Well, this thread might belong in another forum, but it really goes beyond Audio, and hence I'm starting it here.

On our recent Hill Country MINI Rendezvous (pics to follow), we were using FRS radios, and it bothered me that I had to keep the music volume low so I could hear the FRS radio come on.

Here is my idea, and the type of info I need to figure this out:

It is my understanding that if you have the NAV system (I don't), the NAV voice comands will come over the music system even as you play music. This is what I would like to set up for the FRS radios. Not having NAV, I cannot experiment with that, but I am thinking in a first step to set this up for cars without NAV.
Basic idea is to hook up the speaker output of the FRS radio to the NAV input to the audio system, so that you can hear music AND the FRS radio when it comes on.

Any thoughts on this idea?

Is my impression correct, that the NAV system talks to you over your stereo, even if you are playing music, and no matter what the music source is (radio, CD, aux)?

Can you adjust the volume of the NAV audio input relative to music?

Is there any kind of mute function controlled through separate pins on the connector?

Any info would be appreciated!

TIA,
Markus

 

The Nav system does in fact send it's voice commands over the stereo regardless of the input (radio, CD, cassette, Aux) and still works even if the radio is turned off.

I believe (I should go out and check it) that you can in fact get the Nav system to mute the radio instead of just lowering the volume (which is what mine currently does).

There is a selection in the Nav system not the radio to set the volume to the MINI Navigational Wench's voice. This volume setting is in addition to the Nav systems own volume setting. So if your radio is cranked up and your Nav system calls out a command it can blast you out of the car...

 

i think an easier solution then tapping into the nav audio would be to tap into the PHONE controls.

With the phone kits the radios mute when a call is incoming and the stereo will show "PHONE" on the display.

this is relatively easy to do, as you just have to send current down the approriate wire to turn on "PHONE" mode then turn off the current when done. You should head over to MINI2 and try there, as lots of people have done the phone kit modifications. you can also find a wiring diagram there as well.


of course the simplest solution would be just to turn the radio off :smile:

our drives are spirited enough i must concentrate on the task at hand.