CAR RADIO CASSETTE DECODING...
IS IT WORTH DECODING?
It's a question we
are asked every day...
If you have a manufacturer's original fitted radio
then the aswer is almost cetainly YES.
If the unit was working before the
battery was disconnected, then the answer is again YES.
Most people do not
understand that to replace the unit with the same model would cost well over
£200.
In many cases, models can cost up to £1000 to replace
(i.e. some top Ford models with CD's).
If you have remote steering wheel
controls that operate some of the radio functions (such as volume and station
selection), or if you have the radio display situated in the dashboard of the
car, fitting anything but the correct model of radio will disable all of these
functions.
At an economical cost of between £10 and £30 for
decoding, again the answer can only be YES.
And now let us destroy a myth about decoding radios by 'freezing out' the code.
Here's the story...
When the first batch of Philips 22DC752 series came out in the early eighties (the first radios ever to be coded) it was possible to put the entire radio into the freezer overnight and defrost it the next morning. The code chip (ER1400) would loose all it's memory and you could put in a new code of your own choosing. Needless to say, very shortly after the manufacturers found out that the security could be easily overcome this way, they changed the specification of the chips so that this could not happen. This proceedure has never worked on any make of radio since this time. Rumours soon got around in the trade and in the public domain that this was an easy way to get over coded radios, and people started putting all makes and models in the freezer. I am not sure how many were totally destroyed this way, but we had one customer who destroyed a £450 Pioneer Car Radio Cassette this way. Modern units cannot stand temperatures of minus 20 degrees Centigrade; they give up the ghost. The code chip inside may be able to stand low temperatures, but it will still retain it's memory and the original programmed code; however it is unlikely that the processor (the heart of the radio) and other components will survive; the chances are that the unit will be damaged beyond repair. So don't try it! Believe it or not, this rumour still survives and customers are still passing on these 'pearls of wisdom' to their pals over 20 years later. The only safe way to get the code is to connect the unit to a computer, interface and probe which reads the actual code number programmed into the chips.
Most car
radio/cassettes can be decoded while you wait at our workshop situated in
Littleport, near Ely in Cambridgeshire.
ALWAYS ring for an
appointment as there are times when the workshop is not
manned.
(The list of models changes so often that we no longer
list them on this Website).
Prices range from £20 - £30 depending on the make, model and state; i.e. locked out, or if the radio code has been changed in the past.
FOR PRICES
OF DECODING UNITS PLEASE E-MAIL US
OR RING 01353 860646 (9am-7pm Monday to
Saturday).
IMPORTANT... When
emailing us always put "CAR RADIO CASSETTE" or something similar in the subject
line, or your email may be rejected by our ISP's Anti-Spam filter
system.
PLEASE NOTE: WE NO LONGER DO DECODING BY MAIL ORDER DUE THE THE COST OF INSURED CARRIAGE BOTH WAYS. CUSTOMERS OUTSIDE OF OUR AREA ARE ADVISED TO FIND A LOCAL DECODING SERVICE - YOUR LOCAL GARAGE WILL NORMALLY RECOMMEND ONE.
IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ...
WE DO NOT SUPPLY CODES VIA
EMAIL OR OVER THE PHONE FROM SERIAL NUMBERS ON THE UNITS AS WE HAVE NO WAY OF
CHECKING THAT THE CODE WORKS. REMEMBER THAT IF YOUR UNIT IS SEVERAL YEARS OLD
AND THE CAR HAS HAD MORE THAN ONE OWNER, THE CHANCES ARE THAT THE UNIT WILL
HAVE BEEN DECODED IN THE PAST AND THE CODE NUMBER CHANGED OR THE RADIO SWAPPED
FOR ANOTHER, SO GETTING THE ORIGINAL MANUFACTURER'S CODE VIA THE SERIAL NUMBER,
OR CAR REGISTRATION NUMBER CAN BE A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY.
THERE
ARE DECODING SERVICES ON THE INTERNET THAT OFFER THIS 'CODE FROM SERIAL NUMBER'
OR 'CODE FROM VEHICLE REGISTRATION NUMBER' SERVICE, BUT HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF
YOU JUST PAID THEM £10 OR MORE AND THE NUMBER THEY GAVE YOU DID NOT WORK
BECAUSE THE SET OR THE CODE HAD BEEN CHANGED IN THE PAST - THEY WILL NOT GIVE
YOU A REFUND, SO IT'S JUST MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN!
THAT IS THE REASON THAT
WE ONLY DECODE UNITS IN OUR WORKSHOP WHERE WE ARE ABLE TO CONNECT THEM TO OUR
COMPUTER SYSTEM WHICH READS THE ACTUAL CODE PROGRAMMED INTO THE SET, WHETHER IT
HAS BEEN CHANGED OR NOT. WE THEN CHECK THAT THE CODE IT CORRECT BEFORE SENDING
THEM OUT.
PLEASE DO NOT RING OR EMAIL US FOR SPARES, INSTRUCTION MANUALS, ETC.,
AS WE DO NOT SELL SPARES.
For spares try
CPC on 08701 202530 or SEME on 01664 484000 (Both take Credit
Cards).
We are getting a lot of requests from electronics wizards for Memory Dumps of code chips - our system does not show these, so we have no knowledge of them. Please do not ask.