Due to attending Beamish, and knowing the radio reception from Kendal to Bowes moor is next to useless, I have removed the original Radiomobile 1085 lw/mw radio from my dash and fitted a garish chrome finished cd/fm radio. (temporarily). It is my intention to add an MP3 lead to the 1085 and then replace it. I have searched the forum/internet but have not found a link to a definitive muppets guide to doing the job. Me being the definitive muppet. Has anyone any details of this operation? The cheap CD/radio I found in the back of the garage is an eyesore in such a genteel vehicle as a Rover.
fitting a radio with mp3 lead?
- Thread starter John
- Start date
Dave3066
Well-Known Member
Hi John
There are a few companies that will do it for you and charge an extortionate amount of money for the privilege. I also have a modern radio with an aux input that I can plug my mp3 player into but want to eventually refit the original Radiomobile sitting on a shelf in the garage. I have seen people fit the modern radio in the driver's knee bin to keep it hidden away but there must be a better solution than that.
I've seen a few posts elsewhere that suggest wiring a lead straight into the volume control but without a circuit diagram I'm not sure that would work on this sort of radio. All it really takes is finding the input to the amplifier in the radio and connecting straight into that. The difficulty comes with switching. When these radios were built there was only, well, radio available. Then came cassette/radios etc. These multi-function units require a switch to change from radio to cassette (commonly called a function switch). All the switch does is connect either the input from the radio receiver or the input from the cassette player into the amplifier to play that sound. The radio only unit has no such switch so you can only have one input, in this case radio. If you connect anything else into the amplifier you will hear both playing at the same time. So you need a switch to cut the other input off. Sounds dead easy really but is quite difficult to achieve within the unit itself without significant modification. You could always take the radio receiver output via a lead away from the unit and through an external 2 position switch that also had a feed from your mp3 player. The output from the switch would then be fed back into the unit to be amplified and output to the speakers. It gets a bit messy at this stage with wires running everywhere but it should work.
This is one of the many jobs that I've not quite got round to tackling yet.
Dave
There are a few companies that will do it for you and charge an extortionate amount of money for the privilege. I also have a modern radio with an aux input that I can plug my mp3 player into but want to eventually refit the original Radiomobile sitting on a shelf in the garage. I have seen people fit the modern radio in the driver's knee bin to keep it hidden away but there must be a better solution than that.
I've seen a few posts elsewhere that suggest wiring a lead straight into the volume control but without a circuit diagram I'm not sure that would work on this sort of radio. All it really takes is finding the input to the amplifier in the radio and connecting straight into that. The difficulty comes with switching. When these radios were built there was only, well, radio available. Then came cassette/radios etc. These multi-function units require a switch to change from radio to cassette (commonly called a function switch). All the switch does is connect either the input from the radio receiver or the input from the cassette player into the amplifier to play that sound. The radio only unit has no such switch so you can only have one input, in this case radio. If you connect anything else into the amplifier you will hear both playing at the same time. So you need a switch to cut the other input off. Sounds dead easy really but is quite difficult to achieve within the unit itself without significant modification. You could always take the radio receiver output via a lead away from the unit and through an external 2 position switch that also had a feed from your mp3 player. The output from the switch would then be fed back into the unit to be amplified and output to the speakers. It gets a bit messy at this stage with wires running everywhere but it should work.
This is one of the many jobs that I've not quite got round to tackling yet.
Dave
redrover
Well-Known Member
Hi John,
For modern stereos: http://donn.dyndns.org/projects/carstereoinput/
For classic stereos: http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.c ... read=77202
I read these articles last year when I intended to fit a jack to my Radiomobile 310CSR. (Never got round to it in the end as it has a cassette player, so I can use one of those ipod tapes, but it's on my to-do list!).
I don't think a silicon chip was fitted to radiomobiles :roll: , but the contacts on the back of the stereo pot should be easily accessible. As regards the switch to prevent hearing radio/ipod simultaneously, you can get little 35mm audio jacks with a switch in them so that when the plug is inserted into it, a little microswitch (which is normally closed) is opened, thus bypassing the radio function. The audio going through the wire will then be uninterrupted as it goes into the back of the pot.
