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I have had a Nuvi 610 since March 07 which came with a free GTM 21. I live about 10 miles from London in the Uxbridge area and all the indications are that TMC coverage is good in my area. I can get a good signal with the engine off on my drive way, but the moment I start the engine I lose it. Tried it in another car and seems much better although did lose the signal a couple of times but it came back.
To be fair to Garmin their support has been reallt good and they changed both the Nuvi and GTM21 once as they said it had a receiver fault. Latest advice from them is to buy shielded HT (High Tension Spark Plug Leads) but I have a diesel and therefore dont have HT leads.
I have read about suppresion kits can anyone advice how I get hold of one and if they actually work. Any other advice please.
Joined: Jan 14, 2005 Posts: 19638 Location: Blackpool , Lancs
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 12:11 pm Post subject:
It sounds like electrical interference from something on the engine, the most probable offender is the alternator, being a diesel there is little else that can cause a problem.
Make sure you have everything turned off when the car is running, no fan, air con, lights radio etc. If it still suffers the same problem get the alternator checked out, if it works with everything switched off progressively switch on additional circuits and see if you can work out which is causing the problem - Mike
Strange thing happended today - The GTM21 aerial fell off the windscreen and I immediately picked up a signal. I have now positioned the aerial horizontally along the windscreen and I seem to be picking up most of the time. Occasionally I get the yellow light so I'm happy which is good as Garmin support ran out of ideas.
Has anything happended to improve the signal over the last few days, or is this purely a coincidence i wonder?
Joined: Dec 28, 2005 Posts: 2003 Location: Antrobus, Cheshire
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 1:56 pm Post subject:
Almost certainly a coincidence! Aerial position and layout (vertical / horizontal etc) makes a significant difference to the signal levels you will receive. Using the GARMIN 'length of string' the only thing than can be said about it's location is that it needs to be positioned somewhere near to glass to give it a chance. I had very hit and miss reception with a few locations/orientations but things improved dramatically whne I eventually got around to connectng it to my amplified aerial. _________________ Phil
You need to connect to a decent aerial. The GTM-21 is just pants without it...
At least with the extra aerial you can now blame the crap quality of Trafficmasters TMC data for the problems... Apparently the A4 isn't a major road... Nor large sections of the M4 and A404(M).
Sorry... Frustration at sitting in stationary traffic with Garmins TMC traffic (Such as it is in 3.x) telling me there's no problems are surfacing here...
Have been reading this forum with interest and thought I would add my 2p and solution to the crap reception problem.
For reference, my car is a Ford Mondeo 53 plate (with heated front screen)
I am based in the Reading area, purchased the C510 with the GTM21 reciever, spent literally hours with the stringy aerial thing in all sorts of positions in and out of the car, swapped the reciever over twice from Halfords where I got it as we both thought it was actually faulty.
In the end I pulled out the central light cluster on the roof on the inside of the car, took a piece of wire from the base of the car aerial inside the car and spliced it to the wire on the GTM21. Within 6 seconds the thing had picked up a green light and all the traffic reports came in. Have been driving it round for a few hours now and havent lost signal
Joined: Dec 28, 2005 Posts: 2003 Location: Antrobus, Cheshire
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 3:56 pm Post subject:
Welcome
Yes - just connecting it to an exteral aerial improves things dramatically. The 'bee-sting' aerial on my VW BORA (and most VWs) comes with integrated amp anyway, to compensate for the short aerial.
Don't some Mondeo's have the same arrangement? _________________ Phil
Joined: Jan 08, 2007 Posts: 21 Location: Denbighshire
Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 10:00 pm Post subject: gtm 21 problems........Who's fault???????????
Hi I have just had confirmed to me that the poor TMC info reception is Garmin's fault and not Traffic master's
I have just purchased a new Mitsubishi Outlander with SatNav as standard:- ( dont ask me which make, but it uses Navtak mapping!)
The system includes Trafficmaster TMC as standard and it works as soon as I switch on, irrespective of location (via Classic FM ). You can even set an area for survellance of traffic problems so it informs you straight away of any problems in that area when ever they occur! It does not use any form of external aerial as far as I can ascertain, only a small 'bulge' in the centre of the top of the instrument panel as the handbook states not to obscure that area as it will affect reception. It is an easy to use system with the ability to 'avoid' certain areas etc and to specify different types of routes. The only drawback I have found so far is the fact that you can not download new POI's or safety camera locations etc so I guess I will still use my Garmin 660 and get the best of both worlds !!
Joined: Dec 17, 2006 Posts: 302 Location: Ellesmere UK
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 12:25 am Post subject: Re: gtm 21 problems........Who's fault???????????
citron wrote:
It does not use any form of external aerial as far as I can ascertain, only a small 'bulge' in the centre of the top of the instrument panel as the handbook states not to obscure that area as it will affect reception.
I rather suspect that the small bulge hides the GPS antenna. However, the TMC needs an FM aerial and there is likely to be a feed from the radio aerial which seems to be rear roof mounted - a good place for TMC well away from interference. The navigation unit may well be an integral part of the car radio with the GPS antenna as an extra feed in so no splitter required.
Joined: Jan 14, 2005 Posts: 19638 Location: Blackpool , Lancs
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:44 am Post subject:
iTIS do indeed use Classic FM as well as a number of other stations, Traffic Master supply their information from a number of radio stations excluding Classic FM - Mike
Here is an interesting one for all to ponder over..….
I purchased my 660 FM with a GTM21 from Halfords on Saturday (in Blackpool) and immediately started to set it up / play / etc… Now I’m one of those people who “if it says it should do something it bloody well should do it” irrespective of if I will ever require it to do it or not…. So, I am playing and get to the point of testing Traffic. In the Car, out of the car, in the upstairs bedroom by the computer, etc.
