American radio can it work here!

leonie11, Nov 13, 8:02am
have an american radio, jensen brand is it possible to get it to work in nz! t i a

owene, Nov 13, 8:11am
Yah'll need a darned big aerial to maake it wark here leonie. Stick it on 102.2FM and ya'll get Bronco Rock in Chicago - a very good station.

Of course it'll work here, why did you think not!

mugenb20b, Nov 13, 8:30am
If you mean household power wise, not exactly. Americans have 110 volt power supply, so you'll need a transformer that can convert it to 230 volts. Oh, and the radio will most likely not have an earth.

andrea_w, Nov 13, 8:36am
A stereo just needs power and earth to work. so as long as you have 12v, it can work anywhere in the world.
However, for the tuner side of things the Yanks use uneven numbers only in their frequency range ( 90.1, 90.3, 90.5 etc) and very few local stations are on the uneven numbers. A US band expander is available (NOT the same as a normal band expand you would fit to a Japanese car), but they are expensive. Well, they were when I worked in car audio a few years back - not sure if the price has changed. I can't remember what they were worth, but well over $100 fitted.
Without a band expander, every function on the stereo will work apart from the tuner.
99.9% of the time, it's not worth fitting a band expander to a US stereo (unless the stereo is something really special). just buy a local stereo.

edit - this being motoring, I assume you're talking about a car stereo !

leonie11, Nov 13, 8:41am
yeah sorry it is a car stereo

mugenb20b, Nov 13, 8:42am
In that case, ignore what I said in my previous post.

owene, Nov 13, 8:47am
Yeah I knew that which is why I said it would be OK. Out of curiosity, where did you get it and are you interested in selling it! I have a truly Yank car and it doesn't yet have a radio.

leonie11, Nov 13, 4:26pm
it is a fairly modern stereo with a cd player, and my car seriously needs some sounds! thanks everyone

74nova, Feb 28, 12:00pm
The freq of American radios is .5 out to NZ so you'll need an expander which I think they make. Call Rapid Radio in Auckland, they will know.