Phil Landmeier @shuttersparks@social.cleverlibre.org

@dtelder @vfrmedia @w7voa Here in the USA there are lots of signals at night in even the most remote unpopulated parts of the country. In major cities like Los Angeles, every "channel" is occupied by a station in the daytime. At night, everything reconfigures and many stations shut down to clear the frequency for the clear channel station that operates on that frequency at night.

For example, KFI (640 kHz) and KNX (1070 kHz) in Los Angeles are 50,000 watt clear channel stations. They operate full power 24/7. Throughout the western USA, there are other smaller stations that operate on those same frequencies during the day. At night they shut down so KNX and KFI can be heard throughout the western USA without interference.

@vfrmedia @dtelder @w7voa Nice! Are they still operating from a ship? Operating over saltwater is advantageous.

@dtelder @vfrmedia @w7voa Well, I'm hoping they don't remove it.

I wonder if our "wise" leaders in Washington, DC remember that AM radio is part of the nation's emergency infrastructure.

@ppn Weird and wonderful. I loved Twitter 10, 12, 14 years ago but it stopped being that useful and interesting even before Elmo took over.

@ppn @w7voa That is absolutely a value. People don't think about it in the USA but they will if a major emergency hits. That's when the clear channel stations like KSL, KFI, and KNX will return to the limelight they had long ago. After nightfall, people hungry for news will sit around their AM radio. Hopefully, such a situation will never happen but it could.

@vfrmedia @dtelder @w7voa Wow, I haven't thought about Radio Caroline in decades. It was a popular topic in magazines of the 60s and 70s. Pirate radio is a romantic topic. Haha. Long ago I was an avid SWL and listened to Radio Swan Island and Radio Havana among many others. The latter wasn't pirate radio but was a bit unusual for someone in the USA to listen to -- I think. On the other hand, listening to shortwave radio was unusual in the USA. Today, nobody even knows what it is. Never heard of it. This makes it extra difficult to explain what ham radio is.

I would have guessed Radio Caroline no longer existed because the Internet kind of eliminates the need for pirate radio.

Modern cars like my Corolla are completely quiet as far as I can tell. No radio interference throughout the HF bands. As a ham radio guy it's been a very long time since I've heard a car pass by on the radio, bzzzzzt. In the 70s it was pretty common. The engineers seem to have it figured out.

@dtelder @w7voa Electrical noise (spark plug wires, etc.) have to be cleaned anyway, at least in the U.S. A car, the same as any modern device, must not be an unintentional radiator.

There are also microprocessor upsets to be avoided, especially in the ECU. Consideration must also be given to cars in police or emergency service that will be equipped with additional radios and myriad microprocessor-based electronics. Ignition noise would be most unwelcome in those settings as well.

In any case, they'll do as they wish. Quieting down an ignition system or suppressing alternator whine was something we sometimes had to do in the 1960s. Ultimately, the electrical noise problem should disappear along with ICE vehicles.

@brouhaha @w7voa No doubt. All 25 cents worth.

@w7voa Not that my opinion matters, but AM radio in cars should absolutely be retained. The electronics to do it is trivial. In fact the function is surely built into the radio's chip already and costs nothing.

In cars is exactly where you want AM radio. It's wonderful when driving long distances to entertain yourself with it, especially at night when faraway stations are easy to pick up.

If I found myself owning a car without it, I'd install a separate radio with AM.