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Cheap AM/FM radio and GTR-200

rightrudder

Well Known Member
Hi guys,

I've got the GTR-200 radio (non-Bluetooth) and I want to listen the a cheap portable AM/FM through the system. I've got the Garmin's audio jack wired up...is it as simple as getting a male-to-male 3.5mm patch cord?

If you've done this, how is FM reception at altitude? Thx!
 
You would be going between coverage zones so fast it wouldn't be worth it ... you would spend half the time just trying to tune in another station ... just curious, why would you do this instead of just loading up with music, podcasts, etc?
 
Two birds...

Dig up a 5th - 6th generation iPod nano, it has an FM tuner built in...Connect via 3.5mm phone jack.
 
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I have an AM/FM radio from my car installed in my instrument panel. It's connected through the Aux In on my intercom. I get pretty good reception on FM, almost always during cruise when at 5 to 6000 feet and above. I haven't had the time to get decent AM reception, which for now is mostly static. The ADF units, remember those, always had good AM reception, but they also had external antennae.

My antenna is flexible, about 24" long and I have it tie-wrapped and laying across the rollbar on my -7A as I didn't want it outside of the cabin. With the scan feature on the radio, finding a good station is no problem. If you catch a station that's 30-40 miles to the side of your route, you can listen to it for 20 to 30 minutes, which I think is pretty good. I plan to wire it into my GTR200 through the music inputs. If I want to listen to my iPod, I access it through the bluetooth on my Bose headset.
 
Thanks for all the input, guys. I like the car radio solution, alcladrv! I guess I was just curious about FM reception flying across the country...might be fun to get a little local flavor by picking up stations en route.

I ended up ordering a SanDisk Sport Clip MP3 player w/ FM radio. Not quite as slick as the iPods but it got decent reviews and the small-screen version is just $30. Will test it out over the weekend.
 
Don't most smartphones have an FM radio these days? My cheapo 3 year old Moto G6 has one. The headphone/audio cable acts as the antenna.
 
Don't most smartphones have an FM radio these days? My cheapo 3 year old Moto G6 has one. The headphone/audio cable acts as the antenna.

Turns out iPhones don't, but a lot of others do. With an iPhone, you can buy an app to get radio stations.

Got the SanDisk player today and loaded in about 4 hours' worth of songs. The integral FM radio picks up signals pretty strongly.
 
Apps...

Turns out iPhones don't, but a lot of others do. With an iPhone, you can buy an app to get radio stations.

Radio "apps" for the iOS platform stream data via a broadband connection, WiFi or LTE, not via FM receiver/demodulator hardware in the phone. QED, they won't work very well/at all unless there is LTE coverage in the cockpit.

Glad to hear the SanDisk thing worked out -- I am really leery about buying old hardware from eBay...I know, 90% of the time it would work out, but...

B
 
Glad to hear the SanDisk thing worked out -- I am really leery about buying old hardware from eBay...I know, 90% of the time it would work out, but...

B

Yeah, it's a pretty sweet little unit for $30 (8 MB). The case/fit of the buttons is not quite to iPod standards but it seems well made and sound quality is quite good. Has a slot for a micro SD card to expand memory, but it'll hold about 2000 songs as is.
 
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