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thewayneThere's a lot going on here.
Teslas have never had AM radio in their cars. Recently, Ford announced that they were eliminating AM from their 2024 Mustang and probably from future models. WELL, Congresscritters can't have that! So they've stepped in and eleven of them have co-sponsored a bill to REQUIRE car manufacturers to include AM radio at no cost to the buyers!
There's a few issues at play here.
The bill's originators say the government needs a medium that ensures emergency broadcasts can be received by everyone.
Contrary point: for a broadcast to be received, the radio must be turned on and tuned to the correct frequency. And an awful lot of people carry portable radios in their pockets most of the time these days that can receive emergency broadcast messages. This was demonstrated with people receiving government broadcast messages during the pandemic.
Additional point: AM radio - and FM - are rapidly declining markets due to streaming. Is this an effort to prop up a buggy whip market?
For the car makers, there is a very, verymajor technical issue here: EMI. Electro-magnetic interference. You might have noticed EMI first-hand if you've ever listened to Bluetooth headphones while making microwave popcorn: it's not uncommon for there to be a little bit of EMI leakage from the microwave, and Bluetooth is a very weak signal, so your headphones are frequently a little staticky while making your popcorn.
Guess what?
Electric cars - I'm not sure whether hybrids also have this problem - generate HUGE amounts of EMI! It is extremely hard to get a clean AM radio signal inside an electric car.
THIS is probably the biggest reason why car makers don't want to bother with AM radios in future cars - they know it's going to be one giant humongoid PITA! They don't want to have to repeatedly try to explain to the average customer why the AM signal, which is never of that great of quality, is even worse in their brand-new car.
I'm not going to get into the details of what the differences are between AM and FM radio types. But if you've spent any significant time listening to AM during the summer, you've probably heard the *pop* with nearby lightning strikes and such. AM is very sensitive to EMI. FM is not. AM has the advantage of the signal carrying a lot further than FM, but with much poorer signal quality. each mode has its trade-offs, but each is also losing market share to the internet and streaming. For me, the only time I listen to the radio is when I'm in Phoenix and I'm frequently listening to NPR or the local classical station. Otherwise, I'm streaming music or podcasts from my iPhone. And I've been doing that for 20+ years now.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/05/ev-advocates-join-tech-groups-and-automakers-to-oppose-am-radio-mandate/
Teslas have never had AM radio in their cars. Recently, Ford announced that they were eliminating AM from their 2024 Mustang and probably from future models. WELL, Congresscritters can't have that! So they've stepped in and eleven of them have co-sponsored a bill to REQUIRE car manufacturers to include AM radio at no cost to the buyers!
There's a few issues at play here.
The bill's originators say the government needs a medium that ensures emergency broadcasts can be received by everyone.
Contrary point: for a broadcast to be received, the radio must be turned on and tuned to the correct frequency. And an awful lot of people carry portable radios in their pockets most of the time these days that can receive emergency broadcast messages. This was demonstrated with people receiving government broadcast messages during the pandemic.
Additional point: AM radio - and FM - are rapidly declining markets due to streaming. Is this an effort to prop up a buggy whip market?
For the car makers, there is a very, verymajor technical issue here: EMI. Electro-magnetic interference. You might have noticed EMI first-hand if you've ever listened to Bluetooth headphones while making microwave popcorn: it's not uncommon for there to be a little bit of EMI leakage from the microwave, and Bluetooth is a very weak signal, so your headphones are frequently a little staticky while making your popcorn.
Guess what?
Electric cars - I'm not sure whether hybrids also have this problem - generate HUGE amounts of EMI! It is extremely hard to get a clean AM radio signal inside an electric car.
THIS is probably the biggest reason why car makers don't want to bother with AM radios in future cars - they know it's going to be one giant humongoid PITA! They don't want to have to repeatedly try to explain to the average customer why the AM signal, which is never of that great of quality, is even worse in their brand-new car.
I'm not going to get into the details of what the differences are between AM and FM radio types. But if you've spent any significant time listening to AM during the summer, you've probably heard the *pop* with nearby lightning strikes and such. AM is very sensitive to EMI. FM is not. AM has the advantage of the signal carrying a lot further than FM, but with much poorer signal quality. each mode has its trade-offs, but each is also losing market share to the internet and streaming. For me, the only time I listen to the radio is when I'm in Phoenix and I'm frequently listening to NPR or the local classical station. Otherwise, I'm streaming music or podcasts from my iPhone. And I've been doing that for 20+ years now.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/05/ev-advocates-join-tech-groups-and-automakers-to-oppose-am-radio-mandate/
no subject
Date: 2023-05-24 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-25 09:07 pm (UTC)I would expected - I don't know this for a fact - that the transmitter equipment for AM is also less expensive.
