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But other groups can be altered on a temporary basis without
compromising functions that regularly depend on data in these
groups.
Like the PI code, the PTY and TP data are always populated au-
tomatically by the encoder and cannot be changed with the
RAW= command. Although values programmed into these slots
will be ignored, it is best practice to set these values to 0 (ze-
roes) in the RAW packets, just as a point of consistency in as-
signment.
ODA
Auto-Repeat
Feature
This feature allows either one or two individual ODA packets to
be re-sent (repeated) at a user-defined interval. This can be
thought of a variation of the RAW(n)= command, which repeats
the transmission of raw data a set number of times. With Auto-
Repeat, the data in these groups are repeated a specified num-
ber of times in a ‘burst,’ equivalent to the (n) value in RAW(n)= ,
and the
burst
is then repeated at a programmed
interval
. The
transmission of these ODA groups is open-ended; they will con-
tinue to repeat until replaced.
ODA Auto-Repeat is useful as a “heartbeat” function, where da-
ta relating to a particular proprietary application are repeated
over and over so that an RDS radio, which is scanning the dial
for this application, will have a better chance of identifying the
transmission. This may be helpful, for instance, to some pro-
viders of song ‘tagging’ to identify the station as one that sup-
plies the song tags in their format.
Perhaps a better example might be a utility company that does
power-grid ‘load management’ using RDS/RBDS.
Say the utility company wants to cut back on commercial air
conditioning use during critical parts of the day when the load
is critical. The A/C units are controlled by special RDS radios
and respond to commands from the utility company. But ra-
ther than an active data link between the utility company and
one or more radio stations, an ODA Auto-Repeat command
needs to be sent only once to the encoder(s). Once the com-
mand is uploaded, the 730 Encoder will continue to transmit
the control data to the A/C units in the field until the command
is replaced or disabled.
ODA Auto-Repeat transmissions are sent to the encoder either
from the software screen, or as an ASCII command using the
Terminal utility, or from direct connection with controlling
equipment.
Click:
Tools/ODA Auto-Repeat
at the top of the Windows® soft-
ware screen. This brings up the
box shown here.
Either
ODA1=
or
ODA2=
, or both,
may be programmed. Disable ei-
ther (or both) by entering
000
in
the
Interval (sec)
box.
