CT - Current Date and Time

[DJSTU]

Pira 132 Firmware 2.0f
Magic RDS Software 3.7b

I have time and date Enabled in System (Magic RDS).
I have the Command Console operating.
I see the time and date is going up via the Console every top of the hour.
Yet Time and Date is not appearing on my receiver.
System does say "at Transmitter site". Does this not mean the RDS unit, but the transmitter ?

Have Sangean DPR-67 as my RDS test receiver.

I can get Time and Date to work through Data Groups (A4) even though I cannot figure out how to enter the correct data in order to get the right time and date, try as I might. Is Decimal not the right way to enter a date and time in ? Like 03rd (04)Apr 16  Time 17 31 ? None the less it does work in getting data there and seeing it on the receiver, even tho the date and time are totally incorrect.

Now I would have thought this would just be automatic, the updating of the time and date. I want the time and date from my computer which is exact to the second as it does a time check with a time server every 30 mins.

Perhaps my firmware is out of date ?
Your help doesn't seem to cover any of what I want to do here, but I didn't expect such a hassle over doing this simple task. I have everything else working happily, except for this.
In lieu of CT, I am using Dynamic PS "%HH.MM%%PM". It works, but not as good as I would like to see using CT.

Any help you can give would be appreciated.


From Command Console:

<2016-04-03 18:58:19> DPS1ENQ=Weather: Mon - Fine with light winds 17oC
<2016-04-03 18:58:19> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 18:58:23> RT1=Now Playing : KWS - Please Don't Go - Fast90
<2016-04-03 18:58:24> RTP=01,20,23,04,00,16
<2016-04-03 18:58:31> DPS1ENQ=%HH.MM%% PM
<2016-04-03 18:58:31> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 18:58:43> DPS1ENQ=Weather: Tonight - Cold, cloudy and foggy 4oC
<2016-04-03 18:58:43> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 18:58:55> DPS1ENQ=Off-air. Sound problem after power cut. Problem being worked on.
<2016-04-03 18:58:56> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 18:59:07> DPS1ENQ=Weather: Mon - Fine with light winds 17oC
<2016-04-03 18:59:08> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 18:59:19> DPS1ENQ=%HH.MM%% PM
<2016-04-03 18:59:20> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 18:59:31> DPS1ENQ=Weather: Tonight - Cold, cloudy and foggy 4oC
<2016-04-03 18:59:32> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 18:59:43> DPS1ENQ=Off-air. Sound problem after power cut. Problem being worked on.
<2016-04-03 18:59:44> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 18:59:56> DPS1ENQ=Weather: Mon - Fine with light winds 17oC
<2016-04-03 18:59:56> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 19:00:00> TIME=19:00:02
<2016-04-03 19:00:00> DATE=03.04.16
<2016-04-03 19:00:01> LTO=+12
<2016-04-03 19:00:01> CT=1
<2016-04-03 19:00:01> SEN=1
<2016-04-03 19:00:09> DPS1ENQ=%HH.MM%% PM
<2016-04-03 19:00:10> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 19:00:21> DPS1ENQ=Weather: Tonight - Cold, cloudy and foggy 4oC
<2016-04-03 19:00:22> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 19:00:33> DPS1ENQ=Off-air. Sound problem after power cut. Problem being worked on.
<2016-04-03 19:00:34> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 19:00:46> DPS1ENQ=Weather: Mon - Fine with light winds 17oC
<2016-04-03 19:00:46> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 19:00:58> DPS1ENQ=%HH.MM%% PM
<2016-04-03 19:00:58> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 19:01:10> DPS1ENQ=Weather: Tonight - Cold, cloudy and foggy 4oC
<2016-04-03 19:01:10> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 19:01:22> DPS1ENQ=Off-air. Sound problem after power cut. Problem being worked on.
<2016-04-03 19:01:22> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 19:01:34> DPS1ENQ=Weather: Mon - Fine with light winds 17oC
<2016-04-03 19:01:34> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 19:01:46> DPS1ENQ=%HH.MM%% PM
<2016-04-03 19:01:46> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 19:01:51> RT1=Now Playing : News Intro        Now Playing : News Intro
<2016-04-03 19:01:51> RTP=00,00,00,00,00,00
<2016-04-03 19:01:58> DPS1ENQ=Weather: Tonight - Cold, cloudy and foggy 4oC
<2016-04-03 19:01:59> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 19:02:10> DPS1ENQ=Off-air. Sound problem after power cut. Problem being worked on.
<2016-04-03 19:02:11> DPS1MOD=2
<2016-04-03 19:02:12> RT1=Now Playing : Latest NZ and World News
<2016-04-03 19:02:12> RTP=00,00,00,00,00,00

