Radio Data System (RDS)

I’m down in Sydney right now so can’t confirm, can’t imagine why they would really need that up in a small town like Forster

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I can’t get any RDS on 2NBC 90.1 lately, is anyone else noticing this too?

I noticed song and artist on 102.7 today - can’t usually get RDS but seems stronger than usual - even before this afternoon’s opening.

Which 102.7? 3RRR or 4DDB?

Local 4DDB

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Yeah been a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes at 4DDB to make the station the best it can be

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Yes I mentioned that recently (perhaps in another thread like DX or community) that when they returned to air it was without their RDS.
Perhaps they’re using another transmitter without RDS whilst current one being repaired. I don’t know & could only speculate, but has been without RDS for a couple of
weeks or so now, a while at least.

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You are correct our transmitter has gone to Melbourne for repair and we currently using a loan transmitter, hopefully our will be back soon.

Paul

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RDS is back on 95.7 Classic fm Wollongong / Illawarra.

ABC Clas

This time they are trialing scrolling text.
“Life ‘s Better with Music”

Classic fm Sydney is using different RDS to Wollongong.

Classic
Scrolling text is artist and song title.

I am assuming they have not enabled the AF to 92.9 / 102.3 as the RDS is different.
@ozbark can you have a look at this one for me?

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Thanks for the headsup @Ant5476
Here’s a pic.

So what’s changed is the PI code for 95.7 Wollongong.
It’s now 205A, which like with what SBS did in choosing a different PI code for
each major city, not sure why SBS did that with a large distance separation between cities. Anyway I digress.
Yes there’s a static RT for Wollongong with: “Life‘s Better with Music”

NB. The RadioText (RT) length is limited by the RDS standard to 64 characters maximum .
Some tuners can’t display all 64 characters within their display so the tuner itself may scroll to display all the RT over time.

I also note that 95.7 AF’s are listed as: 92.9 & 102.3 as a filler
Not sure of the purpose of the AF’s as I don’t believe a frequency shift can occur with
different PI codes. I think having AF’s transmitter just speeds up the process of tuner frequency switching where PI codes match (or the last 2 characters of). Interesting.
I wonder if the techs had some switching issue complaints in previous test?

92.9 ABC Classic (SYD) has the original PI code intact. I too note the song/artist RT is back. Group 2A.
There’s no AF frequencies for 92.9 RDS, irrelevant anyway as per above.

Finally I think the techs have done a great job finding a ‘safe’ PI code of 205A.
I can’t find any other instances of it in our RDS list :slight_smile:

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That’s so odd that it’s now been switched back on again so soon… and that the PS has been swapped with 92.9 Sydney.

Hopefully a sign that a regional RDS rollout might be just around the corner?

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Thank you, excellent information. I will be out in the work truck tomorrow and will see if the AF does work with the different PI Code.

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Hopefully Triple J Illawarra’s RDS comes back too.

I wonder when Classic / Triple J Newcastle will get RDS?

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Who knows :man_shrugging:
With RT on their DAB+ service, why would they not consider it if their FM transmitters were capable of it or if funds were available to slowly roll it out?

I recall years ago hearing a story about some stodgy ABC FM purist complaining that
that RDS affected the purity of ABC Classic music & I think the RDS was stopped for a period of time. I don’t know where they were located, but that story goes back a while. Probably his receiving setup wasn’t the best or tuner wasn’t tuned well enough?

:+1:

It would be the next logical place for it.
If someone tracks recent ABC FM transmitter replacements, then maybe
someone could make some guesses…???

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Oh what a load of bullshit these audio purist nutcases go on with
With FM audio generally been hard limited to 15khz and RDS not beginning until up in the 50ish KHz they should go back to their CD’s where they have 22.05khz audio response :roll_eyes:

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Out around Dural in my travels, and in a good signal area for 95.7 Classic fm Illawarra. I can confirm that the AF to 92.9 Sydney no longer works with the different PI code used between Sydney and the Illawarra

Also 95.7 is using a higher RDS sub carrier for their RDS compared to Sydney. On 95.7 the RDS decodes even with a weak signal , whereas you need a strong clean signal for the full RDS decode of Classic fm Sydney.

I have not checked if Sydney and the Illawarra are still in sync, but now that is not required with the AF no longer working.

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98.5 FM Perth new PS and a new RT message. Not sure if this is a permanent change or temporary for the stations 35 year anniversary.

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Looks like a rebrand for 98five:

image

It’s like these “Christian” stations take a crash cause on how to look anything but religious.

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Just came across an incorrect RDS song issue on Coast FM Gosford that @RFBurns may like to know about.

The Faith No More version of “Easy” was on a few minutes ago but the RDS credited the original version’s artist The Commodores.

Not sure if the issue is isolated to that song or whether it’s a systemic issue in relation of how it gathers the artist info?

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I’ll look into that, the RDS gets it’s song title/artist info straight out of Zetta, that’s what the track will be labelled as in the music library.

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