BANDSCAN THREAD

marno21

castle2012 wrote: »

Radio text with info on many stations. In this day and age all the legals should have. I think its embarrassing for high profile radio stations that don't provide the info. If pirates can do it why can't legals?.
Also on a separate not, what's going on with FM104 repeated info on the RDS, Really unnecessary.

Ah you can't beat a bit of Khalid Talk Khalid Talk Khalid Talk Khalid Talk

Some stations have been very good at for years. Radio Kerry have been using it with a long time.

I always found that most stations only made limited use of RDS anyway. The most innovative use was different PS names on different sites/site+relay combinations. Tipp FM used to use "Tipp FM" on 97.1, "Tipp Fm" on 103.3 and "Tipp-FM" on 103.9. 103FM used to use "_103FM__" on the North Cork (102.6/103.7 + relays) and "__103FM_" on the West Cork (103.3 + relays)

I haven't seen anyone use the TA function in years. RedFM used to use it in Cork anyway, I hadn't seen it in use elsewhere much. I believe Live95FM used it on their main 95.0 outlet which services the city and county, whereas the TP flag was turned off altogether on the Newcastlewest 95.3 relay. The TA button would be pushed in the studio and TA would activate on sets tuned to 95.0 but not 95.3, as the traffic was usually city centric anyway. RTE's RDS network was setup with EON flags but no TA button was ever pushed as far as I had noticed. Contrast that in the UK with BBC services switching between each other for TP information when the TA button was pushed on the user's radio. Of course, because the feature isn't used in Ireland, many people have the TA option enabled on their radios by default. Many radios I have used have issues when a listener tries to tune to a station without the TP flag turned on, the radio retunes to another strong signal with the TP flag enabled.

Infoanon

marno21 wrote: »

Ah you can't beat a bit of Khalid Talk Khalid Talk Khalid Talk Khalid Talk

Some stations have been very good at for years. Radio Kerry have been using it with a long time.

I always found that most stations only made limited use of RDS anyway. The most innovative use was different PS names on different sites/site+relay combinations. Tipp FM used to use "Tipp FM" on 97.1, "Tipp Fm" on 103.3 and "Tipp-FM" on 103.9. 103FM used to use "_103FM__" on the North Cork (102.6/103.7 + relays) and "__103FM_" on the West Cork (103.3 + .

Innovative maybe but I would suggest more to do with am engineer knowing what TX they were receiving in various locations

end of the road

JDxtra wrote: »

No problem, here's iRadio and a few more from this afternoon, same conditions...


RTE 2fm (91.3)




Classic Hits (94.9)




Today FM (101.8)




Q102 (102.2)




SPIN (103.8)




iRadio (104.7)




Sample audio
Download here - https://we.tl/t-wHRIXOmYey

2fm seems to be the loudist of the stations here which is a surprise, both in audio level and processing.
today fm has more trebble in it then loudness but seems to have decent enough audio.
spin's seems to be the best of the bunch to me.

Infoanon

Thanks JDExtra

Today FM processing on 101.8 is different to 100.9 with 100.9 replicated on the other TXS iirc.

Novas 100.3 would be interesting to analyse

marno21

Infoanon wrote: »

Innovative maybe but I would suggest more to do with am engineer knowing what TX they were receiving in various locations

I wasn’t being serious about the innovative part that was definitely the reason!

More to highlight the basic use of RDS by many Irish stations.

Infoanon

marno21 wrote: »

I wasn’t being serious about the innovative part that was definitely the reason!

More to highlight the basic use of RDS by many Irish stations.

Apologies - and completely agree with your sentiments on RDS.
Laziness,lack of interest and restrictive regulations all.played a role - I recall there was some restriction on the use of TP/TA but the I forget the detail

marno21

Infoanon wrote: »

Thanks JDExtra

Today FM processing on 101.8 is different to 100.9 with 100.9 replicated on the other TXS iirc.

Novas 100.3 would be interesting to analyse

Isn’t 101.8 handled by someone other than RTENL? There are a few relays handled by other operators, Fermoy 101.2 which is cosited with RedFM 105.4 to the north east of the town and the newer relays in Drogheda/Athlone

marno21

Infoanon wrote: »

Apologies - and completely agree with your sentiments on RDS.
Laziness,lack of interest and restrictive regulations all.played a role - I recall there was some restriction on the use of TP/TA but the I forget the detail

Not at all - I didn’t make it clear in the original post.

