XI
A U D I O E Q U I P M E N T a n d T E L E M A T I C S
188
AUDIO-VIDEO
What is the RDS? RDS station following T r a f fi c i n f o r m a t i o n f u n c t i o n
Your radio automatically checks
and selects the best frequency
for the radio station to which it is
tuned (if the station broadcasts on sev-
eral transmitters or frequencies).
The frequency of a radio station covers
approximately 30 miles (50 km). The
change from one frequency to another
explains the loss of reception during a
journey.
If the station to which you are listen-
ing does not have several frequencies
in the region in which you are currently
located, you can deactivate the auto-
matic frequency following.
The Radio Data System (RDS)
function on the FM waveband
permits:
- tuning to the same station while travelling through different regions
(if the transmitters of this station
cover the area through which you
are travelling),
- t e m p o r a r y t u n i n g t o t r a f fi c i n f o r m a - tion announcements,
- access to the displaying of the name of the station, etc...
Most FM stations use the RDS.
These stations transmit non-audible
data in addition to their programmes.
The data transmitted in this way allows
you access to various functions, mainly
displaying of the name of the station,
t e m p o r a r y t u n i n g t o t r a f fi c i n f o r m a t i o n
announcements or automatic station
following.
The RDS allows you to continue listen-
ing to the same station by means of the
frequency following. However, in cer-
tain conditions, this RDS frequency fol-
lowing cannot be provided throughout
the country. Radio stations do not cover
the whole country, which explains the
loss of reception of the station during
a journey. T h e T r a f fi c P r o g r a m ( T P ) f u n c -
tion permits automatic and tem-
porary switching to an FM station
b r o a d c a s t i n g t r a f fi c i n f o r m a t i o n .
The radio station or the source that you
are listening to at this point is paused.
O n c e t h e t r a f fi c i n f o r m a t i o n h a s e n d e d ,
the system switches back to the radio
station or the source that you were lis-
tening to initially.
Regional following mode Some stations are organised in
a network.
In different regions, they broad-
cast different or shared programmes
depending on the time of day.
You can follow:
- a regional station only,
- the entire network, with the possibil- ity that you will be listening to a dif-
ferent programme. Programme types
Some stations offer the option
of listening to a themed type of
programme as a priority, select-
ed from the list available below:
NEWS, AFFAIRS, INFOS, SPORT,
EDUCATE, DRAMA, CULTURE,
SCIENCE, VARIED, POP M, ROCK M,
EASY M, LIGHT M, CLASSICS, OTHER
M, WEATHER, FINANCE, CHILDREN,
SOCIAL, RELIGION, PHONE IN, TRAVEL, LEISURE, JAZZ, COUNTRY, NATION M,
OLDIES, FOLK M, DOCUMENT.
