Making an FM Transmitter iPOD connection work in busy NA areas!

I finally figured out how to make an iPOD FM transmitters work better in North America - even in a busy and frequency congested metro area. I live in the Phoenix Metro and there is no one frequency in the N. American FM band (88.1 - 107.9) that will work in the entire metro and quite frankly changing frequencies on these units and then the radio to match it while driving is unsafe. So this led to cut outs and sudden static bursts as other signals cut through quite often. While messing around with this today I found that on our radios (at least the BOSE system), the frequency range runs down to the Europe minimum of 87.9 (really 87.8 but evens are locked out in N.A.). So if I could get my iPOD FM transmitter to transmit at 87.9, then I would be assured of always having a clear frequency with no risk of it ever being superseded by a clear air signal at that frequency. Sure enough, the Monster FM transmitter I have can be put into a Europe or Japan mode. So naturally I put it into the Europe mode but to my dismay, it actually did not allow frequencies below 88.0 despite the documentation saying it could go to 87.8. But, the Japanese FM band is almost entirely below ours so by setting the Monster FM iPOD transmitter to Japan mode, I was able to dial in 87.9 on it and sure enough I am now getting by far the clearest sound I have ever gotten from one of these units and so far it hasn't cut out on me due to signal interference. So in summary, program one of your FM buttons to 87.9 which is not a frequency used in North America and set your iPOD FM transmitter into Japan mode (assuming you have a unit that allows that - the Monster iCar Play 200 does) and select 87.9 and you have a sub $100 iPOD connection that shouldn't cut out on you due to station interference.

hey that's an awesome idea.. what didn't I think of that? How would you rate the sound quality now that you've found a clear signal? Do you find that you have to play the ipod/transmitter close to the head unit to get decent sound quality? I had the DLO transpod... and that thing just plain sucked. I returned it the next day. Cheers :cheers: DL

It is much cleaner than it was - you still here a little bit of alternator noise between songs if you happen to be sitting at an intersection idling or have it turned way up but its very low and can't be heard while playing a song. It is a major improvement over any of the North American Band channels.

I tried this today and it works great. Like EJPhoto said, there is a little bit of noice between songs when idling, but other than that, I drove all over town (downtown San Jose, CA) and no break-ups or interference. I had the ipod and the Monster FM transmiter in the console with the lid closed the whole time. Great find!

Where did you buy the Monster FM unit? Bob/ Mountain View

Bob - one of these maybe? now to find out which one... *curious as well*

Elise, Just went to Fry's... The iCAR Play they carry says you can tune to any FM channel but specifically states on the box...except 87.7 and 87.9 No mention of Euro or Japan mode Guess we'll have to wait for a reply from EJPhoto

The one I have is the Monster® iCarPlay™ Wireless 200 FM Transmitter with AutoScan. I change modes from North America to Japan and tuned to 87.9. I tried Europe mode, but it stopped at 88.0 just like EJPhoto experienced. The model can be found here. I bought mine at Best Buy over in Milpitas. Monster Cable -- Monster® iCarPlay™ Wireless 200 FM Transmitter with AutoScan I am going to be driving up to Moda next weekend in the East bay and plan to test it out the whole way to see if it really works on extended trips outside of the home base. If anybody is interested in a follow up, I can let you know next weekend.

we'll be meeting you at Moda's - i expect a full report! *grin* i hope this works ...just imagine the possibilities!

I got mine at one of the Apple stores. I now drove it all weekend and it only cut out once the entire time as some bizarre signal cut through. But compared to before where it was cutting out every 5 to 10 minutes, its much better. Sound quality is slightly improved but its still an FM modulator solution which will pick up other stuff. You definitely want to turn off the auto adjust volume feature on the Bose that tries to adjust volume based on interior noise. In between songs or when the song is quiet, the Porsche system keeps trying to raise the volume and that sounds awful - note, it sounds awful with the radio too but radios rarely have dead air. It's still not a fantastic solution but it is the best low buck solution.

my i trip will tune to 87.8, but my radio (not bose) the lowest it will go is 88.00

Ordered a monster transmitter/charger. Their wired charger works great to the aux input in my bmw. Here's to hoping that the transmitter will be an easy solution for the porsche, so far I've been very unhappy with FM transmitter connections. I will report back.

This is a great tip about how to integrate the iPod into any vehicle that has a radio without an input jack. I did this in my wife's C6 Corvette and it works great. Why spend the money to hardwire an iPod when you can do it this way. I got the iCar 200 on Amazon for $49.95. Amazing how well this works in the Corvette C6 and the Cayman. I live in Chicago where the FM band is fully loaded, no empty frequency for a wireless FM modulator. But, if you go off-band to the Japanese FM frequency it works with no problem with interference at all. Highly recommended solution to the iPod hookup problem. Thanks!

I have a CDR-24 and it seems to tune down to 87.9. Not bad, but my iCarplay 200 did something funny to my iPod , and now the iPod won't play via the dock connector. So now I'm in the middle of restoring the iPod - downloaded new SW, wiped all the settings and now downloading my music all over again. Since I am still on my old G4 iMac (with USB1.1 - Firewire doesn't work on the 5G iPods for some reason, at least not on my Mac and iPod) it's taking forever. One of these days I'll upgrade to a new mac with USB2.0 and it will hopefully go faster.:wall:

The first time I hooked up using the Monster in my wife's C6 Corvette, everything worked OK, except that I discovered that I could not shutoff my iPod. It was locked in the "on" position. I have a 2 Gig Nano. I restored it using the iTunes site and it now works fine. These iPods are stange, for some reason they occassionally lockup and do not respond. That was happening before I hooked into the FM modulator, so I don't think the wireless modulator is the problem. It is just a quirk in the gadget where the system has to be restored occassionally. I am very happy with the Monster setup tuned to 87.9, it works great in the Corvette. When the Cayman comes out of winter storage I intend to get another Monster wireless FM modulator for my car.

will this work for the I phone