[SUMMARY] iTrip usage in the DFW metroplex area (long)

[mac2]

Hello,

This is a summary of my experiences with my iTrip FM radio transmitter.  Thanks 
to everyone who responded to me. My original question to the list is at the 
bottom of this email.  A special thanks to Kevin Mantooth who replied to me 
multiple times and also pointed me to the forums at:

http://www.ipodlounge.com

where I discovered I was not alone with my iTrip problems.  Why occasionally it 
would work OK, the transmitter could not be any further than a foot away from my 
car radio.  I had one suggestion to remove the antenna from my car.  That was 
not an acceptable solution.  I also spoke with a sales rep from my local Apple 
store at the Willow Bend mall and discussed my problem.  Normally I get great 
service and support from the Apple store.  In this case, the sales rep just 
looked at me like I was an idiot and all but called me a liar.

Anyway, after much Internet searching, I came across this link:

http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/diy-itrip-amplifier-016317.php

which describes the building an amplifier for my iTrip.  As I have an high end 
head unit (factory) in my car that I had no intentions of swapping it out, this 
appeared to be my only solution.  The first step was to open up my iTrip.  As I 
had no idea what type of circuitry was inside, I (very carefully) used a file to 
open it up.  There is just 1 flat circuit board inside.  If I had to open 
another one, I would go after it with a Dremel tool.  I filed through the top 
and the bottom welded seams.  The plastic case is ~2 mm thick.

To get to the punchline, I did NOT end up building the amplifier.  In my case, I 
discovered that the transmitter antenna, which is a piece of copper cable 
roughly 4 cm long, was fully bent over and was touching/shorting out on the 
internal circuit board, which in turn, was causing my problems.

After opening the case on the iTrip and discovering the short, I have bent the 
transmitter antenna in 2 positions.  First, straight up.  In this position I can 
now put my iPod any where in my vehicle, and it works great.  No static, no 
bleed over.  I can take over just about any station.  Second, is bending the 
antenna transmitter over, into the top seam where I opened the iTrip.  In this 
position, characteristics are similar to having the transmitter antenna straight 
up, but during dead/silent time between songs, I have static.

Its great to now have my iPod work in all my vehicles, and now, quality wise, my 
iTrip works approximately as well as any incoming FM radio station.  And it 
didn't cost me any additional money.  Also, I believe that I am still legal.  I 
don't believe that it would have been legal to use the amplifier, as shown in 
the url above.

The only downside is that I have somewhat ruined the aesthetics of my iTrip. 
And I now have a concern that If I keep moving the iTrip transmitter antenna 
(copper wire) around, that I will break it off.

I hope this summary can help someone else.  In addition to input from list 
members, I spent a lot of time searching the Internet, as there was not very 
much RTFM'ing that I could do from Griffin's web site, or the documentation that 
shipped with the iTrip.

Thank to everyone who replied to me, both online and off,

Jerry K

Also, if there is any interest, I can put together a short web page documenting 
  my experiences with pictures of my iTrip's innards.



mac2 wrote:
> I have just purchased my first iPod (3rd gen), and with it, an iTrip FM 
> transmitter as my vehicle only has a radio + CD player.  I live/work in 
> the DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth) metroplex area.  As I would suspect in any 
> large urban area, there is not a lot of unused frequencies in the FM 
> radio area.
> 
> Currently, I have found a couple of places to tune my iTrip to that 
> works ok, but nothing exceptionally well.  Short of spending the night 
> out in my car driving around to find the perfect place to tune my iTrip 
> too, I am hoping for some feedback from DFW area iTrip users in hopes 
> that I won't have to 'reinvent the wheel'.
> 
> TIA for any feedback,
> 
> Jerry K
>