Making the head unit display radio station info?
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Stuck in a love triangle
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From: Miami, FL
Making the head unit display radio station info?
Ive noticed thaton a lot of newer cars these days include stock head units that can display the actual name of the radio station andnot just the channel number when you select a station (BMW Mercedes Jaguar etc) - and some willeven display the name of the song that the station is currentlyplaying if the station is transmitting that type of information. For exampleinstead of displaying 107.3 it wouldshow POWER 107 or somethingalong those lines. I recently upgraded to the MP3 playerand now my CD track information is displayed by the head unit andI was kind of hoping that the radio system would alsobe updated to display the station info butI guess it doesnt. Whattype of system is being included w/all these other cars that enables this feature and is there a wayto upgrade our head units to get themto do this as well?
Mmmmm... Rotary Donut
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From: Lake in the Hills, IL (NW Chicago Burbs)
Originally Posted by Pavehawk
I think the only time I've seen RDS radios was when I was renting a car out of town. It's funny though, I was just thinking this same thing myself today.
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Originally Posted by Tamas
You need an RDS-capable radio which apparently the one in the RX-8 is not. I don´t think there is an easy way (if at all) to upgrade the radio to that.
If you do the key-combination trick to mess with the contrast on the display, you can see that the display has 'RDS' and 'PTY' elements in it. So, Mazda obviously thought about it in some sense.
I suspect that the European cars have it - their FM has narrower channel splits than we do in the US to accomodate more stations, and so would require a different radio anyway.
No, there's no way to upgrade a US-spec radio to have RDS/PTY functions, but there's probably no reason why a Euro-spec radio couldn't be swapped in. What we need is someone from Europe to confirm that their Bose and non-Bose radios have the feature, and then to try a swap into a US car.
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From: Lake in the Hills, IL (NW Chicago Burbs)
Originally Posted by Shamblerock
I already have the 6 CD changer and was looking at the MP3 player. Can you have a CD and MP3 player in the same area co-existing or does the MP3 player replace the 6 CD changer?
Rotary eXperimental-8
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From: Gander, Newfoundland, Canada
Originally Posted by G8rboy
No- they use the same spot. The top module can be a CD, 6 CD, or MP3 CD player. The lower module can be a Tape or MD player... and when the Sirius sat radio module is released I'm betting it's a lower module as well.
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From: SF Bay Area, California
Originally Posted by JM1FE
I suspect that the European cars have it - their FM has narrower channel splits than we do in the US to accomodate more stations, and so would require a different radio anyway.
No, there's no way to upgrade a US-spec radio to have RDS/PTY functions, but there's probably no reason why a Euro-spec radio couldn't be swapped in. What we need is someone from Europe to confirm that their Bose and non-Bose radios have the feature, and then to try a swap into a US car.
No, there's no way to upgrade a US-spec radio to have RDS/PTY functions, but there's probably no reason why a Euro-spec radio couldn't be swapped in. What we need is someone from Europe to confirm that their Bose and non-Bose radios have the feature, and then to try a swap into a US car.
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Originally Posted by Tamas
Would swapping the radio not cause any issues? As you said, the FM channel split is different in Europe, so I suppose a European radio wouldn't be able to tune to certain US frequencies then. Might not be a big problem, but possibly some radio stations would not come in with that radio - or am I wrong?
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From: Indianapolis, IN
I just dont get it... Are they saving these things for future model years to give more options? I cant understand why these simple things like RDS and Automatic Climate Control wouldnt be standard....
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Stuck in a love triangle
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From: Miami, FL
Speaking of the AC -- yeah man Iwas a little surprised that Mazda STILL hasnt upgraded the AC for automatic climate control system for the brand new 2005 US Rx8s. The non-US 2004 Rx8s all came w/the automatic climate controlso I dont understand why the hellthey couldnt update it for 2005. Imean is an interior upgrade as small as thisreally that difficult to implement in a year?
I guess Mazda NA must have spent all their resources for 2005 on upgrading the friggin key and itwas out of their budget to replace the manual AC w/the automatic system thatall the other countries have. Thats just weak.
I guess Mazda NA must have spent all their resources for 2005 on upgrading the friggin key and itwas out of their budget to replace the manual AC w/the automatic system thatall the other countries have. Thats just weak.
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RDS in Europe
Originally Posted by mazradiodoc
I dont think european stations goto 108 on FM?
I have to agree with flyboy, most of the hardware is already in place for features like RDS.
I have to agree with flyboy, most of the hardware is already in place for features like RDS.
A bigger issue is on the AM bands, where the US uses 10kHz spacing, and Europe uses 9kHz. A European digitally-tuned AM radio is useless in the US.
That sort of config these days is probably done in the radio software load, along with things like temperature display in F or C, distance in miles/km, so unless there is an "RDS+US channel spacing" load you may be out of luck. Of course, Mazda may just be unaware that the US is now starting to use RDS, and so don't even think about putting in vehicles for that market, assuming that it's a purely European system.
As far as RDS goes, having the station name displayed is the least interesting of the features (IMHO). The two which make it really useful are:
1) The ability to follow a station across different frequiencies automatically. i.e. you can select BBC Radio 4 in London, drive 7+ hours to to Edinurgh, and still be listening to the same station all the way without ever retuning manually. The radio will automatically switch (transparently) to the strongest signal for that station as you move.
2) Traffic flashes. If you're listening to a CD, or tape, or a non-local radio station, and a local station makes a traffic announcement about an accident or a delay, an RDS radio can jump automatically to the local station for the announcement, pausing the CD or tape, and then continuing when the traffic flash ends. Means that you don't have to listen to some dreadful local radio station for hours just to make sure you don't miss a traffic report!
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From: South Florida
Wow. Are those aspects of the RDS feature included in US radios which support the text display? My other vehicle shows the text which is moderately cool...but I have no idea if it will do the rest.
jds
jds
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From: San Diego, Ca
I was in England for a couple years and I rented a ford focus that had RDS. It was cool, but I did find it annoying to be listening to a CD and have it interrupt for a traffic update. I was well aware of the traffic as I was moving at 0 MPH on the A1.
I would like to see it in the 8 though, as long as I can switch off the traffic interrupt if not listening to a radio station.
I would like to see it in the 8 though, as long as I can switch off the traffic interrupt if not listening to a radio station.
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Originally Posted by Labop
I would like to see it in the 8 though, as long as I can switch off the traffic interrupt if not listening to a radio station.
Mmmmm... Rotary Donut
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From: Lake in the Hills, IL (NW Chicago Burbs)
I've also remember seeing in the Nav's secret menus that it can monitor an FM station for traffic - does the Euro spec navi system use the RDS info for routing/warning?
