GTM 10 FM Traffic (Fault)?

stevie007 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 11, 2006 Posts: 14

Please can anybody put some light on this problem.

I have a Kenwood KNA-G50 stand alone hide away Sat-Nav unit which is a Garmin GVN 52 with GTM 10 FM Traffic (TMC) receiver fitted to a Kenwood KVT-827DVD multimedia player.

This was fitted about a year ago on a 06 year KIA Sorento UK model
professionally with no problems until recently the above Sat-Nav unit packed up at Heathrow airport after picking up family... The Sat-Nav unit was replaced free of charge as I believe the hard disk failed, with another New unit with latest firmware 3.40.

Since the new Sat-Nav has been installed the TMC unit (GTM10) does not
display any traffic situations, just says 'None Fond' on the screen although
it is set to search automatically with a strong signal connected in-line with the car's own anntenna. Situation is unchanged if set to Manuel.

The vehicle was returned to where it was fitted after 2 weeks with the
traffic TMC unit indicating 'None Found' and after checking for loose wires
etc, the TMC unit was replaced with another new traffic TMC unit which itself once connected downloaded new firmware itself automatically
immediately then began to work by picking up traffic reports. This lasted about 1 hour before all of a sudden the new TMC unit went the same way as the previous unit displaying 'None Found'. This was repeated once more with another new unit which lasted a day!

I also notice that before on the 1st TMC Unit the subscriber was RAC Live, now it is TTN.!

Kenwood was contacted by the installers with this problem and they have no insight as to what is causing this problem.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Regards

Steve

swing · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:49 pm Post subject:

What firmware is now installed into the GTM10? If it's a fairly recent firmware, there are definitely "issues" with the firmware, which could be causing some of your problems.

The elder satnav unit firmwares did indeed say "RAC Live", but nowadays are more likely to say either "TMC Info" or "TM TMC" (if I remember the names correctly). However, if the only subscription listed is "TTN (US)" then that's the US option - I believe the Kenwood GTM10 only comes with a 3 month subscription to Trafficmaster, and it's possible that Trafficmaster will not display at all until it has picked up an initial subscription. Problems with getting any signal at all with a new unit is a symptom I've seen with the v3.90 GTM firmware.

A couple of questions though...

1. Are you stationary, or moving during these times when traffic disappears...? The newer firmwares seem a bit worse in handling the change to another area (and hence new radio transmitter) than some of the earlier ones.

2. What exactly is the GTM firmware version?

3. Did you pay for a lifetime subscription to the traffic, and has this been transferred to the new GTM unit?
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stevie007 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 11, 2006 Posts: 14

Hi swing,

In answer to your questions;

The GTM10 firmware is 3.90 downloaded automatically when all was turned on.
Provider Tm TMC, TMC_INFO
Under the subscription button it says TTN(££) if yo click on this it goes on to say;
''This subscription has not been activated. Activation will occur automatically after your unit acquires GPS satellites while receiving a signal from the traffic provider''.

You mention that the Kenwood GTM10 only comes with a 3 month subscription! I was led to believe from the fitters that there is a life time subscription!! for the UK, as subscription is included in the retail price, hence no, have not paid any subscription.

I have left the vehicle stationary up in Epsom Downs and Reigate Hill for 1/2 hour without any traffic information being received... Also driving along the A3 and M25 between J 9 and 10.

I hope the above info is of help to you?

swing · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 8:57 pm Post subject:

If it's a brand new GTM10 unit, then v3.90 is not a good firmware, as it really can't cope in the UK, which is why v4.00 followed it quite quickly. I would try v4.00 before doing anything else, as although still nowhere near as good as v3.70, it may well bring traffic back to the unit.

If the GTM10 has a UK lifetime subscription, then it should display this in the TMC subscriptions page. I've certainly seen UK car dealers selling Kenwood GTM10s that don't have a UK subscription, but this might be them importing from Europe.

