# Radio Tuner question for 2004 E46 Sedan with Nav



## nitram_luap (May 24, 2004)

I have a 2004 318i E46 sedan which came with the widescreen monitor & TV as standard - I've since installed the DVD Nav. When I press the INFO button on the screen in FM mode I see three options - Nav-Min, RDS and PTY

There is no TP option as it suggests in the manual...

Nav-Min I understand clearly.

PTY - I understand this displays information about the program type (if station supports it)

RDS - this turns on the RDS function I can understand, but which 'protocols' does this enable?

Does 'turning on' RDS here enable all of the RDS functions to be available in the background - for example the station identifier (SI), traffic programme (TP), traffic announcement (TA), Traffic Message Channel (TMC) etc? ...or does it only display the station identifier?

How can I find out what my radio tuner ACTUALLY supports since its options don't match the manual? Can I check the features of the tuner if I know its part number??

Can BMW disable certain functions of the radio tuner for different locations?

Thanks,

Paul Martin
Australia


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## gfeiner (Jun 27, 2003)

nitram_luap said:


> Can BMW disable certain functions of the radio tuner for different locations?


Yes they can and they do.

It sounds like your nav hasn't been properly coded for your region. That why you have no "TP". Your dealer can code it for you. You can try checking/changine the region setting of the radio, but it may not have an effect on the TP capabilities. I believe it is the uncoded nav computer that is causing your problem. Try this at your own risk. Nothing bad should happen (never has for me), but anything can happen. With the car running, make sure the radio is playing a radio station (FM or AM) and turn off the car without shutting off the radio. Then turn the car back on without starting the engine (ignition all the way over without starting the engine). If the radio doesn't come on automatically, press the power button and wait for the station to start playing. Make sure you are on a screen where you can see the radio staion being displayed then press and hold the SEL button for about 15 seconds. The radio will then enter the service mode and the screen will change showing the radio serial number. You have to be viewing the radio station while pressing the SEL button for this to work. You can toggle through the various screens using the button with the left and right arrows. One of the screens will say "AREA: ######" where ##### could be NO AREA, JAP, EUR, US, OCEAN, AUS, etc. Make sure it is set to your proper area. You can change it by using the radio preset buttons 1 through 6. After changing it to the proper setting, shut the car off to get the radio out of service mode.

Note: when changing the area, I have noticed that station memory settings get reset to factory defaults (89.3 or something like that). Also, when changing the area setting I have noticed that the radio will briefly turn off then come back on.


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## nitram_luap (May 24, 2004)

Thanks for the tip!

I had tried fiddling there a while ago to see if that did anything. The only choices I have (from memory) are CAN, JPN, USA, OCE I think. None of these make TP show up in the list (or TMC).

My Nav was installed by the dealer and has been coded properly. The radio options are the same as they were before the Nav was installed (RDS & PTY), with the addition of the Nav-Min function.

If BMW does modify what's available depending on the region, does this mean that my radio tuner should do all these things (including TMC? - or is that a separate tuner?)? Can the dealer enable the functions independantly of the 'region' that the radio is set to?

Thanks again,

Paul Martin
Australia


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## gfeiner (Jun 27, 2003)

TMC may be a special tuner. I have read that you also need a special TMC enabled version of the navigation map disk.


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