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Hamie
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Joined: Dec 30, 2003
Posts: 177
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 Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 7:29 pm Post subject: |
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| BAVC10 wrote: | Wierd !!!
I drove South on Sunday (M40, A404m, M4, M25) and reception was patchy. Driving North this afternoon on the same route, I had a blue traingle displaying for all but 5 miles just South of Banbury. |
Yeah, forget the blue triangle... I'm not sure it's worth buying a Garmin simply to watch the screen asking if you want a map/route or settings... That is assuming you're talking about the blue rectangle on the bottom right menu screen. Is there some other blue triangle?).
Bring up the hidden screens from the odometer and checkout the TMC information screen (6th one along after the bluetooth). Then you can see where you're getting the reception.
If you get 1 message the blue button will stick around until it's all expired... Not simply while you're receiving. So you can pickup 1 message @ home next to a transmitter, drive away & get nothing more but still look like you've got traffic (if only garmin would come to their senses & realise they need to show this stuff on the map screen when navigating. God Damn it! I'm going to rant about user interfaces in a minute!) |
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BAVC10
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Joined: Dec 20, 2005
Posts: 751
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:21 pm Post subject: |
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"If you get 1 message the blue button will stick around until it's all expired... Not simply while you're receiving. So you can pickup 1 message @ home next to a transmitter, drive away & get nothing more but still look like you've got traffic"
Not sure I agree - When the blue diamond is lit, the diagnostics screen shows the number of messages (mode 5) and pressing the blue diamond displays the traffic info (up to 13 pages). As soon as the blue diamond turns grey -the message count in diagnostics doesn't increase, the mode changes between 2 and 3 (which I assume means searching) and the traffic info page just says "No traffic info data received" |
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Harveyc
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Joined: Oct 23, 2006
Posts: 31
Location: Nr. Emsworth
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 7:58 am Post subject: |
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| There is one point in my commute, on the approach to Hindhead, where the traffic signal always goes, the led goes yellow, the triangle grays out and pages of traffic disappear. At a distinct point on the other side of Hindhead, on the Thursley bypass, LED goes green, triangle turns blue and pages of traffic info return. This is only major dropout between the bottom of the A3 and Heathrow. |
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Hamie
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Joined: Dec 30, 2003
Posts: 177
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 10:19 am Post subject: |
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| BAVC10 wrote: |
Not sure I agree - When the blue diamond is lit, the diagnostics screen shows the number of messages (mode 5) and pressing the blue diamond displays the traffic info (up to 13 pages). As soon as the blue diamond turns grey -the message count in diagnostics doesn't increase, the mode changes between 2 and 3 (which I assume means searching) and the traffic info page just says "No traffic info data received" |
Watch the GTM status and the power LED. You can see that the power LED stays green, AND the blue diamond sticks around even after you lose lock on the TMC data. For instance if I crawl down the J8/9 on-ramp slow enough that channel 187 is scanned at the top, I can get 1-2 messages. (Crawling isn't hard there, except fridays  . The LED goes green, the blue diamond comes up, then you lose lock, it starts hunting. But the diamond & the LED stay lit. EVen though you're not getting TMC data any more.
So my point is that the blue diamond is NOT a good indicator of CURRENT RECEPTION. Just an indicator that the unit has SOME data. |
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swing
Pocket GPS Verifier
Joined: Nov 04, 2003
Posts: 2225
Location: Bedfordshire, UK
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 10:32 am Post subject: |
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| mwfox wrote: | | A general question - once reception is lost how long does the diamond stay blue? |
It will stay blue until the last message expires (ie disappears). Some roadwork messages have very long expire times on them, as the status of some of the roadworks does not alter often. So, it can be anywhere from a few minutes to a lot longer (I've never timed it).
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swing
Pocket GPS Verifier
Joined: Nov 04, 2003
Posts: 2225
Location: Bedfordshire, UK
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 10:33 am Post subject: |
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| perussell wrote: | | I drove from J17 to J4 yesterday morning with traffic all the way - apart from diverting off at J14 and rejoining at J12 because the M-Way was shut between 13 and 12 due an accident..........about which the TMC advised me before J15. |
Nice - how good was reception on the way back? Strangely the M4 seems to have worse reception when travelling westbound than eastbound!