Unfortunately, although I know the area you are talking about well, I've not looked into what the TMC signal strength is like around that area, to be able to comment on whether or not it should work there.
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stevie007 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 11, 2006 Posts: 14

How do I update to Ver.4.00 as when turned on for the first time while booting up it downloaded the up-date automatically to 3.90?

swing · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 1:07 pm Post subject:

How did you get v3.90 on there in the first place? Or did the company do that for you?
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swing · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 1:10 pm Post subject:

I should be clearer - the Garmin satnav unit will update the GTM hardware's firmware, but the file it uses needs to be downloaded from the internet onto the Garmin satnav unit in the first place. I've no idea how to do that for this unit, but I suspect it's the same WebUpdater tool that every other Garmin unit uses - the complication possibly being that the unit is permanently mounted within your car.

I recommend working out how to get v4.00 GTM firwmare onto there though, otherwise you will always suffer TMC problems, that will never be resolved with new hardware.
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stevie007 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 11, 2006 Posts: 14

The KNA-G520 Sat-Nav up-dates are via Garmin's website via link,
http://www.kenwood-electronics.co.uk/news/products/products_software/

The web-updater is not used as unit is mounted in car, but via a SD Card once downloaded from Garmin.

The GTM 10 once connected and turned on for the first time indicated on the screen when booting-up that it was downloading the latest software.

Perhaps I will just have to wait for a signal to be received for the GTM unit to be updated again?

I wish they'd make it easier!

swing · Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:27 am Post subject:

Ah right, if you were really desperate, it would be possible to put the v4.00 (if you can get hold of a copy) onto the SD card, which may well work in the same way.

The GTM10 updated because the file was on the Garmin unit, it does not pick up the firmware update over the air.
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stevie007 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 11, 2006 Posts: 14

That's an idea... I looked on the Garmin Site and no mention how to download V.4 or maybe have to wait until there is an update from V3.40 on the Sat-Nav... I'm also thinking of disconnecting the unit from the Sat-Nav over night to see if that helps!

swing · Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 12:36 pm Post subject:

No, true - the usual method is via the WebUpdater, which won't work in your case. It's usual for the GTM update to be included in future main firmware updates though, so you will get it at some point.
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stevie007 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 11, 2006 Posts: 14

Thanks swing, for all your help, much appreciated.

I will look forward in getting the next update for the Sat-Nav unit and hopefully get the TCM unit working again... Otherwise the people who fitted the units feel that an additional rooftop amplified antenna just fed to the TCM GTM 10 unit for additional £60 might do the trick.! But there again if I'm getting an indicated strong signal it should work anyway!!

swing · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:32 pm Post subject:

That may well help generally, but the big problem you will have with v3.90 is that there is a bug in v3.90 that as soon as the GTM10 spots a strong radio signal with TMC it's stays locked to it. Unfortunately, in most areas of the country, the Classic FM signal (used by iTIS Holdings) is stronger, which means the unit never goes searching for the Trafficmaster stations, resulting in no traffic.
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stevie007 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 11, 2006 Posts: 14

ok swing, I'll wait for Ver. 4 whenever I get it, then decide to go down the extra antenna road!

gazzagadget · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 16, 2006 Posts: 3

I have a Nuvi 360 and a GTM10 (from Kenwood) and since "upgrading" the firmware to v4.0 and more recently v4.1 it fails to lock. I spoke to Garmin today and they admitted that there were known issues with the current firmware. I was told to wait a week or so for v4.2 that "is being worked on". It semed to work ok with v3.9 but I called Garmin to enquire about the "RAC Live" 3 month subscription that the unit said was about to expire. I was told to upgrade to v4.0 to resolve this. With v4.0 it still worked but seemed to take a lot longer to lock and receive data, this continued the same after the RAC subscription expired. I installed v4.1 as this update was to resolve a UK specific issue but since then it has received data just once in three days!

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