It's simple in principle, just takes a bit of sitting with a magnifying glass and tracing all of the wiring. As long as the ipod feed goes into the back of the stereo pot, the rest will look after itself (amplification, balance, fader, etc). Crack it open and see what you get!
Hope that's a help. I'm sure somebody will have done this conversion at some point on an old car who will be of better help!
Michael
For modern stereos: http://donn.dyndns.org/projects/carstereoinput/
For classic stereos: http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.c ... read=77202
I read these articles last year when I intended to fit a jack to my Radiomobile 310CSR. (Never got round to it in the end as it has a cassette player, so I can use one of those ipod tapes, but it's on my to-do list!).
I don't think a silicon chip was fitted to radiomobiles :roll: , but the contacts on the back of the stereo pot should be easily accessible. As regards the switch to prevent hearing radio/ipod simultaneously, you can get little 35mm audio jacks with a switch in them so that when the plug is inserted into it, a little microswitch (which is normally closed) is opened, thus bypassing the radio function. The audio going through the wire will then be uninterrupted as it goes into the back of the pot.
It's simple in principle, just takes a bit of sitting with a magnifying glass and tracing all of the wiring. As long as the ipod feed goes into the back of the stereo pot, the rest will look after itself (amplification, balance, fader, etc). Crack it open and see what you get!
Hope that's a help. I'm sure somebody will have done this conversion at some point on an old car who will be of better help!
Michael
The Rovering Member
Well-Known Member
This is also something I want to do, so thanks for those links. I'm not sure if I'm too much of a muppet to get the job done though. 
There is, was, a sticker on the back of the radio stating 'remove for tape', it covered a hole.......
I think I might take the casing off to see if I can find a plug or socket inside to take a lead inserted through the hole.
Thank you for tips and links, I searched Retrorides, knowing it was there but my random search skills failed me, yet again.
*Update on the garish chrome effort Ive just fitted, I did find a more discrete all black Panasonic unit in the pile of audio shi, em, rubbish my son left in the workshop but as usual it had no connection plug, I just scored one for 99p on ebay, so I might not need sunglasses to sit in the car at Beamish!
I think I might take the casing off to see if I can find a plug or socket inside to take a lead inserted through the hole.
Thank you for tips and links, I searched Retrorides, knowing it was there but my random search skills failed me, yet again.
*Update on the garish chrome effort Ive just fitted, I did find a more discrete all black Panasonic unit in the pile of audio shi, em, rubbish my son left in the workshop but as usual it had no connection plug, I just scored one for 99p on ebay, so I might not need sunglasses to sit in the car at Beamish!
Sparky has a period radio with VHF on it (FM nowadays)
I bought an FM Transmitter which you plug into your Cigar lighter, then plug your MP3 player into the transmitter. Tune your FM radio into the correct frequency, and hey presto, you can listen to whatever you want to without modifying anything.
Richard
I bought an FM Transmitter which you plug into your Cigar lighter, then plug your MP3 player into the transmitter. Tune your FM radio into the correct frequency, and hey presto, you can listen to whatever you want to without modifying anything.
Richard
The Rovering Member
Well-Known Member
quattro said:
Well, in my experience & as stated in one of the articles, they're pretty rubbish if you're on a journey as you have to keep re-tuning & radio stations can often be heard breaking in. And around London especially, the chances of finding some totally free air-space is slim indeed. The one I had packed up after a short while too.
Far better to have a direct connection IMHO.
Dave3066
Well-Known Member
The Rovering Member said:
I'm in agreement with you there. They are good when the signal strength and spacing is good but as soon as you get too many stations transmitting close to the frequency the adaptor wants to use then they're a bit fiddly to keep retuning. Plus they take up the only 12V power socket in the car too (unless you have others fitted of course
)Dave
a few years back you used to be able to get amps that take a speaker level input and a line level input and allow you to switch...
