[Davidval18]

Hi Guys!

Can anyone clarify the 2 options on the FM Settings? What do they do if selected? (I went through the user manual but no information whatsoever)

1- Alternative Frequency
2- Region Lock

Thanks for your help! 0

Picture provided below

 

[GerryB]

Have not seen that on a USDM model.

Sent from a Samsung that doesn't explode.

 

[gruuvin]

Hi Guys!

Can anyone clarify the 2 options on the FM Settings? What do they do if selected? (I went through the user manual but no information whatsoever)

1- Alternative Frequency
2- Region Lock

Thanks for your help! 0

Picture provided below

In North America, our tuners do 200 Khz steps in the the frequency range 87.8 MHz to 108.0 MHz, for FM radio. I imagine other areas of the globe have something different. Maybe the Firmware version for your region covers two different schemes, where the default is the scheme mostly used, but alternate is something different (different range and steps than default). I don't think my North America firmware version has those FM settings because there is no reason for an alternate or a region lock (whatever that is).


Just guessing.

 

[championway]

this is political option added to ISR only. this option will communicated with gps socket, to located region then start filter FM signal. if this used in US or EU, will hide for you other state FM channel. in case if the signal reach from state to state.. also this is one of MZD rubbish .

 

[lukesan]

ok, here goes my first post.
These are are RDS settings.

Alternative Frequency= most national stations have different fm transmitters covering different area's with an overlap. There is a bit more that gets send with RDS data than the text you see on the screen. The AF list also gets send. So if you move from one area to another and the reception is low the radio will know what frequency to switch to to have the same station but on another frequency that is stronger in the next area.

Region lock = probably regional transmissions. A bit more difficult to explain. Some national radio stations might have a couple of hours of regional information/news. If this is the case they will raise that flag (as in a 1 instead of a 0) so the radio doesn't switch to another transmitter frequency when you are in an overlapping area.

For myself I would only leave the Alternative Frequency on.
In the US this option is probably not really in use since every station only has 1 transmitter I think. In Europe we use 50KHz steps also.

My Mazda 6 2017 will probably be available next week, hopefully. I am dying to check DAB in the thing. Not sure if you also have that in your car.

 

[Davidval18]

Thank you @championway and @lukesan for the clarification

So in brief if I got it right, "Alternative Frequency" will look always for the best frequency of that specific station for the best signal possible.

Meanwhile "Region Lock" will filter FM Stations according to the location of the GPS. I agree with what @championway said, this has to do with the Politics in Israel regarding security and comfort. Maybe, when Israelis travel from the center of the country to the "West Bank", or some Israelis leaving in the "West Bank" drive through surrounding Arab villages they have the option to filter Arab radio stations.

For now I will leave "Alternative Frequency" on as that was the default setting and I'll leave "Region Lock" off. As far as I know DAB is not available in Israel yet.

Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[lukesan]

Thank you @championway and @lukesan for the clarification

So in brief if I got it right, "Alternative Frequency" will look always for the best frequency of that specific station for the best signal possible.

Meanwhile "Region Lock" will filter FM Stations according to the location of the GPS. I agree with what @championway said, this has to do with the Politics in Israel regarding security and comfort. Maybe, when Israelis travel from the center of the country to the "West Bank", or some Israelis leaving in the "West Bank" drive through surrounding Arab villages they have the option to filter Arab radio stations.

For now I will leave "Alternative Frequency" on as that was the default setting and I'll leave "Region Lock" off. As far as I know DAB is not available in Israel yet.

Thanks everyone for your help!

Region lock has nothing to do with GPS . I actually developed RDS coders in the '90s so I know the standard pretty well (if any specific questions feel free to pm)

It's an implementation that is meant to identify local broadcast. It's a bit that is set to 1 instead of 0 and is independent of any other stuff like GPS, signal strength etc . It can actually be used in 2 different ways. Well it should be but most use it .... best to use an example.

For example we in Belgium and most other EU countries have national radiostation. The boring stuff is that they are mostly called 'radio 1' 'radio 2' etc ... It is something that was setup in the 40's and 50's. The UK has BBC1, BBC2 ....

So in my area we have 1 of these official government radiostations 'radio 2' which decouples transmission from all of the other 'radio 2' transmitters between certain times. The studio in the area will broadcast different music and bring mostly local city news. That is when the local flag will be set to 1 in the RDS signal. So in case you drive at a transmission border area it doesn't switch over to another 'radio 2' that is also in the alternative frequency list.
In my case I always switch it off.

There are other implementations in RDS that you and everyone else should be aware of. The important one is PTY 'alarm'. If the radio receives that it should be almost impossible to change anything (depends on the implementation on the receiving device). Most receivers will show this in in caps flashing on the display.

 

[championway]

Region lock has nothing to do with GPS ..

you sounded had allot information ... but your mentioned point was based on general FM Socket "RDS". we are talking here on MZD Connect. there are no RDS at FM Socket. the hardware of MZD are implemented RDS -TMC with same socket of GPS. this why they turn it off and let it being TMC service via http socket. at least till 2015 Mazda and early 2016. ( they disable RDS because if RDS turn on they faced GPS signal blocked )

if your car same model the OP and you go drive it in ISR this option will show at setting.. any one in EU or NA or ADR had this option at FM... please correct me with photo.

 

[vulcanben]

you sounded had allot information ... but your mentioned point was based on general FM Socket "RDS". we are talking here on MZD Connect. there are no RDS at FM Socket. the hardware of MZD are implemented RDS -TMC with same socket of GPS. this why they turn it off and let it being TMC service via http socket. at least till 2015 Mazda and early 2016. ( they disable RDS because if RDS turn on they faced GPS signal blocked )

if your car same model the OP and you go drive it in ISR this option will show at setting.. any one in EU or NA or ADR had this option at FM... please correct me with photo.

