Sansa® Fuze™

[curiouscat]

I have a sansa fuze which I use all the time and I also have one of those old CD/tape/radio players that take up loads of space on my desk.

My usage of the big CD player has lessened even more since I brought a mini speaker and tend to play all my music from my fuze using the speaker. That is, until I get bored with my collection and want to listen to the radio. I plug the speaker in and even when it's lovely whether like this it can be crackly. If it's windy then it's a waste of my time to try. Is there an accessory sandisk or otherwise that I can plug into my fuze and listen to the radio of my choice? I only use my big player for radio now and I really want to be rid of it.

Thanks.

[Tapeworm]

Exactly how windy does it get around your desk?

Seriously though, the Fuze (and all SanDisk players and probably other brands as well) uses the headphone cord as the FM antenna. I suspect with all the electronics, magnetic fields and flouresent lighting in close proximity on or around your desk and the fact that the cord connected to the headphone jack is probably curled up rather than (more or less) extended straight is interferring with the incoming signal.

[curiouscat]

Haha, very witty. Yes I had worked that out. Is there an aerial/antenna that I could use with the sans instead? Although I guess I need to be able to plug my speaker in as well.

[Black-Rectangle]

As Tapeworm said, the headphone cord is the aerial. Try straightening it out.

But I've never been impressed with the Fuze's FM tuner even in good conditions. 

You might try Googling "pocket FM radio." Seem to be a lot of them around for under $20--even real brands like Panasonic and Sony--and you could get one instead of trying to make the Fuze do this. But one thing---make sure the headphone output from the pocket radio is stereo, not mono. Looks like the cheapest ones are mono. .

[curiouscat]

Thanks

[JK98 · Accepted solution]

Get a long enough very thin wire, and attach it to the speaker plug as shown at the bottom of the page.

http://www.fixup.net/tips/srfs83/srfs83.htm

[curiouscat]

Thanks for the idea, I'm not very handy so brought a headphone extention socket instead. Works a treat.