Wasn’t aware of the TP/TA rule - I haven’t seen it used anywhere in the south of the country in years now.

Some stations make excellent use of it and deserve credit. Radio Kerry comes to mind - they have been using dynamic RadioText for years.

radioguru02

marno21 wrote: »

I wasn’t being serious about the innovative part that was definitely the reason!

More to highlight the basic use of RDS by many Irish stations.

Would the difference in PS not prevent a car radio from finding the TX with the strongest signal where another’s weakens?

JDxtra

pirateradiohed wrote: »

Would the difference in PS not prevent a car radio from finding the TX with the strongest signal where another’s weakens?

No, becuase it will use the PI code (unique 4 digits) and the alternative frequencies list that is encoded into the RDS data.

marno21

JDxtra wrote: »

No, becuase it will use the PI code (unique 4 digits) and the alternative frequencies list that is encoded into the RDS data.

Indeed. The one exception being C103, the West Cork (PI code 2613) and the North Cork (PI code 2513) have different PI codes. There's a rule in the RDS standard that regional stations should have PI codes with only the second digit or second 16 bits differing (2x13 in the case of C103) however many radios I have used recently don't seem to transfer between the two C103 regions even when in areas of poor reception for one of the regions. (even with Regional ON set on the radio). At that though, I haven't looked at C103's AF list either.

castle2012

marno21 wrote: »

Indeed. The one exception being C103, the West Cork (PI code 2613) and the North Cork (PI code 2513) have different PI codes. There's a rule in the RDS standard that regional stations should have PI codes with only the second digit or second 16 bits differing (2x13 in the case of C103) however many radios I have used recently don't seem to transfer between the two C103 regions even when in areas of poor reception for one of the regions. (even with Regional ON set on the radio). At that though, I haven't looked at C103's AF list either.

I live close to the border and an odd time the T/A will come on with uk urgent traffic announcements. Wouldn't it be great to see RTE use the technology they have to provide us with a extra service.

kazoo106

Not as long as the "It'll do" attitude prevails - hell, LMFM cannot even manage static Radio Text

JDxtra

KFM radio text says "KFM Co. Kildare, Ireland" – which is pointless information. If they can’t do dynamic text, something like “Kildare's Kfm - Proud To Be Yours” might be a better option.

Spirits radio text says "SPIRIT", again pointless as we already can see the station name.

Dipole Keith

marno21 wrote: »

Isn’t 101.8 handled by someone other than RTENL? There are a few relays handled by other operators, Fermoy 101.2 which is cosited with RedFM 105.4 to the north east of the town and the newer relays in Drogheda/Athlone

That’s correct, Pat Balfe is the Today FM engineer he looks after the 101.8 & the relays in Drogheda & Athlone

Declan A Walsh

With all this talk about RDS Text Information, PS names, TA and PI Codes, I think you have the bones there for another thread or maybe even a couple of threads! It has certainly moved away from bandscans!

Infoanon

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

With all this talk about RDS Text Information, PS names, TA and PI Codes, I think you have the bones there for another thread or maybe even a couple of threads! It has certainly moved away from bandscans!

No need for a different thread - RDS is not that exciting but very helpful for doing bandscan especially for pirate tracking.

radioguru02

marno21 wrote: »

Indeed. The one exception being C103, the West Cork (PI code 2613) and the North Cork (PI code 2513) have different PI codes. There's a rule in the RDS standard that regional stations should have PI codes with only the second digit or second 16 bits differing (2x13 in the case of C103) however many radios I have used recently don't seem to transfer between the two C103 regions even when in areas of poor reception for one of the regions. (even with Regional ON set on the radio). At that though, I haven't looked at C103's AF list either.

Same goes for iRadio I think

Mr. MooYagi

Any non RDS exciting news fellas?

It all went a bit techy there!!

Declan A Walsh

Mr. MooYagi wrote: »

Any non RDS exciting news fellas?

