Author Topic: RadioText+ ODa group  (Read 3143 times)

davidmb

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 21
RadioText+ ODa group
« on: October 05, 2020, 03:07:08 pm »
Hi,

I have a question regarding Magic RDS 4 and Radiotext Plus feature for RDS encoders wich do not support it directly.

As I see you can enable RT+ ODA group only for groups 11A,12A or 13A. Is there any other option avaliable?
I have one encoder that it seems does not support enabling of this gropus.

Maybe in 6A?

Or is there any other workarround?

Thanks and br, David

Jan

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1055
Re: RadioText+ ODa group
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2020, 03:15:01 pm »
Have you checked the Group Sequence? For UECP encoders, the group sequence must contain group 3A (ODA AID for RT+) and selected group (RT+), for example 11A.

The Group Sequence can be found in RDS Content - System. Possible value is
0A, 0A, 0A, 0A, 2A, 2A, 3A, 0A, 0A, 0A, 0A, 2A, 2A, 11A

The effect of the group sequence can be seen well on the embedded DEMO encoder (which is also UECP-based) and RDS Spy.

davidmb

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 21
Re: RadioText+ ODa group
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2020, 03:23:21 pm »
Hi,

thanks for replying.

Yes, 3A is enabled and is working, but cannot send 11A - it seems that is disabled by encoder.
(When I send command to enable gropus on encoder - groups 11A to 13A are plain ignored.)

On the other hand encoder does support 6A, maybe if we could send ODA in 6A?

Thanks and br, David

Jan

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1055
Re: RadioText+ ODa group
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2020, 04:49:07 pm »
OK, update to today's build which will allow you the 6A ODA group:
http://pira.cz/rds/magicrds/MagicRDS_Setup.exe

davidmb

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 21
Re: RadioText+ ODa group
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2020, 05:12:29 pm »
Hi,

wow, great!
Just tried it and it works as expected.  :)
Now RDS encoder with groups 11A-13A blocked is able to encode RT+. :)

Thank you very much!
Br, David



davidmb

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 21
Re: RadioText+ ODa group
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2020, 05:23:43 pm »
Ah, sorry, I way too quick.

Something comes trough, but it seems that tags (Artist, Title) are not correctly recognized?

Is there something missing?

Br, David


Jan

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1055
Re: RadioText+ ODa group
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2020, 05:48:25 pm »
The analyzer you're using is incorrect. If the Running bit is set to 0, the RT+ fields must be empty, not DUMMY_CLASS. Also marking of the first character of the RT is incorrect. I point this out because that presentation is confusing and obscures the real cause - there's no RT+ information at that time.

Open the RT+ card in the Magic RDS 4: Tools - External text sources - RT+. You can see real situation here. The Running bit is set to zero if specified text sections are not found in the text.

The Communication Decoder window in the connection Overview also decodes RT+.

davidmb

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 21
Re: RadioText+ ODa group
« Reply #7 on: October 05, 2020, 06:14:31 pm »
Hi,

I checked - Comunication decoder is showing RT+ correctly.

Could it be that the RDS Encoder is blocking something?
Attached you'll find how 3A group looks like after analyzing RDS encoder output.

I checked with two analyzers and both detect Group 6A being transmitted, but no data...

Br, David

Jan

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1055
Re: RadioText+ ODa group
« Reply #8 on: October 05, 2020, 06:55:33 pm »
The RT+ information is now placed in the groups 6A. The 3A contains only a "link" to 6A.

If you enable the Communication Monitor in Overview, you can see what data is being sent to the encoder. For the RT+ 6A, you may see something like this:

Code: [Select]
...

[2020/10/05 18:51:00.039]
TX:
<FE><00><00><00><07><24><0C><18><2C><4E><20><14><64><CF><FF>

...

This is UECP MEC 24 ("Free-format group"), group 6A (encoded as 0x0C), RT+ data 0x 18 2C 4E 20 14.

What's the most important now: the same data for group 6A must appear in the RDS analyzer.

davidmb

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 21
Re: RadioText+ ODa group
« Reply #9 on: October 05, 2020, 07:29:59 pm »
Well communication monitor is saying:

<FE><00><00><00><07><24><0C><18><80><08><09><07><F0><AA><FF>

Is this ok?

P.S. I attached screenshoot of the content of group 6A.

Jan

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1055
Re: RadioText+ ODa group
« Reply #10 on: October 05, 2020, 07:40:27 pm »
The encoder probably clears the 6A content. What model it is? This behaviour has no basis in the UECP specification.

davidmb

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 21
Re: RadioText+ ODA group
« Reply #11 on: October 05, 2020, 08:19:30 pm »
Yes, I tought that this seems to be the case.  RDS model is Axel Shark RDS MK2.
Here is a similar unit:
https://www.bsbroadcast.com/axel-digital-rds-shark-mk2.html

Well, dont know if I have correct data - but it seems that there is also 8A and 9A specified to be potentionaly used as an ODA.
If this is correct, than if by any chance you would be able to add it in some build, we could also test it.
This would bring even greater flexibility as a workarround, but I guess its a long shoot. :)

If not thanks for your help - all in all we are really enoying this new version of Magic RDS, Great work! :)

Br, David


Jan

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1055
Re: RadioText+ ODa group
« Reply #12 on: October 05, 2020, 08:44:06 pm »
They state "Fully UECP compliant". Well, if UECP command 24 failed for some reason, we may try more complex ODA commands MEC 40 to 47, as well as enhancing the application group selection to all ODA groups. Maybe then some configuration will be successful. It should be, I think  :)

We will need some more time for implementation, we will bring that in version 4.0.17.

Thanks for all information. Regardless of the specifications and standards, interfacing different RDS equipment is a never ending story.

Jan

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1055
Re: RadioText+ ODa group
« Reply #13 on: October 20, 2020, 10:05:57 pm »
OK, after some time the update is available. Now you can select from all available ODA group types. A special case is the group 6A which is now encoded using MEC 25 (IH) so this should be a working alternative for UECP encoders which do not support correctly the MEC 24.