So thats how it works. Thanks JaxHarley!!. I been fooling around with the stereo a bit.

 

Yea..amazing what you find out when you actually read the owners manual huh?



Brian

 

Ya what are you doin reading a manual. Thats as bad as reading instruction when building something.. JJ...

 

So im flipping through the manual today during lunch and I read that you actually have to CONFIGURE RDS to work on your radio. Sure enough after doing that...I now have the Call Letters and or Station Content type displayed on my radio below the clock/tuner line.

Its pretty neat.

Basically you have to hold down the RDS button and it will eventually get to its "setup" screen that starts with TRAFFIC.

From there you can use the select up/down button right above it to modify the settings and once your done voila, start seeking through stations and wait 5 or 10secs between them and you will see your RDS data appear.

Im impressed

 

Besides the RDS on the Radio readout, there is another feature, speed sensitive volume.
Push your volume **** in and hold for 5 seconds, a readout will appear that says speed vol 1-7, then use the up/down arrows to choose a setting. I have mine on 5 or 6, which means at a light or stop sign the radio volume drops, totally. Then upon acceleration the volume also increases.
Just too Cool, like the Vettes have.

Can't show my sig, its a WHITE truck.
But youcan look at it, at http://photos.yahoo.com/jeff_east

 

Woah..nifty. I didnt see that in the manual.

 

I hold down my RDS button and all it says is RDS off, never goes into setup no matter how long I hold it down. Wonder if I got a bumn radio?

------------------
- 2001 F150 Harley Davidson Special
- 1993 Mazda Miata, wifes car
- 1994 Harley Davidson Heritage
- 1976 Honda CB750K, Original
- 1965 Honda 305 Dream, Original
- 1971 Triumph Trophy 650, Original
- 1971 Norton Commando
- 1970 Honda Trail 90, Original
- Yamaha 500 Short Tracker, racing #69
- 1984 Yamaha Virago 1000, wifes bike
- 1981 Honda Passport 70, wifes bike

 

Ok..hit it again and hold it.

I think I was also fooling around with the SEL button above it while holding it down.

All of the sudden I saw "TRAFFIC ON" and took it from there. Its like a menu screen.

 

Press the RDS button, and for many of us, "RDS OFF" will show. From there, just press the SEL arrow button right above the RDS button, and it will otggle to "RDS ON." From there on, you can hit RDS and more options will be available, such as traffic, station info (this is a submenu -- you can turn this off, or have it show the station name, and maybe song name), and search for oldies, jazz, rock, etc. I just figured this out by fiddling with it this morning after JaxHarley's post, but since I was just driving my HDS back to the dealer (yet again!) I didn't have enough time to figure it out fully. I also turned on the speed sensitive volume too.

For my continuing repair saga, check the dealers message board under "Stupid Dealer Tricks."

------------------
Early 90's Ford Probe -- mods: stereo stolen to reduce total weight. Speed gain negligible, unfortunately.
Late 80's Honda Spree scooter -- mods: plastic milk crate tied to the back to carry one and a half bags of grocery. Custom-made cafeteria tray-like hard plastic tonneau cover to keep the grocery bags dry in rain.
'89 Honda CBR600F1 -- mods: Newtonian Physics mod, courtesy of 30 mph collision with a VW Rabbit. Suitably chagrined.
'92 Toyota 4Runner -- mods: Rugged Exterior Package, of mud and occasional dings and dents. Free of charge.
'95 Mustang GT Conv. -- mods: hey, no joking around this one. This was my baby.
'99 Lexus RX300 -- mods: Good looking girlfriend mod. Costs continues to add up. Honk and throw money.
'01 F150 Harley. mods: Beautiful gf mod climbed off Lexus and climbed on F150. Darn! (j/k, honey ) Dealer mod: an ugly dealer plate holder in front. Gotta... get it... OFF!

 

volumne on driving speed was already working when got the truck; I think I've set the rest of RDS but the 2 FM stations in my main driving area don't provide much--guess I'll know if I get the truck to the city. But I hardly have the radio on when I'm driving--prefer it off. Truck sounds!

 

Does anyone know what TRAFFIC ON does? I'm hoping for a magical ray of destruction that obliterates slow drivers in passing lanes, but I doubt it... I don't have my manual here at work...

 

No..traffic on is whats been causing my daily commute down a large interstate to come to a standstill.

Once I turned "Traffic Off" Everything was just great!!!

You HAVE to try it.

 

Heh, gotta try that next time Ihave to drive through rotting mass of mollasses that Atlanta traffic has become.

To answer my own question, RDS stands for Radio Data System. Pretty nifty stuff. Go to this RDS page.

 

The Traffic on/off setting on the radio will be utilized in the future. It is a part of a system being implemented nationwide, called SWS or Safety Warning System. It will advise you of emergency vehicles approaching your space.
When Police, Fire or Ambulance or any other emergency vehicle running Code3, (lights and siren activated) they will also transmit a signal on a special frequency detectable by some radar detectors and now Ford Radios.
Other features will be traffic warnings, like accident ahead, road work ahead, train approaching, I think there is like 58 warnings that my radar detector has programmed into it. ETC. HOPEFULLY the further we progress with SWS it will also have the capability to turn down your volume so you will know something in your area is about to happen, so you have time to snap back to reality.

Once the SWS in in place on ALL radios, I hope we will be able to buy a handheld transmitter that we can lower the volume of the Rice Rocket with the Big Woofers in the next lane, at a stoplight.
Please excuse any mis-spelled words. I wish this system had spell check, before posting!!!

[This message has been edited by XTRUKY (edited 06-15-2001).]

[This message has been edited by XTRUKY (edited 06-15-2001).]

 

all this is great and i own one of these systems in my Harley-Davidson truck.
BUT radio stations are droping the service and the state and local systems are also not paying for the extra expense of this system.
its just a waist of money to them. the radio stations had been paying for the service and now have shut it off its not worth it to just give ford customers the info. you know what why did any of you people buy the stuff and the salesman not show you the feature. cause Ford is just blowing smoke up your a$$.
think about it, you think the state and county are going to just give ford customers the info of traffic. get real
The real problem is the salesman.
what did he get paid for
why did you give the check and then
then the salesman asked for a good survey
the salesman did not do his job
the salesman is a jerk
then he asks for a good survey
you sould get a free bug shield or free oil change
make the incompetent salesman change your oil

[This message has been edited by Tampa-Harley (edited 06-15-2001).]