Radio Data System (RDS)

I didn’t get to talk to the ARN techs at any length yesterday, one only stayed for a short period & the other 2 were sick/unavailable last minute so didn’t come, I’ll try to email them during the week about the CADA 96.1 RDS CT.

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SBS Perth 96.9 have dropped group 4A, time and date. Starting out with UTC+10 (Eastern time), then UTC+11 (Eastern summer time), group 4A with no time, to nothing now.

Ive collected some data on some other WA RDS clocks. I believe the correct standard is to broadcast Universal Time with correct local UTC offset (UTC+8 for WA). As you can see, a variety of combinations of both are used.

In frequency order, recieved at my place in Bunbury WA:-
91.7 Wave Mandurah UTC - 2 minutes fast
92.9 Triple M Perth UTC+8 - accurate
93.7 Nova Perth UTC - 3 hours fast
94.5 Mix Perth UTC+8 - accurate
94.9 Hit Katanning UTC - accurate
95.7 Hit Bunbury UTC+10 - 7 minutes fast
96.1 96FM Perth UTC+8 - 19 days 23 and a half hours slow
96.5 Hit Geraldton UTC - accurate
98.1 Triple M Geraldton UTC - accurate
99.3 Triple j Perth UTC+7 - 1 hour 58 mins slow.

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89.9 Pulse FM Hawkesbury appear to have either a new (or replacement) transmitter or processor, given some measurements this morning. And keeping with this thread I suspect they might now have RDS. I’m just managing to pull in a PI code of F899.
UPDATE:
Tentatively
PS of: PULSE FM
PTY of: Easy Listening.
Need better signal to be sure.

Can anyone else closer to the coverage area retrieve any other RDS info from them &/or transmission news re their equipment etc if known @TheChase ?

Here’s an interesting stat. All of the former Hawkesbury TCBLs & current Hawkesbury licence holder PULSE FM have or last used all UPPER CASE characters for their RDS PS.

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I’ve emailed the ARN techs about the CADA 96.1 RDS Clock Time issue, will see what happens.

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Yes my radio did briefly pickup some RDS, however the signal is two weak for my radio to decode, I will try on my SDR later.

The signal still seems to be at 40-50w as I am just in the coverage area and can barely pick them up around the house, I doubt anyone past Kurrajong/Colo Heights would even hear them / know they where even on air.

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Yes and very weak signal up here south of Newcastle. Very little chance of RDS here either.

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I tried for RDS last night for Pulse FM but even on my SDR I still couldn’t get any,
I will try again when I’m in Windsor next.

I also couldn’t get any RDS for Radio Skid Row, are they still transmitting RDS?

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Same here at my location, when I last tried I had RDS and a much stronger signal, now no RDS and a stereo signal with some noise.

No where as good as the old Hawkesbury Radio site on Burralow Rd.
Was Grass Karts the site that Pulse wanted for their full time licence, or what was dictated to them by ACMA?

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Skid Row were still broadcasting RDS over the weekend.

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I think this is new ??? CADA96.1 now has song info… it’s been a while since I’ve seen this on 96.1

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They run some pretty serious power out of Wenny falls. … no expense spared on ARNs part, the view is pretty slick up there aswell looking all over sydney… always been keen to know if they New Zealanders ever pick it up…. Who even knows if there is a DXing crowd over their, would be interesting to hear what tropospheric ducting they receive over there.

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That’s pretty inconvenient lol… gotta have me some of that RDS time, programmed to the second by the RF techie :rofl:

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Main tx blew from a resistive phase on the mains.

RDS plugged into the standby when I was there last week… or th week before.

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Probably is, when I spoke to the ARN techs last week about the Clock Time issue, they said they were currently working on the now playing info, as it hadn’t been working properly, & would add the Clock Time issue to the works.
Is the CT issue fixed on CADA 96.1 too?

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Christmas countdown on Mix Perth RDS.

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I also looks like Mix94.5 may be sending RT+ info. Groups 11A and 12A are sent precisley when the radio text changes to title - artist.

Same over on 92.9 Triple M Perth.

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Triple J in Canberra doesn’t have RDS at the moment.

Classic FM still does.

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@Informer In Sydney Triple M & 2DAY use Group 11A for RT+ whilst Group 12A is used for iTunes tagging as per the Group 3A codes.

@RFBurns Yes it is thx :smiley: …well kind of…
There’s currently no CT Group 4A codes being output.
I’m fine with that. No CT is better than wrong time or time/date.
I wonder if it’s also another RDS encoder they’re using based on some earlier settings. I can only speculate :man_shrugging:
Thank you for your time enquiring, part of what makes this forum great.

Great summary there. :+1: It might be worth after early in the new year trying to contact some of these radio stations & requesting that they fix these CT problems. Ph calls or emails frequently work. I noted that Nova Brisbane is inaccurate by 1 hour. I wonder if Nova is networking some of their RDS content out of Sydney?

On our Google Aust RDS list I’ve indicated with a Green Tick where CT is accurate to within 2-3 seconds.
NEW: A red cross where the RDS CT is inaccurate by 2 minutes or more & where a report should be made to the station. Where CT is inaccurate by 3 seconds or more I’ve indicated in red text the most recent inaccurate CT figures.

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88.9 Radio Skid Row has made additional recent changes to their RDS data.
New are three (ex one) RT messages that update around 6 times a minute (far too frequent).
Also they’re using RT+ for their URL RT msg.
Also changes to their PTY.

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2GF now fixed - “2GF 89.5” similar to how 2RE has theirs.

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