i just purchased an old sparkomatic Fm converter for very cheap, a manual wasnt included however, neither was a mounting bracket (bracket is the easy part) i was wondering what i tune to to make it work, aswell as anything i need to know about it before installing it.
I think there was only two wires coming from the unit, one hot (possibly with an inline fuse holder?) and one ground. Disconnect your antenna cable from your AM radio and connect it to the FM converter. Take the antenna cable from the converter and plug it into the antenna jack on the AM radio. You might also search for an installation manual for an Audiovox FM Converter FM-1C. Appears to be the same unit with a splash of chrome and different branding.
^^^^^ This. You’ll need to find AM channel to receive FM signal. Been so long I don’t even remember which end of the dial to go to. There’s alway’s play a second radio on FM station then match car to what’s playing. That’s what I did.
This may be some help. https://voxxintl.zendesk.com/hc/en-...ions-for-the-Audiovox-XMFM1-FM-Direct-Adapter
from the internets: "Output approx. 1400 kHz (adjustable)." that means tune the AM radio to 1400 (or 140 or 14 on the AM band, depending on how the thing is labeled)
I had one on my 65 Mustang in high school. Yup...you just plug the antenna into it...then the pigtail from the converter into the radio...tune to a specific spot as mentioned on the AM dial and it works! Surprisingly well I might ad.
Wow. I had one in a Willys. Simple to put in, station in my area was like Squirrel said about 1410. I don't know if that varies by location. Just fine tune the dial. If you really want to get current, I have a adaptor that you plug into your 8-track so you can play all the latest cassettes. Bee Gees, Hall and Oates, Oak Ridge Boys etc.
I remember when there would be some time set aside on our FM station for special programming for hippies and rock, the rest of the time it was for the "other" long hairs! (classical)
going to make a bracket tomorrow and wire it in, hopefully it works. i might have a baby chain setup in the future, an aux antenna insert intended for a sirus xm into an mp3 player, into the fm converter, into the am radio. it seems to internally ground to the bracket. thank you so much for all the helpful information. 1410 am, and i will look that manual up. hopefully install goes smoothly.
Once you have power to the converter, plug the antenna leads in, and when you tune across the AM dial around the 1400 Khz you will find a spot where the background hiss disappears. This is the output of the converter. Now tune the converter and you should hear the stations come in.
I installed a few of these many years ago, and from memory the low signal output to the AM radio meant you had to crank it up to hear anything. You could try an RF amplifier in series with the FM output.
it used to work pretty well, but even with out the fm converter it started crackling. the caps need replaced.
Just replaced the radio in my Japanese mini truck it had one of those tuners for FM because Japan uses a different FM band. If anyone can use it just pay the shipping It was working fine.
I have a fairly new Audiovox one I bought around 1974, I have had it in a few cars. That one came with a bracket that could be taped or screwed into the bottom of the dash.
The instructions for my Audiovox converter indicate to set the original am radio to 1400. I use a preset button on the original radio set to 1400 to switch to the fm and the other buttons for am reception. The converter works quite well.
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