Given that Sale is on the same frequency Geelong, the same PI shouldnāt cause too much of an issue except for vehicle travellers between Geelong & Sale & visa versa where the stored PS might incorrectly display for a while with PI first detected until signal strong enough for PS & RT etc to update to actual station heard.
Always nice for dxers to have a unique PI, but programming is quite distinctive between the two stations for dx IDing.
Interesting that TRFM Bairnsdale in the RDS list has a PI of 3999 rather than 3995. I assume if correct that TRFM management didnāt want automatic frequency switching to occur for travellers between Sale & Bairnsdale?
I also added the PI code & info to the PI worksheet (#11)
Iām going to have to grab myself one of these TEF6686 receivers in future for both dxing & RDS curiosities. Have you @Contrillion tried the latest firmware? I believe it adds a whole heap more RDS labels/info.
My unit shipped with this fork of the firmware, but I did see the new release shows some extra details such as CT etc. so likely itāll be getting flashed to my radio soon.
For ref, I currently get PTY, PS, PI and scrolling RT on the āRemasteredā firmware v1.21:
I have v 1.2.1 as well. The TEF brings new meaning to the term āpocket rocketā. Iāve ordered some longer (and more robust) whip antennae for it, too.
Noted in my recent trip up to Cairns that there is an LPON on 88FM called Rhythm FM with the PS ā[rhythm]ā. Coverage seemed pretty good in the car at the airport.
Thereās a new community station at Port Douglas called āDouglas FMā. I discovered this one on Radio Garden. Itās on 101.5 MHz. Not sure if you received this one or whether itās running RDS?
This is a rename of the broadcaster that was once known as āOrbit FMā with some LPON licences in Victoria. Odd that they use brackets in their PS to enclose the station name.
A TCBL.
I see on their website one of their announcers is Paul Makin, the man behind the
establishment of FAB FM until its presumed closure.
Odd frequency choice. I thought all the LPONs above 88 MHz were restacked on or below 88 MHz (i.e., the āproperā LPON band) after the closure of Band II TV?
Thereās an 88.4 with religious content that I sometimes pick up via skip, though that one is in Queensland somewhere.
There are a couple oddballs left on 88.4. The other one Iāve picked up is a Vision station in Euroa.
EDIT: The Euroa station is an oddity in itself, in that it has only gone to air the last few years (c. 2020). Definitely no RDS the last time I checked a couple months ago.
Curiosity got the better of me tonight & I was wondering where this service might being transmitted from re your airport reception.
I think there are two candidates.
A registration at Mt.Yarrabah at elevation of 570m. That would provide extraordinary coverage if it is indeed transmitting from there.
And thereās a site north of the airport at Yorkeys Knob where there appears to be a vertical whip that could possibly transmitting the 88FM service at that elevated site with height of 59m. https://goo.gl/maps/hCuJYU6XMzn34pjs9
If itās the Mt Yarrabah site that would indeed do an excellent job, it looks over most of Cairns City. Sadly I only discovered it on my last day (literally as I was returning the hire car before flying out) so didnāt have a chance to explore more. Coverage was consistently good around the airport and on approach though.
I had that old problem of trying to tune an RDS saved station on the car radio & getting a different one again on the way home yesterday afternoon.
I was driving North up the M1 out of Sydney & at the top of the big dipper, went to change stations to Star 104.5 & FBI came on, same issue as the others, tuner is only looking at the last 2 digits in the PI code & they are both the same, so it tunes the strongest signal station.
I might talk to the Star104.5 program director/local tech & get him to change theirs to have a A in it such as 245A or push FBI to change theirs?
Iāve had a long scan through Worksheet 11 (PI Code Sheet) of our RDS List & I could only find one other station with a PI code ending in 5A, that being YFM Warnambool, Vic so 245A looks like a good choice (baring any other local one bit difference PI codes) for either Star FM or FBi.
It may (or may not?) be easier to enact a PI code change from Star FM, but that said FBi already has the same PI code as 2EC & it would be better for FBi to change to 245A. 2EC had their PI code first.
I had an instance where I was travelling in a vehicle in Sydney listening to 2EC via tropo dx reception & the tuner automatically switched to FBi, as youād expect with identical PI codes in main reception area of FBi.
Good luck with your comms with Star &/or FBi.
BTW the Star tech may be a part timer.
The Star program director is local & full time, he also does minor tech work & sets the audio processing for the station, heās also the PD for the Nova DAB stations. Star is Engineered with major tech jobs done out of & by Nova Sydney techs though.
Noted this morning that 88.5 2RRR have changed their PI code from 2885 to 288C.
Thinking about this change & @RFBurns recent RDS switching problem Iām suspecting there was a RDS switching problem affecting 2RRR. Looking through our RDS list Iāve found a possible candidate in Radio 2OOO with their PI code of 2985.
Were you across this problem @RFBurns re your work with Radio 2OOOās transmitter?
I think 2RRRās new PI code of 288C should be okay.
Looking at our RDS List I am wondering if itās possible to create another RDS worksheet that provides a sorted PI code list based solely on just the 3rd & 4th digits of PI codes provided on Worksheet 11. This would help technicians avoid or solve PI code conflict problems. I probably need to study Google Sheets coding to figure this out. Any ideas?
Awesome.
