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    Jan 4, 2006 6:44:00 PM

    U Boat Commander
    Veteran
    U Boat Commander
    Loc: Los Angeles, CA
    Posts: 1250, Gallery
    Registered on: May 8, 2004

    Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    I spoke with my Porsche service guy today about the problem that several of us are having with our radios spontaneously changing to 106FM even when listening to the CD. He said that it's a known problem and has something to do with "the radio station emitting the wrong identifer code for RDBS signal" (I have no idea what this is - perhaps someone can shed some light on this).

    This would all make perfect sense if it were just us here in LA who have had the problem with Power 106FM and my guy told me that Porsche is actually talking to Power 106FM about the problem with their signal. But I recall that someone in the UK had the same problem with 106FM. Maybe that is just coincidence.

    In any event, the fix is to go into the Audio screen on the PCM and uncheck the "Traffic" program. I did that on my car this morning and it seems to work so far (although I was only in the car for 20 minutes this morning).

    Jan 4, 2006 8:29:38 PM

    911Carrera05
    Newbie
    911Carrera05
    Loc: Los Angeles, CA
    Posts: 40, Gallery
    Registered on: Mar 28, 2005
    Reply to: U Boat Commander

    Re: Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    Interesting. My radio starting doing exactly that over Christmas. So I took the car for its first service and they ordered a new radio, and plan to switch it out this week.

    Jan 4, 2006 8:41:27 PM

    SrfCity
    Expert
    SrfCity
    Loc: Orange County, CA
    Posts: 1339, Gallery
    Registered on: Jul 21, 2004
    Reply to: 911Carrera05

    Re: Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    It must be a Becker thing. It happens on the F430 too.

    Jan 4, 2006 9:07:13 PM

    FSU-997TT
    Pilot
    FSU-997TT
    Loc: Florida , United States
    Posts: 412, Gallery
    Registered on: May 29, 2005
    Reply to: SrfCity

    Re: Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    RDBS...Radio Data Brodcast System is the ability of a radio station to brodcast among other things their station identification information on top of the FM signal. I beleive it also allow the artist and type of music (or traffic) to be sent along with the signal as well. Some radios have "traffic" buttons that will seek stations that broadcast a RDBS signal to let receivers know that this station offers local traffic reports and you cal also orginize stations presets by music types, jazz, rock, country, etc.

    The problem may be that if the traffic button is selected, that the radio is automatically switching to that station, rather than simply logging the infomration. I would think it a software issue not necassarily a specific radio station issue. My $0.02.

    Jan 4, 2006 9:24:08 PM

    JamesC
    Junior
    JamesC
    Loc: London, UK
    Posts: 105, Gallery
    Registered on: Nov 7, 2005
    Reply to: FSU-997TT

    Re: Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    In the UK (and most of Europe too), "RDS" is standard even on absolutely base radios in the cheapest cars. It is an additional signal broadcast by virtually all the FM radio stations which has been available since the early 90s and provides the following features:

    * The radio displays the name of the current station, not just the frequency.

    * The radio can automatically tune itself to any other station in the vicinity for traffic broadcasts, then re-tune afterwards. Even works if you're listening to a CD or tape.

    * The radio can follow the frequency of a national or wide-region station as you drive around, so if the station broadcasts on multiple frequencies, the radio will seamlessly and continuously re-tune itself to the strongest signal.

    Having looked on the internet, it appears that RDBS is the US version of RDS, but I'm not sure how widely it has been adopted:

    http://www.rds.org.uk/rdsfrdsrbds.html

    Jan 4, 2006 10:49:29 PM

    Gaz
    Co-Pilot
    Gaz
    Loc: London, England
    Posts: 246, Gallery
    Registered on: Jan 4, 2004
    Reply to: JamesC

    Re: Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    We used to have a big problem here in London with pirate stations broadcasting RDS TP signals which caused your tuner to cut over to their station for no apparent reason. Thankfully things ahve improved in the last few years, but at one time there was no way you could leave TP switched on. I remember one station which not only cut in on you, but also displayed it's website URL on your head unit.

    Gaz

    Jan 4, 2006 11:02:52 PM

    P997C2S
    Junior
    P997C2S
    Loc: North East - USA
    Posts: 116, Gallery
    Registered on: Nov 13, 2005
    Reply to: Gaz

    Re: Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    I don't want some "KOOL-MoFo" displaying in my preset memory. How do I get the station freq. to display?

