— 13 —
Program-Associated Data (PAD)
The Model 632 LCD displays both analog-FM RDS and HD
Radio PAD data, depending on which reception mode it has
been manually set to with the jog wheel in Menu 1. The re-
maining LCD menu screens will be discussed next, in order,
first for analog-FM reception and then for the HD Radio re-
ception mode.
Analog FM Menus
Menu 6
This screen displays the station’s 8-character
static (or scrolling)
PS
(Program Service name)
message, and
PTY
(Program TYpe), which is
the station’s programming format defined by
one of about thirty choices within the
RDS/RBDS Standard. These are display fields
only, nothing can be edited here.
Menu 7
RadioText is a 64-character message that is
displayed on consumer receivers that have a
TEXT
or
INFO
button. The RadioText message
is separate from, and in addition to, the PS
field, which is used by many stations to scroll
artist and song titles so that they will be visi-
ble on all RDS-equipped receivers. The
RadioText field is often used for static infor-
mation, such as the station’s telephone num-
ber, web address or plea for tax-deductible
pledges.
Song “tagging” requires sending artist and title
data to the RadioText field. The names must
appear within the 64-character message and
are ‘tagged’ numerically, a code then transmit-
ted in the RT+1 and RT+2 fields. These fields
are decoded by the 632 and shown in plain
text in Menus 8 and 9.
As the RadioText message can exceed the
number of characters in the front-panel LCD
display, the jog wheel knob is used to scroll
through messages up to the maximum of 64
characters. Push the knob and then turn it to
reveal the entire RadioText message. Push it
once again to exit the scrolling mode.
— 14 —
Menus 8 - 9
As already briefly mentioned, RDS song tag-
ging requires artist and title information in
the RadioText field, plus numerical ‘tags’ that
identify the proper information within the 64-
character presentation. Tagging is not re-
stricted to song information. Telephone num-
bers, e-mail addresses, station IDs and many
other “RT+ Items” may be tagged. With tag-
ging, a listener simply pushes a button on his
radio to automate the purchase of song down-
loads, or to retain phone numbers or Web ad-
dresses in the memory of his portable device.
Later, when docked with an Internet connec-
tion, his radio can assist in downloading mu-
sic, or allow the user to place a call or find a
Website of interest with minimum effort.
Menus 8 and 9 will display the decoded tag-
ging data. This snapshot shows a typical
Menu 8 display.
The
04
refers to the RT+ Item Number, which
in this case is
Artist
. The second line names
the performer. If the group name overruns
the LCD display, simply push the jog wheel
and turn it to scroll through the full text.
Push again to navigate the menus. In this ex-
ample Menu 9 would give a similar display for
the RT+2 tag; specifically, the song title.
As mentioned before, however, these RT+
“items” may consist of other information as
shown here in this alternative Menu 9 exam-
ple.
