TomTom 910 RDS-TMC stops scanning (freezes).

DeLorean

This has been driving me mad for ages.

I’m using the official TomTom Navcore v7.903.9183

Randomly my 910 stops scanning frequencies (freezes) for a RDS-TMC station (especially in Germany).

I have to briefly pop the 910 off and on the windscreen mount to get it going again.

TomTom has had my 910 in for testing and they are adamant there is nothing wrong with it.

I know other users have had similar issues.

Any ideas?

P.S. RDS-TMC works brilliantly when tested using a v8 Navcore, so the hardware is working fine.
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DeLorean · Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 5:28 pm Post subject:

Interesting update Very Happy

After trawling the internet I can upon this:

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=97152&whichpage=98

Several x10 users talk about changing the 22220 in the mctx.dat file to 11110 thus allowing RDS-TMC data to be received from the V-network traffic information network in France.

So I thought I’d give it a go on my 910 in the UK.

Originally I only received RDS-TMC data on Classic FM, but now I’m receiving RDS-TMC data on lots of FM radio stations including Heart FM and others.

I haven’t taken it out on a proper field test yet, but without question it’s receiving traffic data from many other stations than originally.

I’ll let you know what happens!

Anyone else fancy giving this a try?

P.S. Heart FM broadcasts to Reading, Basingstoke, Bracknell, Newbury, Henley and Andover.
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DeLorean · Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:11 pm Post subject:

Another update....

After taking my 910 out for a ride with the modified mctx.dat, I've noticed that the traffic information now being received is different.

Comparing the use of 11110 and 22220, the traffic information shown on the traffic map can differ substantially.

I can only guess that I'm now receiving information from another traffic network.

Does anyone know what these values in the mctx.dat file actually represent?
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MarkMarkB · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 07, 2008 Posts: 80

Do you know if this applies to later versions, specifically the 930? I would appreciate better converage of the area that you describe.

It's interesting about coverage in France. During my summer wanderings I found the standard set up in my 930T to be pretty good. Especially once I had realised that a lot of the incidents shown on the map were not queues but weather warnings, typically heavy rain. As we don't get these here I had forgotten that such warnings were turned on.

EDIT. P.S. I've just looked at the Wikipedia page for TMC, and it seems that French traffic data are broadcast by two services, one for the motorways which is public, and a nationwide one which is by subscription (V-Trafic on France Inter radio). The subscription one is secured by using a different location table number, so perhaps that's something to do with mctx.dat file.

Also interesting to note is that Heart FM now belongs to the same company as Classic FM, so perhaps there's more than one source here now.

mikealder · Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:11 pm Post subject:

There are a whole raft of different smaller radio stations being used to supply data in addition to the Classic FM network, this expansion has taken place progresively over the past few years and aims to reduce the areas of poor coverage in the UK, I have to say it has worked quite well IMHO - Mike

MarkMarkB · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 07, 2008 Posts: 80

If TomTom is set to receive data from the strongest signal, presumably it will only use one transmitter as its source in any one area, rather than gathering data from multiple stations. Is this correct?

mikealder · Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:29 pm Post subject:

MarkMarkB · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 07, 2008 Posts: 80

Thanks Mike.

So presumably as it switches from one frequency to another it ditches the information it had from the first transmitter and then only displays the info from the second transmitter, which may or may not have some overlap with the previous data. Is that correct?

mikealder · Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:35 pm Post subject:

It will refresh the data with a fresh set that is more applicable to the area you are in, RDS data is broadcast in regional blocks, so when in London you won't see traffic data for North of Birmingham etc, as you move around the country while driving the device auto tunes to the strongest (should be nearest) transmitter so you have data applicable to where you are - The time it would take to drive out of the region covered is typically two hours, in this period the device will retune as your trip progresses - Mike

DeLorean · Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:09 pm Post subject:

I would agree with mikealder.

With my mctx.dat file configured to 11110 data is being received from "local" radio stations which seems to display far more accurate than previously received from Classic FM.

Classic FM stations are now ignored by my 910 as if they don’t carry any traffic data.

I also get 100% connection to the RDS-TMC data service a soon as I switch my 910 on at home and it very rarely needs to seek another frequency unless I travel a long way out of an area.

If it does need to find an alternative frequency, it's very quick and very stable.

I would be interested to know if the configuration of the mctx.dat file could be tweaked so older TomTom owners could perhaps receive data from all sources.

Also how the contents of the mctx.dat file is constructed would be interesting.
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tenorplayer · Regular Visitor Joined: Aug 20, 2006 Posts: 69

Changing mctx.dat too 11110 ....I tried this with my 910 today and it scanned and locked on within seconds ,, so far so good

DeLorean · Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 5:58 pm Post subject:

After a little bit of homework (trawling the net) my conclusion is Shocked

There are two distinctly different networks broadcasting RDS-TMC information in the UK.

mctx.dat file set to 1110
TMC data is received from local radio stations using automated traffic monitoring systems i.e. Traffic Master etc.
Traffic information available will be local(ish) and the accuracy may vary.

mctx.dat file set to 2220
TMC data is received from the country wide Classic FM radio station using different sources i.e trackers, traffic spotters, live reports etc.
Traffic information available will be national and more accurate.

So if like many you can’t receive RDS-TMC data in your area using the default mctx.dat on your x10 TomTom, try changing your mctx.dat file to 1110 as an alternative.

Thanks to all for their input Very Happy

I hope some find this information useful Cool

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DeLorean · Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:48 pm Post subject:

I’ve been using the 11110 setting for the last few days and finding it gives me a far greater amount of traffic information.

It shows far more information about road works, accidents and delays (up to 50~60 miles from my location) when compared to the 22220 setting.

My 910 is now also connected to a TMC signal 100% of the time Very Happy

I’ll be interested to see if it indicates weather warnings such as road flooding and fog etc. which I believe they do on the continent.
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Andy_P · Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:43 pm Post subject:

If anyone else is as confused as I was, this 11110 or 22220 business is for 910 models or v7 software only.
Later versions of the mctx.dat file has something that looks more like this:

TX01C°óöÌVÎµ .•P°Q'Îw^';mµ#ó5»‡OÏºïp<#ÕÿHpç

....which rang a few bells, so I looked back through the forum.

More details in THIS TOPIC from last January.

DeLorean · Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 5:41 pm Post subject:

This should certainly work for all x10 units running the latest official v7 Navcore.

Not sure about older TomTom 's like the original GO, 300, 500 & 700 units.

The mctx.dat file on the v8 Navcores changed to a 16bit format (so I believe), but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

With reference to my earlier rambling with information I gathered from the internet.
The information received using 11110 certainly isn’t just local nor is it inaccurate as I've discovered.

I’ve taken a few screen shots of my 910 and as you can see it’s showing traffic information from the whole of the UK.

You can browse the traffic map and see the traffic information changing in real time.
It’s quite fascinating to watch.

I frequently drive to Central Europe and wonder if it will function as well in Europe using the 11110 setting?

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