Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. Review: Belkin TuneCast II FM Transmitter
Don Bradbury sees how easy it is to play MP3 files through your FM radio
| Product | TuneCast II FM Transmitter |
|---|---|
| Company | Belkin |
| Web | www.belkin.com |
| Price | £29.99 |
| We like | Wireless transmission; frequency presets |
| We don't like | Not applicable with all FM radios; position sensitive; some interference |
| Rating | 7/10 |
| Requirements |
Personal FM transmission products became legal in the UK as of 8th December 2006, according to Belkin. It's therefore significant that their diddy FM transmitter, used for wirelessly relaying your MP3 player's output to your FM radio (home or in-car) has appeared in time for the Christmas shopping basket. It will be just the sort of gadget that audiophiles will be asking (erm, hoping) for.
Based around a neat 75 x 50 x 25mm box of tricks, a cable that's wrapped around the TuneCast can be plugged into your MP3 player's standard stereo 3.5mm mini jack and it can then be tuned to any of the FM frequencies between 88.1 and 107.9MHz (in 0.1MHz steps) to match that of a suitable channel on the FM radio. It can, further, be programmed to any one of four different channels for rapid and keep-your-eye-on-the-road selection. All of this activity can be followed on the device's LCD screen.
A provided power cigar lighter cord can be used instead of the twin AAA batteries the TuneCast II houses. Altogether very neat! So does it work?
In practise
An auto-on feature detects an input signal from your player, although it can also be switched on by holding down briefly both the up and down frequency adjusting buttons. The MP3 player's volume control, it is recommended, should be set to around mid-point (to provide adequate signal strength for the auto-on function), and also to let the FM radio's control do most of the volume adjustment. That was taken to mean that the presumed superior amplifier of the radio would produce the least distortion of the signal.
We had no trouble at any volume setting on the superior Samsung Z5 MP3 player, but a cheap, early MP3 player clearly showed distortion at high volume settings that was entirely due to it's own imperfection rather than the TuneCast's.
The FM radio should preferably be set to a frequency where there is no incoming terrestrial radio signal, although with an in-house Philips FM radio we tried, the TuneCast II adequately drowned out a relatively strong radio signal, replacing it with the MP3 player's output without significant interference as soon as it had been tuned to the same frequency. Impressive so far!
A "mem" button can then be pressed to memorise that frequency for later selection without having to scan for it. Repeat pressing of this "mem" button toggles between the four presets to give you a decent choice of frequencies depending on where you happen to be at the time - which of course determines the local radio station frequencies.
A Nissan FM car stereo detected the TuneCast's output immediately, but no matter to which frequency we tuned the pair the signal was lost within a few seconds and the radio emitted it's "no station found" signal. Belkin's Technical people confirmed that this can happen on certain radio models - which we really think Belkin should point out in their literature and advertising.
In a Honda Civic, with it's unbranded car stereo, we could transmit a signal from the TuneCast but there was substantial mush, and the location of the transmitter within the car was rather too critical for our liking, varying both strength and quality of reception.
The Tunecast worked reasonably on our in-house JVC stereo HiFi, though again with some mush, probably due to the difficulty of getting the Tunecast's signal into a far better insulated aerial input.
Mobile power
The cigarette lighter power cable does not charge the MP3 player's batteries (they may not be rechargables) but only switches them out of commission to preserve their strength, but the car's power supply is useful in any event.
The TuneCast should be located as close as possible to the radio's aerial. It can work at up to 30ft from the aerial, it is claimed, but minimum interference is achieved with this distance reduced as much as possible. Within 10 feet is recommended, but we found both distance and precise location were important.
In conclusion
The Belkin TuneCast II can be a superior way to transmit audio signals to an FM radio's amplifier than a wired alternative - of which Belkin also supply options - provided the radio receiver is suitable. Our Nissan radio wasn't. A Honda radio was rather better. When it does work, the TuneCast II can still be susceptible to interference on occasions. So, worth considering at the price, but only after checking that your intended receiver actually works with the TuneCast II first.
