Recent Posts

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21
RDS Spy / Re: Enhanced RT ODA support?
« Last post by andrew01 on June 04, 2026, 10:51:37 am »
RDS2 might never be of interest within car manufacturers because of very few users of RDS2 in general (at least that is how I see it, in my country we have only 3 STATIONS using RT+, and 2 using Long PS, which are part of RDS1). Many regulators do not agree with going over 75khz for extra RDS carriers. It is true that radio is not of interest for car manufacturers (the interest moved to streaming apps), for example new tuners from various brands, have a database based on the PI Code so they don't have to show the current RDS-PS (this way they can fit the full name and not be constrained to RDS-PS's 8 character capability), only if they don't have it in their database, then RDS-PS will be shown.

Still, coming back to eRT/eRT+, if it can be added to the existent RDS2-capable encoders, I don't see why it shouldn't be included, the few users who use RDS2 are users who would love having every single function available to be sent :)
22
RDS Spy / Re: Enhanced RT ODA support?
« Last post by Jan on June 04, 2026, 08:40:30 am »
As a manufacturer, we will not go against the currently valid standard. It would not even be technically possible if we want to maintain the quality level of the current functions. The encoders support the UECP ODA protocol, so developers have the opportunity to try it out.

IEC 62106-6

Coding of enhanced RadioText (eRT)

Broadcasting conventions

"The transmission capacity of RDS is not sufficient to use normally RT and eRT at the same time on stream 0, i.e. it shall be either one or the other RadioText mode. If RDS2 is used, eRT can be on the upper streams and RT can be at the same time on stream 0."


I understand your effort. This however needs to be directed at car radio manufacturers so that they finally implement RDS2.
23
PIRA32 RDS Encoder / Re: Firmware update fail 1.6a PIRA 32 anno 2006
« Last post by Jan on June 04, 2026, 05:28:04 am »
I remember you. It is definitely correct to use the latest firmware version. Current control software may not work properly with 20-year-old firmware, many functions have been added since then.

Updating the firmware is a completely seamless process, even for a 20-year-old piece. If the update process is interrupted unintentionally, it is always possible to start it again. The procedure is described in the instructions. Simply put, first run the update and then turn on the device. The bootloader is stored in a memory that cannot be overwritten, so an update can never cause a complete loss of communication.

If the process is still not successful, look for the problem elsewhere, in the power supply or communication cable. You are using a serial device on a new computer. Be aware that the most common source of problems are cheap USB to RS232 converters or their drivers. In any case you need a laplink cable for your unit (wiring 2-3, 3-2, 5-5).
24
RDS Spy / Re: Enhanced RT ODA support?
« Last post by andrew01 on June 04, 2026, 12:02:25 am »
It would be nice to have the eRT/eRT+ function available on the RDS encoders, maybe not everyone will use it, but if some receivers (2 car brands are a big thing/chunk of tuners, honestly) can support it, why not include it? Besides, 128 UTF-8 bytes are a big thing compared to normal RT's 64 characters.

Through RDS1, eRT/eRT+ seem to work fine (no issues with decoding on a external decoder application), with the only disadvantage being that it "eats" % of other groups.
25
PIRA32 RDS Encoder / Firmware update fail 1.6a PIRA 32 anno 2006
« Last post by radiosiciliaexpress on June 03, 2026, 11:33:25 pm »
Good evening, something strange happened to me after trying to update the PIRA 32 firmware with the latest 1.6a. Both the Magic 3 and Magic 4 software no longer communicate....it says "Communication Error!" It has worked perfectly for over twenty years, it was better if I didn't update..... Thank you if Jan replies. THANKS FRANCESCO
26
Control Software / Re: Setting up RDS with RadioDNS
« Last post by Jan on June 03, 2026, 08:43:10 am »
It's great that you provided pictures of your setup because the reason is now clearly visible.

To operate a hybrid radio, which includes RadioDNS, it is necessary to clearly tell the receiver which station it is currently tuned to. Since RadioDNS operates in many countries and on several continents, the PI alone (which works more or less only at the national level) is not enough for that identification, so the ECC byte must also be added. These two pieces of information (PI and ECC) must exactly match your settings on the hybrid radio server. RDS encoders that do not support ECC service can no longer be used and must be replaced.

