Car radio information
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,_StVO_1974.svg)
The car driver radio information ( ARI ) was an additional service of FM - radio broadcasting in Germany. The system was used to identify and geographically assign traffic messages . It was developed by Blaupunkt with the ARD - broadcasters developed; The institute for broadcast technology was in charge . ARI was in operation from 1974 to 2008.
function
The ARI identifier was transmitted by radio stations during the normal program with the inaudible, additional frequency of 57 kHz and transmitted three identifiers:
- the transmitter identifier (SK) showed the presence of a traffic information station to
- the area identifier (BK) transmitted an identifier between A and F for the geographic area of responsibility of the sender
- the announcement identifier (DK) announced the announcements of the traffic reports
Transmitter identification and area identification were continuously broadcast by the traffic information stations, the announcement identification accordingly during the traffic reports. If there was no control line from the broadcaster to the relevant transmitter location, the ARI announcement identifier could also be switched on with the Hinz trill (the "traffic information beeper").
With the help of the ARI signal, radios were able to identify the stations broadcasting traffic reports using SK and BK, and also use the DK to differentiate between traffic announcements and the current program. For the driver it was z. B. can be recognized by a yellow lamp lighting up on traffic information stations. In the case of technically more sophisticated car radios , it was also possible to display or select the traffic information area according to the area identifier BK.
Reception frequencies and area identification of the receivable VHF traffic radio transmitters were shown from 1974 to 2003 on blue information signs ( StVO - signs 368 and 369) on busy streets. Both signs were ordered to be installed on February 1, 1974 by the Federal Minister of Transport and were finally presented in the traffic gazette 1975. The sign 368, which is mainly placed on motorways , was originally only allowed to be used if the traffic information station was assigned to a state broadcaster and traffic announcements were made by the police were displayed immediately in the current program about acute traffic disruptions. The station also had to broadcast a code frequency for traffic radio stations, which required approval from the Federal Minister for Post and Telecommunications . The Deutschlandfunk symbol should be used at border crossings or in parking lots with heavy traffic. After the rarer sign 369 had already been deleted from the list with the introduction of the StVO in 1992 , sign 368 lost its validity on December 31, 2002 and was removed from January 1, 2003.
If several traffic radio stations could be received, which was possible from 1984 after the introduction of the first private broadcasters , there were also several signs at a distance of a few hundred meters on the motorway. When the ARI function was switched on, suitable traffic information stations could be found quickly.
Muted car radios or those in cassette mode were automatically raised using the DK during the traffic announcements and cassette operation was interrupted if necessary. The respective geographical area could be selected on car radios with area identification in order to receive traffic reports relating to this area.
With ARI, drivers could hear traffic reports even when the radio was turned down.
technology
The ARI identifier was transmitted by radio stations in addition to the normal program with a subcarrier of 57 kHz (= 3 19 kHz, with stereo transmitters phase-locked to the stereo pilot tone ) and transmitted the three identifiers:
- The transmitter identification (SK) is the basic tone of 57 kHz and indicates the presence of a traffic information transmitter.
- The area identifier (BK), which transmits the transmission area of the transmitter (A to F), is generated by non- harmonic amplitude modulation of different frequencies by 60%.
- The announcement identifier (DK), which indicates important announcements such as traffic radio, is generated by additional amplitude modulation by 30% with a frequency of 125 Hz
If no traffic reports could be transmitted (e.g. sometimes at night when transmitting from the tape), the ARI transmitter identification (and thus also the BK) had to be switched off.
