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RDS radio and PC
I'm looking for either a PC card radio receiver or an external FM
receiver which can be connected to the computer in order to process the RDS data, specially the station ID. I'm involved in a project for automatic detection of propagation conditions on the VHF bands and what I need is a receiver that can be fully controlled by the computer, scanning continuosly, identifying the stations received, and logging them in a database for later analysis. I'm a software developer, so I'll make any required programming in the PC, but the problem is I can't find any reference to a receiver which fits my needs (interface with PC and RDS compatible). Can someone help me? Thanks. Gabriel. www.vhfdx.net |
One partial solution is the "RDS Manager" sold by the German electronics (etc) retailer Conrad. They also are mail-order - but refuse to sell in the USA or Canada. The "RDS Manager" can easily be modified to output to your computer. There's free software on the Web to interpret the output string. The unit cost around $25 plus wall-wart power supply. The unit has an LCD as its normal output. It obtained input from the normal audio output of your radio. Enough RDS signal leaks out of the audio output to allow the RDS Manager to work. No receiver mods required in most cases. Now the down side. It is no longer available. Apparently so many European radios incorporate RDS that the market dried up. I suspect that a dozen or more units were privately imported into the USA. I personally know of two, and have heard of a third. As for the radio itself, you could do worse than buying the ICOM. I forget whether the WinRadio covers VHF. You didn't say whether you are in North America or Europe. RDS is widespread in Europe, but rare in the USA. There is, however, renewed interest in R(B)DS on the part of US broadcasters. 73 de bob w3otc "Gabriel" wrote in message om... I'm looking for either a PC card radio receiver or an external FM receiver which can be connected to the computer in order to process the RDS data, specially the station ID. I'm involved in a project for automatic detection of propagation conditions on the VHF bands and what I need is a receiver that can be fully controlled by the computer, scanning continuosly, identifying the stations received, and logging them in a database for later analysis. |
That`s it.
http://www.rds.org.uk/rdsfnews13.html http://www.rds.org.uk/rdsfnews16.html By the way: do You have 800 $ ;-) "Gabriel" wrote in message om... I'm looking for either a PC card radio receiver or an external FM receiver which can be connected to the computer in order to process the RDS data, specially the station ID. I'm involved in a project for automatic detection of propagation conditions on the VHF bands and what I need is a receiver that can be fully controlled by the computer, scanning continuosly, identifying the stations received, and logging them in a database for later analysis. I'm a software developer, so I'll make any required programming in the PC, but the problem is I can't find any reference to a receiver which fits my needs (interface with PC and RDS compatible). Can someone help me? Thanks. Gabriel. www.vhfdx.net |
R J Carpenter wrote:
One partial solution is the "RDS Manager" sold by the German electronics (etc) retailer Conrad. They also are mail-order - but refuse to sell in the ... I suspect that a dozen or more units were privately imported into the USA. I personally know of two, and have heard of a third. I have one. You didn't say whether you are in North America or Europe. RDS is widespread in Europe, but rare in the USA. There is, however, renewed interest in R(B)DS on the part of US broadcasters. This is an important point. Of 30 stations strong enough to deliver RDS at my location, only six actually have the encoder. ==== You're going to have to go with a communications receiver for the radio; I don't know of any consumer FM radios that are PC-controllable. If you're comfortable with hardware modification you could provide external contact closures to tune a consumer radio up & down the band one step at a time. -- Doug Smith W9WI Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66 http://www.w9wi.com |
Thanks for the help,
It seems that I will have to look for a second hand Conrad RDS manager, o build some RDS decoder myself. I expected something already available comercially so that I could concentrate my efforts on the analysis software. I have some experience controlling Yaesu, Icom and Kenwood radios via CAT (RS-232) interface, so I expected to find some receiver that also could deliver the RDS data in a similar way. The only device I have found that fits my requirements is a professional receiver that can be controlled via USB, but its price (999 GBP) is too high for my amateur budget. Just for your information, in case you want to have a look to it, the URL is http://tinyurl.com/3x5el By the way, I'm in Balearic Islands. 73. Gabriel - EA6VQ www.vhfdx.net Doug Smith W9WI wrote in message ... R J Carpenter wrote: One partial solution is the "RDS Manager" sold by the German electronics (etc) retailer Conrad. They also are mail-order - but refuse to sell in the ... I suspect that a dozen or more units were privately imported into the USA. I personally know of two, and have heard of a third. I have one. You didn't say whether you are in North America or Europe. RDS is widespread in Europe, but rare in the USA. There is, however, renewed interest in R(B)DS on the part of US broadcasters. This is an important point. Of 30 stations strong enough to deliver RDS at my location, only six actually have the encoder. ==== You're going to have to go with a communications receiver for the radio; I don't know of any consumer FM radios that are PC-controllable. If you're comfortable with hardware modification you could provide external contact closures to tune a consumer radio up & down the band one step at a time. |
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