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Support for FMB80 RDS

D

dbryce

Hello there!

I'm working with an Audemat-Aztec FMB80 RDS unit. I have 4 of them and 2 out 4 do not work. The two that work are using serial over the STL to the RDS unit at the transmitter site.

Histoy:

These where left overs from the Clear Channel days when they dumped the smaller markets. They used to work under CC, but now that another company has them, these 2 are not working like they used to since the IP address has changed where it used to get it's information.

Today:

I have done so far is change the IP and config for everything to be local. I went through the manual to set them up for Ethernet. I sniffed the packets going to the units, the packets look good but something is happening between NexGen and the FMB80 unit. I've manually put text in the RDS it displays what I typed, but will not send the Artist and Title over the RDS.

I have talked with Audemat and sent them the packets and NexGen settings and they are stumped. They say that everything looks correct.

I switched out with one that I know works, and it's still not sending the Artist and Title over RDS. In the manual it says you have to set the data path as
'udp1.port=23'
‘interpret1.out=tcp1’
‘tcp1.out=interpret1’
‘udp<n>.protocol=ascii’

Has anyone worked with the FMB80 successfully over Ethernet that might be able to offer some help? It would greatly be appreciated! I am stumped, Audemat is stumped, and everyone else I have talked to is stumped based on the settings that I have NexGen and the FMB80 set up under.

Thanks in advance,

-Doc Bryce
 
Doc,

I have one of these that I have configured for TCP/IP. It was configured straight from the manual and is working with BE TRE.

The only differences in the TCP initialization I can see are the port I'm using... I'm using 5401, and the udp1.userlevel command. Perhaps you need to set that to give your TCP/IP permission to work?

My tcp.cmd:

udp.port=5401
interpret1.out=tcp1
tcp1.out=interpret1
udp1.protocol=ascii
udp1.userlevel=root


Good luck with it, Doc....

-Joe
 
Hey Joe,

That was one that I left out, but I did put it in there for the user level to be root. According to the manual it said that port 5401 is the default port. I set it up under 5401 when I first started, and it still didn't work. The guy I talked to at Audemat suggested using port 23 for some reason, and it worked shortly after I assigned port 23. However, it's not the fix! It worked for a while, then there were times that it stopped working, but if you restarted that Aserve on NexGen, it would come back. Now as of this moment, it just won't come back at all.

I noticed that you have udp.port=5401 with yours. Was that a typo? the manual shows it to be udp<n>.port=5401. Let me know if yours is a typo or that's what you actually typed in, and I'll give it a try next time I get scheduled to the property.

Thanks Joe for the input! This thing has got me reconsidering taking that greater position at Wal-Mart.

-Doc
 
I've had nothing but hell trying to set one up to do more than a 40 dollar pira unit could do. What a cryptic POS this thing is. I think I'm going to return it and try something understandable. All we want is title and artist. I suppose there is a way to do it via tcp, but I sure haven't been able to so far. Support hasn't been much to write home about either.
 
I have a number of these things and I am doing artist/title via IP on three of them.

Can you still access the internal web page on your unit? I had one that wouldn't allow access to the web page, although I could still telnet into it. There were other problems with it as well, and the Audemat tech suspected that the OS had gotten corrupted.

I eventually got that one working by upgrading the firmware and resetting to factory defaults. Audemat supplied me with the software to re-flash the unit, and after that it worked just like new.
 
I use these on all my FM's... I too have reflashed MULTIPLE times with software from Audemat. The web interface always dies after a month or so... I gave up on that. I just really learned the telnet commands and I issue everything in that manner.

Now, the TCP/IP is rather simple.

Define your units TCP/IP settings.

Create a port in the unit (I use 4501, not sure why I picked that).

Have your automation write to the IP and that port. All it needs to send is Artist-Title. The unit will display fine.

Obviously, if this is on another network, just make a port forward in your router at the remote location and have automation write to the external ip/port.

I wish I had seen this earlier, I would have offered help. I usually stay in the engineering forum. I still wish they would merge them back together.

Let me know if I can offer anything else.
 
Doc
I just had the same issue. Send the data to port 23 but in NexGen I have to add several comment lines before sending the actual data so it doesn't send "too quickly" for the rds box. I think I send 4 comment lines before actually sending the data. Let me know if you need more detail.
 
Thanks for the tips. What would you put in there in comment lines to fill? I guess I'm needing specifics on syntax etc. Thanks for the help!!!
 
For the export section in Nexgen it should look like this: http://imgur.com/2UyJltQ

The NONE field will basically just send carriage returns. You could probably add a couple of these, if you have the extra fields to spare with.

Look at the Aserv. Check things like software firewall, or even windows firewall. Outbound shouldn't be an issue but its good to just put the rules in anyways. Then look at your network, hardware router and smart switches for anything weird. This is more helpful for TCP/IP packet transmission, but even a firewall can block or sometimes block a com port.

Depending on your FMB80 config you can open up hyperterminal and log in to its command prompt. Now, do this on your Aserv and see if you can reach your FMB80. Type P19* and see how long it keeps the connection before dropping it.


Also I seem to remember there is a batch file on the FMB80 that needs to have any additional config lines added to it. When the FMB80 reboots it does not save these and requires the batch file to add in the parameters. Some users may need this, most I don't think need to add anything to it.
 
Here's what I finally figured out on my installation that must have been tripping me. Telnet port was blocked it seems by the ISP. Of course the telnet port is the default open port on this encoder, and the easiest to send the RDS data through. So.... In my broadband router I was able to set it up that another port translated to the telnet port. I then was able to send manually to that port and get the RDS to update. Then all I had to do is set the syntax up right on the automation end to get it going 100 right. Thanks for all the help guys....
 
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