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Bottom Line: Jupiter Jack plugs into your cell phone and transmits the voice of the person you are talking to through your car’s FM radio.
It works well, if: (1) you find the right place to put your cell phone your car to avoid static from the radio and (2) you can easily tune your radio to one of the two preset stations (99.3 and 101.3 FM) that Jupiter Jack transmits to.
To use Jupiter Jack, you have to have the radio turned to one of two FM stations while you are on the call. To avoid distraction while driving, you should have the FM stations programmed as a pre-set on your radio, instead of trying to manually set the station while driving.
Pros: Low cost, Decent sound quality
Cons: The radio station that is best for Jupiter Jack reception may change while you are driving and it may not be easy to change the switch on Jupiter Jack to the best radio station while driving. You must find the right place in the car to put the Jupiter Jack to avoid getting static from the FM radio. Also, you must be able to tune to one of two radio stations easily (such as a preset button) to avoid being distracted while driving. |
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Jupiter Jack Review |
(Click picture to enlarge)
(Click picture to enlarge)
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Using Jupiter Jack
If you haven’t heard of the Jupiter Jack, then you probably don’t watch a lot of TV -- or TV commercials, to be exact.
As advertised on its TV infomercial, the Jupiter Jack is a device that plugs into your cell phone’s headphone jack and transmits the voice of the person you are talking to wirelessly over your car’s FM radio.
Jupiter Jack gives you a choice of two radio stations to broadcast your caller’s voice from – 99.3 FM or 101.3 FM. It also has a microphone that transmits your voice to the person you are talking to.
I used the Jupiter Jack to call a friend from my car while I was parked in a parking lot and talk to him over his cell phone. I first tried to use 99.3 FM, but I heard static when my friend was talking over the radio. Then I tried 101.3 FM and could hear him clearly and he said he could hear me well.
I made several calls to him and each time could hear him clearly and he could hear me. The sound quality is the same as you would expect if you are talking on a cell phone to someone else with a cell phone with good reception.
When I first called him, I was parked in a parking lot and we could hear each other well. Later, I called him while driving on the freeway. With the freeway noise around me, I had to turn up the volume on my FM radio to hear him better, but once I did, I could hear him clearly. My friend said he could hear some noise from the freeway when I called, but he could still hear me with decent call quality.
Radio Station Choice Is Key and Can Change While Driving
Both 99.3 and 101.3 FM are radio stations that broadcast music in my area. 99.3 FM has a stronger signal than 101.3 FM in my area—that is, I could hear 99.3 FM clearer than I could 101.3.
When I put on 99.3, I heard music without any static from the radio alone (not using Jupiter Jack). When I put on 101.3 FM, I could hear some static on the radio. So the strength of the radio signal may affect how well you hear the person on the other end of the phone when using Jupiter Jack.
In my neighborhood, 101.3 FM is the best station to use the Jupiter Jack for. When I drove to another town, I got a phone call but I couldn’t hear my caller on 101.3 and 99.3 was a better choice. But I had the Jupiter Jack set to 101.3 and was unable to switch it to 99.3 easily. In fact, I ended up not getting the phone call since I couldn’t switch to 101.3 to 99.3 while driving without severely impairing my driving.
Placement of Jupiter Jack in the Car Is Important
Before I called my friend, I turned on the Jupiter Jack. Even though 101.3 does broadcast music in my area, when I turned on the Jupiter Jack the music stopped. I put the phone with Jupiter Jack in front of the radio, but I heard a lot of interference and static when the phone was close to the radio when the Jupiter Jack was on.
I moved the phone around to different areas of the front of the car and found areas where the Jupiter Jack caused static over he radio and areas where it didn’t.
I finally put the phone with Jupiter Jack in the passenger front seat where there wasn’t any static. With the phone in the passenger seat, my friend could still hear me well through the Jupiter Jack’s speakerphone.
If someone gives you a call, and you have Jupiter Jack plugged into your phone, Jupiter Jack might have to be on to hear the phone ring. Of course, you can see who is calling by looking at your phone or hear your phone by putting it on vibrate (if you don’t have the radio turned up too loud).
Make sure you have the two radio stations used by Jupiter Jack pre-set in your car radio to avoid being distracted while driving and trying to find the correct radio station.
The Basics
On one side of the Jupiter Jack is an on/off switch and a red light that turns on when the Jupiter Jack is on.
On another side is the headphone plug and a selector switch to choose the FM station.
The Jupiter Jack is powered by a removable round lithium battery inside the unit.
Jupiter Jack comes with several different adapters that can be used to plug the Jupiter Jack into different types of cell phones.
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