blueghost75
Golden Member
I just posted this on the ArsTechnica forums:
I just ordered an FM modulator to replace the tape adapter that I have playing music from my MP3 CD player (Rio SP250) to the car. I have a 97' Maxima with the Bose sound system.
After a good bit of research and calling crutchfield, I found out that I will need a couple of adapters for the FM modulator to hook it into the antenna line.
My car has two antennas, one regular one that sticks up on the outside, and another one in the rear window that looks like the defroster lines. There are actually two separate antenna lines that go into the radio. This is called a diversity antenna. The radio constantly looks at both antennas and uses the one with the best reception.
The problem is this: To hook up the FM modulator, the antenna connection actually goes through the modulatior itself. If I buy the adapters, it will disable the diversity fuction of the radio, which I would prefer to keep, even though I probably would never notice the difference.
Now - for the electrical engineers out there - what can I do about this?
I guess my real question was that what does the modulator do to the signal. Is there some reason why I cannot just hook the antenna output up to the antenna line, like splice it in, or would that affect the signal in an adverse way?
I'm good at electronics, but I have not been to college yet, so i'm just lacking the knowledge that some of you guys have.
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In other words, why doesn't the modulator use some sort of a 3-way spliter in the antenna line, and only have one cable coming out of the modulator instead of one coming in and one going out?
- David
I just ordered an FM modulator to replace the tape adapter that I have playing music from my MP3 CD player (Rio SP250) to the car. I have a 97' Maxima with the Bose sound system.
After a good bit of research and calling crutchfield, I found out that I will need a couple of adapters for the FM modulator to hook it into the antenna line.
My car has two antennas, one regular one that sticks up on the outside, and another one in the rear window that looks like the defroster lines. There are actually two separate antenna lines that go into the radio. This is called a diversity antenna. The radio constantly looks at both antennas and uses the one with the best reception.
The problem is this: To hook up the FM modulator, the antenna connection actually goes through the modulatior itself. If I buy the adapters, it will disable the diversity fuction of the radio, which I would prefer to keep, even though I probably would never notice the difference.
Now - for the electrical engineers out there - what can I do about this?
I guess my real question was that what does the modulator do to the signal. Is there some reason why I cannot just hook the antenna output up to the antenna line, like splice it in, or would that affect the signal in an adverse way?
I'm good at electronics, but I have not been to college yet, so i'm just lacking the knowledge that some of you guys have.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other words, why doesn't the modulator use some sort of a 3-way spliter in the antenna line, and only have one cable coming out of the modulator instead of one coming in and one going out?
- David
