Life with a TomTom RDS/TMC Receiver

[B0dger67]

Please only post here with experiences of actually using one of these things, or if you have any background knowledge to share

There are enough of us with TMC receivers now, all with varying experiences and levels of success. I'd like to think that our combined knowledge would be useful to TomTom in their quest for a successful product. That assumes that they're on one, of course, and not just teasing us so that eventually we give in and subscribe to the GPRS service.

I think we've established the following facts:

- The receiver is available in small quantities from some outlets although TomTom say it isn't released yet.

- There's only one version (quote TomTom)

- It only works with the x10 series, not the TT1, x00, Classic or other derivatives.

- The traffic information comes from the same source as the GPRS service. In the UK this is iTMC http://www.itisholdings.com/itmc.asp

- iTMC is broadcast on the RDS FM sub-channel using the ClassicFM transmitter network across the UK.

- iTMC is not the same as the RDS traffic announcements on your car radio although it is broadcast using similar technology. The receiver has nothing whatsoever to do with your car stereo. Just because that can get ClassicFM doesn't mean the TMC receiver will.

- If you're locked to a station the green circle will show at the top of the traffic bar and in the bottom left of the traffic menu.

- To see the station your TMC receiver is locked to, choose Traffic from the main menu and look in the bottom-left corner of the traffic menu.

- If your TT is showing any station other than ClassicFM you aren't going to get any traffic info.

- You cannot manually retune to get to ClassicFM, nor can you force the receiver to re-scan. To my mind, this is the bit that needs fixing first.

- It can take hours to lock onto a signal first time out of the box, after which it keeps locked to it pretty reliably.

- The signal that it locks to may or may not be ClassicFM and therefore may or may not give you any traffic information. This is annoying.

- Once you do get some traffic info, it is limited to a radius around where you are. The limitation is the number of messages that iTMC can carry in one go so presumably that radius will vary depending on the number of incidents. 150 miles has been mentioned by some users.

- The stream of information from iTMC should be continuous (quote ITIS web site) so you shouldn't be waiting long for updates.

- TomTom say they are working on software updates to improve performance. Lets hope they have some success very soon.
_________________
Two ears, one mouth - please use in proportion

GO 510, MoWE & Sony Ericsson W300i

[Martin4Jay]

Many thanks for the info I am going to wait till next year and use the Traffic alerts
Cheers[color=blue]

[jamiepyoung]

It doesn't work - it is is rubbish, Don't buy it.

HTH

[duckie008]

As i said before, why would you want so much clutter on the dash? The Receiver is expensive and unreliable. Why spend so much time setting it up, making sure the cable is straight, and then tuned to the right station, etc, etc. By the time you've done all that, i've probably "Reached Your Destination"

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