17 ms·
Congress wants AM radio in all new cars – trade groups say that’s a mistake
- salad-tycoon 3y agoQuestion to the knowledgeable group here, is AM radio frequency useful for anything else? Would terminating commercial radios benefit any other industry?
- 908B64B197 3y ago> is AM radio frequency useful for anything else? Emergency broadcasts.
- ewgoforth 3y agoYou do see signs saying tune in to XXXX Hz to hear information about road construction, air port traffic, etc.
- massysett 3y agoAnd do you actually do this? Whenever I do, the station isn’t working.
- ars 3y agoI do it all the time, never once had a station that didn't work. Usually it's just a a couple boring boring words on a loop.
- hnburnsy 3y agoPretty soon this will be...install our app to access the latest road/construction information...
- salad-tycoon 3y agoSorry, I definitely should have mention any other commercial* gains? As in, any possible chance of a not glaringly obvious 3rd party angle?
- formvoltron 3y agoAM radio is low frequency radio, right? Good for long distance but you can't pack too many bits into it. Perfect for finding lost objects / dogs / cats. Weather announcements. What else??
- creeble 3y agoNot good for finding lost dogs / cats unless hey carry a very large battery and antenna. Good for long distance, but only with a band-matching antenna (and plenty of power) at the transmitting end. But fantastic at reaching multiple simple receivers simultaneously over a very wide area with voice-quality transmission when you do.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- bradfa 3y agoI believe AM commercial radio broadcasts in the USA are medium frequency, not low frequency. My AM radio tuner on my desk goes from 530 to 1700 kHz. Making good antennas for this frequency range generally requires rather physically large antennas as the wavelength is quite large, so finding objects is not really a good use of these frequencies.
- ianburrell 3y agoThe wavelength for 1700 kHz is 578 ft. Antenna would be half that, 289 ft. AM stations usually have a tower that is the antenna.
- throw0101b 3y agoSee previous discussion: * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35416627 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35416627 Bad weather, traffic, mountain passes, etc.
- imbusy111 3y agoBut they would be cool to kill off FM radio? I assume AM broadcasts can cover significantly larger areas than FM.
- MrRadar 3y ago> I assume AM broadcasts can cover significantly larger areas than FM. Yes, depending on the broadcast power AM radio signals can be picked up from farther away than FM. At night, depending on atmospheric conditions, AM signals can be received from hundreds of miles away. For example, see the daytime [1] and nighttime [2] coverage of WCCO-AM (a 50 kW clear-channel AM station) compared to the coverage of KSTP-FM (a 95 kW FM station) [3]. As you can see, the AM station can broadcast beyond the horizon (well beyond at night) while the FM station, even with twice the power, can't match even the daytime signal of the AM station. [1] https://i.imgur.com/uSi2Hx7.png https://i.imgur.com/uSi2Hx7.png [2] https://i.imgur.com/AJiXEVB.png https://i.imgur.com/AJiXEVB.png [3] https://i.imgur.com/aL2HqsT.png https://i.imgur.com/aL2HqsT.png
- 082349872349872 3y agoFor terrestrial stations, yes, but how does it compare to satellite broadcast? I had a prof back in the 20th century who claimed that FM stations in the States were fairly localised due to market (serving local ads) forces; that Japan had a different economic model for radio; and that if the US had chosen to adopt the JP style, it would only take something like 3 broadcast (from orbit?) cells to cover the continental 48.
- elromulous 3y agoWhile it's true AM radio is very easy receive, I imagine it's a much less effective use of bandwidth compared to the amount of information (the shannon kind) modern digital communication can cram on there, no? Wouldn't it be better to repurpose those frequencies for country wide digital broadcast that could also send other data during emergency situations?
- AlgorithmicTime 3y ago[dead]
- riskable 3y agoAM radio's band isn't suitable for modern high-speed communications. The most you can extract out of it is ~1200 bps: https://www.diffen.com/difference/AM_vs_FM https://www.diffen.com/difference/AM_vs_FM Even if you multiplexed all possible amplitudes into one it still wouldn't be worth it for (two-way) digital communications.
- hotpotamus 3y agoThat seems unintuitive given that we had 56K modems running over telephone systems also designed to carry human-audible audio.
- ianburrell 3y agoThe radio bands are small. Each AM HD station uses 30 kHz which gives 40-60 kbit. That isn't enough for full fidelity music. And that is using more than one frequency since analog AM is 10kHz stations. AM band uses a large frequency range, 530-1700 kHz, but the total bandwidth is small, slightly more than 1MHz. Telephone is bad compared to AM and really bad compared to FM or CDs. Human voice fits in much smaller bandwidth than music.