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Date: 2023-05-25 12:09 am (UTC)Hugs, Jon
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Date: 2023-05-25 12:29 am (UTC)https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-unlock-fm-radio-hidden-smartphone/
no subject
Date: 2023-05-25 09:15 pm (UTC)I had known about phones with FM reception, I don't think I knew about it being built in to the LTE chipset. That's very cool! Unfortunately it looks like the newer versions of Android OS have blocked it and NextRadio is no more. Apple dropped it from their app store several years ago. It would be nice if the app software were available and someone took it upon themselves to update it for the newer OSes with Apple opening the door to independent app stores, at least in Europe, soon.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-25 12:45 am (UTC)https://blog.consumerguide.com/a-brief-history-of-car-radio/
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Date: 2023-05-25 09:24 pm (UTC)I had no idea about the Motorola story! Fascinating!
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Date: 2023-05-25 03:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-25 09:26 pm (UTC)Ah, interesting possibility! I commented on another post that AM transmission equipment is probably less expensive than FM, and that could also be a factor in the spread of conspiracy theories. Rush Limburgher was most commonly on AM networks.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-25 04:47 am (UTC)And in each locality, one AM station becomes the centerpiece of the system. When it broadcasts is buzzing electronic alert signal, it also transmits a combination of two audio tones (like the tones on a touch-tone phone) Heard as audio, this combination of frequencies sound very harsh and discordant and shrill. this particular combination of frequencies sets off alarms in OTHER radio stations who have a receiver tuned to the local "master" alert station. to the first one. This enables them to spread the necessary information quickly to the whole region.
It's a fairly well-designed system, and it has stood up to testing and actual https://youtube.com/shorts/vE7KlwYMVOc?feature=shareemergencies quite well since the 1950s.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-25 09:28 pm (UTC)Just like in amateur radio, you're using AM/SSB for long-distance communications, if you're using an FM handi-talkie, you're tying into repeater networks to get substantial distance (licensed ham operator for over 20 years, enthusiast non-licensed since the '70s).
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Date: 2023-05-26 08:16 am (UTC)I never had a ham license. My family coulnd't have afforded to buy me the equipment. I never had to learn Morse code! But I got a first class radiotelephone operator's license around 48 years ago, and I might be able to convince the FCC to reinstate it somehow. (Not that I'm going back to a job in radio - not at my age!)
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Date: 2023-05-26 07:32 pm (UTC)The ham radio licenses no longer require learning Morse, you just have to pass the technical tests. And you can buy a dual band handheld (2m/440) for about $150 these days!
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Date: 2023-05-25 01:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-05-25 05:52 pm (UTC)I mean let's just do away with ALL free means of communication.
Analog - gone
AM - will be gone soon.
I still know people with flip phones. Not everyone has Smart stuff. Oh gosh now I am ranting, sorry. :(
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Date: 2023-05-25 09:31 pm (UTC)No worries, absolutely valid points. I was reading a post on Quoara recently about a person who went to a job center to help a class with resumes. The class didn't know how to turn on their computers, much less use Word. It wasn't that they were stupid, just raised in a different era and previously had jobs that didn't involve computer work.
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Date: 2023-05-25 07:02 pm (UTC)AM hate radio.
Almost all that's left on that dial are the Dark Descendants of Rush- Lumpy Hannity and Michael Whiner Savage and Mark This and Mark That- and the Jesus stations that are supposedly nonpolitical but spew the same message.
Their base contains an overwhelmingly large percentage of people who still listen to this shit, and any attempt to "cancel" or "censor" them would go about as well as a trans man's bra stuffed into a rainbow Bud Light can.
We have a plug-in hybrid, and the interference blows out any signal once you're about 20 miles from the transmitters of this crap. Probably one reason they hate EVs so much.
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Date: 2023-05-25 09:36 pm (UTC)Another comment pointed this out. Very cogent reason!
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Date: 2023-05-26 07:22 pm (UTC)So I wouldn't be surprised if at least some of this "no! We must have AM radio" push is trying to make the constituencies that have been Dittoheads since Rush started bloviating stay happy that they can get their fix of conspiracies and right-wing talking points as they drive.