Ordered a EDM-LCD-RDS-P Transmitter now what?

[Bobbyp47]

I just ordered my EDM-LCD-RDS-P 10/100mW PCB, TX Parts, LCD display,Antenna, Regulated 12V PSU,(NO enclosure)!RF adjustable (1-10mW and 2-100mW) RDS chip & data cable included. My Question is when I get this what will I need to do besides hooking up power wires up? Also I seen this on there website "To use the RDS feature with LOR
www.knackjack.com/lol/edm/EDMRDSLORsetup.pdf" Now what does this mean? I just ordered and want to know what I do b4 it arrives. Thanks Bobby

[pdowns]

Kind of odd. That web page contains a "QR Code" and if you scan it with a QR code reader it references a url for Midwest Webservice. If I were to guess, somebody hacked the EDM website but this sure seems to me to be a worthless hack.

I couldn't get to the EDM Orders page so couldn't look further for RDS instructions for you. But the url you have is surely not it!

I bought one of these units. I had to get some RDS software from http://www.pira.cz (as advised by EDM). EDM embeds a Pira32 RDS encoder in their transmitter.

Download link here http://pira.cz/rds/show.asp?art=rds_encoder_software
Help is built in to this simple application.

Here's a LOR thread with some discussion you may find useful:
http://forums.lightorama.com/forum25/19627.html

[Steven]

I use the EDM-LCD-RDS in my show. I connect it to my computer using a USB-to-Serial adapter. Not all adapters will work because the RDS chip does not use the regular RS232 serial communication, but uses IIC instead. A serial port does not speak IIC natively, so the software has to emulate it using the modem control pins. Not all USB-to-Serial adapters have modem control pins.

I also tried it using the built-in serial port on the computer, but that caused a problem where when the software updated the RDS chip, the LOR network would hang, making my "always on" channels turn off.

The software to use is MiniRDS. I don't think there is other software that will work, but I didn't pursue it. The MiniRDS configuration is not very intuitive. I can get that for you from my show computer when I get home.

I have MiniRDS monitoring a file named "Now Playing.txt". It gets the dynamic PS data from the first line and the Radio Text data from the next line. I have a batch file called RDS.BAT that is called from the Windows Command in each sequence with data to put in that file.

I invoke my RDS.bat program from the sequences like this example:

rds.bat Wizards in Winter Trans Siberian Orkestra n Wizards in Winter by The Trans Siberian Orchestra

The RDS.BAT script puts the first part in the first line. Since that's for the dynamic PS, I changed it a bit to keep all the words to 8 characters or less. The second part goes to the Radio Text which can take up to 64(?) characters. However, some radios only display the PS field.

Here is the RDS.BAT file:

@echo off
SET FILE="C:Light-O-RamaNow Playing.txt"
SET LINE1=
SET LINE2=
IF "%*"=="" GOTO END

SET LINE1=%1
:LOOP1
SHIFT
IF "%1"=="" GOTO END
IF "%1"=="n" GOTO LINE2
SET LINE1=%LINE1% %1
GOTO LOOP1

:LINE2
SHIFT
IF "%1"=="" GOTO END
SET LINE2=%1
:LOOP2
SHIFT
if "%1"=="" GOTO END
SET LINE2=%LINE2% %1
GOTO LOOP2

:END
IF "%LINE1%"=="" ECHO. > %FILE%
IF NOT "%LINE1%"=="" ECHO %LINE1% > %FILE%
IF NOT "%LINE2%"=="" ECHO %LINE2% >> %FILE%

All this work is possibly worth it. Here is one comment I got on my feedback form:

This is great. I really like the way the lights respond to the music. I do enjoy some traditional Christmas carols (Hark, the Herald Angels Sing), but understand your sense of humor. I also like the way that the song name appears on my car radio. This is well worth a drive to experience. thank you and enjoy your Christmas, Margaret

[Steven]

In a private message, oj70chevy asked for more details on the method I use to get the song title into the RDS data. So I'll go over the entire system.

Your first step is to make sure your computer can talk to the RDS chip in the radio. The normal method is to use a serial port (most, but not all, will work), but you can also use the parallel port if you have one available.

Next, the (updated) software used is TinyRDS. Install it and make sure you can send PS (from the "Program") tab, and RadioText (from the "Radiotext" tab). Obviously, you'll need a RDS-capable radio to make sure it's working.

