Radio Data System (RDS)

Was the ‘EEWW’ drawn out and obvious (Faith No More) or understated (Commodores)? :smiley:

2 Likes

This is one of the worst examples of dynamic PS I’ve seen from 3MBS Melbourne:

If anyone here volunteers at or know someone who does, can you get them to fix this?

My OCD hates the fact that the preset title is incorrect.

4 Likes

Yuck! Simply Horrid.

Have you tried contacting them? Like an email to station?

2 Likes

Was down in the (rather picturesque) Tweed Valley over the weekend and noticed 100.9 ZZZ FM appears to have dynamic radiotext now. Messages alternated from the usual ZZZ FM Playing More Hits message with weather updates for Casino, Lismore and Byron Bay, as well as artist and title info. Seemed to work really well.

4 Likes

I OCD hates i98’s RDS the name as it has a space at the front, so it “ i98” so it sits wrong.

2 Likes

I think 2EC down at Batemans Bay has 2 or 3 spaces at the front so that it sits somewhat in the middle of the 8 character name field.

2 Likes

Here’s an RDS Spy snapshot of 91.7 6MM - The Wave Mandurah, WA below.

A couple of things to note.
1. The PI code has reverted back to 00A1.
I thought it originally had a PI code of 00A1 & then later changed to
PI of: 6917?

2. There’s a problem with the CT with regard to UTC offset. The UTC offset hasn’t been defined or has not been set correctly re display in RDS Spy.

@Informer do you have any info or feedback on this?
I am wondering if there’s some redundancy in 6MM’s transmitters or stereo RDS encoders? Perhaps one encoder has been established with PI code of 00A1 & the other with PI code of 6917?

3 Likes

6MM is a permanent RDS station at my place and I’ve only ever seen the PI code as 00A1. I believe West Coast Radio have a stand-by transmitter site licensed at their Mandurah Terrace studios - that may be configured differently to the main transmitter site, maybe. And I don’t believe Hit 91.7 Port Headland use RDS so 6MM should grab 6917 anyway.

As for the clock, a few WA stations use no UTC offset and just broadcast local time. I guess it still works.

And jinx! I was listening in the car yesterday morning when ‘Drop the pilot’ and ‘Accidentally in love’ played. Do you have access to a remote SDR in Perth somewhere?

1 Like

@Informer Maybe it was temporary after all.
Looking today on 98.5 the RDS PS is showing as 98five & no RT (just Group 0A).

I thought yesterday the PS was showing as: ‘Sonshine’

???

2 Likes

Jinx again!

I had seen that previous to the recent Sonshine relaunch. Maybe on a standby transmitter today.

There are still remnants of 98five on the station. The occasional DJ slip up and 1 of the radiotext messages is the from the original - 98five we’re family.

1 Like

That’s what I was suspecting.

That must have been what I heard today as the announcer definitely gave an ID as “Ninety Eight Five” rather than “Sonshine”. Afterwards I looked at the website and gave name as Sonshine. I guess announcers are still in their adjustment phase to the new station name. :slight_smile:
Talk about confusion…poor listeners.

1 Like

After emailing 3MBS about their dynamic PS, they have since changed it to “3MBS”.

8 Likes

4ZZZ Brisbane appears to be doing this too with their new RDS - it actually has two spaces in front of it. I wonder if that’s to have it centred in some displays? Either way it looks out of place

4 Likes

Accurate clock now on 99.3 triple j Perth - was 2 hours slow previously.

I submitted an ABC audience feedback form about a month ago regarding this.

Note UTC offset still +7 hours, so actual time broadcast must be UTC+1 (rather than UTC0) plus UTC+7 offset to achieve UTC+8 correct local time for Perth… I think.

2 Likes

Yes much improved :+1: I checked with RDS Spy myself & noted now just 26 seconds slow, so a huge improvement. Though obviously the service isn’t sync’d with an Internet time source.

