Let me guess, when they switch sites? I find this amusing they didn’t think of this. haha
A temporary reprieve for those who hate the change to Gold, although on-air you’ll still hear the station being identified as Gold. And I swear, if that mysterious troll sees my message and causes damage to the RDS Google spreadsheet again, that’ll be it.
It might just be tropo, but it seems like it might be easier to decode now. As my non-south-facing TEF servers seem to be able to decode RDS on Wave now also.
RTRFM 92.1 Perth have changed the PI code to 6921 that should help a few receivers to decode it successfully
My radio is also Decoding Wave much better now with a much stronger signal. New transmitter and encoder?
Speaking of station logo’s & RDS2, I’ll be installing a new microwave Studio To Transmitter link at Coast FM 96.3 Gosford sometime in the next 6-8 weeks & re-leveling all the audio, RDS, link & transmitter signal levels, & as I haven’t seen any receivers capable of decoding RDS2 (other than some software ones some of us in here use) & the fact that I haven’t had any response from anyone either at the station or listeners who have seen our RDS2 station logo & have a receiver capable of decoding RDS2 station logo’s or anything else, I’m seriously considering turning the RDS2 back off & reallocating the deviation allocated to it, back to RDS1 & the audio.
I’m off to Ballarat soon, so alongside trying for tropo FM signals from areas outside of Ballarat (local signal), and Melbourne/Bendigo (regular signals), I’m also going to try to see if I can get RDS for hit91.9 and Triple M 93.5 Bendigo.
I already have one radio reserved for Ballarat, so I’m taking another one with me as well to try for RDS on Bendigo and Melbourne. I might also try Colac if those signals hold up well in Ballarat. Probably no chance of Geelong reception or RDS in Ballarat though.
I haven’t received any strong tropo from the Central Coast here to try a RDS2 decode with RDS Spy. During the times, along the north coast when significant tropo did occur, ‘triple j’ Taree dominated.
I’m still not aware of any vehicles with RDS2 decode functionality as yet.
Good luck with the planned works
Just got back from Ballarat. Spending the day there left me with little time for DXing, however I did try RDS for Bendigo and Melbourne FM earlier today, and this is what I picked up.
Not sure if you can properly see it due to the sunlight, but after extending the aerial and tinkering around with the radio I was able to get RDS for Bendigo on 91.9 FM, received outside the Ballarat Central Bunnings.
I did try 93.5 FM, but couldn’t get RDS on that frequency despite best attempts. I also tried Melbourne but the signal was too weak on the receiver, thus no RDS for that in Ballarat.
Something very weird happening with the RDS decoding of 94.1 Today’s Country on the TVCL North FMDX webserver.
The PI decode on the TCVL server shows as FFFF
On my SDR it is showing normally as 2941 with PS etc.
Reception appears stronger on the the TVCL North (V) server too.
Rather odd, it would be interesting to determine what the webserver displays for a stronger signal of 94.1 Central Coast, hopefully correctly.
Yes, I’ve noticed that too. But if you set it to 72-97 kHz bandwidth, it’ll display properly (2941) with full PS/RT decode.
I suppose the signal comes in better on the NW aerial even though it’s pointed the wrong way since it matches with the vertical polarisation used by the station.
Coast FM also needs manual bandwidth adjustment to decode properly for some reason (try the different options between 114-151 kHz).
Just an update to my message. I did a test with RDS Spy and 94.1 decodes best with a bandwidth setting of 72-97 kHz (rather than 114 kHz), which typically yields a BER of ~<10%. 96.3 seems to do best with 151 kHz.
If you want to monitor the RDS on RBM FM, the East server seems to give the best reception for some reason.
But the mystery deepens. I notice the East server managed to decode an RDS PS of " * RDS * " alongside the FFFF PI code when I first tuned in.
I can’t seem to replicate it now though.
The reason for needing a bandwidth adjustment is usually related to signals on adjacent frequencies. Trying to decode a lower strength signal with one that is high on the next channel will often stop the decode when the bandwidth is wide. You have to reduce the bandwidth to avoid the adjacent signal.
This example shows Triple M Bundaberg at approx 295km (3kw) next to high power local SBS Brisbane. You can decode the RDS up to the bandwidth shown ( 102) but anything wider will not.
For 94.1, there’s nothing either side on 93.9/94.3 though.
Perhaps it has multipath reflections that can also interfere with RDS.
Agree, I have been having similar issues with 94.1 Gosford RDS too… I wonder if it is just a very low RDS input level, somewhat similar to Triple J Sunshine Coast? Sometimes the TEF will flash the RDS light and display PTY of “None”, but sometimes not at all.
It won’t display on my car radio either, which it used to.
The signal overmodulates a bit, but then always has, even when RDS was working.