The fight for the survival of AM radio is playing out not only on Capitol Hill but across America. I went deep in the heart of #Texas to give a listen. Here's my VOA News reporting: https://www.voanews.com/a/am-radio-fights-to-stay-on-car-dashboards/7202566.html
@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.
@shuttersparks @w7voa
The cost is the antenna, ferrite filters, antenna amplifier, cleaning all other electronics in the car to not interfere on AM(called emc and is probably the most expensive part), software and the place on the screen to switch radio band. US is one of several markets.
I thought everyone were either streaming or listened to satellite radio?
@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.
@dtelder @shuttersparks @w7voa
I live in the UK, and listen to Radio Caroline on AM quite often - the entertainment system in my car (a VW Polo) - although it is petrol rather than electric - is good at keeping out the interference on AM. I am sceptical that modern EV manufacturers can't keep out the interference as EMC compatibility has been a requirement for lots of electronics for decades - this is just driven by cost cutting and greed...
@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.
@shuttersparks @dtelder @w7voa
Radio Caroline got a legal licence in 2017, UK commercial broadcasters and some BBC services vacated AM (similarly across Northern Europe) freeing up frequency allocations for community broadcasters, short term events stations etc. Caroline transmit with 4kW (and TX powered by solar panels during sunny days!) - I can drive to visit relatives in Reading (130 miles / 209 km ) away from my hometown of Ipswich and the signal is strong for most of the journey...
@vfrmedia @shuttersparks @w7voa
I will check 648kHz next time I go out at night by car.
In Swedish there is nothing on AM daytime, but I hear a few stations on nights. I miss Radio Luxemburg on 1440. I guess the new Caroline do have a license. :)
@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.
@shuttersparks @vfrmedia @w7voa
Are there still HD-radio transmitting on AM?
I loved the quality change when the tuner first played AM and then blended over to crisp digital audio.
I guess it is annoying for those not having suitable receiver.
@dtelder @shuttersparks @w7voa
I think its still classed as experimental technology (there might be competing systems in Europe and USA), but I saw it mentioned as one of the solutions to the EV interference problems..
@shuttersparks @dtelder @w7voa
The ship based broadcasts are only every month, the TX site is at Orfordness in Suffolk (the former BBC World Service transmitter site) which is near the coast..
When they do broadcast from the Ross Revenge; they use an LTE modem (with only a 150mm antenna hidden in the huge mast) for the digital studio to transmitter link!
@shuttersparks @dtelder @w7voa
There is a photo of the TX site in this article - so the are still pretty much operating over saltwater..
@vfrmedia @shuttersparks @w7voa
In an EV you have a 400V DC battery. The motor needs to have sinusoidal 3-phase at high current, on a frequency depending on speed. That is a challenge to achieve without interfering on AM.
Spark plug noises are quite trivial to hide in a modern radio. It mutes a few ms and you don't notice.
All companies are greedy, it is by design. But by making the car cheaper to build, they can offer lower prices and survive. Or earn more money. :)
@shuttersparks @dtelder @vfrmedia @w7voa
They have made no move to ensure that our cell phones can pick up radio signals of any kind, despite the fact that the FCC early on promised this feature.
Most people on this thread probably already listened to Katie Thornton's podcast, "The Divided Dial." I cannot recommend it highly enough.
@Eohippa @dtelder @vfrmedia @w7voa I use Motorola phones and they always include an FM receiver (88-108 MHz). Better than nothing. It uses the headphone cord as an antenna.
Medium wave AM broadcast reception would be problematic in a cell phone because of the antenna required. Plus, the antenna would have to be located right next to RF noise sources that are a problem with AM. FM is noise-immune.
@shuttersparks
Thanks for the information.
I worked alongside excellent AM news producers/reporters when I was a print reporter. They were among the first casualties of ClearChanneling and media consolidation, and I miss them still.
@Eohippa Yes. The world was a better place when most of the 7,000 radio stations in the country were privately / locally owned and operated.
This small local station here is run by a career radio guy who got tired of the big business side and went small. He plays classic country music which he calls real country (I don't disagree), does call-in shows, call-in buy-sell-trade shows. It's fun because you personally know some of the callers. Local focus.
@vfrmedia @shuttersparks @w7voa
I got curious an just checked AM and I could hear Caroline just outside Trollhättan, Sweden. Noisy and some co-channel. I got around 13 seek-stop on MW and 3 on LW, (198, 225, 252).
Most interesting to me was 531kHz where someone sends dance music "Dansbandsmusik" that is only popular in Sweden and Norway. No identification, so I guess pirate. :)
@dtelder @shuttersparks @w7voa
Caroline is currently operating on reduced power - about 1kW due to a transmitter fault with the larger TX - hopefully they will be back on 4kW soon. They are trying to get licenced for 10kW, but Ofcom UK may be getting pushback from Spain due to RTVE also using the frequency..
@shuttersparks @dtelder @w7voa Now the problem got reversed and the am radio is a problem for sensitive ev electronics and shielding them against it is a problem
@thermaq @shuttersparks @w7voa
I would say that the car works fine with or without AM-transmitters around. Except for it's radio.
It is like driving around with an Alexanderson generator on board.
@shuttersparks @w7voa
There are regulations for what emissions a vehicle is allowed on all frequencies. For AM in a car is the problem that the antenna is actually equally directed into the car (in case of window antennas, if you have a rod antenna on the roof, this is less of a problem).
So the signal level needed to interfere with the AM-radio is much less than the legal requirement.
Secondly, since the radio is following the total signal level, a very weak interferer can make annoying sounds.