[G?nter Predl]

There must be some way to tune my 2002 BMW 525 radio to a particular FM
frequency but I can't figure out how so my GPS won't work.

My Garmin GPS nuvi transmit on any FM frequency I tell it to. The
instructions say find an unused frequency and tune the radio to that
frequency. OK. But how do you tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused
frequency?

On a friend's car in a parking lot with everything turned off, I can tune
his American car radio to any FM frequency I like ...... for example to
100.1 FM. Then I can set the Garmin nuvi to speak on 100.1. There's a whole
lot of hissing and other sounds but at least I can hear the music and
driving instructions through the American car radio.

However, on my Beemer, there are only two settings. One will only find
"working" stations so it skips right past the weak GPS FM transmitter
signal. If I press the little BMW "m" on the stock radio, I can then press
the arrow buttons to go back and forth a bit, but still, there is no way to
get to 100.1 which is the cleanest empty station in my area. The dastardly
BMW radio skips to whatever station it wants to when you press the arrow.

I'm frustrated with the BMW radio lack of tuning ability.

How do we tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused FM frequency like 100.1?

[Duct Tape[_15_]]

when you say that your friend has an american radio, does that mean that
your bmw radio has a european tuner? does it have even or odd digits?


american radios work on odd digits 100.1, 100.3, 100.5, etc.

euro radios work on even digits 100.0, 100.2, 100.4, etc.

if you have a euro tuner, that is going to be your problem.


--
Duct Tape
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Duct Tape's Profile: 41008
View this thread: http://www.caraudioforum.com/vbb3/sh...d.php?t=279289
CarAudioForum.com - Usenet Gateway w/over TWO million posts online!


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

[arthur[_5_]]

I would pick one of the empty (skipped) FM broadcast stations. I would
then set the GPS to output on a skipped broadcast frequency, eg 100.1
and then let the FM radio "find" your Garmin. If possible, get the
Germin as close to the auto antenna as possible.

arthur



On Wed, 5 Sep 2007 22:37:14 -0700, G?nter Predl
wrote:

My Garmin GPS nuvi transmit on any FM frequency I tell it to. The

[John Carrier]

According to my E39 radio manual (have one? looked at it?), you select
manual (the "m" button in the middle of the radio/cd track seek and then
press the left/right buttons to the appropriate freq.

R / John

"G?nter Predl" wrote in message
. ..
There must be some way to tune my 2002 BMW 525 radio to a particular FM
frequency but I can't figure out how so my GPS won't work.

My Garmin GPS nuvi transmit on any FM frequency I tell it to. The
instructions say find an unused frequency and tune the radio to that
frequency. OK. But how do you tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused
frequency?

On a friend's car in a parking lot with everything turned off, I can tune
his American car radio to any FM frequency I like ...... for example to
100.1 FM. Then I can set the Garmin nuvi to speak on 100.1. There's a
whole
lot of hissing and other sounds but at least I can hear the music and
driving instructions through the American car radio.

However, on my Beemer, there are only two settings. One will only find
"working" stations so it skips right past the weak GPS FM transmitter
signal. If I press the little BMW "m" on the stock radio, I can then press
the arrow buttons to go back and forth a bit, but still, there is no way
to
get to 100.1 which is the cleanest empty station in my area. The dastardly
BMW radio skips to whatever station it wants to when you press the arrow.

I'm frustrated with the BMW radio lack of tuning ability.

How do we tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused FM frequency like
100.1?

[Scott Dorsey]

"G?nter Predl" wrote in message
There must be some way to tune my 2002 BMW 525 radio to a particular FM
frequency but I can't figure out how so my GPS won't work.

My Garmin GPS nuvi transmit on any FM frequency I tell it to. The
instructions say find an unused frequency and tune the radio to that
frequency. OK. But how do you tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused
frequency?

You press the M button to change it from "seek" mode to manual tuning mode,
then you use the right/left buttons to set the frequency. This is detailed
in your owner's manual.

