Sportster 5 questions

[phishtaper]

Im going to be buying a Sportster 5 ($99 Cdn at BestBuy) to replace the older Sportster Replay (SR) in one of my cars. I have a couple of questions I was hoping y'all could answer for me.

1) I assume I will need to install the S5 car dock (and remove the old SR car dock) but can I just use the old antenna? I'd rather not pull out the old cable and install the new one if possible. Is the connector pin/jack the same for the antenna?

2) My understanding is that the FM transmitter on the S5 is weaker than that on the SR. Can I still just use the FM transmitter or would people recommend that I install an FM direct adapter? I'd rather not have to install the direct kit if possible. Ive never had an issue with FM radio station signals in the city (Toronto) overpowering my SR FM transmitter, but I dont know if this would still hold true with the weaker S5.

Thanks!

 

[Undertaker]

I bought the same radio to replace my old one two months ago for use in my home and a boom box and the jack from the old antenna was the same. It went right in. Of course you will have to use the new dock. As far as the other questions, can't answer in my cars my radios are sat. ready. for Sirius.

 

[My name is Matt]

You will have to use the new car dock and power cord. The antenna cord will be the same, however the new antennas have a much higher gain and will improve your satellite signal. As far as the weakened FM transmitter I would highly recommend that you go with an auxiliary input adapter or an FM direct adapter. What is the year, make and model of the car?

 

[phishtaper]

Cool, thanks guys. The car is a 2003 Nissan Altima.

 

[My name is Matt]

Unfortunately the best thing to do here would be to go with an FM direct adapter. Your car does not need any special adapters so all you will need is the FM direct adapter. Here is a link to the product:
FM Direct Adapter (Wired Relay)

 

[SubSonic]

I have the Sportster 4 and the Sportster 5 (OK, So I have the 5 and the wife has the 4...lol) and I recommend going with some sort of FM modulator/relay. It *can* work through pure FM transmission, but you aren't going to get the same performance you would with a relay of some sort.

It isn't the optimum solution, but it works better than plain-old FM transmission to the radio.