Thanks!
Always great to see info about RDS and radio in the less travelled parts of the country.
Do they use the Hit96.7 ID on air at all?
As for 101.3’s PS text, my that is VERY cringeworthy!
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Just ‘Hit South west’. Bunbury, Collie, Margaret River, Bridgetown and Pemberton all ‘Hit South west’. Where as the Triple M WA AM network IDs as individual frequencies.
Yeah. I’d have gone with 1 character scroll (rather than 8) or CCR101.3.
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More a Radio History question, but was 6CI Collie (1134) ever operationally independent from 6TZ Bunbury? You’d have to go a long way back- I suspect- to find locally hosted programming on the Collie and Bridgetown stations.
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I believe 6CI was always a 6TZ relay. Not sure about 6BY Bridgetown.
Nowadays 6CI has local ads and IDs inserted. 6TZ is independent from 6CI for weekday mornings, with 6CI joining the rest of the WA network for Rural Focus.
Good read on WA TV and radio history at https://watvhistory.com/2011/09/wa-history-from-telegram-to-tv-part-3-of-5/
Next question… What does 6TZ stand for???
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I recall when Radio West first started streaming (early 10s before APRA stopped it), I listened to 6BY/6CI a couple of times and it was ID… “900 and 1134, Radio West”.
But the program content was still the same as 6TZ.
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Let me guess… @Petarkco you’re in Wollongong, Kiama or Robertson?
I think Faith FM must be using extended ASCII characters for those ‘rubbish’ characters to appear.
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Time to wind our clocks back. But which FM stations forgot about their RDS clocks?
In Sydney the list is: 103.2 Hope & the ABC with 105.7 Triple J & 92.9 ABC Classic.
In Launceston 105.3 Way FM also forgot.
BTW also from Tassie; why does 90.1 Chilli have an RDS AF of 87.6 ?
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Hi @PMG.
Is/was the 90.1 2NBC transmitter repairable?
I note RDS is still missing from NBC after 2+ months.
Do you monitor online Airspy nodes to check all these?
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Yes & trips.
Wish there were more of the above.
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No it wasn’t repairable and was only 5 years old, we are still on the loan transmitter but have placed an order for a new transmitter which hopefully we will have in the next few weeks, it is RDS capable and will program it once it is installed.
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Fun fact: Many RDS encoders don’t automatically adjust for daylight savings time. Ask me how I know.
Unrepairable after 5 years? I’d expect that from a cheap Chinese transmitter, but not from a TX made by a (presumably) reputable manufacturer.
Hope the new TX goes smoothly, and that the CBF comes to the party wrt the cost.
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I note this morning that the new 2NBC 90.1 FM transmitter is on air with RDS.
I think (or hope) it’s still early days in the tune-up process as power seems a little low & there’s quite a lot of audio distortion.
UPDATE: I think one of the sources of distortion is overmodulation as bandwidth noted at times exceeding 310kHz.
On the RDS side of things the RDS subcarrier level (modulation level) is around -6dB lower than previously, hence decodes are poor to non existent with a BER of varying around 20 to no sync.
Note to @PMG. Also the PI code is currently defaulting at PI code of 0000 from original PI of 7718.
- Many vehicles won’t decode the 90.1 2NBC RDS with PI code set at default PI of 0000 so this needs to change.
Some other changes apparent:
PTY from previous ‘None’ to new ‘Varied’ (PTY 9),
DI [1] to DI [0]
RT from: 90.1 NBC FM - Live and Local - Studio 02 9534 2777
to new: LIVE AND LOCAL 90.1 NBCFM. Studio: 9534 2777
Group codes from: 0A & 2A to new: 0A, 1A & 2A
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what would one need to procure to build one of these?
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Hi Ozbark, we have made a few adjustments with some more to do, can you have a listen and let me know what you think.
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Hi @PMG The RDS data looks good now & the RDS subcarrier & stereo pilot levels now look good 
The bandwidth looks better now.
I am still noting a few moments of audio distortion when the announcer voices briefly raised or occasional musical spots around the 2pm +/- 8 mins period when I was listening, maybe something to be tweaked there?
But big improvements on yesterday.
I’ll have another look later tonight when I have more time.
Thanks for making the prompt improvements.
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Thanks Ozbark, I’ve passed on your info to our tech guy to see if he can make any more tweaks.
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Thanks. There was definitely still some distortion in spots on the song played at 9.48am today, but the ABBA song following at 9.50am seemed fine.
Re small RDS change. I could probably suggest on the RDS RT a change from the CAPITAL letters to lower case & capitals where appropriate, might be a bit easier on the eye.
Now:
KEEPING THE MEMORIES ALIVE, 90.1 NBC FM
LIVE AND LOCAL 90.1 NBCFM. Studio: 9534 2777
to:
Keeping the Memories Alive - 90.1 NBC FM
Live & Local - 90.1 NBCFM. Studio: 9534 2777
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RDS has been reactivated on 98.9’Triple J Illawarra. Another trial???
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