Voice instructions via car radio

[Leon_Jabachjabic]

Hello all

After four very happy years with my XDA2/TT5 setup, I have upgraded to an XDA Orbit 2 (=HTC Polaris/Touch Cruise) with bundled CoPilot Live 7.

Obviously I will now need to replace the Brodit mount in my car. I note that the Orbit 2 has addressed one of the main design bugbears of the XDA2, in that audio output is now channelled via an integrated bottom connector. As a result, Brodit have produced a '3-in-1' (charging input, headphone, 3.5mm audio out) mount for the Orbit 2:
http://www.mountonus.com/products/Holder_with_1-in-3_Adapter/O2/XDA_Orbit_2/849796/13799/O2_XDA_Orbit_2_for_all_countries.aspx.

What I am wondering is whether I would be able to connect an FM transmitter to the 3.5mm audio out socket of such a mount in order to be able to hear the navigation instructions over the car radio? Also, although I do not at present use my PDA as an MP3 player, would such an arrangement work for music too? In this case, what would happen if the CPL7 issued a navigation instruction while the Orbit 2 was playing a music file (e.g., music but no nav instruction, break music and play nav instruction, or music and nav instruction together)?

All the best

Leon
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Leon Jabachjabic

[mikealder]

The best method for audio quality is to use the Bluetooth A2DP output to a car radio that can use this mode, otherwise you can use the splitter cable/ splitter mount. The splitter cable is a much cheaper alternative and allows the PDA to be charged up at the same time as routing the audio to the 3,5MM socket. An FM Tx will work with this setup. The sound with play the music all the time, navigation sounds will play at the same time as the music - Mike

[nonno]

Hi Mike,

Yes you can you an FM transmitter to play CPL instructions over the radio. In fact I'm doing just that. I have a Dell Axim X51V running CPL7 and CorePlayer as my audio/video player. The FM tx connects to the PDA via the 2.5mm audio output. I can have both operating simultaneously and have CPL7 instructions voice-over the music. No worries.

What you can't do however is have CPL voice-over a radio station. FM capture effect simply blocks out the radio station because it is of lower strength to the output of the FM tx comparatively speaking.

[Leon_Jabachjabic]

Well, I took the plunge and bought the Brodit 3-in-1 mount and a Griffin ITrip FM transmitter and it is working just great - I can clearly hear the Copilot voice cues even with the roof down on my MX-5 and at any speed. It also has the useful effect of cutting off the Orbit 2 audio when I do not want the voice instructions (altering the volume within CoPilot seems to affect the whole device!) This is not an issue for me as I use a Bluetooth headset for handsfree phone.

Highly recommended hardware setup!

Leon
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Leon Jabachjabic

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