FM Travel to Le Mans
Discussion
So, I'll be travelling Calais to Le Mans. Can't be ar5ed taking dozens of CD's with me so plan to stream vibes from smartphone > FM transmitter > car radio.
The above setup works fine in England using FM 87.5. Question - what is the ideal FM frequency to use on a trip from Calais to Le Mans ?
A few years ago I travelled from Calais to Nantes and whatever 'spare' frequency I used I had to retune every 10 mins or so as a radio station popped up on the frequency I was using
Just wondered if anyone had any experience of finding a frequency that no station in northern France uses ??
Cheers !
The above setup works fine in England using FM 87.5. Question - what is the ideal FM frequency to use on a trip from Calais to Le Mans ?
A few years ago I travelled from Calais to Nantes and whatever 'spare' frequency I used I had to retune every 10 mins or so as a radio station popped up on the frequency I was using
Just wondered if anyone had any experience of finding a frequency that no station in northern France uses ??Cheers !
Can't help with some map of french radio frequencies and have to say my experience of those FM tramsmitters is the same, you just become very good at finding the buttons by feel. Or give up on them and try something else.
Does your car head unit support MP3 CDs? That's what I generally use and a full CD only loops on the way back from Le Mans (via our ~9hr home-to-campsite 'A' road route).
Or does your car head unit have Bluetooth or an AUX input? You could get a cheap MP3 player/old phone, load that up and play from that if you do. And if you want to use Bluetooth but only have AUX you can get Bluetooth/AUX adapters to bridge the gap.
Does your car head unit support MP3 CDs? That's what I generally use and a full CD only loops on the way back from Le Mans (via our ~9hr home-to-campsite 'A' road route).
Or does your car head unit have Bluetooth or an AUX input? You could get a cheap MP3 player/old phone, load that up and play from that if you do. And if you want to use Bluetooth but only have AUX you can get Bluetooth/AUX adapters to bridge the gap.
I haven't done that for years! Plugging the phone into the car radio would be easier, but I assume you don't have a socket.
French FM is a muddle as its a big country, and you soon drive out of range of a transmitter, so they have to have loads more on different frequencies. Plus there are hundreds of local stations. Once you're into the countryside you can only receive about 10 stations, compared to 70 in Paris
Some details are here https://radiomap.eu/fr/ but it doesn't cover every major town, especially in the area you need.
https://radiomap.eu/fr/paris is a list of stations in the Paris area. As you need over 100 miles between stations on the same frequency, except low power local stations, that should help, but I can't find a gap, except, perhaps, at 108.00.
You may have to retune every 50 miles. If you can reach the back of the radio, try unplugging the aerial and see if it works
French FM is a muddle as its a big country, and you soon drive out of range of a transmitter, so they have to have loads more on different frequencies. Plus there are hundreds of local stations. Once you're into the countryside you can only receive about 10 stations, compared to 70 in Paris
Some details are here https://radiomap.eu/fr/ but it doesn't cover every major town, especially in the area you need.
https://radiomap.eu/fr/paris is a list of stations in the Paris area. As you need over 100 miles between stations on the same frequency, except low power local stations, that should help, but I can't find a gap, except, perhaps, at 108.00.
You may have to retune every 50 miles. If you can reach the back of the radio, try unplugging the aerial and see if it works
I'd just whack one or two (linked stereo) of these in the car, probably way better sound than a vintage head unit.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-W-KING-Portable...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-W-KING-Portable...
Are you getting the feeling its time for a new car radio. Do you have ISO plugs?
£22 will buy you this https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Andven-Bluetooth-Receiv...
It looks carp but should get you your music for a few days. And you get Dual USB and Hands-free Calling thrown in
£22 will buy you this https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Andven-Bluetooth-Receiv...
It looks carp but should get you your music for a few days. And you get Dual USB and Hands-free Calling thrown in
RSpiston said:
So, I'll be travelling Calais to Le Mans. Can't be ar5ed taking dozens of CD's with me so plan to stream vibes from smartphone > FM transmitter > car radio.
The above setup works fine in England using FM 87.5. Question - what is the ideal FM frequency to use on a trip from Calais to Le Mans ?
A few years ago I travelled from Calais to Nantes and whatever 'spare' frequency I used I had to retune every 10 mins or so as a radio station popped up on the frequency I was using Just wondered if anyone had any experience of finding a frequency that no station in northern France uses ??
Cheers !
Please tell me this is for the RS500? If so where are you staying, I'm bringing half a tennis ball and a flat head screwdriver The above setup works fine in England using FM 87.5. Question - what is the ideal FM frequency to use on a trip from Calais to Le Mans ?
A few years ago I travelled from Calais to Nantes and whatever 'spare' frequency I used I had to retune every 10 mins or so as a radio station popped up on the frequency I was using
Just wondered if anyone had any experience of finding a frequency that no station in northern France uses ??Cheers !
LawrieC said:
Are you getting the feeling its time for a new car radio. Do you have ISO plugs?
£22 will buy you this https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Andven-Bluetooth-Receiv...
It looks carp but should get you your music for a few days. And you get Dual USB and Hands-free Calling thrown in
That looks like one of the cheap Chinese mini-head units, so only 6.8cm deep. I know quite a few classic owners who have fitted there - but taking advantage of their diminutive dimensions to hide them away in the glove box/etc while leaving the original radio in place to keep the original look.£22 will buy you this https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Andven-Bluetooth-Receiv...
It looks carp but should get you your music for a few days. And you get Dual USB and Hands-free Calling thrown in
At £22 you could even treat it as disposable so not have to mount it properly and should be good-enough to get you down to Le Mans and back.
My golf has a sd card reader thousands upon thousands tunes can be put on it make mixes and traditionally with some real stinkers in between the smurf song has become popular sweet caroline prompts honks on the horn..... and with a proper mp3 editor you can put these headers on for the display in the car 
done that since year dot
done that since year dotGreat Dane said:
My golf has a sd card reader thousands upon thousands tunes can be put on it make mixes and traditionally with some real stinkers in between the smurf song has become popular sweet caroline prompts honks on the horn...
We have a tradition of everyone in the group throwing in a few tracks each and someone putting them together into an MP3 CD/SD cards so you get a bit of camaraderie of everyone having the same soundtrack regardless of car/crossing/route/date. Over the year's we've tried to keep at least 1 track from each past member, or at least different musical taste and have also gained some 'standards' that call back to previous trips¹ - all of which results in a rather eclectic selection!¹ Our very first Le Mans there was a guy in the Village sessing CDs, including the "Sounds of Le Mans" CD - so every now and then the music will stop and you'll just have the sound of a Porsche 917 doing a lap. We also have "Get a Haircut" by George Thorogood, after the year one of the guys decided (at about 1am post Driver's Parade) to borrow someone's rechargable hair clippers and go from scissor length to a #1. He committed to a full 'inverse mohican' first cut and got about 2 other lines started...before the clippers ran out of charge
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