Car stereo socket with built-in switch for MP3 jukebox player

[Magog]

Hi,

I'm attempting to get an Archos MP3 jukbox connected as a plug-in jukebox in my car. My problem is I'm using an RF modulator to convert the line-in signal to the radio input (which works fine by the way), but the RF modulator wipes out all other radio signals when its powered on.

My question is therfore.... Is there a 3.5mm stereo jack socket available with a built-in switch that will connect the 12V to the RF modulator when a plug is inserted into the socket (I know I could use a separate switch here but I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I'd rather not do this).

Any info appreciated

[tony sayer]

In article , Magog writes

Something seriously wrong if the modulator wipes all the other signals out. It should have some setting where you may be able to adjust the frequency..

Not that I know off, still you should be able to concoct one up..

[Lawrence]

Lawrence

usenet at lklyne dt co dt uk

[Dave Liquorice]

For how far from the car? I'm sure all other drivers around you appreciate your choice in music... Sounds like a rather dodgy bit of kit to me both from the amount of RF it is pushing out and the legal aspect of an unlicensed transmitter.

Nearly all sockets have a switches. Normally used to disconect speakers when headphones are plugged in. This is a break switch of course but some forms of open socket can be made into make by judicious bending. Then thing about the power there needs to be a complete circuit for the device to operate, a break anywhere in the power line or return will effectively turn the device off. Bear in mind that a break in the return means the kit is still "live" even if not working...

[PoP]

I want one of those for next time I'm travelling on a train!

I am pig-sick-fed-up of people using mobile phones in railway carriages and the like. I reckon I could make a killing if I came out with a radio signal squelcher that could sit neatly in a pocket and be activated by pressing a button. That way the mobile phone user would lose the ability to use his pesky device and not know which of the passengers around him was putting his toy to sleep.

Only issue is that it might take out the radios used by the railway staff.

PoP

[Grunff]

Presumably you also take a violent dislike to people talking to one another on trains and in other public places.

[Magog]

I meant signals on the cable its connected to.

How many other people reading this post thought I meant that it eradicates all radiuo signals in the vicinity (a' la cold war counter insurgence tactics)...? The mind boggles...

[stefek.zaba]

From your description, it seems the RF modulator you have is teed into the aerial - that is, it "adds" to the signals passing into the radio, rather than "replacing" them. If that's the connection, then the RF it feeds into the receiver is also going the other way and radiating out of your car aerial. Now, maybe this is wrong - it could easily be more like a domestic VCR, with an "aerial in" connection and an "RF out" which combines the incoming aerial signal with its own signal. But without knowing, and with no familiarity with car-radio addons - beyond the cheap-n-cheerful "I Can't Believe It's Not A Cassette Tape [Except For The Cables Spilling Out Of The Front]" adaptors - but with a passing knowledge of RF and electronics, I for one thought it quite possible that you were spraying a few milliwatts (or more) of FM signal around the vicinity of your car...

Stefek

[Dave Liquorice]

It's still faulty, does your video (when connected via RF) wipe out all other channels when it's on?

[stefek.zaba]

Nope; but my lad's Sony Playstation 1 does; so that's at least one instance of a crappily made RF modulator in widespread commercial use...

[PoP]

Not at all.

PoP

[Sparks]

I think he may be refering to an inline modulator, it connects between the car ariel and the head unit - it "transmitts" down the cable to the HU

An RF modulator is not really a good solution - there may well be a line in on the HU, if not, maybe a cd changer input that can be converted into a line in (I have a cable from my Kenwook HU that does this for my car MP3 player) (from

[Steve Pearce]

I just bought one and the behaviour (blocking the incoming signals when powered on) is as designed. The unit I bought had only three preset frequencies for its own output and unless it blocked incoming signals you would probably get horrible channel interference as you drove from area to area.

Since you don't drive around with your VCR it's not hard to find a channel that is free, much harder on a mobile unit!

[Steve Pearce]

Citroen, but I can't find one. I eventually went for the FM modulator option which works but isn't ideal.

[Magog]

This begs the question: why have a frequency switch when all the other frequencies are cut off?

[Dave Plowman]

But people talk to one another, not shout so the whole carriage can hear...

[stefek.zaba]

I Have A Theory about why vaguely normal people seem to SHOUT when talking into their mobiles: it seems to me that mobile handsets have a lot less "sidetone" - the hearing-yourself-speak-through-your-own-earpiece signal

- then Normal landline handsets. Conditioned by use of landline handsets, people speak louder 'cuz they don't think they're getting through. It's ironic, since the auto-gain-control built into mobile handsets makes the signal as heard at the other end a more or less constant volume whether you talk quietly, normally, or shout.

But this is a pure speculation on my part, unbacked by any reading.

[Ob.d-i-y: how do I write updates to my mobile handset firmware to boost the level of sidetone? Better still, how do I update the firmware on the I'M-ON-THE-TRAIN plonker's handset? and add the "excessive input volume -> connect to Ulan Batur speaking clock for a few hours a day" feature? ;-]

Stefek

[Gnube]

Only if they keep punctuating their /conversation/ with "I'm on the train"! ;O)

Take Care, Gnube {too thick for linux}