Area identifier
The area identifiers were distributed among the individual federal states and language regions of Switzerland as follows:
| BK | BK frequency | Area, state in Germany (first broadcaster in the area to use this identifier in 1974) | State in Austria | Language region in Switzerland | other planned areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. | 23.75 Hz | Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Bremen and Bremerhaven , Saxony , Baden-Württemberg (formerly American Zone) ( SDR / SDR1 ) | East Tyrol , Carinthia , Styria , Burgenland South | Luxembourg , Denmark | |
| B. | 28.274 Hz | Schleswig-Holstein , Saxony-Anhalt , Saarland ( SR1 ) | Salzburg , Upper Austria | German-speaking Switzerland ( Swiss Radio DRS ) | Netherlands |
| C. | 34.926 Hz | Hamburg , Berlin ( SFB ), North Rhine-Westphalia , North Bavaria (Franconia ( Lower Franconia , Middle Franconia , Upper Franconia ) ( BR3 )) | Vorarlberg , Tyrol | Belgium | |
| D. | 39.583 Hz | Lower Saxony South-East, Rhineland-Palatinate ( SWF1 ), Bavaria South ( Swabia , Upper Bavaria ) | French-speaking Switzerland (Radio de la Suisse Romande RSR) | ||
| E. | 45.673 Hz | Lower Saxony West, Thuringia , Baden-Württemberg South (formerly French zone) ( SWF / SWF1 ) | Italian-speaking Switzerland (Radio della Swizzera Italiana RSI) | ||
| F. | 53.977 Hz | Brandenburg , Hesse ( HR3 ) | Lower Austria , Vienna , Burgenland North | Alsace |
Status: February 2001
ARI in connection with PCI
In 1983 Blaupunkt introduced the Berlin IQR 83, the first car radio with PCI , a system in which a station database was transferred to the radio using a data cassette and permanently stored in it. By evaluating the area identifier and frequency while driving, these devices were able to display the station name instead of just the area identifier A to F and to automatically switch to a transmitter station with better reception values when leaving the transmission area. For this purpose, a second background receiver was used, which permanently searched the VHF band for further stations and their area IDs. As the broadcasting landscape was constantly changing and in order to prevent incorrect names from being displayed, regular updates with a new data cassette made sense. The last PCI radio was the Berlin IQR 88, whose production was stopped in 1989.
Introduction and shutdown
ARI was developed from 1972 in order to be able to automatically recognize and process traffic announcements in the end devices, i.e. the car radios , beyond the acoustic identification by the Hinz trill . In various tests in the mountainous landscape of Switzerland , the described superposition of the normal program with the auxiliary carrier of 57 kHz proved to be the most stable solution. This resulted on 1 June 1974 in the Federal Republic of Germany , the introduction of this procedure in FM - radio , initially limited to selected ARD station. In 1980, Switzerland followed suit with the introduction of this procedure for the first VHF chains in the language regions through the PTT . The emergence of West German private radio from 1984 onwards multiplied the number of traffic radio stations .
Parallel to the operation of ARI, the more modern Radio Data System (RDS) designed by the European Broadcasting Union was officially introduced by broadcasters on April 1, 1988. The ARI functions transmitter identification and announcement identification are integrated as TP or TA signals. Due to the simpler signaling, however, in contrast to RDS, ARI manages with lower signal levels and can still offer a reliable display of station identification, area identification and announcement identification even with noisy reception.
From the mid-1990s, car radios without RDS technology were hardly available. Therefore, after a transition period, ARI was switched off in Switzerland on September 1, 2003 and in Germany on March 1, 2005.
In Hamburg and the surrounding area, Radio Hamburg broadcast the ARI identifier for significantly longer than the last station in the world (area identifier C, FM frequency 103.6). Owners of older radios were able to use the ARI function here until at least August 2012.
ARI broadcasting in Austria was discontinued on May 19, 2008.
In the GDR traffic radio with ARI was broadcast by Radio DDR I as a radio GDR traffic service , with a different activation tone. In Czechoslovakia , from January 15, 1987 (tests as early as 1985 via the Cukrak transmitter in the CCIR band) in the OIRT band , Radio Hvezda (now Český rozhlas Radiožurnál ) started broadcasting traffic on the Zelena vlna Hvezdy along the D1 motorway Prague - Pressburg . Car radios with ARI decoders were produced by the Czechoslovak company Tesla in Bratislava .
From 1982, Blaupunkt wanted to introduce the ARI system in larger cities in the USA (including Brooklyn , New York , Long Island, New Jersey and the surrounding area) in cooperation with the local radio stations , but was unsuccessful. On the one hand, the power cables often laid above ground in the USA with transformers mounted on masts were a problem, on the other hand there were also incompatibilities with the disaster signaling to be transmitted in the USA by FCC regulation by the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) used from 1963 to 1997 , or its successor, the Emergency Alert System (EAS), which has been in use since 1994 . These too use tones (853 Hz and 960 Hz) to transmit certain notifications by government agencies to the population via radio. The cities with heavy traffic also wanted a higher number of area IDs, but this would have expanded the frequency spectrum required for transmission inadmissibly.
