car radio: TMC ?

[VJ]

Hello,

I'm in the market for a new car radio, and am wondering about the feature called TMC (Traffic Message Channel).

http://www.blaupunkt.co.uk/15_7.asp

I know for certain that this is operational here in Belgium and in neighbouring countries (in fact, most of Europe). Is this an interesting feature to have ? Does it interrupt the music that is playing (like RDS TA/TP), or do you choose when you want to here the information ? Does it work even if you don't have a car navigation system ?
(anybody with experience with this feature ?)


Jörg

[GNEP]

I have used it and it is quite useful. It interrupts what you're listening to and switches you to the local traffic news whenever it gets a signal that it's on.

But it is bloody annoying if you are actually listening to something interesting, don't care about the traffic, and have forgotten to turn the feature off.

It would seem that digital radio (do you have that yet?) would offer more benefits in the car.

[VJ]

Euhm, are you talking about the RDS TA/TP or the TMC system ? (I have the TA/TP and this already does what you describe. However, I got the impression that TMC offers more than just that...)


Jörg

[VJ]

I found some more info, but it still is unclear to me whether this also works without a navigation system...

http://www.tmcforum.com/tmc/faq.htm

How does TMC differ from TA (traffic announcements) and TP (traffic programme)?

TMC is a "silent" traffic data system, needing a special decoder in the receiver. The Traffic Announcement (TA) feature of a standard RDS radio allows interruption of a CD or cassette tape when there is a travel report from the radio station that is currently tuned-in. Stations broadcasting traffic announcements are labelled with the TP (Traffic Programme) flag, allowing them to be selected even when listening to another station.



Will I miss traffic messages if my radio or navigation system is switched off?

No, current messages are re-broadcast continually and a TMC receiver can store messages in its memory.

Jörg

[GNEP]

Oh sorry - my confusion. I think TMC basically allows you to hear it when you want thereby getting rid of the annoyance factor described above.

[VJ]

Well, the information I can find seem to even stretch that: the traffic-information seems to be coded, and a speech synthesizer makes the announcement or it can be shown on a map.
However, it is this latter part that bothers me: if a radio states it has TMC-out, that means (IMO) that it can send the TMC info to a navigation system. But does it mean there is a speech-synthesizer in the radio ?


Jörg