PI and ECC codes are usually assigned by the national authority. Otherwise, you can use the built-in calculator (select Help and PI Calculator from the menu).

So now to your case. You have set ECC to A0, but you are using the UECP model. It is specific for it that individual RDS services are turned on by inserting the appropriate group type designation into the Group Sequence. In your case, for ECC to actually be transmitted, you have to insert 1A into the Group Sequence. It is there by default, but you probably deleted it thinking that it was not needed.

For the BW V3 the 'READBEST' model may be a better choice, however, this has no effect on the case described above.
27
Control Software / Setting up RDS with RadioDNS
« Last post by radiojoemo@gmail.com on June 03, 2026, 12:14:40 am »
I count not think of a good subject to explain my questions. First I'm in the US, I have been using RDS4 for a good while now and have everything set up as I believe it should be. I have my PI code and ECC set as they should be and all other information set. I and others are having issues with RadioDNS. I and a hand full of others are set up with RadioDNS and have been for around 2 years, yet even with what we believe is the correct setup vehicles do not get the station information from the database. Any thoughts or suggestions?

WRJE 827A ECC A0

Thank you in advance.
DW
28
RDS Spy / Re: Enhanced RT ODA support?
« Last post by Jan on June 02, 2026, 08:09:53 am »
Yes, the eRT is "only" an ODA application which has existed for a long time. However, for practical operation of this function, you encounter the limit of the transmission capacity of the original RDS. For this reason, the latest edition of the RDS standard does not even consider the option of transmitting eRT within stream 0. This is logical, because the transmission capacity is just right even with classic RT and since eRT is not backward compatible, both must be transmitted.
Without full support for RDS2 on the receiver side and without explicit acceptance of this system by the authorities carrying out technical supervision, we will probably not be able to move forward. Although radio stations were expected to be the driving force behind this development, the opposite is true. To this day, most stations are unable and unwilling to broadcast even RT+, which is a 20-year-old feature... There is almost zero interest in the eRT from the stations. The fact that eRT can sometimes transmit slightly longer text is probably irrelevant. The radio industry is more focused on keeping messages as short as possible, while providing more information via hybrid radio services. The eRT+ is still limited to 64 characters - no progress here. I see the real benefit of the eRT in Unicode support, which is unfortunately proving to be a marginal topic for the part of the world where FM broadcasting is widespread. There could be some benefit in countries where an alphabet other than the Latin is used.
29
Feature Requests / Re: Truncation of long titles to be usable for Radiotext
« Last post by Jan on June 02, 2026, 07:54:45 am »
Quote from: andrew01 on May 01, 2026, 08:12:33 pm
btw.. is there anything to make it as a condition NOT to truncate unless the text is 64 characters long? That would be perfect :)

Yes, this function exists in the Text replacing tool. You can set a text length criterion and, if the text is shorter, skip processing the next rows:

Code: [Select]
Change
%REGEXP%^.{0,63}$
To
%END%
30
RDS Spy / Re: Enhanced RT ODA support?
« Last post by Rían Mac Guinneál (fmdx.ie) on June 01, 2026, 09:16:56 pm »
Quote from: Jan on June 01, 2026, 09:02:01 pm
I am ready to give it the highest priority and fully implement these features to all products within a few weeks. However, it seems that the RDS2 technology (incl. logo and eRT) has been rejected by car radio manufacturers. Until their approach changes, it is unlikely that we will continue to implement software features that will not be useful in practice. Of course, we value our users. We try to accommodate them and we are constantly working on improving features that have daily benefits. Integral part of this activity is the ability to put things aside that may well represent a dead end.
By the way, we gave the RDS Spy a simple API interface. A skilled programmer can write an eRT plugin in a few days if there is real interest.
I understand that you probably expected a better answer, but I hope you will at least appreciate my honesty :)

Thanks for the honesty. At least from my experiments it works in Skoda and VW cars.
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