How can I get my American radio to receive all european radio channels?

I've got an American spec, 2008 335CI Cabrio in Germany with a stock BMW American Radio. As European radio signals use all the frequencies, and not just the odd ones like in the US, I only get a fraction of the radio stations and none of the traffic information while I'm cruising the autobahn here. Does anyone know if there is a chip I can buy/upgrade to that will allow me to receive European radio stations? Or do i need a whole new radio? Thanks for the help/advise.

Dude post this in the audio/Idrive subforum.

I am heading back to Germany this summer so we will see if mine works. All of the good stations can be had with a US radio, trust me, I spent 4 years there 04-08.

Thanks for the advise. I've posted this in the electronics sub-section now. There are some good channels that I can't get here in Ansbach. Just one of those things that annoy me while I drive. I also believe that the lack of a european radio receiver kills the reception of the traffic info in my NAV system. I drove a Euro model the other day and the NAV traffic info was very useful. I don't receive any info now with my US radio.

Have '08 E93 w/o Idrive but have the same problem here in Mannheim.
Dealer told me it is not possible to change. Hate not having TP (Travel Pilot / Traffic news). Also miss out on stations.

allan wrote

Have '08 E93 w/o Idrive but have the same problem here in Mannheim.
Dealer told me it is not possible to change. Hate not having TP (Travel Pilot / Traffic news). Also miss out on stations.

LOL I am heading to Mannheim this July. I wonder why US spec radios wont pick up euro frequencies.


Hmmmm.

IIRC you don't need any new hardware. The radio just needs to be recoded. Someone with a GT1 should be able to do this for you...you might have to change what's called the "Vehicle Order" but I believe the unit can already receive the signals, it just needs to be told to do so. Of course, I may be mistaken, but that is what I remember.

From the web:
http://www.epanorama.net/documents/radio/radio_differences.html

Why my radio bought from USA does not work well in Europe ?.
Radio broadcasting have differences between USA and Europe. Because of that some radios bought form USA do not work well in Europe and in the other way. This document tries to clear out what are those differences.


FM broadcasts
North American FM broadcast channels are on the odd 200KHz frequencies: 99.5MHz, 100.1MHz, etc. In Europe, channels can be on any multiple of 100KHz, even or odd.

This means that a digital tuner from the USA will not tune European stations properly, resulting in distortion. Some tuner models are switchable between the two schemes, but these are rare. Frequency synthesizing tuners in Europe do their actual tuning in shorter steps (for example 25 kHz). With analogue tuners you have no such problem because they aren't stepped anyway.

Be aware that FM stations in Europe use a different pre-emphasis than those in North America, 75 and 50 microseconds respectively.


AM broadcasts
Same for AM, the difference is 10 kHz steps in the US vs. 9 kHz steps in Europe.



To "dmurray14":
what year is/were your car when is was recoded? I was told by the mechanic at the dealership it is not possible with the e93.

.

allan wrote

From the web:
http://www.epanorama.net/documents/radio/radio_differences.html

Why my radio bought from USA does not work well in Europe ?.
Radio broadcasting have differences between USA and Europe. Because of that some radios bought form USA do not work well in Europe and in the other way. This document tries to clear out what are those differences.


FM broadcasts
North American FM broadcast channels are on the odd 200KHz frequencies: 99.5MHz, 100.1MHz, etc. In Europe, channels can be on any multiple of 100KHz, even or odd.

This means that a digital tuner from the USA will not tune European stations properly, resulting in distortion. Some tuner models are switchable between the two schemes, but these are rare. Frequency synthesizing tuners in Europe do their actual tuning in shorter steps (for example 25 kHz). With analogue tuners you have no such problem because they aren't stepped anyway.

Be aware that FM stations in Europe use a different pre-emphasis than those in North America, 75 and 50 microseconds respectively.


AM broadcasts
Same for AM, the difference is 10 kHz steps in the US vs. 9 kHz steps in Europe.



To "dmurray14":
what year is/were your car when is was recoded? I was told by the mechanic at the dealership it is not possible with the e93.

.

Sorry if I wasn't clear - I was just speculating. Never had it done. It seems like it should be possible, though. If not you would need a euro-spec CCC and have that recoded to the car.

Dan

I had this done with my volvo a few years ago. I got an original Volvo European Radio and it was synchronized with the car.

I tried this with my 05/08 E93 and found out that it is not possible. The computer would identify my car as a US-spec car and therefore would not allow the technician to reprogram it.