Clip+ FM clicking

[vocrobot]

I have not been around for a while but when I first got my Clip+ when in FM radio mode if the FM screen was showing there was clicking while listening, it's to do with the player checking the strength of the signal from what I understand. Has this been fixed? It's nearly two years since I gave my Clip+ to a friend and my iPod has just died so I want a cheap player and the Clip was always very reliable. Any advice would be much appreciated.


Paul

[rockclip]

I just recently Rockboxed my Clip Zip and Clip+.  Many thanks to those who have developed this firmware.  Amazing what passion and attention to detail can bring out of this hardware.   

Back to the OP's question - on the Clip+ I do notice on weaker FM stations (say, below 30db according to the Rockbox meter) a dull mechanical thumping/clicking that I don't hear on the Clip Zip. 

If, on the Clip+ I set the FM radio to 'Force Mono' in Rockbox or boot to the original stock firmware (V01.02.16A) to play the radio this thumping/clicking noise on those same stations is not present.   

I paid 20 bucks for an 8Gig Clip+.  I wouldn't hesitate to get another if I needed another player and I'd still Rockbox it immediately. 

[rockclip]

Small update -

Installed the pre 3.14 dev build - from 2/17 - the click to me seems less noticeable - though it's still there on certain stations and is quicker and softer now -  there are notes in the doc folder of the firmware that lists this as a known issue - apparently the information needed to address it properly is not readily available, and the information is  difficult and/or time consuming to obtain by experimentation.

In any case, the stations that don't exhibit this sound good. I don't think this is something that would diminish my enjoyment of the Firmware, and, you could always boot to the stock to play FM if it really bothered you.   I get  25 stations (most are ClearChannel or CBS anyway) and I only notice this on a handful of them.

[shoe]

I submitted a patch that fixes this issue by disabling the radio polling, more than 2 years ago I believe.  It would be good to get this fix into the build.

[saratoga]

Doesn't that patch just disable reading the FM status for all devices?  Thats not nice since most people do not have the hardware defect that causes the clicking sound AFAIK. 

[shoe]

Ah, I didn't realize it was a hardware defect, I assumed it happened with all of the Clip+ players.

[Astrogoth]

My Zip has it, annoying little spud.

[vocrobot]

Never had it on the Zip. Bought myself a Clip+ and it's still there but when listening to radio I just go to the menu and it goes away. Still find that the FM radio drains the battery a lot more than other devices with them but the Sansa firmware drains it just as quick so it must be hardware related.

[shoe]

Maybe an option in the config file to disable the radio polling, not enabled by default, just for those who's devices have the issue?

[saratoga]

I wonder if there is some way to detect which radios are likely to have interference problems?  Maybe polling could be slowed or disabled only on broken radio chips?

[shoe]

My Clip+ uses the RDA5802 radio, and definitely has the issue.  My patch stops the radio status polling for this chip, and also for the SI4700, because I think I read someone having issues with that one as well, but I'm not sure about that. 

Does anyone have a Clip+ that does NOT have the periodic clicking sound on the radio? It is noticeable when listening to talk radio stations, not so much with music.

[mrfritzle]

Did notice the problem.
.., but maybe the radio on the sending side is different from country to country ?

+1 for Germany