Numbered buttons appearing under station in media player?

[ThosEM]

Anyone figured out what those numbered buttons are that appear under the station ID in the media player when playing radio? Sometimes there are none, sometimes two (1 and 2), and sometimes three. Could this be an override to force use of one of the three antennas? The function isn't obvious from the results of punching them, at least not to me...

I've searched owner guide and manual, and all over this site, and I haven't found anything, so posting a thread. Any insights appreciated!

 

[Discoducky]

Are you talking about HD radio?

 

[phat78boy]

I think you are talking about HD stations. Can you press them?

 

[stevezzzz]

I've got several local FM stations that broadcast on two or three HD sub-channels. In recent firmware releases, there is also an HD button on the screen that you can use to suppress the numbered buttons and listen to the standard FM signal. It's useful when the signal strength is low and the receiver otherwise keeps flipping from HD to FM, with the attendant dropouts and timing jitters. By the way, the numbered buttons in my experience each provide different programming.

 

[ThosEM]

Thanks much! We weren't aware that subchannels exist for any stations, but that makes sense of the button behavior that we see. We do have issues with some stations that seem to have less strength in the Model S than they do in our other vehicles, so this could be very helpful on that score when they are marginal. I guess the Model S has jumped ahead of the technology we've been living with in this area as well.

Much appreciated!