- cf100clunk 3y ago> Each AM HD station uses 30 kHz which gives 40-60 kbit. That isn't enough for full fidelity music That's part and parcel of station management's programming decisions for HD Radio subchannels on the AM band, hence the focus on ''talk''.
- MrRadar 3y agoI would like to see this, and I would also like to see an expansion of the FM band (with support for it in cars also mandated). Low-VHF TV channels 4-6 are adjacent to the existing FM band and are not really suitable for digital TV broadcasting due to the type of noise they experience (there are very few TV channels which still use those frequencies, and the most of the ones that did post-digital transision used channel 6 to broadcast as pseudo-radio stations since most FM radios could receive the analog audio of channel 6). That's 18 MHz of spectrum which would nearly double the size of the FM broadcast band which is getting quite croweded in many markets with the FCC allowing AM stations to broadcast low-power FM translators to try to help their market share.
- cf100clunk 3y agoThe iBiquity IBOC system (a.k.a. HD Radio) now owned by DTS, as implemented in the North American FM radio band, features multiplexing of 2 or 3 subchannels per station across the existing band, so expanding the FM radio band has already been made a non-starter or moot point.
- MrRadar 3y agoThe sound quality of "HD Radio" sucks. It's like listening to 96 kbps MP3s off Napster back in the day. Also, cheap FM radios still don't support it because 1) it's a US-specific technology and 2) iBiquity charges (charged?) obscene licensing fees for it. Doing a quick search on Amazon, the cheapest "HD" radios are around $75 vs $10 for the cheapest analog-only models.
- cf100clunk 3y agoI'm not sure how that relates to the issue of AM radio being dropped by car manufacters, but IMHO the U.S. ''not invented here'' syndrome seemed to give iBiquity too much of a head start over the more open global digital radio formats, so I agree with your points.
- buescher 3y agoA really good analog FM signal can sound very good on a very good receiver but I am a picky listener and I would not characterize HD FM that way. I don’t hear any difference on my car stereo and I hear very little difference on my old Sony XDR-F1HD, sadly long out of production and one of the best FM tuners ever made.
- mountainofdeath 3y agoI mean, AM radio is basically dead (as is FM radio). Most of the stations are foreign language, talk-shows and and in at least one case in the USA, overt foreign propaganda by an unfriendly nation. I imagine the radio spectrum can be repurposed for better uses.
- idontpost 3y ago> AM radio is basically dead (as is FM radio) This is pretty out of touch. Drive-time AM radio is still a HUGE market in certain places. Think Rush Limbaugh et al. Although, that might be what you mean by "overt foreign propaganda by an unfriendly nation", the fact remains that it's 1) hugely popular by the numbers, and 2) directly beneficial to the certain congressional vermin.
- aspectmin 3y agoOne might suspect that this is the real reason they are pushing it?
- poo-yie 3y agoRush Limbaugh is basically dead.
- mountainofdeath 3y agoOh no, I mean literal state propaganda. The parent company of Russia Today leased an AM radio station to spout literal Russian propaganda (English language of course). * Radio Sputnik for 6 hours a day* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCXL#Broadcast_of_Radio_Sputnik https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCXL#Broadcast_of_Radio_Sputni...
- woodruffw 3y agoThis seems like a strange hill for automotive manufacturers to take a stand on: I can't imagine that the bill of materials for the AM radio is anything but tiny.
- MrRadar 3y agoI believe the issue is more that the increasing amount of EM noise in the AM band from electric auto components (particularly EV power inverters) means they would have to invest more engineering in to filtering that noise out.
- woodruffw 3y agoThat's helpful context, thank you!
- jhoechtl 3y agoThat's the reason, yes. That makes cars mote expensive. On the other side there are levels for unwanted radio emissions, how do the cars pass them? How do cheap cell phone chargers pass them? Or is nobody looking at this?
- jeroenhd 3y agoCompliance can be easy if you're designing a form of Faraday cage. Just make sure the car captures enough of the noise within its frame and you've got a pretty good start. Your car will comply with most (far from all) EM regulations as long as it doesn't disturb things outside the car. The AM radio exists within the car. It probably even exists within the parts of the car that normally just get a metal box around it to shield the components. It's also very sensitive by its nature. It's hardly an impossible feat, but car manufacturers will save every penny they can. Pretending to be "on your side" against the damn oppressive government forcing them to build provisions for areas without cell reception will probably also score some points with the public which mostly lives in areas where you don't need AM radio for important information.