It all went a bit techy there!!

Star1057 on 105.7 (what else?!) was very strong around Leopardstown, south Dublin, this evening. They certainly have an eclectic mix. Early new wave era Simple Minds (The American) was followed by an easy listening song - If by David Gates! When I got towards Ballinteer direction, the signal was very weak.

At the risk of encouraging the previous discussion, here is what the RDS Info said! First, it displayed "Star Radio - Real Music Variety". Then, it displayed "Star Radio - Nightly from 9pm". I wonder does that mean there will be some live programmes after 9pm.

Antenna

All 6 national FM stations from Mullaghanish currently off air, so affecting much of the south and south-west of the country.

PS: came back on after 4PM

hustlergraham

Seems FreeDAB are coming back to Dublin, according to their FB page. Will be interesting to see what stations it will carry this time round.

Losty Dublin

Storm NE were on yesterday, as always on 104.2. After the hassles concerning Wild I thought that they may have considered laying low; then again when have Storm ever laid low?:)

Antenna

Meant to post this earlier but approaching Glenbeigh in Co. Kerry last Sunday (30th August) - noticed many cars in the GAA grounds, and a sign up about Drive-in bingo.

Is that using FM to car radios I wondered?
Stopped in Glenbeigh itself, sure enough found it on 106.8FM. It was approaching 5PM, the start time of this bingo and the announcer asked everyone who had it tuned in to blow their car horns (cars heard beeping in the background)

BTW at 'Kells' about 10 miles west of Glenbeigh on the main road stopped near a premises called 'Goldens' -
I mentioned this before but Connemara Community Radio comes in and relatively well there and with RDS on 87.8.
Its a long trip for that signal from a transmitter near Clifden Co. Galway (a place very much in the news recently). iRadio etc (from the same direction) also came in well there

Brian CivilEng

Hey, I'm in Raheny in Dublin and I've been playing around with my new D-808 radio at home to see what I can pick up. I've noticed that I can receive a clear BBC Radio 3 signal on 90.9fm. All the other radios in the house get 2fm on that frequency, so I'd imagine the D-808 is just good at filtering out the adjacent station.

I'm just curious as to where this Radio 3 signal is coming from? Is it leakage from the cable tv signal, a pirate rebroadcasting it or an official broadcast from NI or Wales?

JDxtra

Brian CivilEng wrote: »

Hey, I'm in Raheny in Dublin and I've been playing around with my new D-808 radio at home to see what I can pick up. I've noticed that I can receive a clear BBC Radio 3 signal on 90.9fm. All the other radios in the house get 2fm on that frequency, so I'd imagine the D-808 is just good at filtering out the adjacent station.

I'm just curious as to where this Radio 3 signal is coming from? Is it leakage from the cable tv signal, a pirate rebroadcasting it or an official broadcast from NI or Wales?

I would suspect this is from the UK and you are receiving it on occasion only depending on the conditions. Are you also getting a BBC station on 88.1?

By the way: D-808 is a handy little device.

Losty Dublin

Brian CivilEng wrote: »

I'm just curious as to where this Radio 3 signal is coming from? Is it leakage from the cable tv signal, a pirate rebroadcasting it or an official broadcast from NI or Wales?

Probably Cardigan Bay, in West Wales. There's a good 25 kw from there. Camlough in Newry is nearer but there's a few hills in the way, it's a lower power output and it's not beamed south.

Brian CivilEng

JDxtra wrote: »

I would suspect this is from the UK and you are receiving it on occasion only depending on the conditions. Are you also getting a BBC station on 88.1?

By the way: D-808 is a handy little device.

Nothing on 88.1FM. Could have sworn I heard Radio 4 somewhere when scrolling around the dial though, can't find it now.

I'm enjoying my D-808. Got it mainly to listen to ATC but had fun last night nosing around the SW bands.

Infoanon

Probably Camlough - I get close to perfect reception of BBC Radio 2 on 88.7 in Dublin - Radio 3 is on 90.9 FM Ulster on 93.1

One More Toy

Any SW pirates on the go these days? Used to be a big fan of laser hot hits in the 6khz region in my teens. Must dig out my SW radio next time I'm home!