Replying to what I have read in response to my posting,..
I too noticed when I played with the Sangean WR-2 that B105 in Brisbane uses
the Station ID function of RDS, but that is about it. It seems a pity that
it isn't more widely promoted and implemented, but when most car radios
don't have the functionality to decode RDS, why should stations do anything
more than broadcast a station ID? I just think it is a radio resource whose
time has come, and it is a pity that it is not more widely used in creative
ways. I would love to see the full RDS implementation working in Europe,
just to open my eyes to how it can really work.
I also have a Sangean ATS606 that I bought in Singapore in the 90s. Still
goes well enough. The more recent (and more expensive) models do include
RDS functions, and of course they tune up to 1710 Khz on AM.
I have been searching high and low for receivers that tune to the Extended
AM band, and it is very hard to find any that go all the way, and harder
still to find one that will tune to 1710 Khz in 9 KHz steps. JVC tuners
seem to go all the way up more often than most, and many Sony car radios
have a switch that will allow tuning in 10Khz steps. Portables with HF
tuning functionality normally will, and it seems the car stereos installed
by the manufacturer are often quite robust systems which seem to tune to
1710 (my radio in my Toyota Echo does), while the over the counter models
generally don't. For portables, you just have to go hunting at various
electonic shops for a model that will tune all the way - some do some don't.
Radio Brisvaani is a station I have tuned to many times (my wife is
Pakistani) and for this reason, among others, I want to tune all the way up
the AM dial. Being a narrowcast specialist, having convenient access to the
entire AM and FM band is important.
I haven't tried tuning to radio with a set-top box - that's also
interesting. But I have found a few DVD 5.1 sound amplifiers which include
a nice tuner that can tune across the whole AM and FM radio spectrum.
Someone needs to tell the gov't regulator ACMA to encourage manufacturers to
supply the market with devices that uses clever technological addtions (RDS)
and cover the higher frequencies on the AM band. If people could tune to
these Extended AM stations on their regular everyday radios, then operators
with NAS licences might start using their assets to provide interesting
services, and thereby enhance diversity in the marketplace. Radio Brisvaani
is a shining example of what can be done with a little effort, but any
Indian or Fijian who want to tune in more often than not has to go and buy a
new radio from DSE! We won't talk about World Audio!
Phil
"Stephan Grossklass" wrote in message
...
RDS is, in fact, anything but brand new. The first devices that could
receive it came out 20 years ago (in 1987 - in terms of FM tuners, the
Grundig T9000 comes to mind), with first field tests having been carried
out starting in 1983 or so. By 1993 even the Japanese offered some RDS
equipped tuners, and that was about the time when it became pretty much
standard in car radios here.
In terms of shortwave portables, I can think of two models with RDS
decoding on FM - the Grundig Satellit 700 (1991-1997) and the Sangean
ATS-909 (1996-). One used to be able to buy aftermarket RDS decoding
units some time in the late '90s, but these have long been discontinued
and are now highly sought after.
Here in Germany, it would probably be fairly difficult to find an FM
station broadcasting without RDS, even our local noncommercial station
is transmitted with a station ID now. That it caught on here while the
US system RBDS still isn't very common probably has a lot to do with a
much more powerful and more centralized public broadcasting system at
the time (there weren't even any private radio stations until the
mid-'80s here). I know too little about the situation in Australia to
comment on that.
BTW, in the '90s a yet more fancy FM data broadcasting system was
developed (the SWIFT Eureka 1197 project), but apparently that never got
very far, although a matching Sony SRF-DR2000 receiver occasionally
makes an appearance on the 'bay.
While I'm reading this AMSS paper, I'm reminded of the time signal
information modulated onto some strong Frech LW broadcasting station.
That never really caught on, plain CW does allow much simpler receivers
and DCF77 seems to do plenty well enough here.
Stephan
--
Home: http://stephan.win31.de/
So if it receives like a handbag, does it sound good at least?