Roadmaster USA (http://www.roadmasterusa.com) recently announced the availability of its VRFM series of FM Modulators. These devices plug into your cars cigarette lighter power adapter and allow you to play music or audio from the Pocket PC or another portable music player through your cars FM radio. There are six versions in this series, varying in price and features. I tested the top-of-the-line VRFM9 (MSRP: $69.99) with my Dell Axim X51v Pocket PC. (You can also use Smartphones and portable CD or MP3 players.
The FM Modulator draws its power from your cars battery through the cigarette lighter. Simply plug it into the cigarette lighter receptacle on your dashboard, connect your Pocket PC or portable media player to the device using the audio connectivity cable that comes with the Modulator, tune your FM radio and the device to an unused FM frequency, and you're ready to go. (Note: The audio cable that ships with the device has a 2.5mm stereo plug on one end and a 3.5mm stereo plug on the other. The smaller plug inserts into the FM Modulator and the larger one into the audio jack on your Pocket PC or portable media player. If you have a Pocket PC or Smartphone with a 2.5mm stereo jack, you'll need to get a cable with 2.5mm plugs on each end, or 3.5-to-2.5mm adapter. These should be available at an electronics store.)
Easy to set up and use
The VRFM9 FM Modulator allows you to use one of 15 different FM frequencies for the wireless transmission. Select the particular frequency you want using the channel button located on the top of the device above the LCD. Then adjust the FM tuner in your car to the same frequency. You control the music playback—change tracks, fast forward, etc—from the Pocket PC or music player you attach to the FM Modulator. You can also change the sound level from your Pocket PC, but I would avoid this. Set your Pocket PCs system sound level to mid-range, set Media Player Mobiles sound level to 50%, and leave them there. Do the actual control of the volume, balance, bass, treble, etc., from your cars audio system.
The main drawback of the FM Modulator is that it occupies the cigarette lighter slot. That means you can't use another adapter to power or recharge your Pocket PC. This limits your use of the Pocket PC with the FM Modulator to a few hours. Fortunately, there are a couple ways to deal with this limitation.
Fig. 1: RoadPro 12 Volt 2 Way Accessory Adapter ($16.99) at RealTruck.com.
One thing you can do is get an adapter that splits the cigarette lighter into two receptacles. A Web search on 2-way cigarette lighter adapters will yield a number of sources for these devices, including the one pictured in Fig. 1. This type of adapter is usually priced in the $5 to $25 range.
SD card slot makes it even easier
I did not test the 2-way cigarette lighter adapter because I discovered a feature on the FM Modulator that made it unnecessary. In addition to a 2.5mm stereo jack, the FM Modulator I tested (version VRFM9) has an SD card slot and a USB port (Fig. 2). These allow you to insert an SD card or a USB flash drive directly into the device and play music using the controls on the face of the FM Modulator.
Fig. 2: The head of the VRFM9 FM Modulator swivels up to expose an SD card slot and a USB port.
Since I store my music on an SD card, all I had to do was remove the card from my Axim and insert it into the FM Modulators card slot. The control buttons on the face of the FM Modulator allow me to play/pause the music, jump to the previous/next track, and shuffle the music. You can also adjust the music volume from the FM Modulator, but again, its better to leave it set in the mid-range and adjust it from your cars audio system. The LCD on the face of the device displays the source of the music (USB or SD card), the FM frequency in use, and song titles as they are played.
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