Traffic Message Channel (TMC) Support in NA? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Traffic Message Channel (TMC) Support in NA?

RedDen

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Year, Model & Trim Level
2012 Explorer Limited
Does anybody know if TMC is working in NA? I'm not ready to pay $15 (in Canada) a month to Sirius XM just to have traffic support, especially when you know TMC in Europe is absolutely free!
 



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Does anybody know if TMC is working in NA? I'm not ready to pay $15 (in Canada) a month to Sirius XM just to have traffic support, especially when you know TMC in Europe is absolutely free!

I dont know what TMC is but if your referring to Sirius NavTraffic which shows the traffic flow on major streets and highways then yes it works in Canada. The only thing I find is the refresh rate is too slow and when it shows RED to indicate traffic is stopped due to a problem the problem can be cleared up and traffic is flowing fine long before the NavTraffic shows GREEN.

They will usually let you demo it for 3 months free to see how well it works in your area.
 






Does anybody know if TMC is working in NA? I'm not ready to pay $15 (in Canada) a month to Sirius XM just to have traffic support, especially when you know TMC in Europe is absolutely free!

I don't know what is NA, but what i know is that if you have the latest version of sync (3.7), the latest map (for Europe F4) and the radio unit with RDS than TMC is working.

In Russia we got on our Explorers radio units with the RDS with US frequences, but in Russia we have the europeans frequences so the RDS (we can't see the name of the radio stations) and TMC (no traffic jam in navigation) are not working.
FMC took this in account and the radio unit in the new Fusion comes with the european frequencies of RDS and the TMC is working fine in their navigation.

On our russian forum we are discussing now how to adapt the radio unit from Fusion to Explorer as the navigation without traffic jams in big cities is useless.
 






I don't know what is NA, but what i know is that if you have the latest version of sync (3.7), the latest map (for Europe F4) and the radio unit with RDS than TMC is working.

In Russia we got on our Explorers radio units with the RDS with US frequences, but in Russia we have the europeans frequences so the RDS (we can't see the name of the radio stations) and TMC (no traffic jam in navigation) are not working.
FMC took this in account and the radio unit in the new Fusion comes with the european frequencies of RDS and the TMC is working fine in their navigation.

On our russian forum we are discussing now how to adapt the radio unit from Fusion to Explorer as the navigation without traffic jams in big cities is useless.

The ACM and APIM in the explorer can be reprogrammed to do even and odd frequencies.
 






I dont know what TMC is but if your referring to Sirius NavTraffic which shows the traffic flow on major streets and highways then yes it works in Canada.
TMC is this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_Message_Channel

In some countries, TMC services are broadcast publicly for free. In the U.S. And Canada, Sirius is the paid TMC. There is not free TMC available, therefore the only Traffic option available is Sirius for a monthly fee. Sirius traffic works very well for us. We have it on all 3 vehicles since we travel I-95 and I-64 frequently. On these corridors, a system of cameras and sensors monitor flow and look for incidents. It's incredible accurate.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Traffic_Management_System
 






Thats interesting I didn't know any of that, I agree we should get it for free in North America. Its a public transportation issue when traffic is not moving we should be able to re-route. I often wondered how people with peripheral GPS units got traffic info.
 






TMC is this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_Message_Channel

In some countries, TMC services are broadcast publicly for free. In the U.S. And Canada, Sirius is the paid TMC. There is not free TMC available, therefore the only Traffic option available is Sirius for a monthly fee. Sirius traffic works very well for us. We have it on all 3 vehicles since we travel I-95 and I-64 frequently. On these corridors, a system of cameras and sensors monitor flow and look for incidents. It's incredible accurate.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Traffic_Management_System

It is not just some countries! Its whole Europe.
Bloody Sirius!!! TMC should be free.
NA is left behind as usual...
 






I don't know what is NA, but what i know is that if you have the latest version of sync (3.7), the latest map (for Europe F4) and the radio unit with RDS than TMC is working.

In Russia we got on our Explorers radio units with the RDS with US frequences, but in Russia we have the europeans frequences so the RDS (we can't see the name of the radio stations) and TMC (no traffic jam in navigation) are not working.
FMC took this in account and the radio unit in the new Fusion comes with the european frequencies of RDS and the TMC is working fine in their navigation.

On our russian forum we are discussing now how to adapt the radio unit from Fusion to Explorer as the navigation without traffic jams in big cities is useless.

I thought only Explorers from US have odd frequencies and all made in Russia have even, aren't it?
 






I don't know what is NA, but what i know is that if you have the latest version of sync (3.7), the latest map (for Europe F4) and the radio unit with RDS than TMC is working.

In Russia we got on our Explorers radio units with the RDS with US frequences, but in Russia we have the europeans frequences so the RDS (we can't see the name of the radio stations) and TMC (no traffic jam in navigation) are not working.
FMC took this in account and the radio unit in the new Fusion comes with the european frequencies of RDS and the TMC is working fine in their navigation.

On our russian forum we are discussing now how to adapt the radio unit from Fusion to Explorer as the navigation without traffic jams in big cities is useless.

NA is North America for short. If all the Explorers in Russia have odd frequencies then ask Elektronik to reprogram it and see if it helps with TMC.
 






The ACM and APIM in the explorer can be reprogrammed to do even and odd frequencies.

Jason, is it possible to reprogram it to tune both odd and even at the same time?
 






Bloody Sirius!!! TMC should be free.

Capitalism. Never give something away for free, that someone is willing to pay for.
 






Jason, is it possible to reprogram it to tune both odd and even at the same time?

Yes, thats the european standard I believe. NA only uses odd.
 






Thank you all for reply, but I believe I explained wrong.
The radio frequences are not odd, they are even but the RDS is not working.
Or our radio units don't have the RDS module or they have it but it's not tuned for European standart. I don't know how to find out :(

If needed, I can upload photos of the screen.
 






Well, to say the least I'm puzzled! I recently noticed that I see some traffic icons on my navigation screen (I don't have SiriusXM subscription) sometimes. Today I zoomed out to check a bigger city area and found this:
Traffic%201_zpsoliu74v7.jpg

Upon creating a route it does even recalculate it if I hit avoid that area:
Traffic%203_zpsg1tez9hf.jpg


Apparently some stations do broadcast TMC, at least unofficially!
 






Sirius has free access running until like the 8th I believe. That's why you are seeing that.
 






Sirius has free access running until like the 8th I believe. That's why you are seeing that.

I've seen that long before today I just didn't pay attention to that. Will monitor it in near future.

What exactly does it mean "Sirius has free access running until like the 8th"? Do you mean 8th of September?
 






I've seen that long before today I just didn't pay attention to that. Will monitor it in near future.

What exactly does it mean "Sirius has free access running until like the 8th"? Do you mean 8th of September?

Yes Sept. 8th. They run free trials a few times a year. It opens everything up.
 






Free TMC is being broadcasted in US and Canada, I went along I-75 all the way south from Mi to Florida and most of the time I had traffic updates. Please note that those updates are covering only highways, it is not anything as good as Google Maps traffic.

Technically TMC (also called RTT) is part of RDS data transmitted by FM radio.
Only few stations in Toronto, ON area transmit it.
You don't have to tune to particular radio station, your TMC receiver does it automatically.

IMG_20140312_164457.jpg


Now I'm trying hard to activate that feature on my 2015 Ford Edge. Gave a call to Sirius, asked them to activate Sirius Traffic, they told it will kick in in 20 minutes, over 2 days and no changes.

Moreover, there's no Traffic button in i panel:

IMG_20151001_122633.jpg


Can anyone clarify how does Traffic work on 2014+ MFT (3.7, A6)?
 






There is a menu where you can check all the satellite services for subscribed or unsubscribed. Check that and see what it says.
 



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There is a menu where you can check all the satellite services for subscribed or unsubscribed. Check that and see what it says.

Do you mean Sirius channel list? It shows 0 for Traffic category. Not sure whom to blame, Sirius or MFT?
 






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