Traffic Reciever? - reception

Josh,

I have had intermittant reception here in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area. Sometimes it is up and locked in quickly, other times, no way.

It all depends on what FM stations are providing the service in your area. Where are you located?

Joe

I live just south of Atlanta. According to the coverage map of Atlanta, I should be covered. I travel to Atlanta, but I don't get reception until I am in the middle of communting traffic. When I return home, I have traffic reception all the way home. It takes so long to get the initial rececption

Haven't had a problem, some times it does take a bit longer than others, but always comes up. I'd say the longest I've had to wait has been no longer than a full 60sec.

Maybe you can contact someone at TMC or clear channel or whom ever.

I'm not sure if it is the GPS unit itsself or the signal that is sent. I have a Garmin 660 and the traffic alerts have worked so far. However, when it alerted me to a traffic accident recently, when I got to the area that it was supposed to be in, there was no accident in either the North or Southbound lanes. With this said, it is possible that the signal you were getting was delayed or the receiver is damaged.

I also seem to have spotty coverage in Charlotte. Sometimes it locks on a signal but many times it does not. Wonder if there is a way to "boost" the reception.

I have terrible reception in the North Atlanta area on my Nuvi 680 using MSN Direct. When it can pick something up, it is great, but the signal coverage is unacceptable. However, my SP with the TMC traffic was not much better.

So not worth the money?

Doesn't sound like it...

I bought the service, and don't think it a total waste of money. It is only going to give coverage on the interstates, no surface streets. The construction info is valuable, especially if traveling through an area that you aren't familiar with.

I found a trick that may help get better reception.

Get as much of the cable of the GTM20 on the dash as possible. This is the antenna, and if it is on the dash, you are more likely to lock in a signal. The GTM20 doesn't have to be plugged into the cigarette lighter to recieve traffic reports

OK, now I have paid more attention to the service. It is very strange that one day I can get a signal as I back out of my garage and the next day I drive all over south Charlotte and get nothing. Today I drove nearly to I77 on the west side of Charlotte for a lunch meeting. No signal all the way over. After lunch I had a signal all the way back home - go figure.

I am sure that when it does work, and it has in the past for a trip or two, it does save time and frustration - though not having driven into the traffic snarl one cannot verify its accuracy.

My receiver came bundled with my 660 and I am sure I paid for it in the price. I am not so sure I would be happy if I paid the nearly $200 price tag I see for it as a standalone, given the spotty coverage.

It seems to me that if there is nothing to report there will be no signal over the frequency. But if its a bumper-car event or gridlock, that info would be transmitted. Does that make the service "spotty?"

That was my initial thought as well. Maybe it only transimts when there is something to report. But I know the "construction" that was reported prior to lunch was on-going for the next few weeks and should still be showing up. Maybe I don't know how it works and am confused.

Do you have the most updated traffic software?
When I used the web updater, along with the extra voices and cars, there was an update for the traffic software.

This made a difference on my Nuvi 350.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff. I will check this out and maybe it will help if I am down a version or two.

I think it does give you coverage on surface streets. I used it the other night to get to a Flyers game in Philadelphia. I avoided the highways (check box) and it gave me delay times for the surface streets and asked me if I wanted to reroute.
I left very late and normally would have sat in traffic on 95. But by taking the surface streets, some of which I never knew existed, I was in my seat with 10 minutes to game time!
(I know the Flyers stink but there was still plenty of traffic:) )

Question:
Do you have the GTM20 plugged into the lighter?
Do you have something else to plug in to check the lighter receptacle?
What color are the lights on the GTM20 when plugged in?

It is useful when on. I live in the DC Metro region. However, there are times when I really needed the traffic information and there was no signal.

It hasn't been dependable 100% of the time and certain areas are not covered (ie Just south of Baltimore on I-95).

I don't use my Nuvi since I now how built in GPS in the car but I do miss the traffic and redlight data.

I do find manipulating the cable to help with reception.

Question:
Do you have the GTM20 plugged into the lighter?
Do you have something else to plug in to check the lighter receptacle?
What color are the lights on the GTM20 when plugged in?[/quote]

It gets a signal quicker when it is not plugged into the lighter, because I can stretch the cable across the dash for better reception.

The color on the lights matches the reception. I get a solid green when I am recieving a signal, amber when I am not.

The lighter has no effect on the signal. It only needs to be plugged into the Garmin

I just got the GTM-25 for a trip to York, PA from Virginia. I was travelling through DC and Baltimore during the morning rush. The receiver worked great and I got traffic even in the Virginia fring area south of Maryland almost immediately.

However, I can't get a lock in my car, though in my minivan the lock is very fast. Anyone else notice certain vehicles cause problems? I can't imagine the extra 2 feet of elevation matters that much.

I have found a better way to improve reception.

First though, ask yourself -where is the antenna? The answer is - in the power cord.

I found that by hanging the power cord over the rearview mirror, one can improve reception dramatically. The receiver does not work too well with the antenna lying on the floor. It needs to be up where it can "see" the signal from the FM station(s).

This trick has doubled the reception range for me. I used to get covearage only 1/2 way home from work (36 mi), but now I get coverage almost all the way home and sometimes right up to the garage.

DO NOT MAKE THE CORD HARD TO MOVE! Don't tape, glue or otherwise permanently mount it to the mirror. Some states have laws about "dangling" items from a mirror. Just your luck to be stopped by an officer that goes "strictly by the book" and being able to slide it off could avoid a ticket.

Also, don't keep the power cord "Tight" as this can cause the cord to fail because of the constant stress on the cord where it leaves the housing. Plus, you could accidently hit the cord with your arm, hard enough to separate the cord from the housing.

Just learn to live with it falling off every now and then.

I have an external antenna from my Sirius radio that I don't need since I use the audio out cable. It appears to have the same connector as the one for the GTM-25. Should this work? Trying it shouldn't cause any harm. Just another wire I'd rather not deal with.

I have driven within 5 miles of the broadcasting radio station tower here in seattle, I've yet to receive a single broadcast or even find a network. traffic is pretty useless IMO

I thought I read somewhere that newer Garmin units will offer free ad based traffic? I still have the 350 with no traffic.

Somewhere along the line, my GTM-20 started getting stuck in the yellow searching state, it would never turn green unless I pulled the GPS out of the mount for a few seconds (which power cycles the GTM-20), so it would start searching again.

On my 660, and some (most?) other models, you can get to a traffic diagnostic screen by going to the speedometer/trip odometer screen, then holding your finger on the speed for >5? seconds. Hit next until you get to the GTM/traffic screen.

On mine, when it got stuck, it would show that it was only looking at "channel 0". Normally, when it's looking for traffic info (blinking yellow on the GTM-20), the channel number bounces around.

I fixed the problem by going to the next diagnostic screen, (fm table, or something like that), and clicking on the reset button to clear out the saved traffic channels.

It's been working fine ever since.