If i was doing this i'd try something like taking the radio signal before the amp out to a socket which is wire to break the radio signal when the jack plug is inserted for a simple solution or alternatively an external amp which should be able to provide a much improved sound!
Rich
If i was doing this i'd try something like taking the radio signal before the amp out to a socket which is wire to break the radio signal when the jack plug is inserted for a simple solution or alternatively an external amp which should be able to provide a much improved sound!
Rich
You can get FM modulators that connect to the aerial lead which must be better than those things that transmit on a FM frequency
How can that be any good when it's in the car , the aerial is outside and there's a layer of metal in between ?
However when they sold add-on CD players with modulators , they were nicknamed mudulators on account of the sound quality
How can that be any good when it's in the car , the aerial is outside and there's a layer of metal in between ?
However when they sold add-on CD players with modulators , they were nicknamed mudulators on account of the sound quality
JVY
Active Member
What we really need for P6's owners is a national radio station that continually transmits jazz music on Medium Wave so that we can pick it up on our old radios without having to fiddle about with nasty modern MP3/IPod gizmos I think I will just pop off and write another letter to my MP about it Think I will also demand that Radio 4 Long Wave moves back to 200KHz so that it appears on the correct place on my P6 radio dial.
I think I will just pop off and write another letter to my MP about it Think I will also demand that Radio 4 Long Wave moves back to 200KHz so that it appears on the correct place on my P6 radio dial.
The Rovering Member
Well-Known Member
My radio world has been rocked by the sudden death of Big George who did the graveyard shift slot on BBC London 94.9. He was compulsive listening & completely unlike any other radio presenter. I'm not sure what I'm going to listen to now while I'm at work & around the smoke.
happy days
Active Member
I recently bought one of these extortionate radiomobiles from eBay. Upon fitting it it was crackling so the guy said return it which I did. Then I get an email to say it's damaged and he can't refund or repair so tough. He sent it back saying get in touch with royal mail for a refund. The damage was a bent tuner control and I don't think it was caused by royal mail. Anyway he sent it back, I opened it up and found where the iPod lead connected into the wiring, I had another radiomobile so removed the iPod lead from one and connected to the other and Happy Days it works perfectly. On the end of the iPod lead connecting to the wires in the radio is 2 little capacitors I presume. If anyone is interested I could get a couple of pics to show connections. Cheers Mick
happy days
Active Member
connections are on the station changing dial not the on /off dial.
the black cable is the ipod cable entering from the rear of the radio, it contains 3 wires, the white one and the red one have capacitors/ resistors (im no electronics guy dont know what they are). they connect to the same terminal as the existing red wire which is from the existing grey wire. The third wire from the ipod lead connects to the terminal on the right of the existing blue wire
so their are 3 termials as you look at it now. The left terminal will have the red and the white ipod wires to attach, middle terminal which already has blue wire is left alone, then the last terminal has the remaining ipod wire attached.
Hope this is clear as i say im no electronics guy, good luck
the black cable is the ipod cable entering from the rear of the radio, it contains 3 wires, the white one and the red one have capacitors/ resistors (im no electronics guy dont know what they are). they connect to the same terminal as the existing red wire which is from the existing grey wire. The third wire from the ipod lead connects to the terminal on the right of the existing blue wire
so their are 3 termials as you look at it now. The left terminal will have the red and the white ipod wires to attach, middle terminal which already has blue wire is left alone, then the last terminal has the remaining ipod wire attached.
Hope this is clear as i say im no electronics guy, good luck
Attachments
Many Thanks Mick, It might be a while, I've just managed to snap a garage door cable, the good news is, a, I still have a head on my shoulders, and B, the Rover is on the drive side of the stuck shut garage door . Off to Asda shortly to get a universal push bike brake cable, they have the right nipple size, and will get me out of the mire just as well as the proper jobbie (and cheaper too!)
. Off to Asda shortly to get a universal push bike brake cable, they have the right nipple size, and will get me out of the mire just as well as the proper jobbie (and cheaper too!)