TMC reception Manchester-Leeds corridor

gjwguk · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 15, 2006 Posts: 6

From early Jan I will be commuting from Manchester to Leeds. The traffic is horrendous around Leeds - should I invest in TomTom '20 T (TMC) or is the reception poor. I have already read that Newcastle & Liverpool is good but could do with more accurate info. That plugging into the external aerial get better reception. Others are getting little to no signal. Seems to bit of a gamble @ £200+

mikealder · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 11:51 am Post subject:

RDS-TMC reception is actually very good on the Manchester to Leeds route (I use it regularly). Reception is one thing though, the next hazard is quality of data, lets face it you do not need a £200+ bit of kit to tell you the M62 is congested around the Leeds area in the morning (it always is).

I would spend some time working out alternate routes to avoid the worst parts, depending upon where you are going to in Leeds/ Manchester there are some cracking alternate routes avoiding the motorway, but don't use the one through "Tintwistle" this suffers more hold ups than any other place in the NW IMHO - Mike

gjwguk · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 15, 2006 Posts: 6

I realise traffic is bad in and around Leeds and thankfully getting on to M62 or alternatives @ Huddersfield. Did you have to connect to external aerial thou'

mikealder · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 12:29 pm Post subject:

With the newer RDS-TMC I have not (yet) connected it to an external feed, I have plenty of aerials available on my car but so far I have not found it necessary to use the external feed. Reception around my home town of Blackpool is still hit and miss, but once I get past Preston it is fine - the M62 offers 100% reception from joining it via the M61 right through to the M18 turn off (well past where you will be using it).

I might connect an external feed to the new RDS device to see if it can improve reception around Blackpool, but most of the trips I have used it on have seen great reception for most of the trip. Recent "excursions" include Lincoln, Waddington, Coningsby, North Scotland (Lossiemouth) - I don't get 100% reception but I would say 90%+ on any of the above trips, without an external feed - Mike

wazzzzupmate · Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:40 pm Post subject:

I have just received my 720T with the latest TMC receiver (ending in .013).
I live in Rochdale and have tested this unit on the M62 in this area over the last few days. The TMC is set to auto tune and has tuned to 101.1.
I get a green circle very quickly, in a minute or so. It is in a Volvo S60 and the TMC aerial (not modified) runs up the right hand side of the windscreen and across the top to the cente near the rear view mirror, The marority of the black wire is tucked out of sight.
So far so good.

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