FM = No static at all

LordSutch

And no RDS either!

Does anyone know why NTL dont transmit RDS FM data on UK Stations?

For years I have wondered why, when I tune into BBC Radio 1 (for example) there is no RDS Name available, but yet, when I tune into RTE Radio 1 the RDS box lights-up with RTE 1 . . .

I rang NTL a couple of years ago but never got a satisfactory answer, presumably because I seemed to know far more about FM & RDS than the poor girl on the other end of the line!

The contrast is even more pronounced now with the advent of DAB Radio & its scrolling texts & info ~ then I tune into FM (NTL socket) with no RDS data at all on the BBC stations

Anyone know why NTL dont transmit the RDS data on the BBC FM Stations ?

Kensington

Irish stations are just rebroadcasts of the signal pulled in from Irish FM broadcasts - basically an FM aerial receiving the FM signal and then remodulating it down the cable. Because of this the RDS data is already present from the source FM broadcast. BBCs FM stations are pulled in from digital satellite, which are digital MP2 stream which are converted to analogue - because its a digital radio stream there's no RDS data present so to add in RDS to the FM signals would mean purchasing/maintaining RDS encoders for each BBC station NTL carry. I'd imagine this'd be bloody expensive for them and at this stage not really worth the investment, considering how UPC are beginning to wind down their analogue services in a switch to completely digital services.

Mossy Monk

ArthurF wrote: »

I rang NTL a couple of years ago but never got a satisfactory answer, presumably because I seemed to know far more about FM & RDS than the poor girl on the other end of the line!

Do you really think the telephone staff are going to know anything about something like RDS on the analogue radio?

LordSutch

She didnt even realise that NTL were broadcasting FM, and it took me quite a while to explain to her that it wasnt just TV coming through their cables, but FM Radio also . . . . :rolleyes:

Anyway "Thanks to Kensington" I finally have the answer

chris1970

anyone know which stations are broadcast, and on what frequency, radio 1 is not it usual 88.80 in galway city, thanks in advance

BrianD

My understanding is that UPC regard the analogue system as a legacy system and there will be no further additions or upgrades. The BBC services on the digital service all have a full EPG which brings them beyond the basic info that RDS provides.

LordSutch

chris1970 wrote: »

anyone know which stations are broadcast, and on what frequency, radio 1 is not it usual 88.80 in galway city, thanks in advance

You didnt say which 'RADIO 1' you were after in Galway, so here are the perimeters for both Stations, although not being from Galway myself, I cant be 100% sure as to the local 'Galway' frequency.

BBC 'RADIO 1' should be between 95.20 > 99.70 FM
RTE 'RADIO 1' should be between 88.50 > 89.60 FM

FM frequencies for Galway cable

Radio Station ~ FM Frequency
BBC Radio 1 > 95.2
BBC Radio 2 > 88.2
BBC Radio 3 > 90.4
BBC Radio 4 > 97.0
BBC Wld Svc > 97.8
RTE Radio 1 > 89.6
RTE 2FM > 91.8
Radio na Gael > 94.0
Clare FM > 94.6
Mid West Radio > 98.6
Sky Radio > 99.2
Today FM > 100.4
Lyric FM > 101.0
Galway Bay FM > 101.6

Good luck chris1970, & I hope this helps.

Slicklink

Arthur, the whole idea of RDS is for FM receivers to switch automatically to the strongest signal of the station you are listening to, so you don't need to retune manually as you no doubt know. So its really only of the interests of the BBC on UK land. As its foreign and as its not taken from an FM feed from N Ireland or East Coast of Ireland there is no PS data to rebroadcast as already pointed out.

To be honest it wouldnt cost a great deal to buy a few RDS Units to display the PS of the stations being rebroadcast on the cable system, but as also pointed out it has already passed its sell by date with digital TV carrying Radio services now and that bloody www thingymebob.

Not that all that matters as the girls dont seem to care, as long as the mood is right :pac:

Interestingly the Aussies use RDS sub carriers to control peaks in electricity power!

Fuzzy Clam

Slicklink wrote: »

Arthur, the whole idea of RDS is for FM receivers to switch automatically to the strongest signal of the station you are listening to,

But thats NOT the whole idea of RDS. Its also used to display the station name and can be used to carry program info.

