I want to by the AVIC Pioneer F 700 BT in the US but i wonder if the radio will work in Western-Europe?

Nope, it will not work. It will receive odd radio stations, for example: 96.1, 96.3, 96.5, ...

And RDS is not present.

Nope, it will not work. It will receive odd radio stations, for example: 96.1, 96.3, 96.5, ...

And RDS is not present.

And there is no solution for that

I need this radio stations in Belgium (Antwerp): 94.2, 97.5, 89.0, 100.9, 103.4, 99.2

That's a problem ?

You will only receive the 97.5 and 100.9. The others will not be received.

You will only receive the 97.5 and 100.9. The others will not be received.

On ebay i reed this from the reseller of the Pioneer F 700 BT:

International Information:

This unit comes with US/Canada Maps. You will need to have international maps (or purchase them from the manufacturer) to use this unit in outside of N America.

This is a US model but will tune radio stations worldwide. The FM broadcast band is 87.8 to 108.0 MHz. so it will not pick up any FM stations outside this range. Also, the tuning is in .1 increments (such as 96.1, 96.2, 96.3, etc.) so all station will be picked up

Yeah, but that just isn't correct.

I e-mailed that store and this is the answear that I've got from them:

"Hi,

According to Pioneer, the unit can be changed to international frequency

using the pioneer service remote, that is why I wrote that. We are not

trying to fool anyone but we have sold the AVIC-F700BT to European

customers without a problem. Look at the feedback we have gotten from

international customers that bought it.

Let me know if you're having trouble and we'll be happy to help,

Customer Support"

"the unit can be changed to international frequency

using the pioneer service remote" is not true, is that what you mean?

I'm still waiting for them to explain to me what the hell is the "pioneer remote"..

Today i ask Pioneer support about this problem. They told me the US radio would NOT work in Europe!!!

There is nothing to do about it.

I'm 90% sure it will, but we just need to know the code or steps to take in order to set it.

I'm not buying it the US model has a hardware FM tuner which is not able to tune on .1 increments.

Either Pioneer doesn't know or they don't tell us how to.

i think entering service menu can be a solution to this problem.

I also think that the solution lies! My problem is: when you join the service menu display go off!!

Hey guys,

I was thinking of one solution for this problem:

AVIC has both USB and SC card reader and there must be a USB stick or sd card with radio antena on it!!! Cant we just put plug'n'play usb radio stick in AVIC and play radio via USB (not AVIC one)??

I was googling and found something https://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/forums/t/3939.aspx

I am not a technical guy but may be we can do the same with our AVIC.

Can someone please see.

Today i ask Pioneer support about this problem. They told me the US radio would NOT work in Europe!!!

There is nothing to do about it.

I have a US F700BT in Germany. The unit is working for sure, but with the frequency limitation. I do not need radio function that much, so not a big deal for me.

Tom

In addition to the problems with the frequency grid, the US version also does not have RDS, and more importantly, because it has no RDS it also has no TMC / Traffic redirect, which in my opinion is an important feature missing ! ...

You're right, I forgot to mention this, to not have RDS and TMC is really a PITA.

TMC in The Netherlands proved to be totally useless.

I drove around with TMC on my navigation systems for over 7 years now, and maybe 4 times (in all those years) has helped me to find a REASONABLE detour, instead of getting stuck in other traffic.

Simply because normally it is faster to just stand in line on the highway (normally) instead of getting stuck in all detouring traffic. (TMC doesn't take busy traffic on roads other than highways)

TMC in The Netherlands proved to be totally useless.

I drove around with TMC on my navigation systems for over 7 years now, and maybe 4 times (in all those years) has helped me to find a REASONABLE detour, instead of getting stuck in other traffic.

Simply because normally it is faster to just stand in line on the highway (normally) instead of getting stuck in all detouring traffic. (TMC doesn't take busy traffic on roads other than highways)

Personally, I actually find it very usefull, even if only for checking where the traffic jams are....

In the near future it's going to be even more usefull in the Netherlands, as some providers are now preparing to use the movement info from mobile phone operators to update the TMC data, like TOMTOM is already doing....

However, it's not just about The Netherlands...

On another note, I would also not like to miss RDS anymore, together with all the features it comes with...

In that case it is very simple:

Spend double the money for an EW model (on which you need a TMC module as well?)

In that case it is very simple:

Spend double the money for an EW model (on which you need a TMC module as well?)

No, that's the whole point, European models have this all built in (RDS/TMC)....

However, I have a HD3BT-II (=European version of Z3) myself, so not a problem...

But it is still twice the price

But it is still twice the price

And the US version won't have the TMC function no matter what, since the US doesn't use it!

Replacing any boards would most likely require you to replace the entire A/V board, which from the looks of it, would not be cheap at all. Theoretically since they're all synthesized tuners, they can tune to anywhere in their band split that the software tells them to. Most likely there's an initial programming at the factory that sets up whether it's US or EU, and depending upon that, settings like RDS, FM/AM frequencies, MSN Direct freqs, etc are set up.

The service remote is interesting, my JVC TV has one like it. There's a special remote control that technicians and service personnel can get that allows you to get into certain functions that are normally not available on the unit. It's possible there's some sort of menu in there that requires a remote, and that may have some initial setup options such as region, so I suppose it's a possibility. I just don't think that they'd manufacture two different AV/processor boards for two different regions when the differences can be taken care of in software.