(Home) Radio band expander

Could someone kindly advise on the "band expander" which is available from some suppliers. Does it bring the (presumably)Japanese tuned station locations more into line with those in UK ? My radio is excellent but, I cannot get some of the stations I should like. Radio 4 for instance. Would the fitting of a band expander help here and, are they difficult to fit ?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. - (#1250) John Davis, 16 Oct 01

Japanese FM is something like 80-92MHz. Ours is 88-108. The expander shifts our stations so the they are within the band of your radio. - (#1251) David Miller, 17 Oct 01

I have a band expander on my MasterAce, but have found that it does not make reception any better.[Wales & West country] I have to constantly change channels to get a radio station, and still cannot get Radio 4. When I get time,I am looking to change mine to a UK spec radio to see if that improves matters. I also have a graphic equalizer on mine, when I had a look in the back, it was like a birds nest of wiring...one reason why I haven't got round to changing it yet! - (#1252) Phil Jones, 17 Oct 01

I think the band expanders just shift the frequency by so many Mhz to enable a subset of the UK FM frequencies to be received on an imported radio.
Because the Japanese frequencies are just a 13 MHz range of 80-92, the band expander I have can't fit the complete UK FM frequency range (21Mhz) onto my imported radio - so I just get
88-100 stations (pity as it misses off Classic FM and the local radio station!).
I looked on one website selling these expanders, and they had different ones that enabled different portions of the UK range to be received on the imported radio, but I couldn't see any that let you hear the full 88-108 range. - (#1253) Jim Snowden, 17 Oct 01

My Liteace had a dual band expander fitted (these cost iro £20 and are easy to fit). This had a button that would shift the frequency by either 10MHz or 20MHz. With this I could receieve all Uk stations with good reception.
In the end I fitted a UK stereo as the Japanese item lacked features such as rds, an awkward job but well worth the effort. - (#1254) Rob Storer, 17 Oct 01

Thanks to all for the good advice re radio band expanders. I think I will experiment as these items are not unduly expensive and, if I get any good results, will post some information.
Thanks again - (#1255) John Davis, 17 Oct 01

- (#1256) John Davis, 17 Oct 01

I agree with you Rob. I immediately took mine out and binned it as I felt it was'nt worth the hassle of an expander and the lack of other facilities on a standard UK radio. I opted for a second hand radio/cd from a breakers @£80 inclusive of a second set of speakers which I fitted behind the rear seats.
The sound Quality is much better than a set of front speakers alone. ----92 liteace BTW. - (#1266) stephen judge, 19 Oct 01