Audiophile radio RDS performance?

[E.B. Cornburner]

I'm trying to figure out if this is a common problem in most Ford radios, or if my radio itself has a problem.

On stations that have RDS streams (lines of data scrolling on your radio's display) mine rarely works well. Most the time it just displays some nonsensical broken message that just sticks there rather than smoothly scrolling the way it should. Only one or two local stations really have RDS messages that work somewhat well, and even those aren't that great.

I had some issues with a Chrysler radio in my Durango, but it wasn't nearly as bad as this one, and it only performed poorly on very distant stations.

It seems that GM radios have the best RDS performance of them all, and even include an additional "info" button that displays a secondary message when applicable. There's a little icon that lights up when there's more info, and then you press the button to view it. Ford or Chrysler radios do not offer this.

I'd like to get this feature to work correctly, but I hate to buy another radio only to find out that it's just the way they are.

Anyone else have a similar problem?

 

[Curtis]

I guess it sounds the same as mine. 04 6 disc

I'll get one or 2 words on the screen but no scrolling.
It might stay on one word for 30 seconds or 2 minutes...
I gave up trying to read them...

 

[Cobra2top]

I think it all is based on how close you are to the station. I live in Philly and it works great. But if I leave the area, I can still hear the station but the RDS is very slow.

Hope this helps

 

[E.B. Cornburner]

Wierd. Some stations that are over 100 miles away have fairly good RDS, but I remember once I was in the parking lot of a local station (had to claim my prize!) and the RDS still didn't work right.

 

[Capt Marvel]

Same experience in my Ranger

It seems that a scrolling message isn't what Ford had in mind. My boss's older Blazer and Ventura handles scolling RDS much better than my '01 Ranger.

If there's a way of upgrading the firmware in the radio, please I'd love to try it.

CM