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WHICH RDS ENCODER TO BUY?

A

ABQRADIO

I'd like to hear opinions on the various RDS encoders that are on the market; Inovonics, Audemat, Broadcast Warehouse, others? I will need song artist and title information fed to the encoder from Simian. Thanks!
 
Check the new Inovonics...very good and reasonable in my book!
Disclaimer: I like this company for their personal service and support....JBI
 
I use Audemat, but that is because we got them from Alert FM. If I were buying, I would probably go Invonics. They are more user friendly in my opinion.
 
I'm with oldiesstation, Pira makes good stuff. Spend under $50 on the mini or micro, it will do everything you want and more.
 
oldiesstation said:
http://www.pira.cz/rds/

These guys build great stuff.Certainly nothing wrong with Inovonics gear,either.Good folks..
Click to expand...

I have two stations using the Pira CZ it with no problems. One "feature" is your station does not need to be stereo for it to work. The price is certainly cheap enough. That's not to say the Inovonics, BW Broadcast and others aren't great products too.
 
Look at the Audemat, originally bought the Inovonics but had to return it due to problems that could not be resolved.
Audemat performs great.
 
oldiesstation said:
http://www.pira.cz/rds/

These guys build great stuff.Certainly nothing wrong with Inovonics gear,either.Good folks..
Click to expand...

How are these folks in the support department? I would think getting support from someone in the Czech Republic would be a bit more difficult than in California where Innovonics is located. And for my money, I'm going with their 720 encoder.
 
Those are some nice looking units I have never seen for a ridiculously reasonable price... I would probably go that route if I were buying now. It's been a long time since I looked at RDS, since I have had it running so long.

Those were some solid guys that recommended them, so I would go that route without hesitation.
 
Bengalsfan said:
How are these folks in the support department? I would think getting support from someone in the Czech Republic would be a bit more difficult than in California where Innovonics is located. And for my money, I'm going with their 720 encoder.
Click to expand...

Actually, I've had rapid email response to my questions. The units are cheap enough that I just purchased a spare. It has been sitting (unused) on a shelf in my office for several years. It is cheap insurance.

Don't misunderstand, I like Inovonics products as well as several of the other manufacturers that have been mentioned. The reason I tried these was because I needed it to work on a mono station. As far as I could tell, every other RDS encoder required a 19 KHz pilot tone to work. In fact, these replaced some existing Inovionics units.
 
Gents,

Buy a Pira RDS, works like a charm and is software updateable ( firmware ).
BTW The Pira32 has a very good spectral purity.

BR

Evert
 
I agree. The Pira RDS is excellent and it is cheap as in affordable! I had one installed on WMWX until my Transmitter got slammed & destroyed by lightning. The new Nautel's RDS built into this new transmitter is terribly disappointing (was planning to use it instead of the Pira and move the Pira to my NKY station, WKCX). When you pay $12k for a transmitter with RDS built in, you would expect it to work! It's junk. I will be purchasing another Pira RDS to install there. I've also seen RDS software that works via your PC but have not tried any of it, yet.

Chuck, I found out about the Pira from you. BTW, they also make great silence detector software, that is FREE. It will run a script among many other actions, upon detected silence. I use it at all of my stations.


Bill Spry


WMWX, 88.9 FM, Miamitown, OH
WKCX, 89.1 FM, Crittenden, KY
WYNS, 89.3 FM, Waynesville, OH
The New Breed Of Rock
Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky-East Central Indiana

Listen Live Now....
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Thanks so much to everyone who replied. I too have always liked the Inovonics products, but there were so many positive comments about the Pira (and 80% savings too :D ) today I ordered the Pira 32 in the box. I will let everyone know my thoughts after I put it on the air!
 
pira is a good encoder, have one over here, opted for the kit, assembled for the fun of it. Has worked great for a couple years now.
 
greg.hahn said:
RockNuts! said:
When you pay $12k for a transmitter with RDS built in, you would expect it to work!
Click to expand...

Is that a typo? ???
Click to expand...

No on the typo. I think it was $12,500 or so for their 2500 watt TX that has RDS build in. The TX is EXCELLENT but the built in RDS unit is junk. It does not do much of anything other than display static text (no artist or song title).
 
RockNuts! said:
No on the typo. I think it was $12,500 or so for their 2500 watt TX that has RDS build in. The TX is EXCELLENT but the built in RDS unit is junk. It does not do much of anything other than display static text (no artist or song title).
Click to expand...

Gee, I thought it was at least another $10K. I think you got a real deal.
 
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