Sheesh, I never had this problem with my 2002...
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Bert Hyman]

(Scott Dorsey) wrote in
:

Sheesh, I never had this problem with my 2002...

My '77 320i didn't come with a radio.

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |

[Scott Dorsey]

Bert Hyman wrote:
(Scott Dorsey) wrote in

Sheesh, I never had this problem with my 2002...

My '77 320i didn't come with a radio.

"If you can hear the radio, the engine is too small."
-- my friend Dave
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Tom K.]

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote in message
...
In article ,
G?nter Predl wrote:

However, on my Beemer,

You don't have a Beemer. Beemers are motorcycles.

You have a Bimmer.


Press the M button and then tune manually - works on my Bimmer (E46) and my
Beemer (R1200RT.

Tom K.

[clifto]

Scott Dorsey wrote:
"If you can hear the radio, the engine is too small."
-- my friend Dave

If the engine's large enough to power a good alternator, you can hear the
stereo.

--
If you really believe carbon dioxide causes global warming,
you should stop exhaling.

[John S.]

On Sep 6, 1:37 am, G?nter Predl wrote:
There must be some way to tune my 2002 BMW 525 radio to a particular FM
frequency but I can't figure out how so my GPS won't work.

My Garmin GPS nuvi transmit on any FM frequency I tell it to. The
instructions say find an unused frequency and tune the radio to that
frequency. OK. But how do you tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused
frequency?

On a friend's car in a parking lot with everything turned off, I can tune
his American car radio to any FM frequency I like ...... for example to
100.1 FM. Then I can set the Garmin nuvi to speak on 100.1. There's a whole
lot of hissing and other sounds but at least I can hear the music and
driving instructions through the American car radio.

However, on my Beemer, there are only two settings. One will only find
"working" stations so it skips right past the weak GPS FM transmitter
signal. If I press the little BMW "m" on the stock radio, I can then press
the arrow buttons to go back and forth a bit, but still, there is no way to
get to 100.1 which is the cleanest empty station in my area. The dastardly
BMW radio skips to whatever station it wants to when you press the arrow.

I'm frustrated with the BMW radio lack of tuning ability.

It tunes like the radio used in any other modern car. You can use
either a signal seeking scan to the nearest strong station or tune
manually with fixed increments between channels on LW, MW and FM.

There are no modern automobile receivers with analog tuning that I'm
aware of so you are stuck with fixed increments like 9 or 10khz on
MW, etc.



How do we tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused FM frequency like 100.1?

Set the tuner to manual then advance one channel at a time to a
relatively empty one. The owners manual for the radio should have all
this.

[ZZ]

Bert Hyman wrote:

Scott Dorsey wrote:

Sheesh, I never had this problem with my 2002...

My '77 320i didn't come with a radio.


Come to think of it, neither did my 1600 or 2002...

I wish I still had them...

[MarianWil]

On Thu, 6 Sep 2007 10:05:14 -0400, Tom K. wrote:

Press the M button and then tune manually - works on my Bimmer (E46) and my
Beemer (R1200RT.

That's my whole point. When I press the "m" button and then press the
arrow, the radio STILL moves to the next "used" channel. It will NOT move
by a tenth of a point at a time.

Are you telling me that's how it is SUPPOSED to work? I would have thought
so too, so please confirm.

Maybe my radio is broken because whether or not I press the "m" button and
then press the arrow keys, my BMW radio STILl skips to the next used
station!

Drat!

[MarianWil]

On Thu, 6 Sep 2007 06:55:50 -0500, John Carrier wrote:

According to my E39 radio manual (have one? looked at it?), you select
manual (the "m" button in the middle of the radio/cd track seek and then
press the left/right buttons to the appropriate freq.

How do we tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused FM frequency like
100.1?

OK. I guess my radio's broken then 'cuz when I press the "m", I still can't
get to any specific UNUSED station like 100.1 FM. I can get to plenty of
used stations, but, not to unused stations. Sigh.

