RDS Max in combination with PCI Max ?? How to .... ?

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Peter
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RDS Max in combination with PCI Max ?? How to .... ?

Post by Peter »

Hi guys,

I'm planning to buy a RDS Max module for use with my PCI Max card (by the way : it's a great card, I use it all the time).
Before buying it I have some questions :
- is it possible to use it with the PCI Max ?
- I'm aware of the synchronization of the MPX signal with the RDS signal : can PCS-Electronics give me some details of where to cut the MPX signal on the PCI Max board and put the in- and output of the RDS MAX on it. I'm not asking a full schematic, only the place where to cut is ok for me. I know that this has some riscs but I'm an electronics technician so I'm used to work with printed circuit boards :-).


Thanks in advance.

Peter
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pcs
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Post by pcs »

Hooking RDS MAX to PCI MAX ULTRA is described in the manual
that comes with RDS MAX.

It requires a bit of soldering, but nothing spectacular.

I will gladly send you a copy of the manual, if you want one.

If you do decide, go for the boxed version since you don't want that
PCB to hang in the air with no support. And if you ask me nicely I will
prepare all the cables so hooking it all will be a breeze.

Also note that we just decreased price for our RDS MAX encoders.
Several outside contractors are working on new versions of driver
so a couple different versions of the driver should be available very
soon.

As far as that "other" cheap RDS encoder from competition goes,
it does not have galvanic isolation from the PC so you may have
problems with ground loops (manifests itself as hum) and the
spectrum of their carrier is not as clean as ours.


Good luck and happy RDS-ing!
Best regards,
Marko - PCS Electronics
--------------------------------------------------------
Turn your PC into a FM radio station!
http://www.pcs-electronics.com
fax +386 4 2316 128
Patrick B.

"galvanic isolation"

Post by Patrick B. »

Does this mean that your RDS encoder has also galvanically isolated the analog input? Probably not, does it? Because if I play from a PC and RDS encoder is also driven from it, it has no effect that the data interface is isolated if audio is comming via wires. So I'm a little confused...
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pcs
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Re: "galvanic isolation"

Post by pcs »

Patrick B. wrote:Does this mean that your RDS encoder has also galvanically isolated the analog input? Probably not, does it? Because if I play from a PC and RDS encoder is also driven from it, it has no effect that the data interface is isolated if audio is comming via wires. So I'm a little confused...
It would seem so. But the ground of sound card is not equal to the ground
of PCI MAX. Eliminating as many ground loops in the system helps reduce
noise. While the effect is small in combination with PCI MAX, it can be
quite dramatic with standalone transmitters.

A serious professional RDS encoder will always be galvanically separated
from the PC.
Best regards,
Marko - PCS Electronics
--------------------------------------------------------
Turn your PC into a FM radio station!
http://www.pcs-electronics.com
fax +386 4 2316 128
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PCI MAX 2005 and RDS MAX 30

Post by pcs »

Howdy!

Just wanted to let you knwo that it is easy to connect
PCI MAX 2005 and RDS MAX 30, if you run it in mono.

If you run PCI MAX 2005 in MONO, you can simply
use one of the two audio channels to feed output from
RDS Eecoder and the other channel for audio.

Of course you loose stereo mode, but it works great.
Best regards,
Marko - PCS Electronics
--------------------------------------------------------
Turn your PC into a FM radio station!
http://www.pcs-electronics.com
fax +386 4 2316 128
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