can get it for about $60.00, unless you want to pay the full price of $199.99. The cable from Mitch is only $24.00 with free shipping.

ronjon228 · 03-04-2008, 10:08 PM

Yeah, I already read up about the HD radio solution. I paid $23.00 shipped for the USB radio. If it works, it's money well spent as far as I'm concerned. You can't expect these USB radios to work without a proper aerial. That's never going to happen. I think most people either don't take the time to properly hook one up, or do it incorrectly. It has to be grounded to the USB or it's going to suffer massive amounts of interference.

If it doesn't work well in the car, I already will have an antenna installed and can easily go to HD radio. No loss except the $23.00 for the USB radio. It's worth it whether it works or not as far as I'm concerned.

lez · 03-05-2008, 06:35 AM

I use one of these in my car all the time, the silabs unit is the current best fm solution, the dll included with freeice is a very good work in progress, the skipping started a few weeks ago but its not as bad as once every ten seconds, sometimes I can go an 8 hr shift in the taxi without a skip, another night i may notice it 3 or 4 times, its this random nature what does not help find why it does it, but i think its got something to do with the way windows shares time slices etc.

dme · 05-27-2008, 01:24 PM

Is there any difference between this brando-radio and silabs-radio? Silabs has rds but brando doesn't? Where can i order cheapest silabs-radio?

Jabo · 08-08-2008, 05:50 AM

Guys can you tell me where to solder my motorola connecter extension cable to on this board please?

There's the hole for the original small antenna and there's 4 points on the back of the board marked C2D, C2CK, GND and 5V(NC)

Jabo · 08-08-2008, 07:09 PM

I've wired the middle wire from the connector the hole on the board and connected the shielding to the outside of the usb plug but the reception is very touch and go.
Please advise on how to improve this guys!

BGH · 08-28-2008, 10:29 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Jabo

I've wired the middle wire from the connector the hole on the board and connected the shielding to the outside of the usb plug but the reception is very touch and go.
Please advise on how to improve this guys!

Yeah I'd like a bit of direction regarding this as well. Is grounding it to the outer sleeve of the USB connector the best thing to do?

blbrchnk · 09-01-2008, 10:19 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Jabo

I've wired the middle wire from the connector the hole on the board and connected the shielding to the outside of the usb plug but the reception is very touch and go.
Please advise on how to improve this guys!

Was just about to do this. Anyone give any tips before I tear into it?

ankur · 09-08-2008, 07:14 AM

OK i got the Brando radio and soldered on an antenna adapter, finally radio works although the signal is very low and i dont catch all stations. I am also using the standard silabs plugin for CF 2.

I am facing a major problem, on exiting the Radio app the radio keeps playing and does not stop. Is this a common problem ?

cheers.