Then, configure TinyRDS to monitor the contents of a file and send the data from that file. On my system, I use the file C:Light-O-RamaNow Playing.txt, but you can put the file wherever you want. To do this, go to the "Text Sources" tab, and check the "From file", and "Send on change" boxes. I use the same file for both Dynamic PS and Radiotext. I use the first line for Dynamic PS and the last line for Radiotext. That way, it still works if you only have one line in that file. Make sure Radiotext and Dynamic PS are enabled on their respective tabs.

Test this by editing your "Now Playing.txt" file, and checking that the new text appears on your radio when you change it. You may have to wait a few seconds for the data to propagate.

Now comes the Light-O-Rama side. The idea is that when a sequence starts, you want to update the text in the "Now Playing.txt" file. I use a BAT (DOS batch) file to do this. The BAT file has been around since MS-DOS came out in the 1980's, so this is not new technology! It's a scripting language that lets you do complicated things automatically.

Select the contents of the BAT file I posted above (starting with the "@echo off" line) and paste it into a file named "RDS.BAT". You can put this file wherever you want, but I put mine in C:Light-O-Rama. Edit this file to change the name of the "Now Playing" file to where you chose to put it.

Next, edit each sequence to put the name of the song in the Windows Command. From the sequence editor, select "Edit" -> "Windows Command". To avoid problems with the PATH variable, it will work to put the entire path to the BAT file. For example, in my "Wizards in Winter" sequence, I have the following Windows Command:

C:Light-O-Ramards.bat Wizards in Winter Trans Siberian Orkestra n Wizards in Winter by The Trans Siberian Orchestra

You may be wondering what that silly "n" is and why "Orchestra" is misspelled. I use the "n" token to separate the first line from the second line. The first line is used for Dynamic PS, which only supports 8 characters at a time, so I misspell 9-character words (like "Christmas") to make them fit in the PS display.

Many radios will show the Radiotext as well as the PS, and it can support up to 64 characters, so no misspelling is necessary. In my "Now Playing.txt" file, this goes on the second line.

Any questions?

[oj70chevy]

Steven, I have been out for some time and just wanted to say thanks for the info. unfortunately I have tried many times and unable to get that effect. That being said this is beyond my capability for now but am sure some one with more understanding would be able to use it. Again thanks for your time.

Ralph

[Aaron Maue]

oj70chevy wrote:

Steven, I have been out for some time and just wanted to say thanks for the info. unfortunately I have tried many times and unable to get that effect. That being said this is beyond my capability for now but am sure some one with more understanding would be able to use it. Again thanks for your time.

Ralph

Ralph, not sure if this will help, but try this thread. It includes a link to some step-by-step instructions, complete with some screenshots, for getting the RDS feature on your EDM to work with LOR. Not much in the way of new data from what Steven offers above, but organized a little differently, so may help de-mystify the implementation a bit.

http://forums.lightorama.com/forum25/19627.html

[oj70chevy]

thanks i went through setting it up but just want to know if i can run my schedule without having my nodes hooked up or do i need to have everything up and running together?

[Aaron Maue]

Not sure I understand your question. What are you trying to test? Whether the RDS stream is being updated?

If you want to test the RDS data stream, you can check most of it without running the schedule. You'll want to connect your COM out put from your PC to the input on the EDM. And you'll want to start the TinyRDS (or MiniRDS) application on your PC.

Now, from the sequence editor, just play your sequence normally, like you would if you were doing your sequencing or viewing it on the Visualizer, etc. Assuming you have the Windows Shell command setup to executes a batch command, per Steven's suggestion above, or per the .pdf file I pointed you to, things should work.

You can look at the various tabs within the TinyRDS application to see whether it's receiving the text updates initiated by your batch file.

Did I answer your question? I'm not sure what you mean by the word "node." In short, to test the RDS feature, you need to have your EDM connected to your PC. You need to have TinyRDS up and running. And you need to play a sequence (whether through sequence editor or through the schedule) in order to initiate the Windows shell command for that particular sequenc.

[oj70chevy]

yes you did and sorry working on the phone systems all day i guess i put my work and play together. I should of said controller. i did test it and do see it passing the song information now. Thanks.. now may be ill figure out all the rest to make it look all fancy next year. nor to more sequencing

[Aaron Maue]

Great. The last part of the link to verify is your transmitter to a radio. Transmit like you would normally and tune your RDS-capable radio to your station to see if it's sending the data out on the FM signal.