Slicklink

Ok if you want to be pedantic. Its the main use of RDS in this case (ie the BBC). For those that have only one TX, RDS is solely cosmetic and about maintaining brand id using the PS function rather than AF.

Slidey

The first car stereo that i got with RDS, a sony about 7 years ago, used to beep when the traffic report came on and could interupt cds as well to hear it.
Now i know i live outside Dub and maybe some of the local stations still do this but do the national carriers no longer do this or is it the stereos that i have had since?

DMC

No national or Dublin station use the TA (or TI) flag on RDS.

If you are in the North, and are tuned to any BBC Radio with the TA button on, it will tune to BBC Radio Ulster if it has a traffic bulletin (normally 7am-6pm Mon-Fri) It will tune back to the station you were listening to automatically when the bulletin ends

LordSutch

I could write a book on 'TA' and its Non-use here in the Republic

I have been swapping emails with Gay Byrne & Conor Faughnan of the AA of recent months, and to cut a long story short, the 'TA' (traffic Announcement) feature was briefly introduced here in the Republic back in the early 90s, but some people got annoyed that their precious Radio Progs were being interrupted by silly messages about road accidents !!! so RTE switched-off 'TA' for good (as it happens) . . . . .

And that was that .......................

TA is a great feature & it works really well up North & in Britain as I can testify to, many's the time I have been driving along in North Wales (or where ever) & my CR/Radio has been interrupted to tell me of impending danger up ahead!

Gay Byrne has told me that because of the huge amount of Stations now present in the Republic, that it would be impossible to get a general consus to having a 'TA' system that interrupts their precious 'Air Time' just to inform drivers that there has been a crash ~ I kid you not.

Strange that it works just fine in the UK then :cool:

LordSutch

Slicklink wrote: »

Not that all that matters as the girls dont seem to care, as long as the mood is right :pac:

Hay, another SD fan, nice

RadioCity

DMC wrote: »

No national or Dublin station use the TA (or TI) flag on RDS.

If you are in the North, and are tuned to any BBC Radio with the TA button on, it will tune to BBC Radio Ulster if it has a traffic bulletin (normally 7am-6pm Mon-Fri) It will tune back to the station you were listening to automatically when the bulletin ends

Its a while since I tried it but my car has a news and traffic option. When I set it for news only it usually retuned to BBC Radio 2. If you were on BBC Radio 2 it would retune to BBC Radio 4!!:(

Trick of the Tail

South East Radio in Wexford use TA, as do (I think) Beat on their 102.0 freq from Mount Leinster.

By the way, South East were the first non-RTE station in the country to use RDS.

A.

LordSutch

alinton wrote: »

South East Radio in Wexford use TA, as do (I think) Beat on their 102.0 freq from Mount Leinster. By the way, South East were the first non-RTE station in the country to use RDS. A.

Wow, interesting indeed, but are you really saying that the 'TA' feature works in its fully functional mode? ie: you are driving along listening to your favourite CD, or listening to RTE Radio 1, or Lyric FM or whatever, and you receive a "Traffic Alert" from South East Radio warning you of impending danger on the roads?

Or must you be listening to 'South East Radio' (In Wexford) for it to work?

The whole point of 'TA' in the UK & Europe is that, you can be listening to anything in your car (CD/MP3 or any Radio Station) & it will be rudely interrupted to warn or inform the driver about a Hazard or Danger on the road ahead ~ you then get returned to whatever you were listening to before the 'TA' Alert!

Is that what you have in Wexford?

Trick of the Tail

Yes, if you have TA enabled on your radio, it will do as you say. A lot of stations send the TP flag with RDS - which means 'this station carries traffic broadcasts' but they don't send TA ('traffic broadcast now'). Thats because if you have TA enabled on the radio and you do a scan, most don't stop on a non-TP station.

The radio will only interrupt a CD, it won't re-tune from another station, as you need to have stations included in an EON list for that to work, and RTE aren't about to put independent stations in their EON lists.

A.

LordSutch

Thats truly amazing seeing as you cant get 'TA' working here in Dublin, and I have left my TA button ON since I was last Up North (three months ago), but its never ever worked for me in the greater Dublin Area

Spooky that Conor & Gay never mentioned that 'TA' it was working in Wexford, but I take your word alinton.