Poitin Still - Can't maintain radio station

54and56

Hi all,

I travel up and down the M7 from the M50 fairly frequently and I notice that my car radio (VW Touareg) automatically switches to Newstalk when I get near the Poitin Still. No matter what pre set station I have the radio on it will switch to Newstalk and even if I switch back to e.g. RTE 1 the radio will immediately revert to Newstalk again. This behaviour last for about 3-4 km's and then stops. It happens every single time I drive that route and always and only in that exact location. I'm baffled.

Any idea what it is and how I can stop it happening? I was thinking it must be something to do with Weston Aerodrome but that's probably way off.

L1011

Its not a great area for coverage off Three Rock due to terrain. Nothing much you can do for most stations, petition the stations and the BAI for a relay transmitter like Balbriggan got is about all. Radio 1 you might be able to tune to the Kippure or even Clermont Carn frequencies manually and turn off AF.

StreetLight

Possibly Newstalk are mistakenly transmitting TA (Traffic Announcements) mode full time from the nearby Saggart Hill transmitter.

54and56

L1011 wrote: »

Its not a great area for coverage off Three Rock due to terrain. Nothing much you can do for most stations, petition the stations and the BAI for a relay transmitter like Balbriggan got is about all. Radio 1 you might be able to tune to the Kippure or even Clermont Carn frequencies manually and turn off AF.

Thanks L1011, you're right about the reception not being great in general round there but the stations I'm usually on (RTE 1 or Today FM) are coming through fine when the automatic switch to Newstalk happens and continues to happen regardless of how strong the signal is on any other station I switch to.

What is "AF"?

L1011

Alternate Frequency. The possiblity of Newstalk having an RDS encoder sending traffic announcements incorrectly is possible also.

54and56

StreetLight wrote: »

Possibly Newstalk are mistakenly transmitting TA (Traffic Announcements) mode full time from the nearby Saggart Hill transmitter.

Thanks Stretlight, if that was the case wouldn't it be a common complaint i.e. that lot's of other people would have their stations constantly switched to Newstalk when in the area?

StreetLight

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Thanks Stretlight, if that was the case wouldn't it be a common complaint i.e. that lot's of other people would have their stations constantly switched to Newstalk when in the area?

But only if TA was activated on their radio. I wonder how many actually use it, or are aware of it......

Antenna

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

Any idea what it is and how I can stop it happening? .

Volkswagen radios likely have a button marked TP , whilst for example Toyota (Panasonic radios) the button is TA. It can also be TI or TRAFFIC on other car radios

button is TP on VW radio in this picture from another thread:
https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/378504/365209.JPG

Just press it to turn the Traffic Announcements function off (from being on).

Many car radios will indeed switch to another TP station when in Traffic mode if the station tuned in is a bit weak (though it could have clear mono reception) and this is regardless of AF being on or off. If there is a flaw with the car radio aerial causing general weak reception it would exacerbate the situation.

AF - automatic tuning to the best frequency for stations using more than one frequency such as 88.5 to 89.1 for RTE R1 in the vicinity of Dublin . Best leave it ON usually

54and56

Thanks Antenna, I'll check that and see if it works.