I'm mostly just posting about this because I thought it was interesting. KQRS is a 100 kW classic rock FM station over here in Minneapolis, owned by Cumulus Media. RDS is a digital subcarrier on the analog signal that provides the text most newer car radios will display.
About three days ago, I noticed that RDS wasn't working and there was no text being generated. I've seen this before in the past when they go on their low power backup transmitter, but that only lasts for a few hours at most. This time it's different, as the signal is still at full power. Very strange. I have a software defined radio (SDR) so I'm able to look at a spectrum of the signal. When I did this, I noticed that the RDS subcarrier, usually located at 57k on the bottom "MPX spectrum" graph, was missing entirely:
Here's a different sister station KXXR-FM that I also listen to very often. RDS on this station works, and the subscarrier can be seen by the two spikes at 57k on the bottom spectrum:
Other than posting about it because I think it's interesting, I'm wondering if there's anything I can do about it? Should I try to get in contact with someone at the station to let them know about it? This station is one of the largest stations in the market, so I doubt it's a cost problem. Usually, transmitter problems on this station are fixed in a few hours, so I'm wondering if they might just not be aware of it being a problem yet. I didn't realize how much I used this radio text feature until it was taken away from me, hah.
Thanks!
About three days ago, I noticed that RDS wasn't working and there was no text being generated. I've seen this before in the past when they go on their low power backup transmitter, but that only lasts for a few hours at most. This time it's different, as the signal is still at full power. Very strange. I have a software defined radio (SDR) so I'm able to look at a spectrum of the signal. When I did this, I noticed that the RDS subcarrier, usually located at 57k on the bottom "MPX spectrum" graph, was missing entirely:
Here's a different sister station KXXR-FM that I also listen to very often. RDS on this station works, and the subscarrier can be seen by the two spikes at 57k on the bottom spectrum:
Other than posting about it because I think it's interesting, I'm wondering if there's anything I can do about it? Should I try to get in contact with someone at the station to let them know about it? This station is one of the largest stations in the market, so I doubt it's a cost problem. Usually, transmitter problems on this station are fixed in a few hours, so I'm wondering if they might just not be aware of it being a problem yet. I didn't realize how much I used this radio text feature until it was taken away from me, hah.
Thanks!
