Poor GO920 FM transmission

andygps1 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 30, 2008 Posts: 3

I have just been trying the FM transmitter on my new GO 920, I tried it with several car radios and portable radios, over several transmission frequencies, I got a signal, however, the noise to signal ratio appears to be far too high resulting in music that is almost drowned out by interference and too poor to listen to. Just read Darren's 920 review, he mentions it too. Looks like it could be poor design. It was one of my main reasons for buy this model as I wanted to listen to MP3s in the car (the built in 920 speaker is only just capable for voice instructions). I have contacted TomTom and will post what they say.

Andy_P · Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:30 pm Post subject:

Yeah, its crap.
But all the little FM transmitters for iPods etc that I've seen have been crap too.

By law they have to be very low powered, and especially in London, the band is so crowded it is almost impossible to find an interference-free frequency too.
Luckily, I have a line in socket on my car radio and the quality is FAR better (if still rather quiet).

All I can suggest is to go through ALL your mp3s in a sound editor and "normalise" them to maximum digital level, then re-save them (the "sound check" option in iTunes DOESN'T do the same job, I'm afraid)
At least then the FM transmitter is being used to it's full ability.

DennisN · Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 3:07 pm Post subject:

I have NO trouble at all with my FM transmissions - using FM tuned to 88.0 I only ever get interference very, very rarely. My Renault also has a fingertip control for the radio, so I can (and do) push up the volume easily. I don't use it a lot though, mostly just when I feel like having my computer voice sounding really terrific - it is sooo much better than through the internal speaker. The only problem is not being able get phone through the radio.
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

fao91 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 08, 2007 Posts: 48

I too had the same problem.
In Lisbon or Madrid there´s too much interference from other radio stations.
So,when i decide to use the go for mp3 playing or voice guindance from the car speakers,i just take the antena off.
Result:perfect sound.

daveocean · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 24, 2007 Posts: 2

I had the same problem with my GO520 and emailed TomTom before Xmas. They suggested updating to the latest software (I'm now running 7.221) which made the mp3 playback a little louder on 88.0 frequency, but the best advice I received was elsewhere on this forum, which is to disable the 'Link volume to noise level' in the volume preferences screen. This substancially increases the volume of the mp3 playback and improves the signal to noise ratio.

DennisN · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:15 pm Post subject:

andygps1 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 30, 2008 Posts: 3

Thanks for the tips. I have no problem finding a clear FM band, its just that I have to put the volume up so high on the radio to hear the music from the TomTom that all I end up hearing is static and a bit of quite music. If I inadvertantly switch back to a normal radio signal without reducing the sound level I risk bleeding ear drums Surprised

. I'll try the disabling the link to noise level and see how that goes.

Regarding TomTom's response so far, they appear to be a bit confused by the question and have decided to answer a totally different one, see below:

Andy_P · Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 2:52 pm Post subject:

They've probably had to answer so many RDS/TMC problems, they think of that automatically. TT do have a habit of answering a totally different question when the going gets tough! Laughing

.

I've never had the "link volume to noise level" option ticked and the quality/volume is still just about useless.

The main problem is when I turn of the ignition and both the TT and the radio turn off together. Then when I get back in the car and switch on, the radio turns on but not the TT and the burst of interference/static blows your ears off.

andygps1 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 30, 2008 Posts: 3

Quick update. The responses from TomTom have been predicably poor. I recieved one more on a different subject to the question (RDS again!), then a couple which actually related to the question. These just included the obvious 'there maybe interference' the honest 'legalities of using an FM transmitter prevent us from providing with the device with the capabilities of using a stronger transmitter' and the questionable 'The GO 920's FM transmitter works very well on the devices I've tested myself'. However they appeared to be unable to come up with the idea you guys had with the "link volume to noise level" trick. I tried this and gained about 15% volume, which makes the sound just about worth listening too Smile

Thanks for the help. Now all I need is TomTom to allow seperate volume set-up of the FM and the internal speaker so the TomTom voice doesn't distort the internal speaker when playing music via FM at 100%.

StanStill · Regular Visitor Joined: Feb 27, 2005 Posts: 81

I have the same problem, have a read of this thread and do as Andy suggests and contact TomTom.

Sorry I do not know how to create a hyperlink.

Edit by Admin, Hyperlink inserted.

Andy_P · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 1:41 am Post subject:

DennisN · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:52 am Post subject:

For some reason, I never could get on with that method Andy. This one works for me ...

Copy the url link, type [url= then press Ctrl V to insert the link, then type ]
Then type NICE NAME then type [/url]

I know it has the identical result, but I could never get the hang of the it. The clicking on URL business foxed me.
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

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