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Lately I've been in a bit of a rabbit hole on YouTube looking at AM transmitter tours for facilities ranging from 2000 to 50000W transmitters (and beyond! Look

Lately I've been in a bit of a rabbit hole on YouTube looking at AM transmitter tours for facilities ranging from 2000 to 50000W transmitters (and beyond! Look up WLW for an insane facility that seems like it was built by mad scientists!), and it was interesting the variety of methods they used to control their AM signals. Some stations have highly complex phased antenna arrays designed to distribute the signal more north, or in a certain pattern, to avoid certain cities. Others turn off completely at night, and yet others have transmitters that shed load at night to just reduce overall coverage with a simpler antenna system. And all that, while companies like Tesla have started not even including support for the AM band on their car radio tuners...

m348e912 4y ago
>>And all that, while companies like Tesla have started not even including support for the AM band on their car radio tuners... Seems like a safety issue. Some localities share traffic and safety information on an AM frequency when you're driving through the area. Example: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Thruway_Info_%281%29.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Thruway_...
- booi 4y ago
  You’re supposed to get your important information from twitter now - Tesla, probably
  - toomuchtodo 4y ago
    It’s due to EM interference. BMW, Tesla, Audi, Porsche, Volvo, and Volkswagen have all removed AM radio from their electric vehicles. Ford is dropping it from the 2023 F150 Lightning. There is a cost to improve shielding for a good AM UX in EVs, so cheaper to drop it. https://archive.ph/2022.12.10-142534/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/10/business/media/am-radio-cars.html https://archive.ph/2022.12.10-142534/https://www.nytimes.com...
cypress66 4y ago
> And all that, while companies like Tesla have started not even including support for the AM band on their car radio tuners... I would assume the percentage of drivers that listen to AM radio to be very small. And even smaller for the Tesla audience, who likely uses some internet based radio or music service.
kawfey 4y ago
I was about to share your own SuperTower video to you, before I saw your username lol. for the uninitiated: https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/1-million-watts-rf-how-fm-supertower-works https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/1-million-watts-rf-ho...

m348e912 4y ago

>>And all that, while companies like Tesla have started not even including support for the AM band on their car radio tuners... Seems like a safety issue. Some localities share traffic and safety information on an AM frequency when you're driving through the area. Example: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Thruway_Info_%281%29.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Thruway_...

booi 4y ago
You’re supposed to get your important information from twitter now - Tesla, probably
- toomuchtodo 4y ago
  It’s due to EM interference. BMW, Tesla, Audi, Porsche, Volvo, and Volkswagen have all removed AM radio from their electric vehicles. Ford is dropping it from the 2023 F150 Lightning. There is a cost to improve shielding for a good AM UX in EVs, so cheaper to drop it. https://archive.ph/2022.12.10-142534/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/10/business/media/am-radio-cars.html https://archive.ph/2022.12.10-142534/https://www.nytimes.com...

cypress66 4y ago

> And all that, while companies like Tesla have started not even including support for the AM band on their car radio tuners... I would assume the percentage of drivers that listen to AM radio to be very small. And even smaller for the Tesla audience, who likely uses some internet based radio or music service.

kawfey 4y ago

I was about to share your own SuperTower video to you, before I saw your username lol. for the uninitiated: https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/1-million-watts-rf-how-fm-supertower-works https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/1-million-watts-rf-ho...