Filter
Top Products
47
En
Operation
An Introduction to RDS & EON
Radio Data System, or RDS as it’s usually known, is a system used by FM radio stations to provide listeners
with various kinds of information—the name of the station and the kind of show they’re broadcasting, for
example. This information shows up as text on the display, and you can switch between the kind of information
shown. Although you don’t get RDS information from all FM radio stations, you do with most.
Probably the best feature of RDS is that you can search automatically by type of programme. So, if you felt like
listening to jazz, you could search for a station that’s broadcasting a show with the programme type, "JAZZ."
There are around 30 such programme types, including various genres of music, news, sport, talk shows,
financial information, and so on.
The receiver lets you display three different kinds of RDS information: Radio Text, Programme Service Name,
and Programme Type.
Radio Text (RT) is messages sent by the radio station. These can be anything the broadcaster chooses—a talk
radio station might give out it telephone number as RT, for example.
Programme Service Name (PS) is the name of the radio station.
Programme Type (PTY) indicates the kind of programme currently being broadcast.
The receiver can search for and display the following programme types:
Using the Tuner
News Accounts of facts, events and reportage
Affairs Current affairs
Info General information
Sport Any aspect of sports
Educate Educational material
Drama Radio plays or serials
Culture National or regional culture, theatre, etc.
Science Science and technology
Varied Usually talk-based material, such as quiz shows or interviews.
Pop M Pop music
Rock M Rock music
M.O.R. M “Middle of the road” music
Light M ‘Light’ classical music
Classics ‘Serious’ classical music
Other M Other music not fitting any of the above categories
Weather Weather reports, forecasts and Meteological information
Finance Stock market reports, commerce, trading, etc.
Children Children’s entertainment
Social A Social affairs
Religion Beliefs and faiths, involving Gods, the nature of existence, and ethics
Phone in Public expressing their views by phone
Travel Holiday-type travel rather than traffic announcements
Leisure Leisure interests and hobbies
Jazz Polyphonic, syncopated music characterised by improvisation
Country Country music
Nation M Popular music in a language other than English
Oldies Popular music from the ’50s
Folk M Folk music
Document Documentaries
In addition, there is a programme type, ALARM!, used for exceptional emergency announcements. You can’t
search for this, but the tuner will switch automatically to this RDS broadcast signal.