[MarianWil]

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 07:20:02 -0700, John S. wrote:
How do we tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused FM frequency like 100.1?

Set the tuner to manual then advance one channel at a time to a
relatively empty one. The owners manual for the radio should have all
this.

Sigh. My "m" doesn't work then. There is no way, no matter WHICH buttons I
press, to get to an unused station on my BMW radio. I guess it's broke.

[Tom K.]

"MarianWil" wrote in message
t...
On Thu, 6 Sep 2007 10:05:14 -0400, Tom K. wrote:

Press the M button and then tune manually - works on my Bimmer (E46) and
my
Beemer (R1200RT.

That's my whole point. When I press the "m" button and then press the
arrow, the radio STILL moves to the next "used" channel. It will NOT move
by a tenth of a point at a time.

Are you telling me that's how it is SUPPOSED to work? I would have thought
so too, so please confirm.

Maybe my radio is broken because whether or not I press the "m" button and
then press the arrow keys, my BMW radio STILl skips to the next used
station!

Drat!

Just went out to double check both car and bike - and the m button cycles
manual tuning on and off as everyone says. As I'm in the US, it will only
tune to "odd" frequencies, 100.1, 100.3, etc., so is it possible your radio
was set up for another country?

Hope you can get it resolved.

Tom K.

[MarianWil]

On Thu, 6 Sep 2007 13:49:54 -0400, Tom K. wrote:

Just went out to double check both car and bike - and the m button cycles
manual tuning on and off as everyone says. As I'm in the US, it will only
tune to "odd" frequencies, 100.1, 100.3, etc.,

Aha! Now we're getting closer! In your case, it skips every other tenth. In
my case it skips to the next USED station (with or without the 'm'). In
everyone elses' case, it goes to every tenth.

How wierd!

[clifto]

MarianWil wrote:
On Thu, 6 Sep 2007 13:49:54 -0400, Tom K. wrote:

Just went out to double check both car and bike - and the m button cycles
manual tuning on and off as everyone says. As I'm in the US, it will only
tune to "odd" frequencies, 100.1, 100.3, etc.,

Aha! Now we're getting closer! In your case, it skips every other tenth. In
my case it skips to the next USED station (with or without the 'm'). In
everyone elses' case, it goes to every tenth.

In the US, FM radio frequencies are always on an odd tenth, so many radios
will only tune to odd tenths on FM. In my experience, most FM radios behave
that way.

--
If you really believe carbon dioxide causes global warming,
you should stop exhaling.

[clifto]

MarianWil wrote:
OK. I guess my radio's broken then 'cuz when I press the "m", I still can't
get to any specific UNUSED station like 100.1 FM. I can get to plenty of
used stations, but, not to unused stations. Sigh.

I'm betting you're holding down the tuning button to make it go a long
way across the dial to get to 100.1. On most radios with tuning buttons,
holding down the tuning button for more than a second makes the radio
scan. Try pushing and immediately releasing the tuning button several
times; see if it will change frequencies by 0.2 every time.

--
If you really believe carbon dioxide causes global warming,
you should stop exhaling.

[Tom K.]

"clifto" wrote in message
...
MarianWil wrote:
OK. I guess my radio's broken then 'cuz when I press the "m", I still
can't
get to any specific UNUSED station like 100.1 FM. I can get to plenty of
used stations, but, not to unused stations. Sigh.

I'm betting you're holding down the tuning button to make it go a long
way across the dial to get to 100.1. On most radios with tuning buttons,
holding down the tuning button for more than a second makes the radio
scan. Try pushing and immediately releasing the tuning button several
times; see if it will change frequencies by 0.2 every time.


Another possibility is that the "m" button is the problem. If it isn't
working, then the scan button will either scan or advance to the next
preset.

Tom K.

[[email protected]]

On Wed, 5 Sep 2007 22:37:14 -0700, G?nter Predl wrote:

There must be some way to tune my 2002 BMW 525 radio to a particular FM
frequency but I can't figure out how so my GPS won't work.

