MA
Those radios are excellent, fully compliant RDS and EON features, and really sensitive tuners, badged Clarions I think.
The present generation that are part of the colour touchscreen control system are awful for FM/RDS, though the DAB side is pretty good, (despite non compliance on DAB service linking and DAB-FM fall over)
The on screen keyboard (for inputting sat nav addresses and phonebook searches) is appalling, slow reacting, and not Querty !!
Ah yes, it's a Peugeot I have as well! Probably an old fashioned radio display (orange on black) compared to the fancy touch screens in newer cars.
Those radios are excellent, fully compliant RDS and EON features, and really sensitive tuners, badged Clarions I think.
The present generation that are part of the colour touchscreen control system are awful for FM/RDS, though the DAB side is pretty good, (despite non compliance on DAB service linking and DAB-FM fall over)
The on screen keyboard (for inputting sat nav addresses and phonebook searches) is appalling, slow reacting, and not Querty !!
RK
There is an American standard for RDS: http://www.nrscstandards.org/SG/nrsc-4-B.pdf wonder why it never caught on
The thing is we don't really have nationwide radio networks. There are nationwide owners but nothing like the BBC setup of a main channel and then local radio. I assume things like the traffic flag could be used when you have a cluster of radio stations in a city. Say theirs a newsradio station of the cluster to flag for the other stations to switch over.
As for the pass over from one station to another I don't think it would work because of different owners and program schedules. I don't think Station A would want the radio to tune to Station B until their signal is dead.
A very fascinating discussion. There's nothing like that here in the US except for satellite radio. If there's a song you like you can bookmark it and you get an alert allowing you to move to the channel before the song plays.
As for AM and FM stations the extent you get is maybe a station name and the song / program name. There are HD subchannels as a "multiplex" esqe offering different genres in digital quality.
As for AM and FM stations the extent you get is maybe a station name and the song / program name. There are HD subchannels as a "multiplex" esqe offering different genres in digital quality.
There is an American standard for RDS: http://www.nrscstandards.org/SG/nrsc-4-B.pdf wonder why it never caught on
The thing is we don't really have nationwide radio networks. There are nationwide owners but nothing like the BBC setup of a main channel and then local radio. I assume things like the traffic flag could be used when you have a cluster of radio stations in a city. Say theirs a newsradio station of the cluster to flag for the other stations to switch over.
As for the pass over from one station to another I don't think it would work because of different owners and program schedules. I don't think Station A would want the radio to tune to Station B until their signal is dead.
IS
Some parts of the system would still work though, with the added bonus that all the station call signs will fit on the display!
I suppose it's the same as what happened to teletext in the US. That too was possible but never caught on mainly because of the nature of the way the station's work
I suppose it's the same as what happened to teletext in the US. That too was possible but never caught on mainly because of the nature of the way the station's work
RK
No the textual display does work. You get the stations calls, the program name, song/performer/computer and if you have the right vehicle you can get the album artwork.
Some parts of the system would still work though, with the added bonus that all the station call signs will fit on the display!
I suppose it's the same as what happened to teletext in the US. That too was possible but never caught on mainly because of the nature of the way the station's work
I suppose it's the same as what happened to teletext in the US. That too was possible but never caught on mainly because of the nature of the way the station's work
No the textual display does work. You get the stations calls, the program name, song/performer/computer and if you have the right vehicle you can get the album artwork.
DV
I thought they achieved that by changing the Station Name every second so that it gave the appearance of scrolling.
One thing that I didn't know about for years was that RDS has RadioText (scrolling display that says what show is on or what is the current song). I always thought that this was a DAB feature until I got a car with a radio that had the ability to display it.
Am I right in saying that scrolling station names are banned as they could be distracting to drivers, but RadioText seemingly isn't. I know I've tuned into at least one pirate station that's used a scrolling station name.
Am I right in saying that scrolling station names are banned as they could be distracting to drivers, but RadioText seemingly isn't. I know I've tuned into at least one pirate station that's used a scrolling station name.
MA
Yes, that's exactly how it's done.
Although, it can back fire, because some radios don't update the PS at that rate, or at all, so
you can end up having say PLANK FM, stuck on the screen as 'K FM PLAN'
I thought they achieved that by changing the Station Name every second so that it gave the appearance of scrolling.
Yes, that's exactly how it's done.
Although, it can back fire, because some radios don't update the PS at that rate, or at all, so
you can end up having say PLANK FM, stuck on the screen as 'K FM PLAN'
Last edited by Markymark on 29 March 2017 3:02pm
NG
noggin
Founding member
There are two routes to scrolling text I believe:
1. Change the name of the station so that the display on the radio showing the station name changes (and thus appears to scroll). I think this is not really 'the done thing' in the UK (though pirate stations with RDS do it I think) - as it is distracting.
