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Sean16v
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Joined: May 15, 2006
Posts: 47
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 Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 12:01 pm Post subject: TMC what happens when FM is no more |
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| Does anyone no what will happen when fm transmitters are turned off and digital takes over will tmc be no more. |
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flyingfuzz
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Joined: Aug 19, 2008
Posts: 69
Location: UK - South
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| Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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When is FM due to switched off?
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TT520 running App 8.351 & map UK&I v845.26345
Using Traffic TMC (round pin) & PGPS speed cameras. |
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dorsetwurzel
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Joined: Sep 16, 2008
Posts: 127
Location: Suffolk
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| Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 2:12 pm Post subject: |
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| flyingfuzz wrote: | | When is FM due to switched off? |
I heard 2015, but dont quote me on it.
Tim |
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rfp2001
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Joined: Mar 28, 2006
Posts: 134
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| Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 3:44 pm Post subject: |
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Digital Britain Report, June 2009. (Report date)
This came as complete surprise to many people! |
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chrisjr
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Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 32
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| Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 5:46 pm Post subject: |
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And speaking as someone with a professional interest in the topic I will believe it when I see it 
Thirty odd years ago when I first got involved with the wireless they were saying AM would be killed by FM, especially as all these new commercial stations were coming on line. Well I'm still waiting.
If you can be bothered to read the report it is dependent on a number of factors occurring before the process even kicks off. But one thing that has to be said is that the FM band will not be going silent in 2015 anyway. Some stations will be shunted off to DAB but there will still be FM services.
And as I say it is not a given that the conditions imposed by the report will be in place by then. But even if the major players do become DAB only what real chance is there that we will be using the TMC models in 2015?
By then the technology used in the x40 range should be more or less standard across the range I would imagine or maybe even some new technology. So relying on a bit of wire dangling out of the back of the TomTom will be something of a minority interest I suspect in 5 or 6 years time.
Just compare a 740 to the original GO to see what 5 years development can do. |
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DennisN
Tired Old Man
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 14902
Location: Keynsham
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| Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:27 pm Post subject: |
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| chrisjr wrote: | | Just compare a 740 to the original GO to see what 5 years development can do. |
And weep! 
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Dennis
If it tastes good - it's fattening.
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JimmyTheHand
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Joined: Apr 16, 2005
Posts: 386
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| Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 9:26 am Post subject: |
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By the time they get around to switching off FM, they'll probably sorted out HD traffic & very cheap mobile data rates - i.e. not this decade
More details of the DAB disaster and FM switch off on The Register
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Andy_P
Pocket GPS Moderator
Joined: Jun 04, 2005
Posts: 19991
Location: West and Southwest London
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| Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 2:05 pm Post subject: |
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There's a rising tide of objection to this deeply flawed plan...
There has been quite a lot about it on the radio in response to an piece about it on Radio 4 and here's the text of an editorial in the Guardian last Saturday:
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As a solution to a problem that does not exist, the government's plan to move the national radio networks from FM to digital transmission takes some beating. Because television is going digital, it has been decided that most radio must do the same, which means that at some point after 2015 almost every existing set in the country is supposed to stop receiving familiar stations. Bedside alarms will no longer wake up to Wogan; portables will emit hiss where once there was the Proms, and Today will fall silent in cars. At a stroke, some 150m receivers will be made redundant, to be replaced by a technology that is already dated and in many ways is inferior to the existing service.
The plan is so obviously wrong that in the end no government will allow it to happen. In 2007 Ed Richards, the chief executive of Ofcom, said as much when he said "we do not believe that the government announcing a swift forced march to analogue switch-off in radio today would be in the interests of listeners". But last month Stephen Carter's report on Digital Britain pressed on, setting a target of 2015. Existing signals should begin the move to digital, he said, when 50% of listeners are using digital sets, and digital coverage matches FM.
On current trends that point would be reached long after 2015, but he wants to accelerate them. His report sells the switchover as an "upgrade", not a switch-off, allowing new ultra-local services to be established on FM and remaining medium wave ones to move to it. But the public will not be fooled. Their sets will stop working as they do now to fulfil a dogmatic plan that neither the BBC nor commercial broadcasters nor listeners want or can afford.
If the aim of digital broadcasting is to make more effective use of limited bandwidth then Britain should wait for better technology. The FM signal is full, but the primitive DAB system used for broadcasts in Britain is no better. Its limited capacity means the BBC has to degrade sound quality in order to cram in all its extra stations. It does not work very well in cars, indoors, or in rural Britain. Lord Carter's report promises to entice listeners from FM with new services, but he does not explain how the signal will find the capacity to carry them. Nor does he explain how the price of DAB sets will be reduced to the level of FM ones, or how their power-hungry processors will match energy-efficent old analogue systems.
Britain is backing the wrong horse. If listeners are to go digital, they might as well get a modern signal, such as the high-capacity DAB+ system, rather than outmoded DAB. More likely, digital listeners will move online. FM offers a clear, affordable, popular and almost universal service. Switching it off would be absurd.
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Hopefully, as the original question was about the demise of FM, this won't be regarded as an 'off-topic rant' and get deleted..... |
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