Does anyone know if stations transmitting RDS with time (CT) are supposed to keep it accurate? I just turfed my Pure Sensia and bought a Sangean 909x for me and an RCR-9 for my partner and we both listen to WSFM (101.7) extensively. If I leave them on auto-time mode, they both set the clock to 56 minutes forward than what it should be. No biggie, just set it manually for both but it is annoying.
I’ve found that the RDS time on the FM stations is unreliable, so I always use a DAB+ station to wake up to on my clock radio.
JJJ Brisbane seems to finally have fixed their RDS - on the drive home tonight the radio text was updating for each song and displaying program information between songs. It’s really useful having the artist and title show on Triple J where there’s such a mix of new and unheard music
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About time! According to my car they’ve been playing Queens Of The Stone Age for 2 weeks!
ABC Classic FM also has dynamic RDS, cycling befween weather, website and slogan.
The real question is- why are you still listening to the Jays at your age?
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Then there’s C91.3 in Campbelltown, which is STILL the only commercial FM station in the Sydney/Illawarra/Central Coast region not to have RDS of any kind (it’s also the only commercial FM station in the region not to be streaming online). 2ST’s 102.9 Southern Highlands service doesn’t have RDS, but its 91.7 & 106.7 services down in the Shoalhaven does.
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It’s funny some don’t bother when there’s cheap boxes to inject RDS available, and a few bits of free software around to send the data to the boxes…
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With the implementation of a network of MMM and Hit stations through SCA, I wonder what the chances are of implementing Alternative Frequencies into the RDS.
SCA currently have this implemented for SEA FM Wide Bay/Bundaberg with AF active on both 101.9 and 93.1 frequencies, so there is some possibility.
i doubt you’d ever see it nationally. More likely that it would be used among overlap stations run out of a single office (like Wide Bay). It is used on stations further up the coast as well when they have translators.
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A lot of them are unlikely to still have much in the way of RDS at all yet at this point.
Even then, as mcpaton said, it would only be useful for translator sites, as the various Hit and Triple M stations will still be independent so far in having their own breakfast hosts, local news, commercials etc. AF wouldn’t work for these.
The reason I used Sea FM Wide Bay as an example is that the two frequencies have different programming and commercials so they are a good example of what could be done and shows that AF can be used in when the broadcasts don’t match.
But wouldn’t it be nuisance if you’re in an area both signals are roughly equal strength, and because the programming/ads were different and and you were hearing say 3 seconds of each station and it kept switching back and forth?
The tuner is supposed to look for an alternative frequency only when the current tuned signal becomes too weak.
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Can RDS Alternative Frequency even be used as it was intended in Australia? I think the reason why the ABC hasn’t implemented RDS AF across their national network is partially because of the difficulty in getting it to work over every transmitter across the country.
From what I understand, RDS was developed with national radio networks in Europe (e.g. BBC Radio’s national stations), which have their frequencies reserved for use by the respective networks nationally (e.g. BBC Radio 1 is found between 97.0 and 99.0MHz across the country), but here in Australia you’ve got a mishmash of frequencies used by commercial stations and Radio National. So for the BBC, all they have to do is set their encoders across the country to have the alternative frequencies set as 97.8, 97.9, 98.0, etc. and all the radio tuners will ever find are BBC Radio 1.
But for the ABC, you’ve got frequencies all over the place. As an example, on a drive from Sydney to Brisbane, you’ll find Triple J is on:
Sydney: 105.7
Newcastle: 102.1
Manning River: 96.3
Grafton: 91.5
Byron Bay: 96.1
Gold Coast - 97.7
Brisbane: 107.7
Now, if these frequencies were all reserved for the specific use of Triple J nationally, it would all be fine and dandy. Slap an RDS encoder in the transmitter with all the appropriate frequencies and you’re laughing. But these frequencies are not reserved. If the radio receiver detects 96.1 (The Edge) is stronger than 105.7 (JJJ) in Sydney, it would switch to a completely different radio station automatically. So they’d have to tailor the list for every station with the surrounding transmitters and I’d imagine it would be a relatively difficult task. And even if you did tailor the list, there would be problems. What if there was a different station on the same frequency as the set alternative frequency on the other side of your transmission area?
For example:
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No it won’t - the radio only switches to another frequency that also has the same AF identifier.
Broadcasters could use the REG flag:
Each broadcast service is supposed to have its own unique PI (programme identification code), so the radio can tell when it’s on the same service:
PI codes are all over the place in Australia though, as it’s not regulated here.
I mentioned this previously, but a while back (about a decade), Star 104.5 used to have 96.9 set as its AF (since both Nova and Star have the same owner). However, since Nova is a different station, it had a different PI code. This resulted in an annoying behaviour where my radio constantly switched to 96.9 momentarily to see if there was a better signal for Star and since the PI didn’t match it would switch back.
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For SEA FM Wide Bay 93.1 uses the Regional setting while 101.9 uses the Local setting on their RDS.
I am at Port Macquarie at the moment and these are the only RDS stations receivable in the area
Station name - additional info
2MC100.7 - 2MC Port Macquarie
2MC FM - Song Title And Artist info (this is for 106.7)
Star FM - Hits and Old Skool (this is for 102.3)
Star FM - Song Title and Artist info (this is for 105.1)
STAR CFS - Song Title and Artist info (for 105.5)
2CS FM - Song Title and Artist info (for 106.3)
The only community station with RDS was Tank FM Kempsey
The first line text rotated between the following
TANK FM
KEMPSEY
103.1
Time
The 2nd line text had the station URL as static text.
AND…
It looks like both 2MC FM and Star 102.3/105.1 uses AF.
This was the first time I’ve come across AF.
It threw me at first - I couldn’t work out why the 2MC FM text kept changing to 2MC100.7 whenever I tuned to 106.7. I thought it was 2MC being cheap and lazy, in using the same station name on both! It worked seemlessly otherwise, the audio was in perfect sync on 100.7/106.7 and 102.3/105.1.
It also works on the 2MC FM 90.3 repeater at Laurieton
I had to switch off AF on my car radio to see the song / artist info on the 105.1/106.7 stations (which were weaker than 100.7/102.3 here in Port Macquarie). I would have never known about the song title /artist info without switching off AF, or until I got closer to Kempsey.
For the record, the car radio used here is the standard MY 2016.75 Ford Focus SONY system (with Sync 3).
EDIT: Also meant to say I can’t work out why 2MC & Star 102.3/105.1 only have the Song info on the Kempsey transmitters, and not Port Macquarie. Odd.
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I always find it interesting how SCA doesn’t have a consistently set standard in terms of RDS - it seems to be up to each individual station as to how it is programmed.
For example, the three Star FM’s (and sister LocalWorks stations) I can receive all have their own slight variations
Shepparton:
STAR FM / HITS / ALWAYS (Static text: Jess & Tommy 6 - 9am)
3SR FM / GREATEST / HITS (Static text: The Valley’s Own)
Bendigo:
STAR FM (Hits & Old School / song title & artist info)
3BO BGO (The Greatest Hits from the '70s to Now / song title & artist info)
Albury:
Star FM (Static text: 104.9 STAR FM - Hits. Always.)
River FM (Static text: 105.7 THE RIVER - Everything ‘The Border’)
Also noteworthy that THE EDGE has AF enabled with their 102.1FM Wangaratta and 102.5FM Deniliquin stations.
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The most bizarre part about 2MC 100.7/106.7 and Star 102.3/105.1 is that they are EXACTLY the same station, 24/7, same brekky shows, same ads etc.
Only the RDS seems to be different…
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