VisorCentral.com (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/index.php)
- Springboard Modules (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=10)
-- AM/FM module? (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=11249)

Gimmie! If it had a decent sound and could pull in Jazz 88.3 from the laundry room I would be the first to plop down 30 bucks.

Also, if I may brain storm a bit, I would be willing to pay more if it incorporated a voice recorder (which could use the built in mic) that could also capture a couple of songs or so off the radio. That way the next time Bloomdido comes on by Bird and Dizz I could play it back over and over until I'm blue in the face (and quite happy.)

(a)

[Edited by mnartker on 02-04-2001 at 11:02 PM]

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Originally posted by mnartker
Gimmie! If it had a decent sound and could pull in Jazz 88.3 from the laundry room I would be the first to plop down 30 bucks. ...

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DBrown,

Good work, keep beating the drum. I contacted a few module companies with a whole host of ideas, including this one. I love AM radio. I got some good responses, but nothing definite. A lot of "we have several possibilities on the drawing board." I think the key is to integrate other functions into the module, so you don't have to be swapping so much. I don't think size should be a big problem, I've seen a lot of radios this small. Signal quality may be a problem.

Oh yea, I would buy it yesterday!

[Edited by mcmanaman on 02-06-2001 at 01:00 AM]

Why?

Why do you need a springboard module to have a radio. I guess it would be neat, butd do you really want to lug your visor around just to listen to the radio?

FM receiver built into headset?

I once saw a FM receiver built into a cell phone hands-free headset from an iGo.com catalog. I was able to find it on their website (item #65241), but there's no picture. It seems like it shouldn't be so hard to build a similar radio into a walkman/MP3 headset (after all, the audio only needs to go one way in this case). If someone could manufacture something like this, I'm sure there would be lots of MiniJam and SoundsGood customers who would buy one.

It's a nice idea, the standard Springboard form factor might be tricky if you're going to have an internal AM antenna, too thin.

FM is easy because there are lots of tiny chipsets out there that do FM.

It'd be even better if it could do shortwave (reception anywhere in the world).

Stuff like FM frequency spacing would have to be able to be set in software, these things vary around the world.

Kev.

Re: Why?

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Originally posted by Grant
Why do you need a springboard module to have a radio. I guess it would be neat, butd do you really want to lug your visor around just to listen to the radio?

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Hi all,

Newbie here. Yes, I myself would instantly bye an FM/AM radio module for my Visor as well (so that's an a) ). Now as far as features are concerned, the more the merrier, or as someone already said :
" In addition, we think that the digital swiss army-ness is cool."

Exactly that.
: )

Neat idea, though leave off the FM hardware. AM news and sport is the only reality for me.

And BBC on shortwave.

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Originally posted by Fishscaler
Neat idea, though leave off the FM hardware. AM news and sport is the only reality for me.

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quote:

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And BBC on shortwave.

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Just incase this matters, everyone seems to say that AM support along with FM would be nice and above someone said they wanted just AM. Just for the record, if it would keep the price at $30 I'd take only FM because I don't listen to any AM stations. However, I wouldn't mind having it either. But not if it raises the price considerably.

__________________
-Vincent

You can leave both AM and FM off as far as I'm concerned. I don't listen to the radio except when I forget to put any tapes or CD's in the car. I choose c.

I don't dislike all radio stations, just the ones in my area. If I lived somewhere else maybe I'd buy a SB radio, especially if it had that software that allowed you to find out the name of the song/singer.

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a)Buy one in a second.

I read somewhere that the reason they cancelled the radio module was that they couldn't get the manufacturing costs down - I heard they were going to have to sell it for $60+ which I can agree is too expensive - and not worth their time to promote or deal with - so they made a smart decision, albeit a tough one...

Now if you can build one for $30 that's another story - it seems possible since I've seen radios much smaller - who knows!

How about an LED flashlight module that sells for about $10? Also feasible - and if the price is right, I'd bet anyone would consider it - there's no reason that taledevice should cost $50 - for a blinking LED!

quote:

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Originally posted by DBrown
BTW, there have been more than 700 reads of this message thread. PLEASE, even if you have no interest in radio on your Visor, respond anyway. It's just as useful to know what percentage of visor owners DON'T want a radio as those who do.
[/B]

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technically, building an am/fm radio the size of the springboard is very possible. I am currently using a very tiny Aiwa am/fm radio at work. Its smaller than a typical motorola pager. If you're curious to know, the model number is CR-LD100 from Aiwa. The reception I have is fine, especially pulling in Laker games and sports radio talkshow. Also, sony makes one exactly the same size. I think the springboard module would be easier to make since you don't need to include a LCD screen. The only problem is, my Aiwa cost me $70.00 and if someone can market one for half the price that would be awesome.

Smallest Radio Ever

This from another topic on what people store INSIDE their empty module slot - this radio is TINY and it only costs $12!!! (FM Only - sorry, but I really don't care for AM - they should sell that bandwidth for better wireless applications!)


The World's Smallest FM Radio:
http://www.hometownvariety.com/whol...rsmalfmrad.html
Features Include:
Push-Button Auto Seek FM Tuning.
High Quality Stereo Sound.
Long-Last Battery and
Micro stereo headphones included.
Size - 1 3/8 x 1 x 3/8
Weight - 1 oz.

a) buy one in a sec

a) buy one in a second

To pitch in on the extras...
It seems that adding voice recorder support would be fairly simple and small software and would take up 0 hardware and could be stored on the Visor's RAM. In fact, open it up for third party stuff (game sounds, alarms, etc). If utilized properly the headphone jack alone would be worth $30 to me. In my opinion, not putting a headphone jack on the Visor was a bad idea. Oh well.

Re: Smallest Radio Ever

jradi commented: "sorry, but I really don't care for AM - they should sell that bandwidth for better wireless applications!"

Careful there, jradi. Those are fightin' words, brother. It's easy to buy el-cheapo FM radios. It's AM the bulk of us want. Nothing like a big sports or talk radio fan to wanna shell out the bucks for the ability to listen any time!

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Traveliter,

I don't know which country you are, and how AM can be interesting, but in France, AM is absolutly useless.

BobRus.

Re: Smallest Radio Ever

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Originally posted by jradi
This from another topic on what people store INSIDE their empty module slot - this radio is TINY and it only costs $12!!!

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