My Garmin GPS nuvi transmit on any FM frequency I tell it to. The
instructions say find an unused frequency and tune the radio to that
frequency. OK. But how do you tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused
frequency?

On a friend's car in a parking lot with everything turned off, I can tune
his American car radio to any FM frequency I like ...... for example to
100.1 FM. Then I can set the Garmin nuvi to speak on 100.1. There's a whole
lot of hissing and other sounds but at least I can hear the music and
driving instructions through the American car radio.

However, on my Beemer, there are only two settings. One will only find
"working" stations so it skips right past the weak GPS FM transmitter
signal. If I press the little BMW "m" on the stock radio, I can then press
the arrow buttons to go back and forth a bit, but still, there is no way to
get to 100.1 which is the cleanest empty station in my area. The dastardly
BMW radio skips to whatever station it wants to when you press the arrow.

I'm frustrated with the BMW radio lack of tuning ability.

How do we tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused FM frequency like 100.1?

Is this an AMERICAN RADIO or a radio in an American car?

Is thin in America?

If so you will find that the digital or vari-cap tuners or rather stations in
the US will be 9Khz apart and the Euro stations are 10Khz. This makes preset
and seek tuning difficult so they make the auto-tune radios for different
markets similar to cell phones.

If your tuner jumps 9Khz then you are NEVER going to get 100.1. However if you
friends old style radio has the twiddly know device fixed to a manually turned
variable capacitor to tune the stations then he can dial in whatever the range
obtainable from lowest to highest and everything in between.

Just coz its new don't mean it better.
--

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.

Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen

Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

[Bert Hyman]

() wrote in
:

If so you will find that the digital or vari-cap tuners or rather
stations in the US will be 9Khz apart and the Euro stations are
10Khz.

US FM broadcast channels are 200kHz apart.

US AM broadcast channels are 10kHz apart.

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |

[Thomas Tornblom]

Bert Hyman writes:

() wrote in
:

If so you will find that the digital or vari-cap tuners or rather
stations in the US will be 9Khz apart and the Euro stations are
10Khz.

US FM broadcast channels are 200kHz apart.

US AM broadcast channels are 10kHz apart.

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |

European MW (AM) uses 9 kHz spacing and most European FM tuners use
50kHz FM steps, or even 25kHz.

One car stereo I had could be user configured for either US or
European channel assignment.

[John S.]

On Sep 6, 1:34 pm, MarianWil wrote:
On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 07:20:02 -0700, John S. wrote:
How do we tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused FM frequency like 100.1?

Set the tuner to manual then advance one channel at a time to a
relatively empty one. The owners manual for the radio should have all
this.

Sigh. My "m" doesn't work then. There is no way, no matter WHICH buttons I
press, to get to an unused station on my BMW radio. I guess it's broke.

By pressing M that should disable the scan feature. Pressing the
arrow button one should move the frequency display one increment only,
i.e. 970 to 980 but that is all. You have to push it each time to
move the display ahead one increment. It won't automatically tune to
an empty frequency or channel.

[Matt Ion]

clifto wrote:
MarianWil wrote:
OK. I guess my radio's broken then 'cuz when I press the "m", I still can't
get to any specific UNUSED station like 100.1 FM. I can get to plenty of
used stations, but, not to unused stations. Sigh.

I'm betting you're holding down the tuning button to make it go a long
way across the dial to get to 100.1. On most radios with tuning buttons,
holding down the tuning button for more than a second makes the radio
scan. Try pushing and immediately releasing the tuning button several
times; see if it will change frequencies by 0.2 every time.

I was thinking along the same lines, but a lot of cheaper decks I've
seen (as well as the stock one in my '03 MPV) will seek by default, or
go manual if you hold down the tuning button for more than a second -
ie. press it briefly, it will go to the next available station; hold it
down, and it will stop as soon as you release it and operate in "manual"
tuning until you leave it alone for 10-15 seconds.

