Car Radio

[KAM]

A couple of pictures. The main problem with mounting is the number of wires hanging out of the bottom. You could cut most off I suppose. Sea Wi is a very under rated app when used as a wifi repeater. Does the job with a minimum of extraneous rubbish .ated app when used

 

[cpedw]

I'm surprised you still need a sextant. Or is it a paperweight?

 

[Richard10002]

Early car radios used an amplifier style that uses high residual current (class A) as it is easier to produce high quality with that set up and they assume you have alternator giving lots of power mostly when used

My Sony has a Class D amp, so not as power hungry ... I hope

 

[colhel]

Car radios ? Tape decks ? Heathens!

I binned the car radio, which in a lot of places struggled to pick up many stations. I fitted a 14V soundbar, with cable and Bluetooth inputs, runs off of the boat batteries with a small DC-DC converter for a stable power supply. There are loads of similar soundbars or speakers. I have a Radioplayer app' on my phone, which seems to have pretty much every radio station in the Country. I also have a laptop onboard, between the laptop and the phone i can play any station i want or any stored music from either device.

I also have a 14V TV, which is connected to the soundbar with an optical cable. Great sound from the TV, whether it's live TV or internet TV from the laptop or downloaded movies or boxed sets.

I bought an echo dot speaker for Christmas and am amazed at how much such a small unit can fill a room with sound.
As I'm just thinking about upgrading our own boat music system, I'm wondering if it's possible to link a few of these type of compact speakers together not for greater volume but clarity when underway or to play quietly when moored up.

 

[[70521]]

Sea Wi is a very under rated app when used as a wifi repeater. Does the job with a minimum of extraneous rubbish .ated app when used

Given the brevity of their website no wonder it is a 'very under rated app'. Having seen your picture I quite fancy being able to have all the boat data on my phone, but there is very little on the website or in the manuals on what you need to set the app up.

 

[KAM]

I'm surprised you still need a sextant. Or is it a paperweight?

it was a lockdown project to learn to use a sextant. I quickly ditched the old plastic one which had been on the boat 25 years and bought some proper ones on ebay. A well worth while project and surprisingly much easier on the boat than in the back garden. The GPS seems to agree quite closely with the astro sights. Teaches you far more than you could possibly imagine before you try it.

 

[doug748]

Back in 1980 I purchased a fairly expensive Toshiba Radio / Cassette which I fitted in my car and later tranferred to a new Nissan Sunny in 1984, as it was superior to the Clarion built in set that came with the car. When I sold the Sunny in 1988 I refitted the Clarion Radio and installed the Toshiba in my sailing cruiser where it has been in use ever since. I think I've had my money's worth and it now has a couple of faults:. the display panel does illuminate (probably just a bulb) and the cassette drive doesn't work (worn belt?). Am quite happy to purchase a new radio/cd player but there are two features I don't want to lose:
1 The pre-sets on the old Toshiba are the manual push button in type so when I leave the boat on its mooring with all the electrics isolated the pre-set channels are not lost. I don't want to have to retune all the radio pre-sets each time I go out to the boat.
2. The Toshiba has LW so it still gives me the Shipping Forecast and Test Match Cricket without resorting to the iphone. I don't go in marinas so can't get WiFi or even a phone signal sometimes..

Any good suggestions on I what I should purchase please to suit my requirements

I have a similar set up. I have thought of changing it but you tend to end up with another pile of electronic carp that does not perform as conveniently as the old and only has about 2 features that you actually want to use. Tuning using a circular knob, with simple presets, is about as handy as it gets; I would fix what you have . Old models on Ebay tend to go for more than you anticipate.

Having said all that, Kevin's suggestion looks about as good an option as you will find.

.

 

[lustyd]

I bought an echo dot speaker for Christmas and am amazed at how much such a small unit can fill a room with sound.

If you’re impressed with the amount of sound it outputs wait til you see how much it’s recording!

 

[Richard10002]

I bought an echo dot speaker for Christmas and am amazed at how much such a small unit can fill a room with sound.
As I'm just thinking about upgrading our own boat music system, I'm wondering if it's possible to link a few of these type of compact speakers together not for greater volume but clarity when underway or to play quietly when moored up.

I bought a couple of Echo Dots a few years ago, one for home and one for the boat. After not very long I decided that they weren't for me but, before giving up completely, I did try setting them up as a stereo pair on the boat. When I got them working together, they worked fine, but my memory tells me that I had to keep reconnecting them as a pair, so I gave up.

 

[KAM]

Given the brevity of their website no wonder it is a 'very under rated app'. Having seen your picture I quite fancy being able to have all the boat data on my phone, but there is very little on the website or in the manuals on what you need to set the app up.

It was a free app. I just loaded it up and fiddled about with a few settings and it worked. I also have it on my phone and tablet. Very reassuring to have it in your bunk when the wind starts getting up in an anchorage. Better still when you've overcooked it anchoring and you finally see the 10mm below the keel start to increase. The SMS messaging bit also works quite well so you can get it to send you a message in the pub that you're just about to ground. Very useful.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

Try this one
Car Radio Stereo with Built-In Speakers Bluetooth USB MP3 Hands Free GB | eBay

 

[Plum]

Try this one
Car Radio Stereo with Built-In Speakers Bluetooth USB MP3 Hands Free GB | eBay

Certainly looks interesting but does is have the two features the OP asked for?
1) radio pre-sets remembered when all power is off.
2) LongWave frequencies

www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[pandos]

It was a free app. I just loaded it up and fiddled about with a few settings and it worked. I also have it on my phone and tablet. Very reassuring to have it in your bunk when the wind starts getting up in an anchorage. Better still when you've overcooked it anchoring and you finally see the 10mm below the keel start to increase. The SMS messaging bit also works quite well so you can get it to send you a message in the pub that you're just about to ground. Very useful.

