R D S

April 6, 2009

Help please the R D S on my Rav radio is not working and I have trouble tuning it in manually sometimes, anybody out there got an answer. Thanks Gwil

April 6, 2009

Gwil,

I'm assuming you mean it doesn't track national station frequencies? Do you have the "AF" flag up on the display?

Is this a recent problem? If we are talking local BBC radio, The BBC messed about with the RDS on local radio at the beginning of last week. Not to bore you with the techy bits (but I will if people want me too), but the upshot of it is with some radios, you may have to re-store some of your BBC local radio presets.

Otherwise, can you give us a bit more info. e.g. which station(s)? do you have very weak reception? Is it that you are not getting the station name on the display?.............

If you can give me a few more clues, I might be able to give you a bit more help.

Cheers

:thumbsup:

April 6, 2009

Gwil,
I'm assuming you mean it doesn't track national station frequencies? Do you have the "AF" flag up on the display?
Is this a recent problem? If we are talking local BBC radio, The BBC messed about with the RDS on local radio at the beginning of last week. Not to bore you with the techy bits (but I will if people want me too), but the upshot of it is with some radios, you may have to re-store some of your BBC local radio presets.
Otherwise, can you give us a bit more info. e.g. which station(s)? do you have very weak reception? Is it that you are not getting the station name on the display?.............
If you can give me a few more clues, I might be able to give you a bit more help.
Cheers

Hi shcm, the AF flag is up and I listen to Radio 2 most of the time, because of the mountains around here I go from one transmitter

to another very often. I do get the station name up but sometimes it will not tune in. Gwil

April 7, 2009

Well I had a play with some software I've got, to try and see what the combined R2 transmitter coverage was like in North Wales:

Well, not surprisingly it kind of suggests there are some roads where coverage is not great at all, but it's a very rough approximation, so take it with a pinch of salt. I didn't include transmitters further south (like Blaenplwyf) that would illuminate places like Pwilheli across the sea.

Do you have access to another vehicle that you can try in the same areas? How does that get on?

It's possible that the antenna cable, connection or pre-amp have failed, or the tuner's gone deaf, but I'm inclined to think it is just your area and it probably will struggle in places, to find alternative frequencies. Has the RAV always been bad? or is it a new occurrence?

Can't remember if reception was bad when I've been in your neck of the woods, but then I was probably more interested in the scenery.

I'm not convinced the short antenna they fit these days are particularly efficient for the FM band, but the pre-amp will compensate to some extent.

April 8, 2009

Well I had a play with some software I've got, to try and see what the combined R2 transmitter coverage was like in North Wales:
Well, not surprisingly it kind of suggests there are some roads where coverage is not great at all, but it's a very rough approximation, so take it with a pinch of salt. I didn't include transmitters further south (like Blaenplwyf) that would illuminate places like Pwilheli across the sea.
Do you have access to another vehicle that you can try in the same areas? How does that get on?
It's possible that the antenna cable, connection or pre-amp have failed, or the tuner's gone deaf, but I'm inclined to think it is just your area and it probably will struggle in places, to find alternative frequencies. Has the RAV always been bad? or is it a new occurrence?
Can't remember if reception was bad when I've been in your neck of the woods, but then I was probably more interested in the scenery.
I'm not convinced the short antenna they fit these days are particularly efficient for the FM band, but the pre-amp will compensate to some extent.

Thanks for your time, Blaenplwyf is a very strong signal here ( near Portmeirion) but also Llandecwyn, then its different when you go towards Bangor and then again towards Llandudno. I drive around in a van most of the week and that works OK. So its the Rav radio. Its going in for MOT next week so I will mention it before the guarantee finishes. Why mechanics can not be bothered with radios? Thanks again Gwil