How does a BMW car radio tune to GPS FM transmitter frequency?

There must be some way to tune my 2002 BMW 525 radio to a particular FM
frequency but I can't figure out how so my GPS won't work.

My Garmin GPS nuvi transmit on any FM frequency I tell it to. The
instructions say find an unused frequency and tune the radio to that
frequency. OK. But how do you tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused
frequency?

On a friend's car in a parking lot with everything turned off, I can tune
his American car radio to any FM frequency I like ...... for example to
100.1 FM. Then I can set the Garmin nuvi to speak on 100.1. There's a whole
lot of hissing and other sounds but at least I can hear the music and
driving instructions through the American car radio.

However, on my Beemer, there are only two settings. One will only find
"working" stations so it skips right past the weak GPS FM transmitter
signal. If I press the little BMW "m" on the stock radio, I can then press
the arrow buttons to go back and forth a bit, but still, there is no way to
get to 100.1 which is the cleanest empty station in my area. The dastardly
BMW radio skips to whatever station it wants to when you press the arrow.

I'm frustrated with the BMW radio lack of tuning ability.

How do we tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused FM frequency like 100.1?

I would pick one of the empty (skipped) FM broadcast stations. I would
then set the GPS to output on a skipped broadcast frequency, eg 100.1
and then let the FM radio "find" your Garmin. If possible, get the
Germin as close to the auto antenna as possible.

arthur



On Wed, 5 Sep 2007 22:37:14 -0700, G?nter Predl >
wrote:
>
>My Garmin GPS nuvi transmit on any FM frequency I tell it to. The

According to my E39 radio manual (have one? looked at it?), you select
manual (the "m" button in the middle of the radio/cd track seek and then
press the left/right buttons to the appropriate freq.

R / John

"G?nter Predl" > wrote in message
. ..
> There must be some way to tune my 2002 BMW 525 radio to a particular FM
> frequency but I can't figure out how so my GPS won't work.
>
> My Garmin GPS nuvi transmit on any FM frequency I tell it to. The
> instructions say find an unused frequency and tune the radio to that
> frequency. OK. But how do you tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused
> frequency?
>
> On a friend's car in a parking lot with everything turned off, I can tune
> his American car radio to any FM frequency I like ...... for example to
> 100.1 FM. Then I can set the Garmin nuvi to speak on 100.1. There's a
> whole
> lot of hissing and other sounds but at least I can hear the music and
> driving instructions through the American car radio.
>
> However, on my Beemer, there are only two settings. One will only find
> "working" stations so it skips right past the weak GPS FM transmitter
> signal. If I press the little BMW "m" on the stock radio, I can then press
> the arrow buttons to go back and forth a bit, but still, there is no way
> to
> get to 100.1 which is the cleanest empty station in my area. The dastardly
> BMW radio skips to whatever station it wants to when you press the arrow.
>
> I'm frustrated with the BMW radio lack of tuning ability.
>
> How do we tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused FM frequency like
> 100.1?

>"G?nter Predl" > wrote in message
>> There must be some way to tune my 2002 BMW 525 radio to a particular FM
>> frequency but I can't figure out how so my GPS won't work.
>>
>> My Garmin GPS nuvi transmit on any FM frequency I tell it to. The
>> instructions say find an unused frequency and tune the radio to that
>> frequency. OK. But how do you tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused
>> frequency?

You press the M button to change it from "seek" mode to manual tuning mode,
then you use the right/left buttons to set the frequency. This is detailed
in your owner's manual.

Sheesh, I never had this problem with my 2002...
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

(Scott Dorsey) wrote in
:

> Sheesh, I never had this problem with my 2002...

My '77 320i didn't come with a radio.

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |

Bert Hyman > wrote:
(Scott Dorsey) wrote in
>
>> Sheesh, I never had this problem with my 2002...
>
>My '77 320i didn't come with a radio.

"If you can hear the radio, the engine is too small."
-- my friend Dave
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Elmo P. Shagnasty" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> G?nter Predl > wrote:
>
>> However, on my Beemer,
>
> You don't have a Beemer. Beemers are motorcycles.
>
> You have a Bimmer.
>

Press the M button and then tune manually - works on my Bimmer (E46) and my
Beemer (R1200RT.

Tom K.

Scott Dorsey wrote:
> "If you can hear the radio, the engine is too small."
> -- my friend Dave

If the engine's large enough to power a good alternator, you can hear the
stereo.

--
If you really believe carbon dioxide causes global warming,
you should stop exhaling.

On Sep 6, 1:37 am, G?nter Predl > wrote:
> There must be some way to tune my 2002 BMW 525 radio to a particular FM
> frequency but I can't figure out how so my GPS won't work.
>
> My Garmin GPS nuvi transmit on any FM frequency I tell it to. The
> instructions say find an unused frequency and tune the radio to that
> frequency. OK. But how do you tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused
> frequency?
>
> On a friend's car in a parking lot with everything turned off, I can tune
> his American car radio to any FM frequency I like ...... for example to
> 100.1 FM. Then I can set the Garmin nuvi to speak on 100.1. There's a whole
> lot of hissing and other sounds but at least I can hear the music and
> driving instructions through the American car radio.
>
> However, on my Beemer, there are only two settings. One will only find
> "working" stations so it skips right past the weak GPS FM transmitter
> signal. If I press the little BMW "m" on the stock radio, I can then press
> the arrow buttons to go back and forth a bit, but still, there is no way to
> get to 100.1 which is the cleanest empty station in my area. The dastardly
> BMW radio skips to whatever station it wants to when you press the arrow.
>
> I'm frustrated with the BMW radio lack of tuning ability.

It tunes like the radio used in any other modern car. You can use
either a signal seeking scan to the nearest strong station or tune
manually with fixed increments between channels on LW, MW and FM.

There are no modern automobile receivers with analog tuning that I'm
aware of so you are stuck with fixed increments like 9 or 10khz on
MW, etc.


>
> How do we tune a BMW automobile radio to an unused FM frequency like 100.1?

Set the tuner to manual then advance one channel at a time to a
relatively empty one. The owners manual for the radio should have all
this.

Bert Hyman wrote:

> Scott Dorsey wrote:
>
>> Sheesh, I never had this problem with my 2002...
>
> My '77 320i didn't come with a radio.
>

Come to think of it, neither did my 1600 or 2002...

I wish I still had them...