RDS Spy shows ~ correct local time, but the UTC time is still showing incorrectly within RDS Spy as it is for you @Informer.

Mmm that’s doing my head in. :upside_down_face:
Not your comments, but it has me pondering similar thoughts & how the RDS encoders provide CT based on either a UTC offset & either local time input, or direct UTC input & how receivers use that data to display time etc.

I’d love to know how to decode the date & time within the Group 4A data block. I haven’t been able to quite successfully do that yet. Though doing so might help me to unravel some RDS CT mysteries. Yeah I’m really delving into engineering nerd territory here - lol.

Interestingly after the first successful Group 4A decode, the date & time continues to update with the ‘Basic RDS Decoder’ Window of RDS Spy without need for further 4A data decodes. I wonder if it should be doing that, maybe that’s per design?

And the all important question @Informer. For those car radio tuners that use & update per received FM station RDS CT data; are they now displaying the correct time now or due to the wrong UTC offset, showing time as 1hr slow or fast?
You don’t have to answer that, but it also has me wondering.

What a horrid topic I’m subjecting RDS thread readers to :rofl:

1 Like

High level geek, I know! All part of the radio listening hobby. RDS decoding is 1 part, I’m currently exploring the 400 to 500 mhz band. Using software to decode telemetry, digital 2-ways and I’d like to track a weather balloon eventually. All things the SDR radio allow us to do.

As for devices that sync to RDS time, my car doesn’t but the XHDATA D808 does the job. From flat, the time corrected to Hit95.7 Bunbury - which uses UTC+8 offset. So UTC plus local offset is sufficient without a internet clock as a second reference.

Yes, triple j 99.3 will be the real test. The XHDATA is far lest sensitive that my SDR on the same antenna so I’ll have to wait for a strong signal to come in.

1 Like

98.9 Triple J Illawarra have switched on their RDS again. It came online around 1:30pm this afternoon.

TRIPLE J
Radio text, Triple J - We Love music
PTY Pop Music

Triple J Sydney
Has no PTY and no Radio Text at the moment.
I am assuming the RDS setup for 98.9 Triple J Illawarra is different to Sydney like Classic fm Illawarra is to Sydney.

@ozbark can you have a look at the new Triple J Illawarra RDS setup?

4 Likes

Thanks for the heads up @Ant5476 :+1:
The following observations noted mid evening.

98.9 Illawara
Yes showing mostly per your initial notes:
PS: TRIPLE J
RT: triple j - we love music
PTY: Pop Music

Adding further:
PI: 2D5F
AF: 105.7, 101.5 & 88.7 (Syd, Canberra & Goulburn Triple J outlets respectively)
Groups: 0A & 2A (no grp 4A observed)
Reception is quite poor at the moment, but its high level RDS subcarrier level is helping with the RDS decoding.

105.7 Sydney
No AF data added to Sydney’s 105.7 triple j
Else no other noted changes as I type.
PTY: 0 (none) as per usual
RT: (usual RT messages)

3 Likes

Does Triple J Illawarra use the same PI code as Sydney?

I will check in the work truck tomorrow if the AF is switching to Sydney, obviously this won’t work if the Illawarra uses a different PI code to Sydney.

I wonder if this is a new RDS trial or the final setup?

1 Like

Tuned to 98.9 Triple J in the work truck this morning.

Both Triple J Sydney and Illawarra are in sync. and 98.9 switches to 105.7 when the signal is strong enough for an RDS decode.

With 105.7 having no AF data in it’s settings it prevents a switch over from 105.7 to 98.9 when the Illawarra signal is stronger. I think the low RDS sub carrier on 105.7 is to stop an RDS switch over from 98.9 to 105.7 in the Illawarra region where 105.7 is strong enough for a full RDS decode.

I wonder why they went with two completely different RDS setups for Classic fm and Triple J Illawarra? I am assuming this is another RDS trial for Triple J Illawarra?

2 Likes