RDS in NZ

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Geektastic

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Topic # 189490 1-Jan-2016 15:25

Does RDS in NZ work the same as it does in the UK?

In the UK if you tune in, say, BBC Radio 2 and drive from London to Aberdeen, the radio will automatically switch from transmitter to transmitter, changing frequency as need be, in order to maintain the signal.

Here, my RDS radio shows I am listening to National, yet there is no attempt to switch between the two frequencies that cover the local area as I drive around.

Have I got the radio set wrong or does that functionality just not exist here?

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Reply # 1459866 1-Jan-2016 15:48

Hi have had this working but not on National radio ( dont listen to it )

A very quick google reveled the following pages which is very enligtning, for example if you are in Auckland and traveling North, RDS will no change frequencies Automatically, however if going from Auckland to Hamilton it will change the channel for you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stations_using_the_Radio_Data_System_in_New_Zealand
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Data_System

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davidcole

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Reply # 1459874 1-Jan-2016 16:03

Is RDS similar to traffic reports? How do they come in? And do they work here? Don't seem to in Wellington.

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alasta

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Reply # 1459877 1-Jan-2016 16:22

I was just driving around the south east of the Miramar Peninsula while listening to More FM on 99.7 (Mt Kaukau) and when the signal died my radio automatically switched to 95.3 which is the Fitzherbert More FM frequency, however due to lack of LOS to Fitzherbert the broadcast received was Radio Live which also happens to be on 95.3 in Blenheim!

SATTV

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Reply # 1459879 1-Jan-2016 16:28

davidcole: Is RDS similar to traffic reports? How do they come in? And do they work here? Don't seem to in Wellington.

You might need to enable Traffic Announcements on your radio. I dont think it was available in my Sirion.

What can happen is you can be on one channel and there is an announcement which you hear, once the announcement is over it stays on the announcement channel rather that what you were listening to.

According to this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stations_using_the_Radio_Data_System_in_New_Zealand
ZM and AndHow FM have traffic announcements.

John

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wasabi2k

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Reply # 1459891 1-Jan-2016 17:29

My Pioneer went a bit mental driving around the domain flashing NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT and changing the station (to something with ads). Assumed it was someone testing some automatic thing.

Don't listen to the radio enough these days to worry.

Is it mostly European cars that have RDS in stock?

alasta

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Reply # 1459907 1-Jan-2016 17:45

wasabi2k: My Pioneer went a bit mental driving around the domain flashing NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT and changing the station (to something with ads). Assumed it was someone testing some automatic thing.

Don't listen to the radio enough these days to worry.

Is it mostly European cars that have RDS in stock?

No, it is pretty standard on all mainstream marques now, both European and Asian.

davidcole

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Reply # 1459943 1-Jan-2016 19:04

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Yeah I have it enabled on my Audi. And the timers turned on. But I've never seen it do anything

Geektastic

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Reply # 1459944 1-Jan-2016 19:05

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It should work with nationally broadcast stations that you could drive from Auckland to Bluff without losing the station but does not seem to do that at all.

alasta

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Reply # 1459953 1-Jan-2016 19:37

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Geektastic: It should work with nationally broadcast stations that you could drive from Auckland to Bluff without losing the station but does not seem to do that at all.

I'm not sure about the other operators, but Mediaworks are very inconsistent in their use of RDS. Some stations don't have it at all, some have it implemented with just station ID, some have both station ID and description, and some use the station ID field to scroll text instead of putting it in the description as designed. They really need to get their act together.

sbiddle

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Reply # 1460034 2-Jan-2016 04:23

TA is not used in Wellington.

I also wasn't aware of TA being used in Auckland either. I know ZM enabled it many years ago and got slammed in the media by people (and media who clearly had no idea what they were writing about) complaining of their radios continually changing to ZM.

RDS works fine in Wellington for switching between frequencies for all the major stations.

richms

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Reply # 1460035 2-Jan-2016 05:36

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And some have the clock totally wrong screwing up the clock on my stereo if I happen to use the radio.

Scrolling text on a 8 character screen is the stupedist idea ever. Instead of glancing at it and reading it, you have to wait...... for each............. part of................ it to ....... show up.........

Only one of my Chinese car stereos actually got the text showing on it, the rest just showed the station ID on the silly 8 character thing.

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bagheera

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Reply # 1460064 2-Jan-2016 09:30

richms: And some have the clock totally wrong screwing up the clock on my stereo if I happen to use the radio.

that beep me off so much on my old radio - when i bought it, it sound like best feature ever, never have to set clock again - turn out to be worst feature ever - clock time aways wrong, with it changing to another random time when ever it like and you could not turn it off.....

nzkiwiman

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Reply # 1461496 5-Jan-2016 11:43

Looking at that Wiki link, I see Dunedin only has Concert and National as stations that use it ..
I listen to the Edge and have to always scan for a new station when on a road trip - when I was in Christchurch I liked that radio told me I was listening to the Edge, but as I got further south again I had to scan again to find Ashburton, then Timaru/Oamaru and finally Dunedin

am289

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Reply # 1474999 20-Jan-2016 00:15

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my car radio, when on national radio 101.7 Christchurch, will automatically change frequencies. I noticed it automatically jumped to 101.3 and 101.6 (?) on the way to Dunedin and back last week. My car might have an option for this, but I didn't knowingly set it.

Would be great if we had DAB radio in NZ.

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Reply # 1475002 20-Jan-2016 02:31

am289:
Would be great if we had DAB radio in NZ.

Amen! Norway is working towards turning off FM in 2017, and I really miss DAB here in NZ.

I recon DAB will come to NZ when the rest of the world has switched to it (with the exception of USA and Canada who don't use it because the frequencies are used by the US military).

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