NEW VERSION tomtom RDS TMC reciever out yet?

mikealder · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 6:30 pm Post subject:

I can accept the issue with the transmitter locations having a bearing on reception, in France for example a large proportion of transmitters are in towns/ cities, in the UK they are stuck on top of remote hills, often miles away from populated areas.
This only partly answers the problem for the UK, for example Navman receivers use iTIS transmitted using Classic FM, their device has worked on most trips I have made around the country, the TomTom product remains silent sitting there constantly tuning - when close to a Tx station it might work.
So if one manufacturer can get it right the issue has to be partly down to poor resceiver design. By the way this comparison is with "as supplied" receivers, no external aerials have been connected for the past few weeks.
I have said it before that these devices MUST be fitted with an external aerial socket to allow the user the option of coupling an external aerial to the device to boost reception, Navman have such a connection (even if it does use a rather strange connector) - Mike

AndyVaughan · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:55 pm Post subject:

The thing that annoys me the most is that you can sit and watch it scanning the entire FM frequency band, pausing at each station it finds, when in the UK it is only transmitted on a very narrow frequency band. We might stick more chance of getting a lock if it only searched between 99 and 102. TomToms answer to this was 'keep manually entering the frequency' - not a clever thing to do whilst driving.

I was on the M1 yesterday between Chesterfield and Nottingham and it kept locking on to Real FM on 106.2 (I think) before it eventually realised it wasn't getting any traffic info, and then after about half an hour it did lock on to Classic FM to warn me that the m1 was shut at Sheffield.

Kind of useless as if I didn't already know that the M1 was shut it was almost too late to do anything about it.

I tried with an external antenna for a while which did improve matters, but it was still far from ideal.

Andy

SpeedCam · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:56 pm Post subject:

:D We must be getting close, since my post TomTom have replied, there's no guarantee that the V2 will be any better than V1.

Dear Speedcam,

Thank you for contacting TomTom Customer Support.

The end of Quater 2 has aproached. Once the TMC receiver have been processed and shipped out.
You will be notified.

With Best Regards

The TomTom Customer Support Team

mikealder · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:06 pm Post subject:

It is true at the moment that Classic FM transmits across a narrow frequency band, but iTIS holdings (the company who provide the Traffic data used by TomTom) have announced they are increasing the number of transmitters used in the UK.
This will mean other radio stations will supplement the Classic FM network, the frequencies could be anywhere in the FM band, so restricting it for use in the UK might have a counter productive edge to the longer term plans.

Extra transmitters = Improved coverage

No exact time scales as yet, just that they hope to announce the extra stations as they go live - Mike

AndyVaughan · Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:23 pm Post subject:

That is good news as Classic FM is one of the worst signals in East Lancashire - not good for me unless I drive down the M66 (in the traffic jam) towards Manchester so that TomTom can alert me that I have just been delayed by 20 minutes!!

psykik · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 28, 2007 Posts: 28

ok this might not matter much, but just my observation from using the tmc on a garmin unit i recently returned - the tmc actually worked on it! If garmin can get it right, why is it a problem for tomtom?

mikealder · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 5:56 am Post subject:

For a start the Garmin product range use Traffic Master for their data provider, Traffic Master use a different network of radio transmitters (mostly local/ regional coverage).

The Garmin unit used to work in the North West until the radio station Century FM was sold at the end of last year, since this time Garmin users in the NW have been left without a signal for their devices to use.

The other explainations as to why you found the Garmin to work:
1/ Its different hardware.
2/ RDS-TMC is a postcode lottery, some areas work better than others - Mike

emjaiuk · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:39 am Post subject:

emjaiuk · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:50 am Post subject:

Further to my previous post, I'm convinced that part of the problem with the TomTom receiver is software related. A previous poster suggested restricting the frequencies searched, and I'm sure that's a direction to follow. Several times, around Birmingham on the M6 for example, I've watched my 910 try to find a frequecy, and appartly attempt to lock onto evrything EXCEPT the one ot two it needs. Manually inputting Sutton Colfield, which can be very dangerous whilst driving, has no effect at all. All I can think of is that the alternative TM signals are stronger than ITIS at that location and are overiding the TT selection procedure. I've no knowledge of software at all, but if there was someway of getting the TT receiver to search a predetermined POI category either in order of distance or transmitter strength, I'm sure that would go a long way to solving some of there problems.

I'd be very interested in the opinions of those who are much more knowledgable than me on this subject.
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Darren · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:13 am Post subject:

AndyVaughan · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:26 pm Post subject:

We will have to trust you on that one Darren, as I am sure the majority of people on here have modded theirs.

I still have no update from TomTom, just a case sat on a status of Research.

Andy

Darren · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:48 pm Post subject:

Indeed, mine are modded (one dead due to my ham fisted soldering!).

Let me just add that if TomTom don't resolve this fairly then we will be making a big song and dance but lets give them the opportunity to state their case first.
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AndyVaughan · Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 10:15 am Post subject:

Lets hope it is fairly soon as we have been waiting patiently......

Patience runs out eventually though

Andy

AndyVaughan · Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 7:41 pm Post subject:

Got a reply from TomTom - only taken them 3 days to bother replying and then you get this as a reply as to when I should expect to receive my v2 RDS-TMC:

Response (John G. (UK)) 03/07/2007 06.34 AM
Dear Mr ,

Thank you for contacting TomTom Customer Support.

We are sorry for the inconvenience and annoyance this incident caused. Unfortunatley, we do not have the requested item in stock available for process .
While we make every attempt to ensure that our products are only the best on the market, we are more than apoligitic that this unfortunate incident has occurred.

Please, be advised that as soon as we have the requested RDS TMC reciever in stock we will immedialty contact you.

With Best Regards

The TomTom Customer Support Team

They can't even spell - never mind not having a clue what is happening or when they will be available.

This is getting me close to taking legal advice on this matter as they either refuse to answer or just fob you off again.

Andy

AndyVaughan · Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 8:39 pm Post subject:

I think they are getting fed up with me now - I responded to the reply above saying that the response was not good enough and I have been waiting 4 months now and I got another reply that basically said as soonas we have any we will contact you.

Anyone else get the impression that this is not a matter of days away, but a matter of months?

Andy

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