I TOTALLY AGREE!!! I will do NOTHING to deprive the originality of the
car. I was just curious as to my situation. Don't worry!

There is quite a large market for Porsche parts, even for older cars. There
is also quite a wide range of prices so it pays to look around.

I had the radio die in my '98 Boxster. It looked to be about $500 to repair
it, and a replacement was over $1200, over 700 for a rebuilt radio. Now, it
was a nice radio, but $1200!!

After much hand wringing and looking around I finally found a speed shop
halfway across the country that had a rebuilt radio for around $200. There
are literally hundreds of Porsche blogs and mod sites on the net; many of
these can provide leads. Don't forget the obvious Porsche suppliers and, of
course, eBay. Even if they don't directly have what you want, often they
can provide clues.

Back then those radios weren't that great, and a LOT of people yanked them
in favor of radios with cassette players or, later, CD's. Porsches tend to
be driven for a LONG time. So the odds of finding a replacement for a
decent price might be pretty good. Heck, I may have one of about that
vintage lying around here. Not much chance of ever finding it in this
shack, though!

As far as making a converter, I don't hold it to be quite as tough as some
of the other posters have indicated, but it could be a real barrier if you
aren't already a homebrewer. The fact that you are posting to a ham radio
newsgroup leads me to suspect you might not be a total innocent around a
soldering iron. There are a number of chips, NE612, 614, 615, that contain
a large fraction of an FM reciever. If you only want one station, it is
actually pretty simple. Building a high frequency VFO, though, is a bit of
a challenge. Modern synthesizer chips can greatly ease that, but they are
all little bitty surface mount parts, and you gotta program a computer chip
to drive them. Really not all that insurmountable, but it's not an
afternoon project, either!

Might not be such a bad plan to run down to Best Buy or whatever and get a
cheap replacement; pretty good radios are cheap enough that it could be
temporary. Then you have tunes while you are getting the real radio fixed.

...

wrote in message
oups.com...
I TOTALLY AGREE!!! I will do NOTHING to deprive the originality of the
car. I was just curious as to my situation. Don't worry!

soldering is my middle name.... but I want to keep the original
radio..............the most modifying I want to do would be to build
this converter

When you say "keeping it to one station"... do you mean the AM or the
FM?... I want to be able to change the AM, but if I have to keep the
Blaupunkt at one frequency to receive the signal from the converter, I
wouldn't mind at all.

On 19 Dec 2005 13:23:27 -0800, wrote:

When you say "keeping it to one station"... do you mean the AM or the
FM?... I want to be able to change the AM, but if I have to keep the
Blaupunkt at one frequency to receive the signal from the converter, I
wouldn't mind at all.

Seeing as how you are a "packer fan" I may have just what you are
looking for. I have one of those FM to AM converters. Got it sometime
in the 70's. It is a very small box about 3/4 inch high by about 4 x 6
inches. Used it in a car that came with only an AM radio. Just plugs
into the antenna jack and the car antenna plugs into it. Needs to also
hook to 12 volt power. Push the button and it switches the converter
in line. Set a push button on the am radio the the output frequency of
the converter and tune in your FM station with the knob on the
converter. It is mono FM though. No stereo. Works great. Email me at
if interested.

73
Gary K4FMX

"Gary Schafer" bravely wrote to "All" (19 Dec 05 18:57:06)
--- on the heady topic of " AM to FM?"

GS From: Gary Schafer
GS Xref: core-easynews rec.radio.amateur.homebrew:89952


GS On 19 Dec 2005 13:23:27 -0800, wrote:

When you say "keeping it to one station"... do you mean the AM or the
FM?... I want to be able to change the AM, but if I have to keep the
Blaupunkt at one frequency to receive the signal from the converter, I
wouldn't mind at all.

GS Seeing as how you are a "packer fan" I may have just what you are
GS looking for. I have one of those FM to AM converters. Got it sometime
GS in the 70's. It is a very small box about 3/4 inch high by about 4 x 6
GS inches. Used it in a car that came with only an AM radio. Just plugs
GS into the antenna jack and the car antenna plugs into it. Needs to also
GS hook to 12 volt power. Push the button and it switches the converter
GS in line. Set a push button on the am radio the the output frequency of
GS the converter and tune in your FM station with the knob on the
GS converter. It is mono FM though. No stereo. Works great. Email me at
GS if interested.


I found the converter box in the garage shelf I had mentioned. However
it turned out to be an 8-track converter. Remember 8-track?! WOW!

A*s*i*m*o*v

.... I cut it three times already and it's still too short!

" bravely wrote to "All" (19 Dec 05 13:23:27)
--- on the heady topic of " AM to FM?"

pa From:
pa Xref: core-easynews rec.radio.amateur.homebrew:89949

pa When you say "keeping it to one station"... do you mean the AM or the
pa FM?... I want to be able to change the AM, but if I have to keep the
pa Blaupunkt at one frequency to receive the signal from the converter, I
pa wouldn't mind at all.


There used to be all transistor converters like that back when. Now
that I think of it there might even be one in the garage here. I'm not
sure though, but the last time I was clearing room for the car I
vaguely recall coming across such an FM converter on a shelf. Would it
be something you might want if it works?

A*s*i*m*o*v

.... I can't remember the last time I forgot something.