How to Take Advantage of Your FM Transmitter for Car
An FM transmitter for car is one of the best and most affordable ways to breathe new life to your old car audio system. Despite the availability of other options such as dedicated MP3 players or even your smartphone, FM transmitters remain to be the cheapest way to do things.
However, FM transmitters are not made equal with perfect technology. Below are a few tips to make sure that you will get the best out of your FM transmitter.
Table of Contents
Research before You Buy
The secret to taking advantage of your FM transmitter for car is to begin with a decent product. While majority of FM transmitters come with an affordable price, you should refrain from going for something cheap to the point that the features are compromised. Manual tuning is the most crucial feature since this will let you avoid local ration station interference. There are also transmitters that let you choose from different preset frequencies while others don’t let you change broadcast frequency. This can be a big problem in the long run.
Input options that come with the device is another thing you should check. Many transmitters have a standard audio jack that could be connected directly to the headphone output or line of an MP3 player. However, you might also want to look for transmitters that include SD card slots, USB connections, as well as other options. There are also transmitters that play music from an SD card or USB stick with no need for a different MP3 player.
Check the Extremes
Upon removing the FM transmitter for car out of its package, first, you should tune this and your head unit to similar frequency. When the transmitter lets you select an FM frequency, you will want to start by checking the FM dial’s extremes.
Even though you might find available frequency everywhere, common open areas of FM band are above 107 MHz and below 90 MHz. While some places have stations broadcasting between 107 MHz and 107.9 MHz and between 87.9 and 90 MHz, these remain to be the best and easiest places to begin with.
Avoid Interference
It is a must to find an empty frequency but there is always the possibility that you will experience interference if there is a powerful station that uses a frequency right next door. To avoid any interference, you can check for those stations that are 0.2 MHz below and above your transmitter’s set frequency. If you can’t find this large block, something that is completely possible in most metro areas, you can look for a block with least interference amount.
Tear Everything Down
There may be times when nothing works no matter what you do and if this happens, the only choice left is for you to tear down your FM transmitter for car and start from the very beginning. In the event that you are living in a place with a relatively crowded FM landscape, chances are an FM transmitter will not cut it. In this case, you might want to begin with one of those lookup tools. If it states that the whole FM band has been crammed full, you could save yourself from frustration and money by going in another direction.
