Blog - USB Radio
USB Radio
This is my fIrst blog post of 2006, so Happy New Year!
Having missed a few good radio shows lately, I looked up again what could be my alternatives to buying a stand-alone radio. I had eyed the iFM (for iPod) before but I couldn't find one easily at that time and also I wasn't too excited about the low bitrate recording limitation.
This time I found this USB FM radio, made by a Chinese company and sold in Japan by Thanko (original model number LUR-1001, Thanko model number USBRAD01). It seemed just perfect for my needs, and its features even include scheduled recording which could be very useful.
So yesterday I went and bought it at Yodobashi Camera (the brand doesn't seem to be carried by other major chains) where it's sold ¥2980. I tried it out and it does work as advertised, however I'm having a lot of trouble to catch a clear signal, though some stations are better than others (InterFM is ok, but NHK FM is pretty bad). The main problem is that the antenna is in the wire used to connect the radio to the sound card's line-in, but it catches a whole lot of noise whenever it's near the computer, electric cables or metallic stuff. Talk about a silly situation! There's also no possibily of using a different antenna.
My next plan is to get a USB extension cord, which hopefully my local DaisÅ (¥100 shop) has, and attempt moving the radio and antenna cable away from the computer... I'm crossing my fingers!
Posted on January 6, 2006 at 12:26 | Tweet
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Or..you could just buy a radio ;)
Posted by Roy on January 6, 2006 at 14:50
Well, yes. :) But I also want to record, and not on tapes or MDs. So the cheapest option seems to be to add radio to my computer.
Posted by Patrick on January 6, 2006 at 15:00
did it work?
Posted by joey on February 13, 2006 at 15:27
With the extension USB cable? I tried with a 2m one, and it was quite a bit better, though not perfect. Sound quality varies depending on the station though. I'm afraid I'm not in a good location to receive NHK especially.
Posted by Patrick on February 13, 2006 at 15:48
After a bit more time playing with this thing, decidedly, I can't seem to get a decent sound with most channels. At this point I may as well go with Roy's idea...!
Posted by Patrick on February 14, 2006 at 16:48