But what does it Mean! GTM Status page

[adrian_anastas]

Hi All,

Just a Quick Update. I've got my second GTM 12 unit from Garmin and I have much the same issue at home. I have taken a longer drive with it and there are some differences. I have received traffic information near Gloucster and Oxford, and it now "locks" on to a few more stations (I get status 2 with 91,99,159, 151 and 138) Also when I was receiving messages the status was 5.

My Guess is that the list of TMC transmitters that Mike has supplied me is out of date. I can see the Winterhill transmitter on there and from what I can see in some other threads this was sold, and stopped transmitting data around December last year.

I've also dug a little deeper and found that the TMC frequency for the Local Transmitter (Alexandra Palace, 196 or 107.1 FM) is for Choice FM. A station run by the same group as Classic FM:

[url]http://corporate.gcapmedia.com/index.php?id=25 [/url]

Guess us Traffic Master users will just have to put up with a slow erosion of our service as Itis broadcasting groups slowly take over our transmitters

Unless Gamrin swaps to what appears to be an increasing coverage with Itis.

[mikealder]

You are correct the POI file is little out of date with respect to WinterHill, I chose not to remove it at the time because it looked like they were going to fix the issue, eight months later on it would appear not.
WinterHill now appears to be sending out Traffic information ident signals on 100.4 and these are be picked up all over the North West using a TomTom receiver (iTIS) at the moment there is no data being supplied, the sooner that is turned on the better as far as I am concerned.
I picked up 100.4 most of this morning driving from Lytham to near Stockport, once I got near to Bury the device re-tuned to 100.1 and received true information from Classic FM.

To be honest at the moment RDS-TMC in the UK is plagued with reception problems, no system offers a true reliable service across the country - Mike

[pandamedic]

posted this up last year in October which Garmin emailed me. Obviously i can't say it's upto date and correct for now. But hope it helps

[mikealder]

That is as upto date as my POI file, i.e. it depicts the wrong situation with respect to WinterHill (it is still on the map), I am not too sure how many other stations have changed, I will ask them for a full frequency listing - we might get an answer by Christmas, but I won't put money on it being this year - Mike

[adrian_anastas]

98 FM transmitters,
and if one of those transmitters should happen to fall,
97 transmitters on the wall,
97 transmitters on the wall
97 FM transmitters,
and if one of those transmitters should happen to fall,
96 transmitters on the wall,
(etc.)

Check out http://www.trafficmaster.co.uk/page.cfm?key=RDS_TMC

They state that the have 88 transmitters. That's 10 less than in the list that Mike has (sorry pandemic, couldn't be bothered counting icons on your map).

It looks to me as if service IS decreasing, rather than increasing. My guess is that for a receiver pathced through a car aerial coverage is probably good enough. I just wish there were a way to boost reception for the GTM 12.

[inspiredron]

[portman]

Adrian, not sure which unit you have but have you tried it in a different car, makes a hell of a difference. I tried both the GTM 21 and GTM 12 in a Picasso and they were useless, but worked fine in my car. Now have a GTM 10 in the Picasso and get a signal virtually all the time.
_________________
Samsung Mega
Tomtom 500

[swing]

Indeed - windscreens with coatings (athermic windscreens, common on French manufacturer cars amongst others) will cause a severe degradation in the ability to receive FM signals within the car.
_________________
Please don't be offended if I do not reply to a PM - please ask questions via the forums.

[adrian_anastas]

I think my issue is that same as everyone elses. In North London you're too far away from the week transmitters. If I head towards central london I'll start picking up messages from channels 83 and 187. Driving up and down the M1 I get messgaes going past Dunstablel, and also when in Oxford I get messages from channel 151.

At this stage I'm considering an FM aerial splitter, and wiring the GTM 12 straight into the car aerial. I've tried attaching an extra length of FM aerial cable with not much difference. I think the key is attaching to an amplified source. Getting a longer antenna is no good, as it's powered by the GTM unit.

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