Go 530T with TMC faulty? Advice?

Joe90Two · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 08, 2008 Posts: 5

Chaps (and ladies). Can you help? Not a 540 question but I have just bought a 530 Traffic with TMC. Much of the time it can take an hour to pick up a traffic signal and for the little ball to go green. Then it may take over an hour to get another update (or never get one at all during the journey). Yesterday I drove from Cambridge to Leighton Buzzard, an hour and a bit, and the ball never went green. Can I assume it is faulty? How often should I expect a TMC update?

The Cambridge journey was taken at 2pm on a Friday, other experiments have been in the morning rush hour when I would expect traffic updates to be broadcast. The radio in the car was receiving RDS traffic reports and the 530 was not updating.

No, the windscreen is not a reflective one. And I have moved the aerial to the side window as an experiment.

Help....!

Darren · Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 12:15 pm Post subject:

Moved to appropriate forum.
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Darren Griffin

mikealder · Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 12:22 pm Post subject:

Have you ever seen the ball turn green? - if so the receiver is working, signal coverage in the UK is not great with some areas being devoid of a good signal, the location you mention being one such area.

Try routing the receivers aerial up the center of the windscreen and attach it to the rear view mirror to maximise the distance from the cars A pillars, or if you must run the wire up the side of the screen keep it at least 2" away from the metalwork.

I will e-mail you a POI file to put on the device that you can use to locate the nearest transmitter to your current location, it will also give you the power levels and frequency of the station so you can use it to manual tune the receiver - worth a try. See This Thread for details on how to use the file, the post needs updating as it contains some old information, but the part about the POI file is still correct - Mike

Joe90Two · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 08, 2008 Posts: 5

Yes, I have seen the ball go green. Many thanks for your help - off to play now..

Joe90Two · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 08, 2008 Posts: 5

I have read the thread via the link that you sent. I found Classic FM on the radio in the car which was being received on 100.4. Tried to tune the TT manually to 100.4 and it said it could not find a station on the frequency. Strange? I have left the TT to pick up traffic reports this afternoon with auto tuning since my last post until now (over an hour I think) and the ball has not gone green - I am just getting the car with the moving arrow. I am still suspicious that we have a fault here...

mikealder · Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 5:34 pm Post subject:

Have you put the POI file on the device that I sent to you by e-mail earlier today? - use this to find which is the nearest transmitter and associated frequency, just because the car can tune in to Classic FM means very little, other radio stations are also used to suplement coverage - Mike

DennisN · Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 6:28 pm Post subject:

Other people have found two contributing factors.

1. Antenna position and layout. Some form of L shape seems to work. Mine runs across bottom of screen, from bottom centre, towards left side pillar, but vertical from there and well in from the side pillar. It also worked running vertically from bottom centre, then horizontally across the top (well away from top edge) towards either side pillar.

2. Don't move off until you have acquired a signal. In a hurry? Don't try it until you've got time to wait. I normally have a signal before I'm ready for the off (but of course, I have several devices to fire up and enter destinations, plus I'm simply old and slow!).

One test is to have the TT and the antenna both outside the car to see if you get a signal holding it up in the open? Try parking the car the opposite way round to see if you get better line of sight?
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Dennis

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Two of them are obesiting!!

JaguarV12e · Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 6:45 pm Post subject:

It may also be relevent that the TMC signal is very patch in the Cambridge area. I live in the region, and there are lots of major roads, (including the M11) where the signal is practically non existant.
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