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TomTom TMC - Areas of Service / No Service
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vicky
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Joined: 12/08/2003 19:53:08
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Location: Secret Base in the Nevada Desert

PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 10:22 am    Post subject: TomTom TMC - Areas of Service / No Service Reply with quote

Now with V6.522 Software we seem to be getting some idea of where TMC is really working I thought it would be useful for users to post some experiences of where they were getting a signal and where there was none, as a way of trying to build up a picture of the Major Road network and where the unit was likely to work

My experiences so far are

Sheffield Around the city and on M1 from Jnc 36 to Jnc 30 Service

M1 NO SERVICE from Jnc30 to Jnc 16

M1 Service from Jnc 16 to Jnc 6a M25
M25 Service from M1 clockwise to Jnc 25 and down to Enfield on the A10

Big black hole around the East Midlands, and the M1 in this area, Jnc 30 to Jnc 16 no service at all, making the unit fairly pointless for North-South treks.

which is echoed by the Classic FM Transmitter map, with very poor coverage of the central UK, the SinC Transmitter in Birmingham doing a good job covering the area for standard audio but not it seems for Data.

(As a side point, 2 vehicles we use that have built in TMC get reliable TMC over the classic network in this area), pointing to the TomTom Unit either being deaf compared to the built in units or the flying lead antenna as the problem, these have been discussed in alternate threads

Interested to hear from others as to areas of coverage / no coverage.
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philce
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Joined: Mar 02, 2005
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 11:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great! I was just about to get the 510 with TMC that PCWorld have today to replace my old Medion. You just saved me £240!

The only reason I wanted it was for the TMC, I thought it used the local independant stations not classic FM (Which is crap here in Leicester and all around as you describe!). I have tried the Sony Nuvi and it was as useless as you describe, running us into a 20 mile queue on the M1 and no TMC signal till the other side!

I also trialled a Medion Gopal with TMC that used the local transmitters that was great, but the maps for europe were unable to navigate cross border and no general map!

I cant win!

Cheers
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Darren
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Location: Hampshire, UK

PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 11:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

On a recent journey from Surrey to North Wales I had TMC from Junction 1 M54 through to Wrexham then lost signal. Regained near Colwyn Bay on A55 through to Llandudno.

I get nothing around my home in North East Hampshire, similarly zilch along M3 to Basingstoke and as far alosn as A303 Stonehenge.
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philce
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 11:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi,

Looking around the forums here it seems that some users are reporting that signals are being recieved from the traffic master transmitters also. Garmin have changed over to them due to the problems with Classic FM.

Does anyone know if this is the case?

Thx

Phil
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Darren
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 11:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

philce wrote:
Hi,

Looking around the forums here it seems that some users are reporting that signals are being recieved from the traffic master transmitters also. Garmin have changed over to them due to the problems with Classic FM.

Does anyone know if this is the case?

It's possible but TrafficMaster's TMC service is wholly different from iTIS and so would require the negotiation of a new licence etc. It's not something that can simply be switched over.
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GizmoB73
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Joined: Dec 27, 2006
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Location: Cambs, UK

PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 1:59 pm    Post subject: Re: TomTom TMC - Areas of Service / No Service Reply with quote

vicky wrote:
I thought it would be useful for users to post some experiences of where they were getting a signal and where there was none


Although this may give a very rough idea, i would expect people to have very different experiences depending on how/where they have routed the TMC receiver inside their car, and what car they have too.

I tried a number of different cable positions around my windscreen and generally found performance to be very poor even with the 6.522 firmware. 8O

I have now modified my TMC receiver to work with my external car antenna and it works great in places that it never worked before. I would strongly recommend this to anyone as I found the reception of the TMC receiver alone is useless most of the time.
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vicky
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can you supply details of the mod, as i would be interested in trying it.
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GizmoB73
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

vicky wrote:
Can you supply details of the mod, as i would be interested in trying it.


I have drawn up a PDF "How To" guide with some pictures but I don't know how to upload it to this forum. If anybody can let me know how, I will post it up. Question

Vicky - If you PM me with your email address, I will send it to you.

This will invalidate your warranty on the TMC receiver of course. Exclamation

Download it here.
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Darren
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you email it to me I'll upload and provide a link in your post the the file.
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GizmoB73
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 4:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Darren wrote:
If you email it to me I'll upload and provide a link in your post the the file.



Thanks Darren, email sent.
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Darren
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 5:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

GizmoB73 wrote:
Thanks Darren, email sent.

Received. I've now updated your post with the link to your guide, thanks Smile
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SpeedCam
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 10:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gizmo, thanks for the write up most interesting and fairly straight forward, it does appear that TomTom have included the connectors on the PCB. If so why didn't they just do the job properly?

Just to clarify, in your pictures does the red wire go to the centre core of a standard coax car ariel?
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coastersteve
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Joined: 06/05/2003 18:01:04
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Location: United Kingdom

PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SpeedCam wrote:
Just to clarify, in your pictures does the red wire go to the centre core of a standard coax car ariel?


This is the bit that doesn't quite make sense
"On a car, the ground plane
and chassis are connected to the negative terminal of the cigarette lighter adapter. This is
important to note because if you connect it the other way around, your antenna will be shorted
to ground when the car power adapter is plugged in."

So where does the outer sheild go?
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vicky
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 11:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

GizmoB73

Many Thanks for the very well documented instructions.

Will give it a go on Saturday,


Cheers

Vicky
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GizmoB73
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Joined: Dec 27, 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 11:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SpeedCam wrote:
Gizmo, thanks for the write up most interesting and fairly straight forward, it does appear that TomTom have included the connectors on the PCB. If so why didn't they just do the job properly?

Just to clarify, in your pictures does the red wire go to the centre core of a standard coax car ariel?


I believe that the connectors that I have used were probably on the board to enable it to be tested on a test rig after production. They would have needed an external antenna as part of the test.

In my picture, the red wire goes to the outer shield of the car antenna and not the centre core. If you get it wrong you will find that the antenna works when the cigarette lighter adapter is NOT plugged in, but stops working when the TomTom is powered by the car cigarette lighter. Effectively the pad that the red wire is soldered to, should be connected to the ground plane/vehicle chassis.

I hope this is a bit clearer.

Good luck.
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