FM Radio Compact Flash Card

by Ambicom

Product Details

• Item Weight: 0.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00014GH7K
• Item model number: FM-CF
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #169,356 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 2, 2003

Product Description

The AmbiCom FM Radio CompactFlash Card Brings mobility to a whole new level!! The FM Radio CompactFlash Card turns your PDA into a FM radio instantly, enabling you to listen to your favorite FM radio show anywhere. Designed in the small and convenient CompactFlash interface, you can carry the FM Radio Card along with your PDA device wherever you go. Now you don't have to stop listening to your favorite FM radio show when you leave your car -- you can listen to the radio and access news anytime, anywhere!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When mp3's are not enough!!, February 5, 2004

By 

Blake M. Morillas (Chico, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: FM Radio Compact Flash Card (Office Product)

Let me just say wow! You would think that for $32 you would get a piece of #$&*, but I am surprised. The stations come in so clear and with 18 presets you have a lot of space to save your favorite ones. It works with Pocket PC 2003 and the software is so easy to use. It comes with a pair of stereo earbuds and a line-in cable so you can plug it into your computer. If you are wondering it will not play through your PDA speaker(s), there is a headphone port on the card its self. My Dell Axim is now compleat, and when I get tired of my mp3's I now have a radio to listen to!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars just one more goodie for my toshiba e740, February 5, 2004

By 

Christopher Witthans (Student Sector - Chico California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: FM Radio Compact Flash Card (Office Product)

here is the skinny. I originally bought my pda because of it's internal wifi capability. when i came across this fine device, i was currious enough to try it out. THe brand name was relatively new to me, and i was a bit skepical to buy it. Once it arrived on my doorstep, it was within 5 minnutes before i had everything out and ready to go. WOW. 18 presets and a strong FM antenna, every channel came in crisp and clear just like listening to my mp3s. For anyone who, like me, have listened to their music over and over again, and wants a cheap alternative this this the device for you. Its small, compact, and has excelent energy conservation, i cant wait to get the Ambicom GPS reciever which i just ordered. Ambicom means Quality and fits any budget.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Save your money, November 1, 2005

By 

PhiDeck (Sarasota, Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: FM Radio Compact Flash Card (Office Product)

Disclaimers: So far I've only tried the FM-CF in a laptop (Dell Latitude D600, WinXP Pro). If I get around to trying it in an iPAQ, and my impression improves, I'll repost. I have only used it in Sarasota, Florida, where there are a few local stations, but most are 30+ miles away (Tampa, St. Petersburg), albeit with flat topography.

Reception is worse than with my car's radio, my home receiver, or a Sangean SR-2 analog tuner pocket radio (which is itself far from great). Of the few stations that the FM-CF will tune, almost all are noisy. Of the latter, some become tolerable when one forces monophonic operation. There is no provision for setting a signal to noise ratio (SNR) threshold.

The Win32 control application (v1.1) is gaudily colored and not skinable. Many of the button labels use serif fonts and small typeface, neither of which can be changed. The preset buttons display only the station's frequency; there is no provision to label the buttons with the respective station's call letters. Overall, it's hard on half-century-old eyes.

The control app. provides one configuration setting, "Radio System", with three options:
- USA (88-108 MHz)
- Europe (87.5-108 MHz)
- Japan (76-91 MHz)
Perplexingly, that setting does not localize the carrier frequencies and channel spacing. Having selected USA, I would have expected the tuner to only stop at odd multiples of 100 kHz (0.1 MHz). Instead, it stops every 100 kHz, whether manually stepping or automatically seeking.

Ambicom does not offer a Software Developer's Kit (SDK), or an Application Programmer's Interface (API) to the device driver. Hence, writing a better control program appears improbable. Nor are Linux or BSD flavors supported by Ambicom.

My advice would be to pass on this product and apply your thirty+ bucks toward a pocket radio, perhaps a digitally tuned Sangean (which'll cost you another twenty).