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swing
Pocket GPS Verifier
Joined: Nov 04, 2003
Posts: 2225
Location: Bedfordshire, UK
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 10:34 am Post subject: |
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| russo109 wrote: | | I have the 6017 power lead, but after speaking with Garmin they refused to send me a new 6025 and referred me back to the supplier of the GTM 12!! |
Speak to someone else at Garmin - you will never get decent GTM performance with the 6017 power lead.
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BAVC10
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Joined: Dec 20, 2005
Posts: 751
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:08 pm Post subject: |
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Hamie
Unfortunately I only have a GTM12 with my 360 so have no LED status  that shows whether traffic data is received or not so I use the diagnostics menu page to confirm that the message count increase |
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Hamie
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Joined: Dec 30, 2003
Posts: 177
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:59 pm Post subject: |
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| BAVC10 wrote: | Hamie
Unfortunately I only have a GTM12 with my 360 so have no LED status that shows whether traffic data is received or not so I use the diagnostics menu page to confirm that the message count increase |
Ah right. I have a GTM-21 which has the LED. Although I use the GTM status screen to track when I get messages... (Not very often. The messages that is). And of course you can't have NAV & traffic at the same time can you!
Shall I mention again in the vague hope Garmin ever see this that sacking the UI guy & replacing him with someone who appreciates that fiddling with menus to go back & forth between 3 separate screens is NOT a good idea to verify if traffic is working/where it is etc... ah... where was I... Oh yes... Sack him & get someone who can design a usable interface. |
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chippie_w
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Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 21
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| Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 3:38 pm Post subject: |
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just to let your know my experiences. I do a daily commute form Morden Surrey to Winchester.
I would get traffic info from when I started to about halfway down the Hogs Back (A31). I would lose it until about Four Marks/Ropley when it would pick up signal again.
Since updating to the new GTM software I have solid lock all the way.
I'm a happy bunny got me out of the accident on the A34 this morning M3 J9 intercange.
I have a Nuvi 300 and GTM 11 Ford Mondeo estate, wire ariel routed round the front window screen under mounting rubber
Regards
Chippy |
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noseboy
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Joined: Apr 13, 2006
Posts: 62
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| Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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| swing wrote: | | perussell wrote: | | I drove from J17 to J4 yesterday morning with traffic all the way - apart from diverting off at J14 and rejoining at J12 because the M-Way was shut between 13 and 12 due an accident..........about which the TMC advised me before J15. |
Nice - how good was reception on the way back? Strangely the M4 seems to have worse reception when travelling westbound than eastbound! |
Interesting you say that. I did a jaunt down to London, Cambridge and then back to Wales this weekend. On the way down I got a signal quickly, became a bit patchy around 18 or 19, and lost it most of the rest of the way. Still good enough to use. On the way back, not a sausage!
Thought it was just bad luck but maybe not given your experience... |
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noseboy
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Joined: Apr 13, 2006
Posts: 62
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 9:13 pm Post subject: |
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| russo109 wrote: | | Just out of interest, I recieved a new TM 12 last week but get no signals or traffic updates whatsoever. I Live in Bridgend between Cardiff and Swansea - anyone managed to get traffic updates in this area? |
Sorry, one other thought about your Bridgend reception problems. Around here I get best reception from TMC channel 157. 15.7 + 87.5 = 103.2 FM, which is Red Dragon. Whenever I'm driving from Cardiff to Swansea I usually listen to Red Dragon and the signal usually craps out around Bridgend too!
May be worth checking to see if you too are mainly getting TMC signal through Red Dragon locally.
Cheers
noseboy |
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perussell
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Joined: May 12, 2006
Posts: 292
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| Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 2:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Interesting you say that. I did a jaunt down to London, Cambridge and then back to Wales this weekend. On the way down I got a signal quickly, became a bit patchy around 18 or 19, and lost it most of the rest of the way. Still good enough to use. On the way back, not a sausage!
Thought it was just bad luck but maybe not given your experience... |
It is all rather puzzling I agree. My journey eastbound was fine as described. I didn't really check coming back West since I just leave the screen showing the map and anyway as people have suggested before the fact that the blue icon is lit doesn't necessarily mean that the traffic is up to date.
yesterday evening I came back down the M54/M6/M5/M4 and again the unit picked up some congestion around J9 of the M6 but didn't offer any alternative routes. I guess between the Nuvi and my T.master Freeway I get most things but nothing is ever 100% reliable as far as TMC is concerned |
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