[[email protected]]

On Sep 6, 1:22 pm, wrote:


If your tuner jumps 9Khz then you are NEVER going to get 100.1. However if you
friends old style radio has the twiddly know device fixed to a manually turned
variable capacitor to tune the stations then he can dial in whatever the range
obtainable from lowest to highest and everything in between.

Most old car radios i fooled with tuned the coils instead of
the capacitors. The tuning mechanism moved ferrite slugs in and out of
the coils, while the caps were fixed. Less hassles with failures from
dust that way.

Just coz its new don't mean it better.

If it's new it's built more cheaply. The old radios were
full of moving parts assembled by hand and components soldered
together by hand. lots of labour. When digital electronics came up
with synthesized tuning, it al came down to a few microchips installed
on a board, and a few switches, often soldered to the same board, and
all of it done by robotic machinery. The insides of those chips and
the displays are all made using photographic techniques. The whole
thing is probably assembled without anyone touching it. Translates
into inexpensive, but because it looks hi-tech they can charge more
for it. If they were to go back to building the old radios, we
couldn't afford them.
Some of those old car radios would pull in stations from
terrific distances. The new ones I've had get faint as soon as I get
out of sight of the station.

Dan

[Per]

Some car radios has local/ "DX" button.
If you scan in local mode you don't get the weak stations like the Garmin FM
transmitter.

........... Per.

[FloydinTampa]

Marian, someone had your solution about 20 posts back:

1. Put the transmitter on the desired channel, and place it near the antenna
so the radio will find the new channel.

2. Use the scan feature that your radio seems to be stuck on, and let the
radio find the transmitter.

3. Once you find a frequency that is clear and usable, lock it in as a
preset on the radio.

[[email protected]]

On Sep 6, 4:42 am, "Elmo P. Shagnasty" wrote:
In article ,
G?nter Predl wrote:

However, on my Beemer,

You don't have a Beemer. Beemers are motorcycles.

You have a Bimmer.

I'm a Boomer that doesn't have a Bimmer or a Beemer. It's a
Bummer.

Dan

[frischmoutt]

Read the ****ing manual of the radio.
First you'd switch it NON-RDS then depressing the search button for 3 or 4
sec. It should enter in manual mode. Searching again should allow you to
tune it on any frequency. If the Nuvi delivers a strong signal, it will damp
the radio signal itself.
I'm currently using this feature with an FM transmitter I bought on e-bay
coupled to my Archos 504 to listen to MP3s.

But again the procedure depends on the radio.



"G?nter Predl" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
There must be some way to tune my 2002 BMW 525 radio to a particular FM
frequency but I can't figure out how so my GPS won't work.

My Garmin GPS nuvi transmit on any FM frequency I tell it to. The
instructions say find an unused frequency and tune the radio to that
frequency. OK. But how do you tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused
frequency?

On a friend's car in a parking lot with everything turned off, I can tune
his American car radio to any FM frequency I like ...... for example to
100.1 FM. Then I can set the Garmin nuvi to speak on 100.1. There's a
whole
lot of hissing and other sounds but at least I can hear the music and
driving instructions through the American car radio.

However, on my Beemer, there are only two settings. One will only find
"working" stations so it skips right past the weak GPS FM transmitter
signal. If I press the little BMW "m" on the stock radio, I can then press
the arrow buttons to go back and forth a bit, but still, there is no way
to
get to 100.1 which is the cleanest empty station in my area. The dastardly
BMW radio skips to whatever station it wants to when you press the arrow.

I'm frustrated with the BMW radio lack of tuning ability.

How do we tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused FM frequency like
100.1?

[Dennis Mickey]

Watch your language!!! Plop!
"frischmoutt" wrote in message
...
Read the ****ing manual of the radio.
First you'd switch it NON-RDS then depressing the search button for 3 or 4
sec. It should enter in manual mode. Searching again should allow you to
tune it on any frequency. If the Nuvi delivers a strong signal, it will
damp
the radio signal itself.
I'm currently using this feature with an FM transmitter I bought on e-bay
coupled to my Archos 504 to listen to MP3s.

