GRIFFIN ITRIP NANO HACK/ADD ON - no mod needed.

If your like me you have purchased an fm transmitter for you ipod with

dreams of wirelessly transmit your tunes to your car stereo or home

stereo.

Well these things do work, but generally reception is a problem,.. you

end up having to have the unit close to the receiver or will sound like

garbage, or not even pick up at all.

This hack is for the Griffin Itrip Nano version. The concept of this

hack will work on any of these FM transmitters, but this is for the

nano version because it offers a hand way to connect the antenna

extension... usb.

After experimenting I stumbled across the wonders of how coaxial cable

works great for an antenna. I noticed that the bottom of the Itrip

Nano offers a usb connector,.. actually a usb mini b connector.

I noticed that holding a coaxial cable up to this usb jack that the

reception was awsome.. so what did my nogin think next??.. how do I go

usb to coaxial?.. very simply, actually... heres how I did it.

Note- I did most of this in my house with home stereo on, and itrip

functioning.

1. USB MINI B CONNECTOR - choose wire to use

Find an old usb mini b connector,.. cut it off and strip the 4 wires.
Plug it into the itrip while its on and transmitting... hold up the tv
coaxial cable to each one of the exposed wires and pick the one that
sounds best.

Helps to move it just out of range of the stereo so you can hear it
working.

Remember what wire your going to use.

2. 300 OHM TO 70 OHM SPLITTER
Do you remember those old things,.. I had one laying around and figured
it would be a handy way to attach my coaxial so I put it in the mix..
cut off the screw down ends and twist them together,.. connect them to
the chosen wire off the usb plug... I taped and shrink wrapped this
connection,.. then shrink wrapped the whole assembly.

3. PUT EM TOGETHER
Now all you have to do is plug the coax into the assembly,..then plug
the whole thing into the usb jack in the bottom of the itrip nano when
you wanna use it. She doesn't look to pretty but works, major.
I tested this antenna extension and made it two blocks from my house
while still transmitting...

Also, after talking with Griffin they said they couldn't sell it
because of FCC regulations.

Try it out... you probably have all the parts laying around your
house,.. simply put you just need to make a coax to usb mini b wire and
plug it in :).. Coax is a nice shielded copper wire.

A friend of mine used the same technology on his FM transmitter
(different brand,..) found the antenna wire and taped in a coaxial wire
to it,.. and it helped him too.

Have fun.