2. There is an additional function on RDS radios called Radio Text. This usually needs to be specifically selected to be viewed - and will scroll on most receivers as it carries many more than the relatively small number of characters on a display. DAB also supports this. It's usually used for 'Now Playing' type information.
1. Change the name of the station so that the display on the radio showing the station name changes (and thus appears to scroll). I think this is not really 'the done thing' in the UK (though pirate stations with RDS do it I think) - as it is distracting.
2. There is an additional function on RDS radios called Radio Text. This usually needs to be specifically selected to be viewed - and will scroll on most receivers as it carries many more than the relatively small number of characters on a display. DAB also supports this. It's usually used for 'Now Playing' type information.
DV
There's a pirate around here (or used to be) that rather than trying a scrolling effect will change the Station Name at a slower rate so that it changes what's on the display, usually the name of the station then a phone number and website address split into chunks.
Some car radios show the Radio Text as a static display on multiple lines so that scrolling isn't distracting even when the button is pressed. The BBC use this to rotate between programme name, description and track now playing (if available), contact information, and what's on next towards the end of a programme. On BBC LR (possibly also R5L) it's also used to display headlines, weather and traffic. It's the same information shown on the MHEG when the station is tuned into on Freeview. It's truncated on displays with a limited number of characters, or may stop scrolling after a while. This led to Radio 4 changing one programme description that included the words "rigorous analysis".
On DAB sets you normally have a display button which when pressed will rotate between station name, Radio Text, PTY (programme type), ensemble (or multiplex e.g. D1 National or Birmingham), frequency (either the block e.g. 12B or in MHz), signal strength, bitrate, mono/stereo, date/time. Not all sets will display all this info. On DAB there are also short and long versions of station names so depending on the set you might see "BBC Radio 6Music" or "BBC R6M".
Some car radios show the Radio Text as a static display on multiple lines so that scrolling isn't distracting even when the button is pressed. The BBC use this to rotate between programme name, description and track now playing (if available), contact information, and what's on next towards the end of a programme. On BBC LR (possibly also R5L) it's also used to display headlines, weather and traffic. It's the same information shown on the MHEG when the station is tuned into on Freeview. It's truncated on displays with a limited number of characters, or may stop scrolling after a while. This led to Radio 4 changing one programme description that included the words "rigorous analysis".
On DAB sets you normally have a display button which when pressed will rotate between station name, Radio Text, PTY (programme type), ensemble (or multiplex e.g. D1 National or Birmingham), frequency (either the block e.g. 12B or in MHz), signal strength, bitrate, mono/stereo, date/time. Not all sets will display all this info. On DAB there are also short and long versions of station names so depending on the set you might see "BBC Radio 6Music" or "BBC R6M".
Last edited by dvboy on 30 March 2017 1:15am - 3 times in total
MA
As long as you haven't come off the road !
Ofcom will only worry if the PS field becomes dynamic, which is something legal UK stations don't implement.
The radio text field as said can and does scroll, perfectly legitimate for non car radios, but the implementation of it in vehicles is a matter for other agencies and authorities!
Edit: However, steering back on topic, I do recall the BBC scrolling the channel ID field in Teletext Packet 8/30 ? Normally this gave the channel ID, and was fixed to say 'BBC ONE' or 'ITV Meridian' etc, but I seem to recall a short spell about 10 years ago, when the Beeb were
using it during junctions to give a 'Next Programme' display ? It must have been a compliant thing to do, but many VCRs and TVs took that field when they were performing an auto tune, to provide the stored channel name. Run a tuning scan at just the wrong moment, and you'd end up with BBC 1 permanently labelled as 'Bargain Hunt'
I wonder what ofcom would do if they saw the scrolling stock market data on SiriusXM.
And sorry for getting this thread so off track.
And sorry for getting this thread so off track.
As long as you haven't come off the road !
Ofcom will only worry if the PS field becomes dynamic, which is something legal UK stations don't implement.
The radio text field as said can and does scroll, perfectly legitimate for non car radios, but the implementation of it in vehicles is a matter for other agencies and authorities!
Edit: However, steering back on topic, I do recall the BBC scrolling the channel ID field in Teletext Packet 8/30 ? Normally this gave the channel ID, and was fixed to say 'BBC ONE' or 'ITV Meridian' etc, but I seem to recall a short spell about 10 years ago, when the Beeb were
using it during junctions to give a 'Next Programme' display ? It must have been a compliant thing to do, but many VCRs and TVs took that field when they were performing an auto tune, to provide the stored channel name. Run a tuning scan at just the wrong moment, and you'd end up with BBC 1 permanently labelled as 'Bargain Hunt'
Last edited by Markymark on 30 March 2017 7:30am