# Radio tuner for a PC or laptop? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2002, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-tuner-for-a-pc-or-laptop/126429 "2002-08-31T10:53:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![effac3d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@effac3d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/effac3d)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-tuner-for-a-pc-or-laptop/126429/1 "2002-08-31T10:53:09Z")
Ok i’m sure everyone has seen TV tuner cards which let you receive television signals on your PC or laptop. Is there something in the same vein for radio signals? ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-tuner-for-a-pc-or-laptop/126429/2 "2002-08-31T11:36:16Z")
You can feed the audio from any tuner to the input of your audio card. What’s the point? Just having the controls on screen? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-tuner-for-a-pc-or-laptop/126429/3 "2002-08-31T12:02:48Z")
Some TV tuner cards can receive FM radio, like [this one](http://shop.store.yahoo.com/3bebe-store/flyv98tvtunw.html). I haven’t been able to find one that can do AM. ---
**Author:** ![effac3d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@effac3d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/effac3d)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-tuner-for-a-pc-or-laptop/126429/4 "2002-08-31T13:18:47Z")
sailor,well yeah:) Plus you could set a program to record station whatever at 5:00 and station whatsitsname at 5:25 automatically. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-tuner-for-a-pc-or-laptop/126429/5 "2002-08-31T13:45:59Z")
I saw them back in the i486 days - did you check ebay? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-tuner-for-a-pc-or-laptop/126429/6 "2002-08-31T14:43:48Z")
Many Huppage TV/FM cards come/came with onboard FM tuners- I have two gathering dust after I ran out of PCI slots. Based on massive interference being generated trying to use AM radios even near a PC I would imagine that AM tuners would go nuts inside a PC due to RF interference, so I really don’t see how you can (economically) put an AM tuner on a PCI card. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-tuner-for-a-pc-or-laptop/126429/7 "2002-08-31T14:49:53Z")
Just for the record: I have the stereo line out connected to my audio card input and often record stuff off the radio (as well as old albums, etc). ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-tuner-for-a-pc-or-laptop/126429/8 "2002-08-31T18:02:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Many Huppage TV/FM cards come/came with onboard FM tuners It’s spelled “Hauppauge,” but that’s not a nitpick, just a clarification in case the OP is trying to search for that company. Actually, I recommend that s/he does. Hauppage makes some of the best (and cheapest) TV cards out there and most (all?) of their cheap WinTV cards have an FM tuner. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-tuner-for-a-pc-or-laptop/126429/9 "2002-08-31T18:25:55Z")
As an incidental factor, television broadcasts encode the audio using FM format. For this reason, if your city has a television station that broadcasts on channel 13 (the uppermost VHF television band), you should be able to hear its audio by tuning an FM radio to about 87MHz (the lower end of the commercial FM band). As as result, every television needs to have an FM tuner built in to handle normal television audio. It’s a snap to add FM radio capability to a TV card, since most of the necessary circuitry is already in place. AM tuning requires additional hardware, and so far there hasn’t been enough demand to include this more expensive and possibly problematic feature. Ref: [http://www.wodonga.tafe.edu.au/eemo/Vbb221/tut6-1.htm](http://www.wodonga.tafe.edu.au/eemo/Vbb221/tut6-1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-tuner-for-a-pc-or-laptop/126429/10 "2002-08-31T20:35:38Z")
There are a couple that I know of that turn your computer into a scanner/shortwave receiver. [http://www.winradio.com/home/receivers.htm](http://www.winradio.com/home/receivers.htm) [http://www.icomamerica.com/receivers/pc/index.html](http://www.icomamerica.com/receivers/pc/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-tuner-for-a-pc-or-laptop/126429/11 "2002-09-01T01:09:59Z")
(semi-hijack, as the OP seems mostly answered) > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by **sailor** \* > Just for the record: I have the stereo line out connected to my audio card input and often record stuff off the radio (as well as old albums, etc). I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. Is it easy? Also, what about the reverse? Is there a ‘line out’ from a computer audio card that I could hook into the stereo’s aux line and play music from my computer through my stereo? ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-tuner-for-a-pc-or-laptop/126429/12 "2002-09-01T01:53:50Z")
Yes, and yes, White Lightening. Just hook your audio source into the mini-headphone style plug on your soundcard, the one marked “Line In.” You’ll probably need to buy a small converter that will allow you to plug your RCA audio cables into a mini jack. These can be found at Radio Shack for about $5. Make sure you have the “Line-In” enabled on your soundcard. I’m not sure how it is in other OS’s, but in Windows 2000, it’s turned off by default. To enable it, go to Windows Volume Control and choose Advanced Properties from the Options menu. As for the reverse, all soundcards have line out jacks, otherwise where would you hook up your computer speakers? Use another mini to RCA converter to hook it up to your receiver. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radio-tuner-for-a-pc-or-laptop/126429/13 "2002-09-03T03:55:38Z")
[nitpick] **Bryan Ekers** is off a bit. Channel 6’s audio is at 87.75 MHz, not channel 13. (Channels 2-6 are just below the FM band, channels 7-13 are well above it.) [/nitpick] (Gawd I know too much useless crap.)