Or which radio station is best for traffic news?
We (I and guess who) are going up to the outlaws for Christmas, up on Christmas Day morning and back on the 27th. Which radio station would BRers recommend for Northamptonshire? We are going to Harlestone, a few miles north west of Northampton.
At home - just inside the M25 J9/10 I use 1152AM which has bulletins every 10 minutes "on the ones". Not brilliant, but not too bad. Failing that LBC 97.3 FM, every 15 minutes, or there abouts.
Which station would you choose for Northampton area?
I don't know why, but I can't spell this morning. How many h's in Northampton? How many c's in recommend? Have a very good Christmas
Regards Don drbe
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BBC Three Counties on the way up the M1, then BBC Northampton (with one "h"!).
They do tend to be half an hour out of date but this seems to be a general problem - so the accident is normally on the hard shoulder by then.
Not sure of the frequencies but they'll be on the beeb site.
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Do you have an RDS/EON radio? If so you don't need to know the local stations because you can set it to switch over automatically to whichever local station has traffic news .
Admittedly this feature can be pretty annoying: it relies on the local station switching over at the start of the traffic bulletin and switching back as soon as it ends. Some stations seem better at this than others. It's annoying to get a bulletin saying everything is fine on the roads (so no need to interrupt people's listening) followed by moronic chatter by the presenter and then a burst of Westlife or some similar atrocity.
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Frx for local radio is BBC Northampton 104.2 the ILR station is 96.6. Five Live is as good as anything up to leaving the motorway at j15A or 16. Watch the speed camera in Harlestone, it doesn't take prisoners!!.
Using the TA option on RDS round Northampton also gets constant alerts for traffic on all stations from Oxford to Leicester
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"Some stations seem better at this than others. It's annoying to get a bulletin saying everything is fine on the roads (so no need to interrupt people's listening) followed by moronic chatter by the presenter and then a burst of Westlife or some similar atrocity."
Could not out is better myself Wellie.There is one channel I pick up thus whilst on the road. Some sort of West Midlands phone in ............argh !
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or BBC radio merseyside, which when I'm on my way home, usually cuts in just as the traffic announcement ends, but plays the whole of the trailer for 'Snelly's' program later
one wonders if 'Snelly' is greasing the technicians palm !
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Bora - what Bora ?
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On most RDS stereos there are two settings - one for national eg "Sally Traffic" on Radio 2 (TAD) and one for local stations (TAL). Handbook should be able to tell you how to set your preference.
By pressing the TA button on the unit whilst the TA is on it will return you to what you were previously listening to (on Alpine and Ford units at least) This will avoid those Westlife moments.
I find it invaluable especially on the M4 and M25.
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By pressing the TA button on the unit whilst the TA is on it will return you to what you were previously listening to...
True. But finding the button can be a dangerous distraction.
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Stick a little lump of 'Blutak' on the button before you set off- you can then feel it all the way!
I know you did nt ask this but I tend to use '1471' on my mobile ( OK my passenger does it) It seems more up to date. Not sure of the cost and in any event is different depending on your network
safe journey
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I know you did nt ask this but I tend to use '1471' on my mobile
On mine (O2) that costs nothing but gives the number of the last caller! Maybe the number for traffic information varies according to the network.
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Well spotted ! In my defence I was doing 'Dads taxi' at 03.00 and then foolishly thought it would be a good idea to support our lads in Sri Lanka ! clearly I am not a good luck charm.
I meant '1740' sorry
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stay tuned to Five Live - great mix of bang-up-to-date traffic info, news, sports etc
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O2 use 1200 for their traffic service. You can short cut the announcements and press 1 (for motorways, 2 for A roads) and the number of the road you are looking for information on, eg press 1 then 4 for M4 or 2 then 38 for the A38 etc. It costs 45p a minute at all times although calls usually take less than a minute.
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Hacko - I find 5 live to be reliably unreliable on traffic. In my transpennine commute days it was unremittingly awful and on a couple of occasions I called in to report that a major delay they were reporting had gone, only to hear it a sometimes more than an hour still being reported.
1200 on O2 is OK but not foolproof
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