bpoteat

2003 C4S with factory CD/Radio. Just wondering if anyone has seen this in any car before. I've got plenty of local stations programmed in my radio and they all go to the station they're supposed to when I push the buttons. EXCEPT, I have two stations programmed to two different buttons and I can only ever listen to one of them at a time. For example, if I press the 3rd programmed station, it goes to 93.5. If I press the 4th, it will not change (even though that button was programmed to 99.7).

Here's the really weird part. If I am listening to either of those stations, it will randomly switch to the other station. Then sometimes it will randomly switch back. It's just so weird. It's almost like the radio just gets those two frequencies confused for whatever reason.

So basically I can't ever select to listen to either of these stations because I don't know which one I'm going to get. I think that if I manually set it to either station, it will stay but won't if I use the program buttons.

It's not a huge issue for me; I rarely listen to it anyway. Just wondering if anyone else shares in the radio weirdness.

frisbee91

Try removing the faceplate and cleaning all the contacts. This can fix some issues.

lowpue

If you program those buttons to other stations does it still happen to those new stations. also, if you program those stations to other buttons does it happen with new buttons. This way you know whether it is the buttons or the frequency logic that is the issue

Porschetech3

Yea, I know of this problem, it has to do with the station sending out a broadcast code. I think you have to get the station to fix this on their end.

It been many years since I deal with this, but it stems from a feature that was built into the radio, mainly for Europe, so that you could drive across Europe and the radio would automatically switch to closest station sending out the same code so that you could keep same program on the radio even though it was coming from different stations/frequency's.

I know it sounds confusing but the same program is played across the country on different stations on different frequency's, more so in Europe, but in the US some stations playing "different" programs can be sending the same "code" unknowingly .Most radios do not pick up this "code", they only tune to frequency..

bpoteat

I had a feeling it was something like this because it seemed like it would change at exactly the same place on one of my normal routes, I'm guessing because that's a low spot for one of the station's signals. I'm going to continue doing some testing as others have suggested to rule out any contact issues but it would be crazy if that's it.

Behle

You mean this....? Was (maybe still is) very popular in Germany. The same station had/has different Frequencies across a large area and the Radio would keep you on it using the strongest signal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Data_System

bpoteat

Yup. It has to be RDS (Thanks Porschetech3 & Behle). I did a bunch of different tests today and no matter what it was only these two stations and it happens as I drive through different locations regardless of which one I set it to and how. Apparently there is no way to disable RDS handling on these radios so if two stations broadcast the same id code, there isn't much I can do.

Porschetech3

Yes thats it, the RDS/RBDS is the issue, when I dealt with this problem, I gave PCA the stations names and they contacted the offending stations and had one of them change their code. I don't know if they would do it for you, or it would even be worth your trouble, they may not even know they both are sending the same code !! Rest assured your radio is functioning as designed.