Old radio programs on old car radios

[Tomoldcars]

I do a lot of driving during the course of a work week. I am also addicted to old radio programs. Hanging from the rear view mirror, plugged into the “Power Port” (can’t say cig…. Lig…r any more) and with the antenna stuck to the roof through the door, is my XM receiver. It has a low power FM transmitter set to a local vacant channel, 87.9, and I enjoy several hours of drama or 40’s, 50’s and 60’s music. The receiver being light weight and portable, I can move it to any car I drive.  I was going to take the Packard to my son’s yesterday, so I started to pull the receiver off the mirror. It occurred to me, suddenly, I don’t have 87.9 on the Packard radio. Nor do I have it on the 53 Henny, the, 57 Cadillac, or the 65 Jag. Those are the cars most appropriate for Suspense or Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. The obvious solution is a small, low power AM transmitter with an audio input that would play through the original AM car radio. I suspect something might be available that could be adapted, but the FCC might want to be involved. Low power AM transmitters are not hard to build; I think kits are still available. I could pull the radio and tap in an auxiliary input but that’s work and I’m lazy. The transmitter would have to meet FCC specs and run on DC power between 5 and 14 volts. It could take any audio source.  If any of my rolling stock rises to the rank of daily driver, I will have to build one. Tom

[bcroe]

If your XM has an audio output, you could feed it into a Ramsey FCC approved AM
transmitter kit, such as AM1C (9 to 12V power).  At 0.1W its probably a little too
powerful.  Do provide some power protection against transients on the battery line. 
I suppose the XM is stereo, use a couple resistors to add (mix) the channels to one. 

The bigger problem might be if your XM only has an FM output.  In that case spot
an FM receiver somewhere (stereo not required), and either wire it to the radio
(volume control works) or re broadcast in AM.  good luck, Bruce Roe  K9MQG 

[Dan LeBlanc]

Tom.  I used a RediRad in my 61 Fleetwood.  It has a headphone input from an external device and an antenna connection.  You plug your antenna into the RediRad, and plug the RediRad antenna output into your factory radio.

When a signal is detected from the external device, it cuts the signal from the antenna and plays the audio through your factory radio.  Works much the same as the vintage FM converters.  I used a piece of velcro to attach it to the underside of my radio.

They have 6V and 12V versions available.

Works great and would recommend to anyone.