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RDS Icey Alerts

So you don't miss the chance for a curly-wurly
  (+8, -1)
(+8, -1)
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It is a source of continuing irritation to me that I cannot hear the tinkling of the ice-cream van on the street from inside my flat.

What I would like to see is ice-cream van owners utilising RDS (Radio Data System) technology to allow people to receive notificiation, through their radios, that there is a van in their area.

Currently the RDS is used to keep people up to date with traffic reports - the traffic report is picked up by the RDS system and interrupts whatever is playing, be it radio, CD or tape.

If, as the van came to within, say, half a mile of my house, the broadcast was interrupted and a little tinkly tune (or a recorded message, perhaps a tinkly tune would be too annoying) was played to let me know there was a van in the vicinity, I would have time to grab my purse and head out to purchase my favourite sweeties, or even a lovely ninety-niner. As with the current RDS, this option could be disabled by those people not afflicted by a sweet tooth.

salachair, Mar 25 2002

RDS Technology Explained http://www.bbc.co.u.../docs/radio_rds.pdf
I don't know how it works, but these people seem to. [salachair, Mar 25 2002]

Clue as to the meaning of "salachair" http://www.dublinco...%20info/dogfoul.pdf
One of the very few google hits for "salachair." [NB - pdf] [calum, Mar 27 2002]

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       An excellent idea. Could only be improved by including a "we need ginger boatils" message in the transmission,informing me of the opportunity to get a choclate skull and a Freddo for effectively nothing.   

       Note: "ginger boatils" means "returnable fizzy pop bottles" and are a form of currency among Glaswegian wastrels such as salachair.
calum, Mar 25 2002
  

       Glaswegian?! You can take the girl out of the Highlands, but you can't take the Highlands out of the girl, calum. I am but an amateur Glaswegian.
salachair, Mar 25 2002
  

       I note that you do not dispute the "wastrel."   

       Thinking about this further, I reckon that this would be especially useful to those sugar-addicted children who live in double-glazed towerblocks, high above the vertical range of the tinkling.
calum, Mar 25 2002
  

       And we all know what happens when you tinkle upwards
thumbwax, Mar 25 2002
  

       Was thinking the other day about this idea, as it is now eminently bakeable by way of "Marinetraffic but for ice cream vans".
calum, Aug 18 2023
  

       There really should be an app for this by now.
21 Quest, Aug 18 2023
  

       Marinetraffic still relies on each ship transmitting its location so what is new? Are you suggesting that ice-cream-van operators switch from using vans to ocean going cargo ships? Could prove a little inconvenient for anyone not living on the docks. Also would take quite a bit longer to do the round. On the plus side the increased potential freezer capacity would ensure it never ran out of ice cream.
pocmloc, Aug 18 2023
  


 

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