Tuning the Tuner

I got my tuner a little while back in fear that they wouldn't exist anymore by the time I got a decent radio station in my area.

I noticed, though, that there doesn't seem to be any way to just wander through the dial. If I tap the left and right buttons, it hops to the next preset. If I hold them down, it scans to the next tunable station. The knob just changes the volume. And nothing on the remote seems to do the job, either. So how do I get from 88.1 to 88.3 without typing it in on the remote (which, by the way, is oh-so-easy when opening the sunroof, talking on the cell phone, worrying about the computer meltdown at the office, and shifting into sixth gear)?

A detailed button guide is up at RioCar.org which describes the exact functions of all buttons including how they behave in tuner mode.

If you want to increment the frequency without "scanning", I believe you have to use the remote. All the other buttons on the front panel are already spoken for in tuner mode.

Note that the button guide is written for the 2.0 software, it's possible that the 1.03 software has slightly different behavior.

I forgot that the Rio remote and the Kenwood remote have different features. Wonderful.

It would be cool if you can push the knob and turn to dial in the channel. Maybe in tuner mode the first push goes to tuner dial.

Calvin

It would be cool if you can push the knob and turn to dial in the channel. Maybe in tuner mode the first push goes to tuner dial.

Hey, I like that, for that traditional feel of 'wireless knobs'! One could almost visualize capacitor plates meshing. I would not insist on drawing the scale and needle on the display, though.

I would not insist on drawing the scale and needle on the display, though.

Oh, what an idea! I absolutely would insist on that!

tanstaafl.

We did have ideas of using the seamless background tuning (well, it tunes/retunes very fast) that is usually used for RDS updates to build a "map" of the entire FM range in the background (listening to FM, or listening to MP3s) - ie, you'd be able to get a screen-wide signal strength map, with 88 on one side and 108 on the other... could display this when doing the manual tuning.

I suspect it's just wish-list at the moment, though...

Hugo

There you go teasing us again Hugo. That sounds very cool. Have you seen the X Windows screensaver that looks like a radar scope with other computers IPs as points on the scope? Maybe something like that with strong stations as points?

-Mike

Drool... Such a map would certainly be cool. But more importantly, background full-spectrum search would make it possible to have a tuner store ten strongest local stations (unique, if they use RDS AF) in a 'transient' bank (say, D, or C if that's problem) instantly. I like that 'find me strongest stations' feature most car radios have, as, when I travel, I like to sample local stations, not just follow a handfull of those with national coverage.

I just installed my tuner module over the weekend, and frankly I'm disappointed... I would have thought the tuner UI would have been much more cool than it is.

OK, so dev has probably been concentrating their efforts on more important areas. I don't have a problem with that. I'm glad to have all of the new features that 2.0b3 has. I think they've done a great job. But, if at all possible, I think a little more effort should be applied to the tuner UI. Specifically, I agree that you should be able to change stations with the rotary knob. I don't think it needs to have the graph, but it would be cool. Maybe make the numbers fly by, like when you scroll through the menu? Just a thought. Also, there should be some kind of scan mode, where one click to the right would jump to the next station with decent reception, not just the next preset. Of course, this would have to be a preference. Some way of having the player automatically scan for all of the nearby stations would also be nice.

Anyway, I travel allot in my car, so saving presets doesn't always work for me, and I would really appreciate it if the tuner UI was a little more user friendly.

Also, there should be some kind of scan mode, where one click to the right would jump to the next station with decent reception, not just the next preset

Hold down the next and previous preset buttons. It will jump to the next station with decent reception (until you let go, of course.) That's what you're asking for right?

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I agree that you should be able to change stations with the rotary knob

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I dont mean to sound sarcastic, just currious: how would you change the volume then? I enjoy the capabilities of the tuner. honestly neither my Alpine or Sony have been able to do the things my empeg does - like direct freq tune. I would like to see auto prog strongest stations, but I have no doubt that it will come....

