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External Antenna for Navman TMC Module?
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GPS_fan
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mike,

do you have a signal strength meter or will you just be gauging relative reception by observation?

If the miniscan has a reception blackspot where the sky scan has reception (or vice versa) would this not be good enough?

Naturally (as you mentioned earlier), your son is likely to hope that the sky scan has better reception so that his dad can drive around with a fumky looking aerial on his car roof
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mikealder
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I do have signal strength measurement available and intend using it. As for my son, yes he thinks it looks great - the wife just shakes her head at anything connected to the Ovlov these days. IIRC it was Tim's lad that wanted the aerial Wink - Mike
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GPS_fan
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 8:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mike,

Sorry, it was Tim who said his son would love the Sky Scan.

I blame insanity for my confusion...possibly something to do with working within spitting distance of Broadmoor.


Am I right in thinking that with these mag mount aerials, the centre pin is the feed and the outer shielding is similar to the ground plane on a car aerial lead?
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philpugh
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 1:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

They should be - otherwise it would get mighty confusing trying to wire them up Laughing
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GPS_fan
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 2:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Phil.

That's what I would have expected, but didn't kow if my logic was flawed in some way.
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keithjeffrey
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 3:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have today set up my Maplin Miniscan magmount with the Garmin BNC to MCX adaptor and have had a little play with it.
I went out this morning for a little drive about ( I live in Kent ) and it did'nt miss a beat.
I put in some destinations where I know there are traffic problems today ( North Circular and Deptford ) and both times it did it's thing and warned me.
The real test will be when I return to work on Monday , then I will see how it really performs.
I do most of my driving in Southern England ( Kent , Surrey , Sussex , Essex , Hampshire , Berkshire ).
I will report back in a week and give an update on it's performance.
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keithjeffrey
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PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2007 6:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well , I have been using my T1 all week and I have got to say I am impressed !
The only thing that I have noticed about it , is that sometimes when I power up my F20 the TMC logo on the screen does'nt go to green ( even after about 20 mins. ).
So if that happens now , what I do is switch off the F20 and switch it back on again and THEN when it comes on the TMC logo is normally green already.
After that I don't lose the signal at all.
It's a handy little addition to have on the F20 , I like it !!!
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snakeboy
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 4:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sadcrab wrote:
I've just bought the miniscan magnetic aerial from Maplin at £15 and also managed to get a suitable connection BNC female to MCX Plug from http://www.coax-connectors.com/introduction.htm at less than £6.00. I can now connect the T1 module to an external aerial for improved reception, further more I spoke to Moonraker the manufacturer of the aerial and I've been told that by extending the aerial by 3 inches I could pick up transmissions below 100mhz. Hope this helps anyone wanting better reception for the T1 module


I've also just bought the miniscan magnetic aerial from Maplin and the BNC female to MCX Plug. How would you extend the arial by 3 inches?.
I live in Lytham near Blackpool and all can get is Smooth FM.
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mikealder
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 5:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You could try soldering a length of copper wire to the top of the aerial, but I don't think the unit of measurement is quite right 3CM rather than 3" springs to mind, but I might be wrong on this one.

I find the Mini scan works very well, the Sky Scan is even better, although the area you are in is not the best for reception at all (trust me I drive through your home town location nearly every day.

The 100,4 transmissions have only just recently started and I think (unconfirmed as yet) they are test transmissions, when they (iTIS the traffic data supplier) turn on the actual data then we can expect very good coverage from WinterHill on 100,4 throughout the Fylde coast.
Have you tried the device when in/ around Preston as it should lock to 100,1 Classic FM and get data from that location, even at Warton just up the road from you the device will work picking up data from 100,1 - Mike
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snakeboy
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the reply.
I have not tried it outside Lytham yet, thought I might go down the M55. How far would I have to go to expect a signal?. Sky Scan?
Martyn.
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mikealder
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wouldn't expect to go past Preston to be honest, the T1 can receive data from within the Fylde area but it can take time for the unit to lock to the correct frequency.

The Sky Scan is another Mag Mount aerial from Maplins that covers a wider frequency band, and slightly better in terms of performance but only just when compared to the mini scan which is less visible when fitted to the car, the Sky Scan looks like something from Doctor Who to be honest! - Mike
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Gee-Pee
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 10:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just thought I would make a comment about my TMC in Europe. Northern France, no reception - same for Belgium but as soon as I hit Germany I got signals from eleven stations. This continued +/- until about 10 miles into Austria. Why do we as a nation with enough radio stations to blanket the airwaves only get Classic FM?

Who (or whom) do we lobby to get some more stations broadcasting the TMC signals so we can have full coverage over the UK. Certainly our roads are choked enough for there to be a demand.

BTW, I have a Maplins Magmount and a BNC connector (orginally sold for a Garmin) which works well but then so does the wet string that came with the Navman TMC most of the time.
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snakeboy
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 11:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gee-Pee wrote:


Who (or whom) do we lobby to get some more stations broadcasting the TMC signals so we can have full coverage over the UK. Certainly our roads are choked enough for there to be a demand.


I agree.

The goverment moan about choked roads, wouldn't more coverage for the TMC signals help to alleviate this a bit.
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Gee-Pee
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:10 am    Post subject: TMC reception et al Reply with quote

Since returning to the UK about a week ago, I have not been able to pick up any signal at all for the traffic module. The signal indicator has stayed monotonously red.....until this morning. I reconnected the Magmount and immediately got a bright green connected indicator - checked to see the station to which I was connected and was suprised to see the following list:

WDR2 106.4; WDR3 95.9; WDR4 99.2; WDR5 93.9; 1Live 101.3; Antenne 101.9; and Classic on 100.9. The Automatic selection had selected Antenne (apparently).

I suspect that this information was all false, apart from Classic, and that somehow the device was still showing continental stations to which I had been tuned prior to returning across the channel.


LATER Next trip out, switched on the device and one station only now shows, namely, Classic on 100.9

Strange Question [/i]
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mikealder
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Are you sure the TMC marker was red? - I thought red means there is an incident on route and therefore it must have been receiving, it should be a Blue/ Grey colour when not receiving anything at all.
It would appear to have remembered some of the European stations by the looks of what you saw - Mike
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