So I've got a car radio without an auxilliary input, and a cheap one of those FM transmitters that sends out my mp3 signal via FM.

Has anyone had much luck with these? It seems like there's just no space in the FM signal for the trnsmitter to get through. All I get is interference from the 'real' radio.

Are more expensive ones more powerful or something to override weak radio stations in the gaps between the main senders?

The obvious step is a new car radio, but it's the official built-in one and trying to avoid spending much!

I have one, when it works it's great, but it seems to have good days and bad days. I ended up at 88.2 on the scale if I remember rightly. Depends on how many radio stations you have where you are, I'm in devon and there's big black holes in the radio coverage…

I bought it when my Audi CD player failed (don't even think about the price of an Audi cd 6 disk head!) but now I have a different motor and the cd player works so the netac is sulking in my camelbak.

I never seem to have a problem, only need to be ~1 out on the dial to be clear of interference – mine usually sits around 96. Don't think mine was expensive – certainly <£10.

I got the IStuff Autoscan FM Transmitter for my GF a couple of years ago and it has been great.

Here's a review CLICKY.

We've never had a problem with it. Taken it to France a couple of times and no problem there either. It scans for free space in the available band width and gives you the option of a few frequencies. If you go into an area where you start to get interference from a proper station, just re-scan and away you go.

I can only think of two times when we've had a real problem, but that usually disappears after a couple of miles.

You might want to ignore this post as I've just done a quick search and although IStuff still exists I can't find the transmitter available anywhere.

i've got one, as you point out, there isn't much space in the fm band, so i've unscrewed my car aerial.

as long as i position the body of the transmitter within a few inches of the head unit, reception is fine.

with the added bonus that i can't listen to johnathon ross, chris moyles, chris evans, terry wogan, zane low, or any of those annoying bloody women.

They are okay if the aerial is close to the transmitter. More expensive ones are no better than cheap ones (just like powered ones are no better than self-powered ones (ie, ones that take power from the iPod) as broadcasting regulations dictate the power output. Wherein lies the problem – if the car aerial is too far from the transmitter (or it isn't a good aerial) then reception can be rubbish.

However there are instructions available on the web to boost power output which works a bit.

But I have had three or four but would never buy another – they were all rubbish really, even after doctoring them.

cheap one complete waste of time
mrs antigee bought me a much more expensive belkin one that searchs for free frequencies and you can just about do this whilst driving is much better but still no good at all once in a city wouldn't bother buying one

Look into hard wiring it from your car stereo's CD changer port. Involves taking out the radio and more expensive but way better.

I have an FM transmitter on my new Nokia which I use in my car. Works well except there's rather a lot of FM stations about. Something that scans the FM spectrum sounds for spaces sounds a VERY good idea.

I used to use one, ahwiles is right, it works much better if you unscrew the aerial. Used to get a perfect signal then, and could generally still pick up reasonable Radio 1, 4 and "Classic" (yuck all round).

Now I have a Sony USB job, and am convinced that this is the future.

Downgrade your radio to one with a tape player, buy one of those tape to input jack thingies and plug in. I did this (new car had old radio) and it solved all my probs. My Belkin transmitter is collecting dust somewhere now…..

not much positive overall then! shame.

I had one – and assumed that if you paid a bit more it would work a bit better….

…well it didn't. Some day it just about worked, and other days it was constantly rubbish.
Tried it for a week and took it back for a refund.

A friend has one that goes to a lower freq. than mine did & he used to leave it there all the time & it worked fine. SHould really try that one in my car at some point.

I had a belkin one from 2-3 years ago and never got on with it. Really poor reception, (e.g. never got a strong enough signal to be found by autotuner on radio).

BUT .. I tried it again 2 weeks ago (due to new mp3 player) and found by chance that it works infinitely better if you turn up the volume a lot on the input device (mp3 player).

Tuner now finds signal easily and it drowns out some (distant) signals on the same freq. (I assume the signal is no stronger but more of it is made up of music rather than noise?)

Can't believe I didn't think to try that before 🙂 – Just gotta remember to turn it down before using earphones.

I got my friend one of the cheapish Kensington ones last year, and she seems pretty happy with it.

As eat-the-pudding says, it does really need the volume on the input device (iPod Classic) pretty much full up – I also had to turn off the Auto Search/Tune function on her car radio as this still kept hunting for more powerful signals, dropping the Kensington in the process. Think I ended up tuning it to 88.6, and it's kept her entertained (and thankfully awake) on several journeys between the Outer Hebrides and Lancashire.