[Jan]

The encoder seems to be configured correctly. You should follow the receiver's manual in order to enable the time synchronization from RDS. Typically the receiver uses the CT to synchronize the internal clock, there's no separate CT display if the receiver already has a clock.
Note that the time information is sent only once per minute (this is given by the RDS standard) so after tuning the station it is necessary to wait up to one minute of time before the CT applies.

[DJSTU]

In the printout from the Command Console data above, can you point out the line with the clock information going up. I am meaning the every minute one, not the top of the hour one. I just can't see anything that looks like one myself.

BTW I have an Ethernet link to the RDS, it goes up the hill to the transmitter via a wireless IP link.

The receiver manual is not explicit. They just presumably expect the clock info to work.

If the clock info is sent every minute, and doesn't work, then why does Data Groups, when I enter data on the A4 line (Dec) Insert and and hit SEND work (albeit the data I enter in is incorrect) ?
I entered this into "Dec" : 10,11,12,13,14
Data sent:
<2016-04-04 09:49:44> UDG1=400A0B0C0D0E
<2016-04-04 09:49:44> UDG2=

The time comes out as 07:52
The date comes out as 07-03-2042
This does work and does appear on the receiver screen.

The reason I am asking is that if A4 works, why ?, when the minute sending of the Time/Date info doesn't work.

I just have the feeling that there is some factor missing here that is causing one to work and not the other.

Could you tell me what to enter into A4 (into Dec)
that would show current time and date, so I can end up with some true data, since simply putting the real time and date into "Dec" doesn't end up on the receiver ?
From what I can work out B7 and B8 changes the time and B4, B5, and B6 the date.
For instance :
B4  B5  B6  B7  B8
16  04  04   00  10
yy  mm dd  mm  hh

<2016-04-04 10:00:04> UDG1=40100404000A
<2016-04-04 10:00:04> UDG2=

Result :

Time:  05:00
Date:   00-00-0000

Even if I can just put the date in and continue to use PS for the time would be useful.

[Jan]

Information in the group 4A is not byte-aligned. The group uses compressed format incl. local time offset and the date is encoded as Modified Julian Day (MJD).
You have to clear the user defined 4A group in the Data Groups card because such a group effectively hides the correct time and date sent by the RDS encoder via the CT function.

There are some other tips which may apply:

• The CT status is indicated on the RDS encoder's LCD. The line 'CT: ON' means that current time and date feature is active.
• The CT status is indicated in the RDS encoder's internal website. In the Device Status section you should see just one 4A group every minute.
• The RDS encoder allows direct remote RDS output monitoring using our reference RDS decoder 'RDS Spy for Windows'. See the document 'P132 - Communication ports and internet functions' section 3.4 for details.
• The encoder can update the time also from internet using the SNTP protocol. See the document 'P132 - Communication ports and internet functions' section 2.2.2 and 3.3. In such case, disable the update in the Magic RDS.
• Sending of the CT information is fully autonomous, i.e. the CT feature works continuously regardless of the time updates which only keep the time accurate.
• The CT function has the highest priority due to the need of accuracy. This means that once the CT is enabled, there are no other settings which may affect this function.
• Your firmware version is more than 2 years old. Consider upgrade to the latest version. (For your version, only local upgrade via USB port is supported.)

[DJSTU]

I went up to the transmitter site today and brought the RDS unit home and upgraded the firmware to the very latest, and then returned it back to the transmitter site. More so because I wanted it to be able to this exercise remotely,  rather than it being a physical one. But updating the firmware didn't change things.

BUT nevertheless Good news.
I got rid of the 4A group this evening (which incidently I never put in myself, it was just there by default when I first installed the software) and now the Time and Date are working perfectly.