No response from the GTM21 did not want to play / lock on to any signal it just stayed in the orange light constant on – searching stage….
I read the forums here and decided that maybe I should hardwire it… but before I go down that route I’ll just check for updates on the web…. Eventually I ended up installing Version 4.00 from https://buy.garmin.com/shop/store/downloadsUpdates.jsp?product=010-00540-00&cID=134&pID=400 and low and behold…. It lost all reference to it having Traffic ability… would not recognise that a GTM21 was connected to it, the GTM21 gave a single red followed by two amber flashes on the lights in a continuous cycle… Also when I turned the unit on (connected to power, with GTM21) it gave some error message about external devices needing a power source.
Phoned Garmin this morning, who said…
a) What 4.00 upgrade? (I told them where it was and on there own pages….)
b) Are you sure your unit isn’t faulty, send it back we will test it. (I declined as it was only a day old and said if it was Halfords could replace it.)
c) They then told me that I wouldn’t get traffic until the unit had a good TMC signal with GPS lock ( I know, but the lights are blinking a different code after an upgrade and I cant see any traffic icons etc on the screen)
d) Hmmm, maybe it’s just a bad signal area… you know the Government won’t allow the radio signals to be powerful enough… (I know that, cop out, but my point is it was working before, all be it trying to lock on a signal now it doesn’t even do that)
e) Hold on…. 4 mins later, Go to this area http://www.gpsinformation.org/perry/nuvi/ and download the 3.80 version and see if that fixes it, there maybe something wrong with 4.00 ( I thought OK and I’ll be ringing you back either way to say it fixed the problem and I am back to square 1 or No joy at all)…
After the backwards download, booted up, took a drive to a high point (Winter Hill) heypresto… traffic coming in thick and fast.
Joined: Jun 18, 2006 Posts: 149 Location: Buckingham. UK
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 7:18 pm Post subject: Check Traffic reciever
I notice there is a message that appears with the later versions of GTM software that says check traffic receiver. Does this message mean you are not receiving TMC signal or does it have some other meaning? It eventually seems to go once the traffic icon goes blue.
Here is an interesting one for all to ponder over..….
I purchased my 660 FM with a GTM21 from Halfords on Saturday (in Blackpool) and immediately started to set it up / play / etc… Now I’m one of those people who “if it says it should do something it bloody well should do it” irrespective of if I will ever require it to do it or not…. So, I am playing and get to the point of testing Traffic. In the Car, out of the car, in the upstairs bedroom by the computer, etc.
No response from the GTM21 did not want to play / lock on to any signal it just stayed in the orange light constant on – searching stage….
I read the forums here and decided that maybe I should hardwire it… but before I go down that route I’ll just check for updates on the web…. Eventually I ended up installing Version 4.00 from https://buy.garmin.com/shop/store/downloadsUpdates.jsp?product=010-00540-00&cID=134&pID=400 and low and behold…. It lost all reference to it having Traffic ability… would not recognise that a GTM21 was connected to it, the GTM21 gave a single red followed by two amber flashes on the lights in a continuous cycle… Also when I turned the unit on (connected to power, with GTM21) it gave some error message about external devices needing a power source.
Phoned Garmin this morning, who said…
a) What 4.00 upgrade? (I told them where it was and on there own pages….)
b) Are you sure your unit isn’t faulty, send it back we will test it. (I declined as it was only a day old and said if it was Halfords could replace it.)
c) They then told me that I wouldn’t get traffic until the unit had a good TMC signal with GPS lock ( I know, but the lights are blinking a different code after an upgrade and I cant see any traffic icons etc on the screen)
d) Hmmm, maybe it’s just a bad signal area… you know the Government won’t allow the radio signals to be powerful enough… (I know that, cop out, but my point is it was working before, all be it trying to lock on a signal now it doesn’t even do that)
e) Hold on…. 4 mins later, Go to this area http://www.gpsinformation.org/perry/nuvi/ and download the 3.80 version and see if that fixes it, there maybe something wrong with 4.00 ( I thought OK and I’ll be ringing you back either way to say it fixed the problem and I am back to square 1 or No joy at all)…
After the backwards download, booted up, took a drive to a high point (Winter Hill) heypresto… traffic coming in thick and fast.
Right, I've just received my Nuvi 610T back from Garmin as all the units at my local Comet were supplied with GTM21s that appeared to be for France as they have a ViaMichelin subscription and 3 month US TTN subscription.
Like you I updated the unit and sure enough with the v4.00 firmware it suddenly does not see the GTM21 at all, downgrading to the v3.80 firmware does get it all working again however. So, Garmin have managed to break it with the latest firmware.
About to try and get the thing to activate the subscription, apparently there are some TM TMC transmitters between Cambridge and Bedford so I might be able to get it to work. The subscriptions page is blank, does one appear once TMC information is received?
Useful to find out how to activate the diagnostic information, that will help in assessing how well this thing is likely to work.
BTW, anyone think the audio via the Bluetooth handsfree is poor, my other half was complaining she couldn't hear me with the car stationary and engine off, my face is about 2 feet away from the Nuvi which is mounted centre dash. At about a foot away it was OK, but I can't drive like that! _________________ --
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I have had a Nuvi 610 since March 07 which came with a free GTM 21. I live about 10 miles from London in the Uxbridge area and all the indications are that TMC coverage is good in my area. I can get a good signal with the engine off on my drive way, but the moment I start the engine I lose it. Tried it in another car and seems much better although did lose the signal a couple of times but it came back.