But again the procedure depends on the radio.



"G?nter Predl" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
There must be some way to tune my 2002 BMW 525 radio to a particular FM
frequency but I can't figure out how so my GPS won't work.

My Garmin GPS nuvi transmit on any FM frequency I tell it to. The
instructions say find an unused frequency and tune the radio to that
frequency. OK. But how do you tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused
frequency?

On a friend's car in a parking lot with everything turned off, I can tune
his American car radio to any FM frequency I like ...... for example to
100.1 FM. Then I can set the Garmin nuvi to speak on 100.1. There's a
whole
lot of hissing and other sounds but at least I can hear the music and
driving instructions through the American car radio.

However, on my Beemer, there are only two settings. One will only find
"working" stations so it skips right past the weak GPS FM transmitter
signal. If I press the little BMW "m" on the stock radio, I can then
press
the arrow buttons to go back and forth a bit, but still, there is no way
to
get to 100.1 which is the cleanest empty station in my area. The
dastardly
BMW radio skips to whatever station it wants to when you press the arrow.

I'm frustrated with the BMW radio lack of tuning ability.

How do we tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused FM frequency like
100.1?

[Dean Dark]

On Fri, 7 Sep 2007 17:26:32 -0400, "Dennis Mickey"
wrote:

"frischmoutt" wrote in message
.. .

Read the ****ing manual of the radio.

Watch your language!!! Plop!

top posting fixed

"Read The ****ing Manual" - commonly abbreviated to "RTFM," is sound
advice and it cures probably better than 90% of problems. You got a
problem with that?
--
Dan.

[Tom K.]

"Dean Dark" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 7 Sep 2007 17:26:32 -0400, "Dennis Mickey"
wrote:

"frischmoutt" wrote in message
. ..

Read the ****ing manual of the radio.

Watch your language!!! Plop!

top posting fixed

"Read The ****ing Manual" - commonly abbreviated to "RTFM," is sound
advice and it cures probably better than 90% of problems. You got a
problem with that?
--
Dan.

Didn't the OP say he had pushed the "m" button like the rest of us had
recommended? That would seem to imply he was well aware of the manual's
instructions.

Tom K.

[Raoul Watson]

"MarianWil" wrote in message
et...
On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 07:20:02 -0700, John S. wrote:
How do we tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused FM frequency like
100.1?

Set the tuner to manual then advance one channel at a time to a
relatively empty one. The owners manual for the radio should have all
this.

Sigh. My "m" doesn't work then. There is no way, no matter WHICH buttons I
press, to get to an unused station on my BMW radio. I guess it's broke.

Just let the garmin transmit first. At this point the signal should indicate
to your radio not to skip this location since there is a signal.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In article ,
Bert Hyman wrote:
(Scott Dorsey) wrote in
:

Sheesh, I never had this problem with my 2002...

My '77 320i didn't come with a radio.

Much later than that in the UK - it was an 'extra' on my '92 E34. To allow
consumer choice, 'they' say...

--
*The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

[Scott Dorsey]

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Bert Hyman wrote:
(Scott Dorsey) wrote in
:

Sheesh, I never had this problem with my 2002...

My '77 320i didn't come with a radio.

Much later than that in the UK - it was an 'extra' on my '92 E34. To allow
consumer choice, 'they' say...

And sadly, now you can't order them WITHOUT oodles of crappy electronic
accessories.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Bert Hyman]

In (Scott Dorsey)
wrote:

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Bert Hyman wrote:
(Scott Dorsey) wrote in
:

Sheesh, I never had this problem with my 2002...

My '77 320i didn't come with a radio.

Much later than that in the UK - it was an 'extra' on my '92 E34. To
allow consumer choice, 'they' say...

And sadly, now you can't order them WITHOUT oodles of crappy
electronic accessories.

I think that the 300 series was the beginning of the end of BMWs as
"pure" driver's cars.

I suppose the sign that they were finished with that market was when
they dropped the "Ultimate Driving Machine" slogan.

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN