NEW VERSION tomtom RDS TMC reciever out yet?

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[Darren]

Indeed, this is exactly the case although having tested RDS TMC in France recently it wasn't much better.

I think I've given TomTom enough opportunity to provide a statement on this issue so I'll tell you what I know.

As a result of the reception issues which appear worse in the UK than elsewhere TomTom have chosen to cease the supply of RDS TMC receivers for new systems. This can clearly be seen by the lack of a 520T or 720T model here and the dropping of the RDS antenna as an extra cost accessory option. They will revisit this service if and when transmission issues are resolved by the carriers.

Where does this leave current owners? It's my understanding that given the issues here, TomTom are planning to refund all those UK customers who have purchased a TMC antenna. No alternative RDS TMC antenna will be offered.

I'm told that the delay in making this public is due to the work necessary to put in place a refund program to handle the claims. I've given them sufficient opportunity to make a statement and they have failed to do so to date. Regardless of the complexities of any refund program this should not have prevented them from making a public statement that refunding customers was the chosen plan, the release of the 720 has only served to highlight the issue and this whole debacle would have been much better managed had they stated their position earlier.

I do not have any further information on when the refund program will be officially announced but I would suggest that constant calls to support are not going to make this happen sooner.
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Darren Griffin

[emjaiuk]

Thanks for that at last, personally I'm dissapointed TT haven'y made an effort to produce a better performing unit. It's also a shame they've discontinued SDK support since I'm sure the TMC problem is also software related. Both in the UK and N France I've seen my modified unit search past the nearest correct frequency without stopping, yet spend ages trying to lock onto an incorrect one. Surely it's not impossible to tell the program that since we're at x, you should lock onto y, if you don't succeed, try again'

Also, if TT wasn't such an arrogant company, it would be nice if they could unofficially leak through a trusted third party suficient technical dtails so that those who wish to modify their units at their own risk could optimise an external connection. Since the launch of TT3 they have done quite well from ideas and developments originating with users or third party developers.
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Go740L App 9.510 Europe 985.8155
RDS_TMC mount
Home 2.8.3.2499 Win10 Home

[mikealder]

I think the problem is more down to poor RF design and the actual hardware employed rather than the software.

I fully understand what you mean as the device scans the entire FM Frequency band, consider the following though if you were to limit the frequency band:

Current UK 99,9 to 101,9
Potential UK 96,4 to 107,7
(With additional stations owned by GMG that iTIS might start using)

France 87,7 to 107,3

As you can see limiting the frequency to just 99,9 to 101,9 might be fine for now, but what about tomorrow, next week, month or year as the iTIS network is expanded?
As for the unit to work in France it needs to scan the full FM band (there are loads of other channels in-between these end stop frequencies).

If you force the device to tune to a transmitter frequency based on location this will also experience problems - transmitter outage, atmospherics etc will all make this very difficult to work reliably. The best bet it to load up the Transmitter POI file and manually tune the device to the frequency indicated.
I detailed how to do this last Dec, its a shame the device cannot do this but the brain is certainly better for working a solution out as you need to factor distance and RF power levels, all of the required information is in the POI file see Here

As for modifying the RDS-TMC for external feeding, again there is plenty of information on this topic within the forum - I would trust some of the people on this forum in terms of their RF capabilities far more than any "unofficial leak" - you can only improve something to a certain amount if the original design were flawed though.

The biggest problem IMHO is their reluctance to add an external aerial connection point, I am sick of asking. It is one thing adding an aerial to a cicuit board, but the electronics should be correctly designed so as to make optimum use of the additional RF power collected by a decent aerial.

I am currently trying something a Garmin user has found to work which involves a rather large ferrite - initial testing looks favourable but I only started messing with it yesterday, when I know more I will post up the results and some pictures assuming it improves reception - Mike

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[Darren]

[emjaiuk]

[SpeedCam]

Darren, thanks for the update, this now means that we have a difficult decision to make,

1. Do we keep the TMC in the hope that the signals will improve.
2. Return the TMC and get a refund.

Sounds simple, but if we return the TMC and the signals do improve then there's no way of purchasing a replacement receiver. I'm not sure what I'll do, I purchased my TMC from PCWorld when they were £30, and TomTom have now given me a 1 year subscription to traffic FOC. I can use dialup in the UK, and try the TMC in Europe it may work. So all in all it hasn't cost me any more and I now have a TMC that may work abroad?

[Darren]

[beaconlegal]

A week ago a I reverted to snailmail and wrote a stroppy letter to the Chief Honcho in Amsterdam. On Saturday, my letter appeared in my questions history on the Tom Tom web site, scanned complete with the enclosures. I was surprised to say the least - but at least I knew it had arrived. My surprise at that was nothing compared to my surprise this morning when I received a telephone call out of the blue from a named person in Amsterdam - very apologetic for the fact they had not responded to my emails. He admitted they had a big problem with the RDS-TMC receiver in the UK but assured me that a replacement WOULD be forthcoming but that he could not be sure when. He rather thought around September but emphasised there was no guarantee of this.

He then offered me a choice of compensation (1) Sub to TT Traffic and speed cameras; or (2) up-to-date maps of Western Europe. I settled on the maps since I have cameras (of course!!) from PGPSW and didn't want to be lumbered with GPRS download charges for Traffic.

He then told me that a new TMC-RDC would arive, eventually, in the post. He seemed confident that the new unit would really do the job. He even gave me his name and invited me to call him personally if nothing seemed to be happening!!

I obvioulsy have no way of knowing if and when a new, fully functioning RDS-TMC receiver will actually be received (especially given the information recently posted above) - but here's hoping!

[Gadgeteer01]

In reply to some of the comments on page 10 about tuning - I have a Navman T1 and its so much better. I'm lucky in that I get Classic at my home, and when I plug in the Navman I get TMC reports floading onto the screen literally within a couple of seconds. The big difference is that the Navman lets me store a default frequency to try first and of course this is set to Classic 100.6MHz.
The reception on the motorway is just as sketchy as with my Tomtom but the important thing is that I got the traffic info when I really needed it - before the journey started and not 5 or 10mins in. Seems like such a simple software fix.

Cheers
Gadgeteer

[iTekweni]

Got email this evening so it looks like something is happening.


Dear Mr ,

Thank you for contacting TomTom Customer Support.

The tmc receiver should be out in the next couple of weeks once a tracking number has been allocated to your tmc you will be informed by email

With Best Regards

The TomTom Customer Support Team

[SpeedCam]

All very interesting, lets hope we are nicely surprised, one thought I've had relates to the data provider. Just maybe TomTom are in talks with TrafficMaster and future products may use this data feed, I'm not sure if TrafficMaster signals are stronger than ITiS

[AndyVaughan]

Been on Hols for 2 weeks - got a telephone call from a named individual from TomTom Customer Support whilst on holiday, and came back to this reply from them:

Dear Mr ,

I would like to offer you an upgrade to the latest maps available (v6.75). Please can you provide me with your product code and a copy of your receipt in order that I can process this upgrade. You can scan, or take a digital photo of your receipt, and attach it to a reply to this incident from "My Questions History" when logged into your TomTom account.

I apologize that you have not yet received your replacement TMC receiver; they have recently come into stock, and will be shipped within the next few days. A 1 year Traffic subscription has been added to your account as compensation for the inconvenience you have experienced regarding this.

Should you wish me to contact you via phone to discuss your complaint letter further, please advise me of a convenient time to call you.

I look forward to assisting you further.

With Best Regards


So, does this mean they have a solution for the UK or not?

Andy

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