What to do when we lose FM radio?

[dtjames]

Hi,

My MY04 V70 has a HU-803 installed.

I was wondering what folk were planning on doing (besides changing the car!) to overcome the problem of losing FM signal for the radio in a few years.

I already have an iPod connection connected to the CD-Changer socket.

[jamena]

Hi Volvo are working on it I believe
James

[reggit]

I thought the government had given up on the idea of turning FM radio off.

[PeteB1]

It'll be many years if not more than a decade before this happens. there is not the same pressure to turn all radio digital and remove the analogue signals that there was with TV.

Although the main stations are available on digital, many local radio stations are not.

E.g, my local area, the Digital Operator was granted a license to begin services in mid/late 2008. Here we are now approaching mid 2012 and various slippages mean there is as yet, still no defined date for digital transmissions to begin. It's nearly a year since the last ill defined update to the plans on the operators website so FM is here for a while yet. See here for one of the operators.

[Missing Lincs]

One of the reasons digital radio hasn't got off the ground in mobile situations is that it doesn't work particularly well.
Second generation systems are now around but even so there's no sound quality advantage to going digital.
If you really get the urge to go digital it can be done with an add on converter, this would involve a new aerial. Since the Volvo diversity system works so well and analogue is still going strong there's no incentive to change for a few years yet.

[dtjames]

Originally Posted by Missing Lincs

One of the reasons digital radio hasn't got off the ground in mobile situations is that it doesn't work particularly well.
Second generation systems are now around but even so there's no sound quality advantage to going digital.
If you really get the urge to go digital it can be done with an add on converter, this would involve a new aerial. Since the Volvo diversity system works so well and analogue is still going strong there's no incentive to change for a few years yet.

New aerial !!!???

[reggit]

Yep,

The anologue signals are transmitted between 87.5MHz and 108MHz, the digital signals in the region of 222MHz.

As the aerial size is related to frequency, you need a new one suitable for the DAB signals (about half the size of one for analogue radio).

The standard one will work, but at reduced efficiency.

[LJD]

DAB is rubbish.
lets hope it never happens .

[EdmundIJones]

The government have to give at least 5 years notice before the switch off date of any FM transmitters. Also they need to ensure over 95% of the population (or could be land mass) can receive the digital signal for radio. The current figure is around 45% so there is a very long way to go. The word is the technology they chose to use was outdated when they picked it anyway so there is very little chance before a full switch off before 2030. That's what I was told from a guy in the know when I last asked about it.

That means your Volvo at best will be 20 years old at point and I'm sure somebody would have created a local DAB to FM converter/transmitter module you could tune into, like an iPhone to FM transmitter.

Ed

[PeteB1]

Originally Posted by EdmundIJones

The government have to give at least 5 years notice before the switch off date of any FM transmitters. Also they need to ensure over 95% of the population (or could be land mass) can receive the digital signal for radio. The current figure is around 45% so there is a very long way to go. The word is the technology they chose to use was outdated when they picked it anyway so there is very little chance before a full switch off before 2030. That's what I was told from a guy in the know when I last asked about it.

That means your Volvo at best will be 20 years old at point and I'm sure somebody would have created a local DAB to FM converter/transmitter module you could tune into, like an iPhone to FM transmitter.

Ed

There is at least one available already. I'm not sure how good it is:

see here.

They also make one which integrates with the cars audio system, requiring advanced DIY or professional installation.

This one.