I've just been searching the NAM forums for any information on any "how to's" to display the song title and artist on my stock '05 radio.
I know this particular station that i listen to displays such info because I have been driving around in an '06 pontiac pursuit rental car for a week and its radio displayed it when I pressed the 'msg' button.
So...is the Mini radio capable of this or does it just display everything else??

Ofcourse, the RDS feature is 'ON", PTY is 'ON'...not sure if i have to press another button to scroll through the other RDS features to get song titles?...:impatient

 

My 03 displays song title and artist info for some stations but not others. The only thing I messed with on the radio setup was the speed sensitive volume.

 

RDS is supposed to display the station title.
But some stations, especially in USA where RDS isn't commonly known, transmit the artist / title / whatever by pretending it's the station name.

I think RDS has a character length limit, so they send a bit of the info at a time, updating every few seconds - your radio displays whatever it gets so it sort of mimics a scrolling message display ...

Aftermarket RDS units can support additional, more modern, data messages which improve on the limited name length and not-really-scrolling effect.

 

I also saw on this forum ppl getting into their actual units by pressing and holding the "M" button for 10 seconds right after the units was switched on (switch OFF the system once you have set all your settings for it to save). From there you can go thru a whole bunch of extra menus. By default my deck was set to RDS USA...so i put it to RDS CANADA...not much difference only the PTY on my favourite station now says "DRAMA" not "CLASSIC ROCK"....weird.
I wish i knew what all these extra menu features ment...

 

The menu that you are talking about is actually to set the radio up. Each country uses different codes to display data and also uses different ranges for tuning. If you notice, the USA uses all odd numbers for stations. In Europe, this can make it hard as many of the stations are even numbered. So, that menu that you looked at allows you to set the radio to Europe or Canada etc... so that you can adjust the tuning range. Also in that menu is the serial number of the radio, the speed adjustment for the speakers (non HK), a display test window (for testing the LED) and a few other small items.

With RDS, the biggest problem is how the station broadcasts the data. In the US, they may use a format that is not recognized by the MINI but is by another radio. All of these features are a lot like when DVD's came out and there were several different formats that weren't compatable with each other. You should have seen the fiasco that I went thru to get TMC working in my US Spec MINI here in Germany! Nobody knew the answer and all I needed was the Europe Boost radio.

 

Thanks daflake
I'll probably set my radio back to the USA setting just because the PTY display was more acurate for most stations.
Would be nice to have my radio display the artist and song when I know that station broadcasts it. I find it difficult to find aftermarket decks that have the RDS function here in Canada!

 

Paul,

You might want to look at the Alpine CDA-9857. It is expensive, but I believe that it offers a large variety of features and is compatable with the MINI.

 

Do you know what these set up codes mean?

PSP1 V12
TP-V 0
AF-OFF
SV 15-06 53
RI 00
GAL

Thanks,
Mike & MINIho

 

What do the these radio set up codes mean?

PSP 1 V 24
AF-OFF
SV 15-06 53
RI 00
GAL 04

Thanks
--Mike & MINI ho

 

the "SV ..." is the software version.
The "GAL" is the speed compensation setting.

 

The only ones that I know of our the ones that GB pointed out. This menu is more of a service menu and not a user menu. So we have had to "play' to figure them out.

 

The radio in my 2002 MCS JCW started having reception problems so it was replaced under warranty about a month ago. Owners manual came with the radio because there have been a few changes. As far as the display goes, there are dfferences from what the manual shows.
According to the manual I should have ...
RDS PTY
I have ...
RDS INF
I have "NEWS" and "TRAFFIC" on display. If "NEWS" is on or off or if "TRAFFIC" is off, no change.
If "TRAFFIC" is on, a little asterisk blinks on and off.
RDS INF *
The station call letters, song and artist show like normal.
What does this mean ? Is there a way to have "TRAFFIC" on without the blinking asterisk ?

 

Yeah I was messing around with my radio again today, trying to get my song titles and artists to display again...but with no luck.
For a brief time, this past January, 3 particular stations here in Toronto (owned by the same company) all of a sudden started displaying the Artists and song titles on my head unit! I was just arriving at work one morning and I happened to looks down at the radio before i switched off the car and noticed all the song information displayed! I said to myself; "Sweet! it finally works!!!"
Unfortunately it only lasted about a month and now its back to only displaying the station name, etc. They must have been fiddling with the information that gets broadcasted around here.

I remember though, that if my station was on a pre-set, it would take a few minutes to eventually display the song title and artist.
If you manually select a station with the full RDS capability, then the full song info shows up right away, for some reason...
I know in the US, alot of your stations' RDS functions work on our MINI radios, but here in Toronto Canada, im only getting station names and categories. (Unless im driving a newer GM or certain other vehicles which display the full RDS info.)

Anyway, im still looking around on the net for any kind of "Tech" info for our radios that gives us an in-depth look and meaning for each of the hidden "M" button diagnostics and settings.

 

do i understand correctly that the HK radios do not have a speed sound adjustment, despite what the manual says (05 s convertible). thanks

 

There is a speed adjustment; however, you can't modify it. Check this out for more info on the H/K system.

 

when you say compatible, can it utilize the steering wheel buttons?

 

Gosh, I made that comment over a year ago so I have no idea what I was thinking. I believe that we had some back end discussions as well which is why I said what I did.

I don't think that the radio will allow the use of the OEM buttons without a kit.

http://www.newministuff.com/new/shop...ductshow&id=80

That beings said, I do know part of what I meant was that it would fit in the car without modification. It will also color match as well.

 

My Alpine 9857 works fine in GPMINI, including MFSW buttons - using the kit from Mikey ...