In what seems to me to be a very odd UI glitch, if I hold down the L/R buttons for what seems to be the requisite amount of time, it often just tunes to the next frequency. That is, up or down 0.2 MHz. I've found that it helps to just press the button and hold it down until it finds the next station. It'll stop at all of them. The button does not seem to repeat for this function.

Hold down the next and previous preset buttons

Ahhh... I'll have to try that. That sounds like that just might work...

I dont mean to sound sarcastic, just currious: how would you change the volume then?

The knob would still have to adjust the volume by default, yes. But what if pressing the knob once brought up the tuner frequency adjustment, instead of loudness, or whatever comes up right now? That would probably work out pretty cool.

Also, there should be some kind of scan mode, where one click to the right would jump to the next station with decent reception, not just the next preset.

There is, but only through remote (see Tony's button guide). But I agree, Rio remote |<</>>| hold functionality should be replicated on front panel left/right hold.

So, to sumarize, I think that IWBNI front panel buttons would function like this (in tuner mode):
- left/right press: skip to next/previous preset (as now)
- left/right hold: skip to next/previous frequency with decent reception ('auto scan', as Rio remote |<</>>| hold)
- knob press, then turn: decrement/increment frequency ('manual scan', like Rio remote |<</>>| press)
- Finally, IWBNI the tuner could populate one bank with 10 strongest stations; that could be accessed only from menu, as it is used once or twice per journey.

UPDATE: Err, I just read other posts in the thread: front panel buttons already seem to function as I wanted them to . Obviously, I have not installed the tuner yet, and this is an omission nobody noticed in Tony's guide.

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But what if pressing the knob once brought up the tuner frequency adjustment, instead of loudness, or whatever comes up right now?

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I think we've found a good use for press-and-hold of the knob

The corresponding use in MP3 mode would be to scan through the current track using the knob.

In reply to:

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So, to sumarize, I think that IWBNI front panel buttons would function like this (in tuner mode):
- left/right press: skip to next/previous preset (as now)
- left/right hold: skip to next/previous frequency with decent reception ('auto scan', as Rio remote |<>| hold)
- knob press, then turn: decrement/increment frequency ('manual scan', like Rio remote |<>| press)

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If I had a tuner here, I'd happily add this stuff (in a configurable fashion) to my "hijack" menu system. It's not much harder than anything else that's already been done, except maybe detecting "tuner" mode.

Anyone got any tips on how to detect when the tuner is "active" from inside the kernel (that's what I'd need the actual tuner module for, to figure out a method)?

I would love to hear if you find a way... According to the guys at empeg the tuner is detected by sending it a packet and seeing if it responds (it is attached via the serial port)

If it could be detected from within the kernel I would have my software fix for a failing power sensor not allowing my empeg to know when it is in the car...

Cheers

Kim

Could you not scrape the screen again? I think you could look for the tuner bars, as they're in the same place regardless of the signal level, just in a darker shade.

this is an omission nobody noticed in Tony's guide.

I was about to tell you that it was already in the button guide and there was no omission.

Then I checked it...

I was about to tell you that it was already in the button guide and there was no omission.

Then I checked it...

Heh heh heh... No prob. Hell, I've only had my tuner for 2 days now, I guess I could have played around with it more before I complained about it. Who knows, I might have figured that one out on my own...


I think we've found a good use for press-and-hold of the knob

The corresponding use in MP3 mode would be to scan through the current track using the knob.

Oh hell yeah! I second that one. There are only two things that I think Winamp has over us, the nice progress bar slider, and crossfade. If this knob idea gets implemented, that'll take care of one of em!

There have been many discussions like this one, orginal ideas started here by Tony.

I would really like to see the song position indicator as well as the time display.

OK... So maybe this isn't a new idea...

(Reading through links...)

"Absolute Song Positioning" as Till called it is exactly what I want. I don't think I could describe it better. I'll add my $0.02 to that thread.

Thanks for the link!