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rds data from both local automation and satellite format...

S

stephend2

I have been tasked with quite a feat by a station owner, so it seems...

Currently, they are using a satellite delivered music format. They send down titles via a serial port on the receiver. We are currently taking that text, feeding it to a PC which then has a script running that eats that text, spits it out to the streaming encoder and RDS software running on that PC which then shoots it out to the encoder. This much works fine.

Now he has asked me to expand this to include text from local automation during spot breaks and times we playback music locally.

This seems like it might be tricky to implement, yet he has already told some advertisers that he can put their contact info on rds when their spots play without even consulting with me about it beforehand...

We are using controlready for automation. currently no rds data is flowing through this system. Their rds support is very limited. I was able to make controlready spit out a text file with the necessary information. I'm also capable of writing some scripts in perl to format the text in the same format as the text from the bird.

Where I'm stuck right now is switching between serial sources and how to insure that the pc doind rds is getting data from the right source at the right time... Any ideas? or should I tell this owner he's crazy...

I know I could use some ad insertion software for the stream and that is going to happen in the future as there are some network spots that we are not supposed to put online...

His main goal here though is to switch to the local PC so it can send out the tag on spots to rds and stream. Apparently he wants to put the advertisers phone number or website address on rds when their spot airs.
 
I believe BE makes some software that could handle this for you. If you try to do it yourself, Big problem is if your data from the server is different from that of the satellite reciever. I had to do this for a stream. I ran the RDS data from the automation and sat receiver through a relay that switches depending on which is on the air at the time. However the formats are different. At the time I did this, we were using SOS streaming software which only supported data from one serial port. The streaming company was able to write some kind of program that converted the satellite data to the same as the automation. The newer software we use supports two serial ports, as does the BE software I believe.
 
I don't know if TRE (the BE Solution) supports that automation system. I'll check it in my drop downs.

Stephen, TRE is great. It takes my songs and puts them on my RDS, rotates messages for me in commercial sets, outputs xml files of now playing and next up. It also tweets my now playing for my urban to our twitter account.

It's not that expensive. I know it works with all the large systems, I am just unsure on that one.

www.bdcast.com is BE's page. You are looking for The Radio Experience.
 
I can pretty much make wireready conform to what I want it to do... It wouldn't be the first time I called up the owner of the company and told him to make a feature happen...

TRE looks like exactly what I'm looking for. Will BE do a demo so I can try it out, or maybe I could look at it in operation sometime?
 
I would vote for TRE as well. Have it at a station that has a main and HD2, it parses everything and spits it out to the RDS, HD and the streams. You should be able to set it up with Controlready as long as it spits out text with some type of header on it. A closure out of the automation to switch between satellite and local data should work fine.
 
And in the newer builds, they have added menus to select the satellite show you are using, so it is plug and play with many of the popular ones.
 
This looks like exactly what we are looking for. I'm going to give BE a call tomorrow about it. Thanks to everyone for the input.

Stephen
 
If your GM has income from the new service already lined up, then the BE TRE will pay for itself quite quickly. It also has a web intranet that allows you to add messages according to specific cut numbers (for instance, if a metallica song with cut #XXXX plays, TRE will spit out a custom message saying "Metallica, live at the big arena on this date, listen to win tickets!" or something like that). And of course you can use that to tag custom lines to particular client commercial cuts.

We use it at our site, aggregates the data from our 5 FM's and spits out custom tags for all 5, as well as now playing and next via XML to our web features. I can't speak for the satellite data being seamlessly integrated, but if others have done it then go for it. I tried to get data for Harddrive XL and couldn't get it after trying tons of connections and pinouts, but I'm sure others have succeeded.
 
Re: RDS Question

We're installing RDS at this time. I assume the engineer is installing the unit at the transmitter site. Does RDS sometimes cause signal problems on FM such as signal break-up or static? I'm hoping any signal break-up I've heard is not related to the RDS.
 
I've never experienced any signal problems related to RDS, we run the 57khz at 6%, back down 3% so total modulation peaks = 103% I believe this is correct, someone correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Short answer to Shreveville: no problem.

Longer answer: RDS is unlike the subcarriers of old in that 1) it's harmonically related to the pilot (there's a logical "place" for it in the multiplex carrier), 2) it's a data carrier (uses spectrum-spreading techniques so that the RDS carrier doesn't sit in one place & cause the old SCA "whistle") and 3) it's snugged up next to the top end of the L-R carrier (if you can pass good stereo you'll do fine with RDS).

Pay attention to that last item. If your rf system -- from the exciter to the antenna -- has severe bandwidth and/or tuning issues, you could see reduced performance of your RDS data out at the fringes. Then again if it's bad-enough to damage RDS, your stereo is already having issues.

One small pitfall that a poster on this board hit several years ago: the RDS carrier is actually a form of AM (DSBSC), so make sure you are not clipping the RDS carrier by overdriving the input of your injection point (e.g. the SCA, MUX or RDS input port of your audio processor, STL or exciter). I want to recall it was on an early version of an Omnia One and that Mr. Foti fixed it PDQ ASAP LSMFT.
 
Answer to Stephend2: You are right in that you get to add 1/2 of the RDS injection to your overall modulation.

in practice -- and as monitored via a peak-holdoff mod monitor such as a Wizard, Modminder or TFT -- you will not need to turn down your modulation as long as your injection level is at or below that of the pilot.

Especially if you are running "scrolling" RDS (song-titles), I encourage folks to run the RDS around the level of the pilot, if only so that you do not get garbled characters or dropped words in the display out at the fringe or at "stoplight fades" (multipath points).

Which is where the PD/GM/owner always lives, right?
 
I'm fortunate enough for this to be a small market locally owned station where the owner and I see eye to eye. There is no PD, manager, etc. only a morning guy and the owner.

I lucked out even more that the owner and I see eye to eye on processing, was easy to get it to where we are both happy.

I'll also say that the pira.cz RDS encoder is a nice little piece of equipment, especially for the price. It does lack ethernet but that was easily remedied with a $65 ethernet to rs232 adapter. Since we have IP connectivity at the transmitter site (P2P T1) it was easy to locate the encoder out there.

At the same time, I don't have access to a proper modulation monitor due to budget. I personally own a pira.cz digital unit which is very nice for the price however I question its accuracy. It seems to be slightly off on deviation measurements. I have borrowed another station's TFT a couple times just to make sure everything is legal.
 
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