Enhanced Betty !

[dgfisher]

Want to enhance the voice coming from Que Voice? Found that the headphone jack is active and can be used to output to a FM transmitter (I-Rock) to transmit Betty to your radio - sounds very impressive - even plays your MP3 with the necessary intermissions for directions.

[joseph-c1]

I like that! Can you give us more info on the FM Tx?(i-Rock)

[waltisimo]

I play the voice though a cassette adapter and was also impressed at how much nicer the voice sounded. Very high quality, but then again I'm no audiophile.

[nparker13]

I googled it and found http://www.myirock.com Only $30 bucks, you can use it w/ any device...yeah! Ill tell you how it is when it comes :cool:

[joseph-c1]

Looks cool!

[ZiLT]

You can buy them at radio shack...
Now they have one that uses 12v adapter

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=12%2D2053

[TKinNY]

Does this work along with the Garmin car kit?

[ZiLT]

Originally posted by TKinNY
Does this work along with the Garmin car kit?

YES, it just plugs in the top of the ique.

[joseph-c1]

They are selling the cassette adapters on E-Bay for about $8.00. If you already have a way of mounting the IQue and powering it, you won't need the Garmin mount.

[nparker13]

ZiLT-
I ordered one these from the irock people about a minute before you posted they were at radio shack... im calling them tomorrow to see if i can cancel so i dont pay 20 bucks in shipping. it sounds like a great idea to have, even though i use the car kit, the speaker sucks.

-nate

[drknow]

On eBay there seem to be two types:
- a powered version that plugs into the cigarette lighter
- an unpowered version that is only a mock cassette

Is this right? Is there any difference in performance? I would like to avoid having to plug the adapter in.

[joseph-c1]

Sorry, I can't answer that, maybe someone else can? Please jump in.

[nparker13]

I dont have one yet, but I'm assuming that the unpowered cassete uses a cassete recorder. We were talking about a powered (both AA batts or Cig Lighter), which broad casts shorwave FM to a couple stations in the 80's. No need for a tape deck (my car doesnt even have one), and it just plugs into the Q, and say if its a long trip, you can plug it in, or if your just listening to a couple voice memos, you can run AA. Hope this helps

-nate

[waltisimo]

The cassette adapter I use is unpowered. Just a shell with a cord and a head to transfer the sound to the head in the player.

[reinbeau]

Originally posted by ZiLT
YES, it just plugs in the top of the ique. It plugs into the top? In the antenna port? (sorry, I'm dense :p) And you are talking about the iRock! 400FM....

[ZiLT]

There is a headphone jack on the top left of the ique. You plug the male part of the i-rock into the female part on the ique. You turn on the i-rock, turn on your radio, change the radio station to what ever channel you have it set on the i-rock and what ever sounds came out of the nav kit speaker, now comes out of your radio.

[reinbeau]

So that means you can't listen to the radio with it plugged in. I can hear Betty through the auto-kit speaker, while I listen to the radio. Sounds interesting, but if it does what I think it does, I don't think I'd like it.

[ZiLT]

Originally posted by reinbeau
So that means you can't listen to the radio with it plugged in. I can hear Betty through the auto-kit speaker, while I listen to the radio. Sounds interesting, but if it does what I think it does, I don't think I'd like it.

Yea, I kinda don't like it for the same reason. Still trying to think of a way to just tap in the speakers, so you can listen to the radio and have betty come over the speakers.

[jonasolof]

Originally posted by ZiLT
Yea, I kinda don't like it for the same reason. Still trying to think of a way to just tap in the speakers, so you can listen to the radio and have betty come over the speakers.

If your radio deck has a separate power amp, you can feed the phone jack signal from the ique to the power amp input in parallell to the radio line output.

If you don't have a separate power amp, you can feed your left front loudspeaker from another amplifier as well (in parallell). Just see to it that the impedance at output is higher on the amp you add so that you don't loose music volume on that side.

(because I think that the power amp of the added audio amplifier can take the watts from the radio coming in the wrong way)

Or if you have six loudspeakers in your car, just steal one for voice prompts. A small 12 V mono audio amp shouldn't be a problem to find. CB radios used to have a loudspeaker out so you could shout at people standing in the way of your car.

It'll be interesting to hear if people who connect their iQue to the radio deck have audio interference problems, noise etc. I had when I tried once. Haven't beeen at it since then. I would try better common ground and better filtering of the current to the iQue car power adapter.

Before anybody mentions muting, I'd like to say that this topic was up a month ago. There is usually a mute wire out from the car radio. When this wire is connected to ground, the radio is muted (by cell phone car installation e.g.)

BTW we also had postings on where to find FM transmitters that could be used like the i-rock in Europe (where they are illegal).
Sony had/has a small unit that you led the car cable antenna input through that serves to send an audio stereo signal onto FM. That is not illegal, since the signal level is even lower. That solution is better than the irock because you don't have to handle a little radio transmitter, just plug a stereo cable into the ique. The sony unit would be powered on with the radio. I have two somewhere that I ripped out of the car but can't find them to look for the part number.

Ask any Sony car radio dealer. Other brands might have the same thing.

Jonas

[dgfisher]

just listening to what's on your ique (or what Betty has to say) is the main limitation - you do have some options thou....
You can listen to your MP3s - good reason for buying larger memory chip or
you can compress an audio book, or other audio media to MP3 and listen or
you can listen to your quevoice memos, which by the way are much more understandable or
you can just listen to silence......

by the way, my wife has decided she doesn't like betty through the speakers either - something about the competition

[luserSPAZ]

Originally posted by dgfisher
just listening to what's on your ique (or what Betty has to say) is the main limitation - you do have some options thou....
You can listen to your MP3s - good reason for buying larger memory chip or
you can compress an audio book, or other audio media to MP3 and listen or
you can listen to your quevoice memos, which by the way are much more understandable or
you can just listen to silence......

by the way, my wife has decided she doesn't like betty through the speakers either - something about the competition

Funny, my girlfriend told me she hates Betty also. We actually got into an argument about this, since I'm not about to stop using my expensive gadget. I fiddled with the settings, so hopefully the warning tones for turns combined with the turn display will be good enough to use when I'm driving with her.

[skanknpunx]

plugs into the ear phone jack. On my radio I have a headphone jack hole, I bought a 7 dollar audio cord and just pluged it straight into the ique and then inot my cars radio, of course this will only work if you have a jack on your radio. works great with the voice nav. and mp3's!

[jonasolof]

three kids the dog and my wife hate Betty, besides she makes you appear a zoombie driver to any guests. That's why I chose to have the speaker+powerplug mounted close to the handle above the door on my left (continental) side. There, I can adjust the volume with my left hand, while keeping the right hand on the steering wheel. And Betty speakes right into my ear. But I think even the driver tires of her rather soon. However, I like the option to push the Que button for a voice update.

At the end, there is no reason to integrate voice prompts with the stereo system. MP3 is another matter. You'll soon have SD-card driven MP3 players (saw that on CeBit in Hannover) and I bet SD-card ready car stereos also so you can simply take your song card and put it into a more apt unit.

Jonas

[nparker13]

[TKinNY]

>> Funny, my girlfriend told me she hates Betty also. We actually got into an argument about this, since I'm not about to stop using my expensive gadget. I fiddled with the settings, so hopefully the warning tones for turns combined with the turn display will be good enough to use when I'm driving with her.

You can go the the iQue installation disk and change the voice, including picking a different language.

Maybe getting the voice prompts in French would impress your girlfriend.

[joseph-c1]

My wife didn't like Betty either. I'm really going to miss my wife.