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