How does the sms feature work. I noticed that that particular version is not on the Playstore.

I presume you need another mobile phone with coverage and credit, or is there some other method of sending the sms.?

 

[KAM]

How does the sms feature work. I noticed that that particular version is not on the Playstore.

I presume you need another mobile phone with coverage and credit, or is there some other method of sending the sms.?

When I tested it it sent messages from my phone to my wife's. So if we went to the pub I could leave my phone on the boat connected to the boat WiFi and it would send messages to my wife's phone. I haven't used it recently but the feature still seems to be there in the Sept 2021 version I have but it now shows the following message.

• DUE TO GOOGLE RESTRICTIONS, FROM VERSION 1.09 THE APP VERSION IN GOOGLE PLAY DOES NOT SUPPORT SMS MESSAGES. A FULL FUNCTIONAL APP CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM Downloads - SeaWi Marine

 

[SteveIOW]

Kenwood KMR-M506DAB - £169 on Amazon. The PCB is conformal coated to cope with the Marine environment.

Thank you for this suggestion. The Kenwood KMR-M506DAB does indeed have the "no power" pre-sets memory and LW features I am looking for. One thing that concerns me though is the power consumption which the specification gives as 10A max. My existing Panasonic is just 0.8A max!

Kenwood also made a CD player model KDC-X7100DAB with the same features, which I would prefer, but it would seem there are none available at present and no forecast delivery date . I placed an order for one on line but the vendor couldn't supply and refund my outlay

 

[AngusMcDoon]

I've been wondering what to fit on my soon to arrive new boat as an entertainment radio, and was tempted by the Kenwood. The previous boat had a Sony car radio but they only seem to last 10 years on a boat and are not low power at all. A Fusion system was an option from the boat builder that I passed on as it's very expensive and from reports doesn't seem to have any better reliability or longevity than car radios. Also the standard size/shape car radio is rapidly becoming a thing of the past as most car manufacturers seem now to fit their own built in systems, and I don't want a radio shaped hole in a panel that I can't fill in 10 years time.

So instead I've had a complete change of plan. Instead of fitting anything built in I'm getting a Bluetooth portable speaker (LG Xboom PL7 for £100), the largest SD card my phone will take to plonk all my ripped music on (£15) and a SW/MW/LW/FM radio receiver with Bluetooth (Retekess TR626) for £32. The advantage of this is it's pretty cheap, easily replaceable, doesn't need any holes making in the boat, fitting or wiring, and I can have the phone or radio receiver anywhere in the boat and the speakers anywhere else.

 

[Daverw]

We have been trying an Alexa, so far quite good and suits what we need as we don't normally play anything whilst actually sailing

 

[KevinT1]

Thank you for this suggestion. The Kenwood KMR-M506DAB does indeed have the "no power" pre-sets memory and LW features I am looking for. One thing that concerns me though is the power consumption which the specification gives as 10A max. My existing Panasonic is just 0.8A max!

Kenwood also made a CD player model KDC-X7100DAB with the same features, which I would prefer, but it would seem there are none available at present and no forecast delivery date . I placed an order for one on line but the vendor couldn't supply and refund my outlay

I can’t answer specifically on the 10A max, but that may be when you have the volume up to max strength, certainly I haven’t noticed a massive draw when listening to the radio or music from my iPhone and sat in my mooring.
The cutout is the same as a the Sony that it replaced - being a conventional DIN and it is a lot shorter, so doesn’t extend into the cupboard as much.
I’m not really worried about losing the CD player - most of my music has now been “ripped“ from CD onto a USB stick that allows me to play it in the car as well. I was more interested in having Bluetooth, Aux via a single 3.5 lead and USB and it seems the audio manufacturers are all going this way with “Mech-less” devices

 

[SteveIOW]

Just to say thank you for all your suggestions. In the end I purchased a JVC KD-T401Radio/cd Player for £70. This has internal battery to maintain radio pre set memory when all 12v power switched off. It also has Radio 4 LW at top end of the AM band. A cd player and front USB provide my other requirements. There are a one or two other features I don't want/need but probably fewer than some more expensive sets. I have no wish for DAB so quite happy it's not included.

 

[Stemar]

Many years ago, when shopping for my first decent car stereo system, I was given some advice, which was to pay 2/3 of the budget for the speakers and 1/3 for the radio. It turned out to be a very good tip. The radio lasted several years through a number of cars, but the speakers ended up on the boat, where they outlasted two more radios and were still going strong at around 40 years old when I sold her last year.

I'm now starting to look for something for Jazzcat. Steve's JVC looks interesting, but I'll need speakers in pods. Any recommendations, mostly for classical music, please? What with everything else that needs doing, the budget is limited, so I'd rather not take the advice above!