Re: quattro-digest V3 #797

[ets@wrkgrp.com (Edward T Spire)]

>From: drobbins@net2net.com (David Robbins)
>Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 08:23:00 -0400
>Subject: 1996 Bose Stereo/RDS Problem?
>
>Hi again, I'm wondering if I have a problem with the Bose stereo in my A4.
>I always have RDS activated, but recently I've seen two odd things occur.
>First, I live in the Boston area.  Suddenly over the weekend, 106.7 started
>to list on the RDS doscplay as KHOP, which would indicate a station
>somewhere west of Mississippi (I don't think I've moved, and the radio
>station still calls itself WMJX).  Also on Sunday, we were up in Maine still
>receiving 107.9, but the RDS was not displaying the call letters.  It has
>since returned to displaying the correct call letters.
>
>Any ideas?  What do other Bostonians see for 106.7?
>Can anyone in Maine or NH obtain the call letters for 107.9 (should be WXKS)?  
>Is RDS distance-sensitive?  
>Do I need to take the car in to get the stereo checked?

Certainly not.  The problems you are seeing are problems of the sending
station.  Here in Chicago one of the local classical stations was
sending the "light country" type identifier for some time, before it
figured out how to run the equipment.

I've yet to see anybody in the US use the RDS stuff properly...

RDS is certainly "distance sensitive".  If you have RDS turned on and
you get too far away from the station you are listening to, RDS will
search for another station sending the same identifier!  This is it's
main purpose, displaying the station ID is a side benefit.  It will be
most useful here in the US when driving across country and listening to
public radio, where a state will broadcast the same public radio signal
from several locations on different freuqencies.

I was recently driving around The Austrian/Bavarian alps, and over
there they have commercial radio networks that work this way, since the
mountains seriously cut down on signal travel.  The crummy Opel I was
driving had a nice radio with auto-program buttons that would find and
program the six strongest stations, and also used RDS to keep you on
the same network as you moved through the mountains, switching from one
station to another as conditions required.

The traffic information stuff worked well too in Europe.  With this
switch on, the radio would only lock onto stations that supported
traffic alerts, and when you were in an area with a traffic problem,
the music would stop and a traffic alert would come on.  Unfortunately,
it was in rapid German that my travelling companion who understood some
German could not understand.  Also unfortunately, when you get into a
traffic jam over there, which can happen during the middle of any day
due to road construction, there are no alternative roads.  Most
locations are served by a single two-lane road, and once that becomes
inoperative there are no alternatives.  Long delays were routine during
the weekdays, and more than once I simply changed my itinerary rather
than waste vacation time sitting in a line of cars.


== "When you believe in things you don't understand, then you suffer" ==
=============== Steveland Morris (a.k.a. Stevie Wonder) ================
Ed Spire                                  Voice: 847-781-6940 ext 6943
The Workstation Group                     Fax:   847-781-6973
1900 N. Roselle Road, Suite 408           Email: ets@wrkgrp.com
Schaumburg, Illinois  60195  USA          Web:   http://www.wrkgrp.com