    Jan 4, 2006 11:34:34 PM

    JamesC
    Junior
    JamesC
    Loc: London, UK
    Posts: 105, Gallery
    Registered on: Nov 7, 2005
    Reply to: Gaz

    Re: Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    Quote:
    Gaz said:
    We used to have a big problem here in London with pirate stations broadcasting RDS TP signals which caused your tuner to cut over to their station for no apparent reason. Thankfully things ahve improved in the last few years, but at one time there was no way you could leave TP switched on. I remember one station which not only cut in on you, but also displayed it's website URL on your head unit.

    Gaz



    I remember that. Doesn't seem to have happened to me recently, so maybe it's stopped now.

    I don't normally drive with TP on anyway as I listen to CDs and it's really annoying to have a nice track interrupted just so you can find out about a traffic jam on the other side of the city, while you're stuck in a completely different one that the radio announcer doesn't seem to know about.

    Jan 5, 2006 9:06:08 AM

    maoun
    Co-Pilot
    maoun
    Loc: Seattle, WA, USA
    Posts: 223, Gallery
    Registered on: Oct 19, 2005
    Reply to: JamesC

    Re: Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    i'm in Los Angeles and my car did that for the first time tonight.....

    Jan 5, 2006 10:26:26 AM

    JamesC
    Junior
    JamesC
    Loc: London, UK
    Posts: 105, Gallery
    Registered on: Nov 7, 2005
    Reply to: maoun

    Re: Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    If you have "TP" or "TA" options, make sure they're switched off. Also switch off the "AF" function if it's available.

    Jan 5, 2006 1:37:26 PM

    John H Offline
    Rennteam VIP
    John H
    Loc: Cheshire, UK , United Kingdom
    Posts: 7685, Gallery
    Registered on: Oct 20, 2005
    Reply to: U Boat Commander

    Re: Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    Quote:
    U Boat Commander said:
    I recall that someone in the UK had the same problem with 106FM. Maybe that is just coincidence.




    That was me on a different thread. Doesn't seem to have happened for a while - all very strange.

    Jan 5, 2006 5:45:04 PM

    oneofew
    Newbie
    oneofew
    Loc: California USA
    Posts: 33, Gallery
    Registered on: Jul 25, 2005
    Reply to: U Boat Commander

    Re: Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    Wow, I am not alone
    I was convinced my PCM was hunted.
    Few times it changed stations on me, I did not worry about it too much.
    But what really freaked me out, I kept turning off the radio, after a while it turn back on tune to Power106

    Jan 5, 2006 6:22:49 PM

    edz
    Rennteam Pro
    edz
    Loc: South Orange County
    Posts: 2022, Gallery
    Registered on: Oct 11, 2005
    Reply to: oneofew

    Re: Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    I am in Orange County CA and my car has switched from the CD to the radio station twice. I was not happy as they changed my stereo the 1st week I bought the car which is now 3 months old. Thanks for the tip guys.

    Jan 6, 2006 6:03:58 AM

    vtrader
    Veteran
    vtrader
    Loc: Los Angeles
    Posts: 1086, Gallery
    Registered on: Jun 6, 2004
    Reply to: edz

    Re: Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    So we can all agree that there is no problem with the radio. The issue is that when the traffic program feature is turned on and in the Los Angeles area, there are no radio stations that broadcast traffic alerts. FM 106 will send out the signal to indicate that there is a traffic alert ready to be broadcast, but there is none. The PCM does display on the bottom of the screen that "Traffic Announcement" when this happens. Since there is no station that uses this feature, it should be off anyway. This is a European feature that has not caught on in the US especially in the Los Angeles area where we have at least 50 radio stations to choose from and not a single radio station uses this feature.

    Jan 6, 2006 6:18:15 AM

    maoun
    Co-Pilot
    maoun
    Loc: Seattle, WA, USA
    Posts: 223, Gallery
    Registered on: Oct 19, 2005
    Reply to: vtrader

    Re: Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    Turning of the traffic has worked thus far for mine...

    Jan 6, 2006 7:09:03 AM

    JamesC
    Junior
    JamesC
    Loc: London, UK
    Posts: 105, Gallery
    Registered on: Nov 7, 2005
    Reply to: maoun

    Re: Fix For Problem With Radio Switching to 106FM

    So what's the deal with the radio stations in the US not using this?

    It's really common over here. Want traffic news? Press the button and wait ten minutes.

    One of my previous cars, a VW Golf, even had a feature where it would record any traffic alerts into an internal chip for up to two hours, then when you switched the car on, you could play the most recent ones back.

    And that car was built in 1999!
     
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