FM Transmitters in cars

[PaulT]

I was under the impression that FM transmitters - i.e. plug an MP3 player in to one and it transmits on a n FM frequency to the caar radio that has been tuned in to the frequency was illegal in France.

However, I note that Amazon France is marketting a 'Pure Dab Radio' that uses an FM transmitter to link to the car radio.

Does anyone know if these devices are or are not illegal?

Thanks

Paul

[Anton Redman II]

They are not illegal to sell but are illegal to use according to the sticker attached to a Belkin FM transmitter designed to link an Ipod to an FM radio which I purchased in FNAC. In practical terms its range was less than 5 feet - unless somebody bypasses the attenuator on the antenna

[Pickles]

[quote user="P2"]However, I note that Amazon France is marketting a 'Pure Dab Radio' that uses an FM transmitter to link to the car radio.[/quote]

Slightly aside from the FM question, but IIRC, France isn't going down the DAB route anyway, or at least not using the UK standard.

Regards

Pickles

[Théière]

Aren't bluetooth devices also illegal in France?

And what have you done with Anton the 1st or are you a sequel?

[Anton Redman II]

Explanation for II -

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/2060391/ShowPost.aspx

[Pierre ZFP]

Replying to the OP -

All I can say is that, legal or not, I don't think they work very well.  Perhaps it's just my car but the car aerial is at the back and if I plug the transmitter into the dashboard I really get nothing at all so I have to plug it into the socket in the boot which leads to problem 2.  There are remarkably few frequencies in the range of the FM transmitter where there are no commercial FM transmissions.  This means that when you do find one, it may not be 'free' 20kms down the road thus needing re-tuning, but if the thing is in the boot..... you see the problem.

I wish I had saved the €29 now but I'm a sucker for new tecnology

[Théière]

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]

I wish I had saved the €29 now but I'm a sucker for new tecnology

[/quote]

Crikey, £4.99 in a petrol station in Kent, I am a sucker too [:D] works sometimes but as you say in London with too many small FM stations not much good. Upgrade your stereo to a mp3 or Ipod hard wired version. My TomTom has a transmitter built in.

 

[Pierre ZFP]

Yeah but I got mine when they hadn't been out that long.

The in-car entertainment system (as they seem to be called now) is one which has all the inputs (USB, SD card, Blueteeth etc etc) but the one I want is I think made by  Kenwood which has a large hard-drive included.  Play a CD once and it is copied to the drive so you don't have to faff about with discs in the car which annoys me no end.  It will have to wait untill I've saved my pennies though (or the Lottery Fairy pays me a visit)

 

[devilsadvocate]

[quote user="Théière"]

Aren't bluetooth devices also illegal in France?

[/quote]

Are they??   [:-))]  I hope not as I've been using one with my TomTom for a couple of years now! I've haven't been caught though.

Incidentally Motorcycle TomToms (RIDER) ONLY work this way, they don't have a speaker built-in.

Can you point to some relevant references please? [blink]

DA

[Théière]

I read it in my bluetooth headset manual several years ago, maybe completely unenforceable now as I believe WiFi was also not allowed outside as it may have interfered with military frequencies.

 

[f1steveuk]

I got my Belkin one for £3.99 of Ebay, works a treat all the way down through France (playing back Podcasts etc), very rarely get any cross frequencies. I would have thought with the very limited range there would be little reason for them to be illegal though!

[AnOther]

No idea if they are illegal or not and frankly I couldn't care less if they are, with such limited range where is the harm ?

I've had one for about 5 years but was careful to choose one which was fully tunable across the entire 88-108mhZ FM frequency band so have rarely if ever had any problems with interfernce from commercial stations. Removing the radio antenna from the roof helps enormously in that respect of course.