TMC showing strike-through

(Posted on the wrong thread, my bad!)

So I actually came across your post while I was researching last night, I've checked the coding on the 5F unit and everything is as it should be. I left it overnight and checked it this morning but the traffic still seems to be showing a strike through the icon.

I can confirm that under both FM and DAB, the RDS is enabled. I currently also have the TP enabled (with the associated icon at the top of the media display now presented - is this overkill?) but still, nothing. I've read that it can take a while before it starts pulling data down, I'd have thought overnight might have been long enough but at the risk of coming off totally ignorant, does the unit have to be actively being used for that information to come through?

I've even cycled through all the settings and disabled everything again (from the unit, not via the coding) and re-activated it - perhaps that will clear everything up again. For reference, this is how I have the unit set, currently.













I'll be out in the car again later today for an hour or so, perhaps that will be enough to kick it in to touch? I am of course fearful that this has been switched off in the UK altogether (I did read something to that effect a while ago) but I find that really hard to believe...

The value is Europe 1023. The unit has been restarted multiple times now, it does clear the settings when I do this so the last time I was in there configuring all this, a couple of nights ago, I made a point of ensuring they were all correct before getting out of the car again. I assume that rebooting the unit shouldn't clear these settings, or is that normal behaviour? 

I checked it again now, settings are all still correct - ironically, when I turned it on, there was a traffic announcement playing on the last radio station I had selected. Traffic display still has the same icon over it, however. 

It's now been set for a good couple of days so it's had more than long enough to download something... 

Don

I did wonder if the antenna settings may be something to do with this, however I enabled the FM AM DAB antenna but that doesn't seem to have made any difference.

The icon has to mean something stopping it from receiving the data...I just wish something pointed in the general direction of it, although I guess no one would really need to know this given we're not supposed to be in here, making changes! 🤣

I don’t know the answer to either of those questions unfortunately. I’ve been looking it up but can’t see anything to confirm whether it’s broadcasted or not. I thought I’d seen that it didn’t work here anymore but I find that hard to believe. That said, I’ve had all the traffic programming in the unit switched on and not once, when I’ve been in it, has the CarPlay media been interrupted by a traffic programme from a radio station.

However, it does list TP against many of the radio stations when looking at the list on the FM band - it has to be getting that information from somewhere, right?

I know the radio station which previously broadcasted it (Classic FM) is national, so I don’t think we have the same problem/challenge as you guys do down there. Something to do with having a fraction of the land mass to cover, probably - even the Scottish Highlands probably don’t make it as difficult to cover the country as Uluru might do. 🤣🤣

I’ve cleaned the number from other posts from your good self, plus that of other people. However the number could be wrong - I don’t suppose a resource exists that might detail them more thoroughly which you could point me in the direction of?

So, it appears that all the codes needed to apply TMC to the MIB unit is contained inside the Navigation Database - in 2 files:

- TMCProviders.xml
- TMCProviderSets.xml

These are tied to the coding using the numeric value that's applied to the adaptations for the vehicle. In the providers file, each file is given an "ID" - each ID is then referenced (or groups of them) using a code number from the Provider Sets file.

For example:

- TMC Pro - 1
- TrafficMaster - 2
- ViaMichelin - 5
- MMN - 9
- BeMobile - 11
- Inrix - 12
- Hungary_Pay - 13

These are all paid-for TMC services in Europe - the only region I can comment on as this is where I'm based. They are then referenced as follows:

- Only Free TMC - 0
- VW TMCPro - 3
- VW w/o TMCPro - 4
- Bentley w/o TMC Pro w/o MediaMobile - 7
- VW PayTMC All - 1023 (Includes sets 1, 2, 5, 9, 11 & 13)

As 1023 includes TrafficMaster, one of the services still active in the UK (and subbed to by VW) I'd say this is the one that we'd need to use here. Not only does it include a connection to a service still live in the UK, it also includes others which would theoretically engage if we were to take the car onto the continent and continue to use the built-in nav.

There does seem to be some kind of correlation between the TMC service and what the XML file refers to as "online" - I presume that this implies the use of Car-Net to add an additional traffic layer to the map. Set 1023 sets it to "true" for use_TMC_free, with the online traffic set to "false".

Traffic provider sets which have a number in the region of 32000 all include both TMC and Online traffic information. While this will probably work, there is probably little point in opting for one of these in a car which has had a retro-fit, since Car-Net will never work.

As an aside, I read somewhere that it's the MAC address of the MIB which is used to allow/deny access to Car-Net services - this would mean that a retrofitted unit would work but of course relies on the validity of the statement I read. I've previously understood it's the VIN which is used by the system to identify the car, is that true? I have no idea how good it actually is but I'll be honest, I'd gladly pay for this system in my car, if only VW were to allow it...

Free TMC with online support also is set number 32768 - each subsequent set is then this number with a figure added to it, as denoted by the file's contents. It says in the notes at the top that online is preferred but I assume that eventually, the unit either times out and falls-back to TMC OR detects the lack of active service/subscription and falls back immediately. I will go out on a limb and say that this information is probably in another one of these files which I'm yet to stumble across - I'll update on that if I find it.

It could explain why you've seen such random behaviour when enabling this, as I've seen you posting elsewhere. In Europe anyway, it seems that the default config is for the unit to try Germany, wait for this to time out and then start searching for another country where this service is active. I suppose this, combined with the correct set identifier in the adaptations, may be responsible for that?