TomTom TMC - Areas of Service / No Service

coastersteve · Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:27 pm Post subject:

Took the output of my Hirchmann antenna (http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?sku=AP01161) straight in to the pad furthest away from the 4 wires and got a reception outside my house, never had that before. Smile

TonyD · Frequent Visitor Joined: May 08, 2005 Posts: 412

Just done a return trip Leeds to Oxfordshire via M!,M42,M40 got a signal about a third of the time.

Tony

hijacker · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 20, 2003 Posts: 188

TonyD · Frequent Visitor Joined: May 08, 2005 Posts: 412

Andy_P · Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 2:04 am Post subject:

mark1968 · Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 10:19 am Post subject:

Just traveled from Glasgow to Doncaster.

M74 and M6 South signal 95% of the time
A60 No Signal
A1 Signal 100%
M1 100%

Using a standard set up. However I am in a artic so my equipemnt is higher then everyone else so may be getting an improved signal!
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vicky · Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 10:37 am Post subject:

With Regards to Freeway and Motorways,

The IR units on the bridges do the same job as the poles at the side of A Roads, and transmit to the freeway units,

I think on average they are about 3 to 4 miles apart, (About every 2nd or 3rd Motorway Bridge) and at every junction.

So they pick up on slowing traffic on the Motorways quickly.

The Freeway units are very good for the price (If you can find one these days), I got my first one back in 1994 after having one of the more expensive Trafficmaster units that just covered Southern England at the time since the system started.

At the moment these units are 100% More reliable than the FM TMC Service, leaving it down to the user to decide if the incident is worth avoiding, and after using the freeway units for some time you tend to get used to what is a ghost report and something that is going to be a real pain!.

Cheers

Vicky

vicky · Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 10:40 am Post subject:

hijacker · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 20, 2003 Posts: 188

Using the standard aerial I've had 100% reception in following areas:

Glasgow M74 around Baillieston, M73 to Mollinsburn, A80 and M9 to Stirling. Also coverage on M80 and M876.

I lost reception when venturing further north up the A9 beyond Stirling but I expect this is because I was at the limits of the Black Hill transmitter. However, I still failed to lock on to the next transmitter which should be Angus near Dundee.
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mark1968 · Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 11:36 am Post subject:

hijacker · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 20, 2003 Posts: 188

vicky · Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 2:22 pm Post subject:

Hi

I did not have a splitter to hand, so the way I did it was to cut the fly lead that cam out the back of my radio (Connects to the car antenna), connected the core wire flylead from my Modded TMC to the Core in the radio lead, and then just ignored the screen lead

A bit complicated I know,

I am going to have a play at tidying it up later

I also got hold of an internal Preamped antenna today, so am going to try that on the TomTom TMC and leave the car on the standard antenna see if that improves things.

Just generally will keep playing around till I get the best signal,.

Problem is the East Midlands is a Black Hole for Signal on Classic so there is only so much you can do!.

Just want to make sure I have signal from home to the M1 and then up and down that, as thats where I hit most problems

Cheers

AVRHack2 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 27, 2006 Posts: 24

My TMC receiver arrived this morning - decided to give it a bash despite the risk of poor performance as it was only £40. Ordered from Germany on Thursday afternoon - talk about efficient postal services!

I live in the sticks - nearest Classic transmitter is a long way out. However I still got reception (just - manual tuned!) in the house to try it out. Even updated real-time with some congestion further south on the A1!

Early doors for me - I'll be modding the aerial today - but I did notice that I couldn't get a signal at all with the TomTom running on battery power, but with it hooked up to the car charger (via a 12v mains power pack), the reception was just possible.

I'm guessing the charger works as a ground plane, in which case the same may be true in the car. For those having trouble with the unmodded TMC unit, if you aren't using the charger it's worth a try to see if the coverage improves at all.

AVRHack2 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 27, 2006 Posts: 24

Done the mod - still not tried in the car as the wife's taken the kids to her parents so it's too good a drinking opportunity to miss! And drink and cars don't mix....

But just sticking a bit of cable on the pads and stringing it across the floor in the house has made a huge difference to how quickly the TMC receiver finds Classic and gets the traffic.....

GizmoB73 · Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 11:21 am Post subject:

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