[aprssig] GeoSat 4 Price published

[Dave Baxter]

Re TMC. 

It's a nice feature of RDS, when the broadcasters use it correctly.  In
the UK (and elsewhere in the EU) the problem is that they don't clear
the "Traffic" (or news) flag quickly enough after the announcement, so
you end up stuck on a local radio station, not the national one you were
listening to.

It's main use, is to allow you to travel around, listening to a national
FM station, and the RX will automatically choose the best frequency for
that, without your intervention, a safety feature no less.

RDS also carries the time, Station name, program type, and a whole host
of other stuff that is actually useful from time to time, but not many
domestic (or car) receivers use all of it.  The Sangian 909 (I think, I
have the Roberts version) is an exception, as it can synchronize it's
time clock to the RDS time, if you wish.  Very good for travellers.
Pity none of the car's I've had (UK, EU, US) with RDS had that feature,
as usually the clocks are all wrong....

In the UK, one or more of the non public RDS data streams is also used
by the utility companies to selectively "shed load" at remote sites when
they need.

Just for the heck of it, I've asked if the GeoSat4 can accept user maps
for places other than North America.  From the sound of it, it may be
technicaly posible, but I'm not holding my breath.  Pity, as if it could
(Autoroute style maps etc) I'd seriously think about one.

Dave B.
G0WBX