Hinz trills
The Hinz trill is transmitted by the broadcasting company and triggers the inaudible announcement code in the transmitter, which in turn means that the car radio recognizes a traffic message as such. The fact that the Hinz trill can be heard is due to the fact that modulation lines (transmission bandwidth from 30 to 15,000 Hz) should be used for transmission.
function
The announcement ID DK of the ARI system was activated by many radio stations by transmitting the so-called Hinz trill on the transmitter (this does not control the radio itself). The Hinz trill is an acoustic signal with a center frequency of 2350 Hz ± 1 Hz, which is frequency-modulated with a frequency of 123 Hz with a stroke of 123 Hz ± 10 Hz . A 1.20 s ± 0.1 s long Hinz trill activates the announcement code, and a 0.55 s ± 0.05 s long Hinz trill switches the code off again. The level of the Hinz trill can also be reduced and it can be combined with other characteristic melodies of the respective radio station. Recently, radio stations no longer use tones in the audio band to control the transmitters, but instead transmit this information in separate data channels. This is made possible by today's standard digital transmission paths between studio and transmitter. Different signals have been used in other countries, e.g. B. in Switzerland two short 15 kHz tones, in the GDR there was only one jingle without control function for the announcement identifier (which was probably switched manually).
Also currently (2014) the Hinz trill is still used as an acoustic signal by numerous radio stations, mainly in southern and central Germany - even if it is no longer necessary from a technical point of view. This tone is still noticeable in a piece of music even when played very quietly. From a technical point of view, the Hinz trill is still necessary, despite the exclusive use of RDS messages as traffic radio identification, if the RDS encoders in the individual VHF transmitters are still controlled by the acoustic signal ( ball reception ). Due to the more and more effective music on the radio, there has recently been an increasing number of false identifications of a Hinz trill. If the aim is to convert the RDS encoders at the transmitter sites to control via UECP , which is no longer dependent on the audio signal , then this piece of contemporary history of traffic radio could also be omitted.
Control of RDS broadcasts with the Hinz trill
For the use of the Hinz trill to control RDS broadcasts, the Deutsche Bundespost Telekom has defined a procedure “Control of the RDS / VRF system using the Hinz trill” in the letter FTZ 175 AB 33.
A device that generates this signal and meets the requirements of Telekom is z. B. the Rudolph HT090.
The signal is to be fed in directly in front of the mail delivery amplifier for the line to the transmitter site. The receiver for switching the RDS encoder at the transmitter site must adhere to certain tolerances. The switch-on signal must be reliably detected in the time range between 1 s and 1.4 s, the switch-off signal must be reliably detected and evaluated between 0.45 s and 0.65 s. The minimum switch-on level is 30 dB under full modulation on the transmitter. If for various reasons (e.g. line failure) the switch-off signal is not transmitted or recognized, the control character receiver must take the TA signal from the transmitter after six minutes (± 1 min) at the latest.
history
The Hinz trill is named after its inventor Werner Hinz , who developed it at the DLF in Cologne. The Hinz trill was originally used to control automatic recording devices for traffic announcements at motorway service stations (so-called information desks ) and to draw attention to traffic announcements even when the radio was turned down.
Initially, a D major triad was experimented with. However, since this occurs too often in pieces of music, false triggers occurred in the recording devices. So Hinz was looking for an unusually dissonant tone that does not appear in music and nature as much as possible.
The human ear reacts very sensitively to this frequency-modulated sound. Therefore, attention increases even if no technical support such as ARI on VHF is used, for example when receiving traffic reports via medium and long wave .
Web links
- UKW / TV Working Group eV: Technology ( Memento from July 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 56 kB)
- A little history of radio: Behind the scenes of the traffic warning radio , on the SWR2 archive radio website , as of October 20, 2010
Individual evidence
- ↑ Signs on traffic information stations . In: Verkehrsblatt 29, 1975, No. 2, pp. 92-94.
- ↑ The Federal Minister of Transport (StV 4 / 36.55.02): Signs on traffic radio stations . In: Straßen-Verkehrstechnik 4, 1974, p. 134.
- ↑ The current road traffic laws. With the new catalog of fines and points . Walhalla u. Praetoria, Regensburg 2009, ISBN 3-8029-1903-3 , p. 246.
- ^ Bernhard Weiskopf: ARI technology. (PDF; 57 kB) In: www.ukwtv.de. VHF / TV working group of AGDX e. V., Mannheim, February 2001, archived from the original on July 27, 2007 ; Retrieved April 9, 2012 .
- ↑ Switching from ARI / RDS mixed operation to pure RDS operation. In: ORS Team Blog. May 23, 2008, accessed December 9, 2012 .
- ↑ a b c ARI / Hinz trills. (No longer available online.) In: radioforen.de. January 25, 2002, formerly in the original ; Retrieved April 9, 2012 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Karl-Heinz Bradtmöller: Interview with Werner Hinz in Germany radio on September 23, 1995. In: radiomuseum.org. October 8, 2005, accessed April 9, 2012 .