Thank you for taking the time to explain, my car was registered November 2015. If I understand you correctly, if I turned on the RDS - TMC I would lose my GPS because the socket is shared?

 

[vulcanben]

you sounded had allot information ... but your mentioned point was based on general FM Socket "RDS". we are talking here on MZD Connect. there are no RDS at FM Socket. the hardware of MZD are implemented RDS -TMC with same socket of GPS. this why they turn it off and let it being TMC service via http socket. at least till 2015 Mazda and early 2016. ( they disable RDS because if RDS turn on they faced GPS signal blocked )

if your car same model the OP and you go drive it in ISR this option will show at setting.. any one in EU or NA or ADR had this option at FM... please correct me with photo.

Thank you for taking the time to explain, my car was registered November 2015. If I understand you correctly, if I turned on the FM RDS - TMC I would lose my GPS because the socket is shared?

 

[championway]

Thank you for taking the time to explain, my car was registered November 2015. If I understand you correctly, if I turned on the FM RDS - TMC I would lose my GPS because the socket is shared?

i don't know which model and which firmware you have on it.. .. my question did you have in setting the option to use" TMC RDS" ?

 

[vulcanben]

i don't know which model and which firmware you have on it.. .. my question did you have in setting the option to use" TMC RDS" ?

Mazda 3 2015
mzd connect 56.0.513 EU

I had a new cmu fitted under warrantee last August for failure to connect to my phone hotspot.

unfortunately No I do not have the TMC - RDS option.

 

[championway]

Mazda 3 2015
mzd connect 56.0.513 EU

I had a new cmu fitted under warrantee last August for failure to connect to my phone hotspot.

unfortunately No I do not have the TMC - RDS option.

CMU V56.00.513B-EU _ V56.oo.513C-ADR , at jci/nng/ux folder "online_tmc.zip" and "tmc.zip" mean only http_tmc. failed

 "tmc_main.zip"   its skin option

but you said that it replaces Aug.2016 its highly new hardware "CMU", FM socket different . i am not sure if it had "RDS" but its look like it had
i suggest you to pull complete copy for your "jci/nng" folder to inspect "ux" folder. if there no "tmc_main.zip" you can add it
attached from V55.

 

[lukesan]

you sounded had allot information ... but your mentioned point was based on general FM Socket "RDS". we are talking here on MZD Connect. there are no RDS at FM Socket. the hardware of MZD are implemented RDS -TMC with same socket of GPS. this why they turn it off and let it being TMC service via http socket. at least till 2015 Mazda and early 2016. ( they disable RDS because if RDS turn on they faced GPS signal blocked )

if your car same model the OP and you go drive it in ISR this option will show at setting.. any one in EU or NA or ADR had this option at FM... please correct me with photo.

ISR is Israel I suppose?
Also I just checked the manual which is available online on Mazda.co.uk which also mentions regional. I think it would only be logical to place this option under the AF option.

Sorry to say but for me it is hard to understand your English as a non English speaker myself. No RDS at FM Socket? What do you mean by that? RDS is modulated at 57KHz on a FM signal. TMC is implemented in the 8A group of RDS and is just normally as the standard says traffic info modulated in the RDS stream like radio text is.

Edit: I rest my case. Youtube of German MZD ... I can't post links yet do to my 2 or 3 posts. Start youtube look for 'TECH CHECK Mazda MZD Connect Infotainment-System im neuen 2015 Mazda CX 5' and check from 14:25

 

[championway]

ISR is Israel I suppose?
Also I just checked the manual which is available online on Mazda.co.uk which also mentions regional. I think it would only be logical to place this option under the AF option.

Sorry to say but for me it is hard to understand your English as a non English speaker myself. No RDS at FM Socket? What do you mean by that? RDS is modulated at 57KHz on a FM signal. TMC is implemented in the 8A group of RDS and is just normally as the standard says traffic info modulated in the RDS stream like radio text is.

Edit: I rest my case. Youtube of German MZD ... I can't post links yet do to my 2 or 3 posts. Start youtube look for 'TECH CHECK Mazda MZD Connect Infotainment-System im neuen 2015 Mazda CX 5' and check from 14:25

sorry it was typo from me , i mean "GNS" most every FM radio had RDS. , gns need different chip

 

[Davidval18]

Great discussion guys, you are both very knowledgable, and ISR / IL is Israel indeed.

So I'm a little bit lost / confused here, since I thought I got in the beginning, what does region lock do if activated, specifically here in Israel ?

 

[lukesan]

Great discussion guys, you are both very knowledgable, and ISR / IL is Israel indeed.

So I'm a little bit lost / confused here, since I thought I got in the beginning, what does region lock do if activated, specifically here in Israel ?

It is a standard developed in the EU at the end of the 80's so I guess my example a couple of posts above will also be valid for Israel.
The wiki 'Radio Data System' also explains it in the 'REG (regional)'

Normally it has nothing to do with military stuff or so. To be honest most people keep it switched off. There is no gain by switching it on since most regional broadcast chat refers to older people (like me :grin2: ) with 90% talk and 10% music that is not my style. We are all young and want to listen to music instead.
Actually thinking of it I remember that some radio manufacturers skip non-regional transmitters when scanning when the flag was set to 1.

Dying to get my car and try it all out.
@championway : What is this GNS chip?