iPod radios to be legal in December

FM micro-transmitters that link music players with car radios will become legal in December – despite objections from the BBC.

The products, which plug into mp3 players and stream audio to a car stereo without a connecting lead, have been legal in US and Europe for years. You can already buy them in the UK even though they are illegal to use.

The decision from telecoms watchdog Ofcom follows a consultation process in which the BBC made one of the few objections. It told Ofcom that it believes the maximum power cited for the devices will be "neither sufficiently small to avoid creating interference to broadcast reception nor sufficiently large to guarantee that such 'Micro' FM transmitters will actually work in cities such as London".

The BBC notes that a car radio would have to be 2.2km away from a micro-transmitter not to fall victim to its interference. When thousands of transmitters are used throughout a major city, the interference with each other and the BBC's own radio services will make them useless.

The upshot would be widespread use of "non-compliant, higher-powered grey imports" that could proliferate and give rise to "excessive sporadic interference to reception of broadcast FM radio", the BBC said.

There is no solution to this dilemma as they will broadcast in the 87.5MHz to 108MHz (Band II) range. Creating a new well-defined radio frequency band, or reserving a small sliver of Band II frequency especially for low-powered FM transmitters might allay BBC's fears.

Individuals and businesses have until 6 November to object to the proposals.