A topic dedicated to discussing reception of Bluetooth Car FM transmitters in Australia. Focusing on Bluetooth pairing messages, music, GPS directions and podcasts.
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And RDS please on these Bluetooth TXs
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Some have rds. Ive seen some driving around
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I’ve heard a phone call on one of these transmitters before
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Me too. I was at home one time and tried to pick up hit96.9 from Shepparton, but instead, I received someone’s private phone call.
I haven’t really got a good recording of it, because by the time I got my equipment set up for recording, it was too late. The signal went away.
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I bought an in car FM transmitter once purely just to find out how well it worked and for a bit of experimenting in terms of how far the signal would go etc.
Sound quality is ok, but you could hear a “click click” sound in between songs. I could get a signal throughout my apartment, but it does weaken after a few metres.
Agree that having RDS would be great! That would be even more fun to play around with in setting up your own station name and PI codes etc.
I also found it spewed out a lot of hash around most of the FM band within a few metres.
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How can you customise your FM car transmitter to a custom name if it’s designed to be used via a cigarette lighter socket?
I have a KM30 FM car transmitter, and have used a radio receiver on the FM band with RDS reader to see if it could pick it up (the name of the respective transmitting device). Unfortunately it didn’t.
Is there a way to fix this, or do I need an FM car transmitter that is customisable in terms of changing the name of it and getting it to show up as the name of a radio station. Thanks. I want to try this so I can confuse listeners in my area if they’re on a Melbourne frequency. I know these only go a few metres, so it’ll be interesting to see if this works.
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I don’t know IF it is possible, the only way might be if there is an app that you can use on your phone to connect to the FM transmitter to change the RDS settings.
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Is there a certain app for iPhone where I can change the RDS of a particular transmitter? Mine’s a Nulaxy.
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The Sangean FMT-02 has RDS:
https://www.ryda.com.au/sangean-fmt-02-dab-bluetooth-in-car-adapter
I haven’t analyzed it properly but from memory it would transmit the DAB station name it was tuned to.
I just use the audio out and have the FM disabled.
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So how would you be able to listen to it with FM disabled if (for example) you’re in a non-Bluetooth car?
There are some car owners out there who own cars without built-in Bluetooth capabilities - so how could this work? Or do you need to have it on FM for this? Probably explains why there are still so many FM car transmitters in use. Thanks.
It has 3.5mm audio out and my car has audio in.
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I remember last year I was listening to KIIS 101.1 from Melbourne, and I know them for slightly speeding up songs. So when I heard that the music wasn’t sped up, I thought: What was going on? I thought at the very start that this was another radio station I was receiving, it played some Camila Cabello and then a remake of a classic Elton John song featuring Dua Lipa. After then listening to Power FM from Ballarat a couple of times (yes it is receivable in some sections of Melbourne and Geelong), I then heard a GPS sat-nav message play on 103.1 FM, which was the frequency I was tuned to for Power FM. The GPS instructions completely cancelled out the Ballarat station before it came back a couple of seconds later.
After trying to figure out what was going on, I then quickly learnt and found out that these were indeed car FM transmitters. So much so that I ended up getting one.
Ideally, these people using these transmitters should use frequencies that are NOT in use in their area. If someone was in Geelong for example, and was listening to, let’s say, Fox FM 101.9, and someone’s transmitter came flooding through on that frequency and was right next to your car, you’d be really annoyed. In these instances, best to just adopt a transmitter yourself and download a streaming app where you can stream the station in the event of such things like this. Most people just don’t simply care or just want to listen to what they want on a frequency where they hate the same rotated music content. In user manuals, they clearly state that such devices need to not be interfering with licensed broadcasters. But just how many people seriously read those? LOL!
Then there was another moment when I tried receiving Triple M from Warragul on 94.3 FM, and then I heard some sort of start-up or pairing noise, and I thought what was going on, I thought something strange was happening on the FM band. Then a program started playing, before going away about a minute later. Turns out it was a podcast that someone was listening to.
You never know what you might end up picking up on the FM band, if you go completely scanning through it. I have some more FM car transmitter recordings, I’ll post them here soon for your enjoyment and entertainment.
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But also some users may not realise that frequencies like 94.3 and 103.1 are used in adjacent markets and they may not always pick that up… And there aren’t really a lot of spare frequencies around anymore, particularly in a place like Melbourne.
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It’s a tough one on 94.3 FM, because in some areas it’s Triple M Gippsland, other times it’s ABC NewsRadio from Ballarat.
Most of the spare FM frequencies in Melbourne are taken up by local community broadcasters nowadays. I’ve received some of those broadcasters via Geelong on long-distance. A shame, because residents in Melbourne may tend to use these transmitters in cars where they don’t have Bluetooth capabilities or support, or they may just do it for the sake of cancelling out a commercial (hit music) station where they can’t stand so-called “stale” hits that are on constant rotation.
I wonder just how many spots are free on the FM band in Melbourne for clear use of FM car transmitters?
99.7 is probably the only real one (when the SE HPON isn’t in use).
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…or when the Chilli FM Scottsdale repeater doesn’t come into Melbourne at local strength. I’ve received it a couple of times in the Geelong area late last year into early this year and it came in very well. This was during the summer period, the time where FM DXing (the search for distant FM radio stations) is very much in full force.
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97.3-97.5 are technically clear frequencies, as is 99.9.
99.7 FM was in use just the other night, transmitting (30 watts) from The Substation, Newport, near the Melbourne CBD. Next scheduled transmission is “Sept 9-14”.
And following that will probably be New Year’s Eve radio, unless there’s something in between.
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Would there be any good chance of receiving the transmissions from the Geelong area when that happens? Or is it not possible? I know their transmissions run on 30 watts power, but I was just wondering.