- 3y ago
- tomatotomato37 3y agoUnrelated but I wish electric automakers used the electromagnetic interference of their motors as an engine noise, since after watching some videos of Teslas picked up on the AM frequency it's quite a nice sound
- jhoechtl 3y agoBad idea as long as a massive engine sound is kinda cool. I am a short wave enthusiast and EV electromagnetic noise is bad.
- tomatotomato37 3y agoI mean I don't imagine it would be modifying the motor itself to be throwing off anymore radiation than usual, rather capturing the noise already being produced and sending to a speaker in the cabin somewhere
- JohnFen 3y agoOnly if there's an off switch. I certainly wouldn't want that sort of noise. Ideally, I'd hear no noise whatsoever from the car when I'm inside of it.
- r00fus 3y ago[flagged]
- anoonmoose 3y agoI don't really wanna get into a political flamewar but I think for a person to be accurately called "notoriously corrupt" I should pretty easily be able to find...I dunno, at least an accusation of corruption somewhere, if not some actual punishments for actual corruption. This dude's Wikipedia article doesn't even have a "controversy" section...hell, I tried searching his name plus the word "corrupt" and still couldn't find anything that justified that. Just one breathless opinion piece from Jonathan Chait about how people voting for Gottheimer would be better served by the opposite party. fwiw, I had never heard of him before I looked him up. If I had to guess I'd say your label was based on some combo of political donations received and political positions taken but that seems like standard to below average corruption for Congress to me lol.
- m348e912 3y agoI have never heard of him as well.
- Supermancho 3y agoI found reports, easily. Google: josh gottheimer bribes What on earth did you search for that you turned up nothing? https://theridgewoodblog.net/representative-josh-gottheimer-embroiled-in-insider-trading-scandal/ https://theridgewoodblog.net/representative-josh-gottheimer-...
- anoonmoose 3y agoDid you, though? Is that a report? Or, is it a press release, written pseudonymously, on a local blog no one has ever heard of, that only quotes one of Gottheimer's political opponents, who is accusing him of doing something that is extremely common? Note that last part- even if I took every word of that as gospel truth (which I have no reason to do), what is "notoriously corrupt" about doing something that I think we all think most of Congress is doing? I searched..."Josh Gottheimer corrupt". And that certainly didn't come up. But again...that's not a very convincing link. It's literally just his opponent saying "he's corrupt".
- aquanext 3y agoAM radio is a tried and true technology. It's super simple. I think at the very least they should come to a compromise in which certain emergency frequencies are available/accessible in all cars.
- Accujack 3y agoThey should expand the use of the AM band to include low speed digital transmissions, and make it a standard for data interchange between vehicles and for warning of road conditions, local alerts, accidents, etc.
- johnwalkr 3y agoIn Japan, GPS head units in cars receive such data over FM radio.[1] Nowadays your phone usually provides a data connection to the head unit, but it's still nice to have this official information provided. [1]https://www.vics.or.jp/en/start/indicate/index.html https://www.vics.or.jp/en/start/indicate/index.html
- devonbleak 3y agoSo people without cars are supposed to do what? Fast forward to the first emergency that actually needs this and you're gonna see a bunch of asphyxiation deaths from people running their cars in the garage to listen to the last AM radio they have. If they really want to keep AM radio viable start a public awareness campaign about its importance and make radios available for free.
- JohnFen 3y agoI'm fully on board with keeping AM radio around. I think it's immensely valuable. But considering that the FCC has already eliminated a number of very valuable things through frequency deallocation, I think we need to face up to the real possibility that AM radio is next in line for the chopping block. It's a real shame, but here we are. I advise people to get a shortwave receiver. They're inexpensive, and are actually even better in emergency situations.
- poo-yie 3y agoAgreed! It reminds me of the days when we had POTS for telephone service. It was great to have when there was an extended power outage.
- MrRadar 3y ago> Fast forward to the first emergency that actually needs this and you're gonna see a bunch of asphyxiation deaths from people running their cars in the garage to listen to the last AM radio they have. In almost every car you can run the radio off just the battery without the engine and most people have at least one radio in their home besides their car. (If you don't have one, you really should and they're only $10 on Amazon.) > If they really want to keep AM radio viable start a public awareness campaign about its importance and make radios available for free. Public awareness campaigns won't pay the bills for radio stations. This is about ensuring there is enough of a market for AM radio stations (since most radio listening is done in the car these days) that they can sustain themselves from ad sales so they can fulfill their public service function in the event of an emergency without (direct) government subsidies to keep the lights on.
- sgwizdak 3y agoThere are areas in the US that do not have cell/data coverage where important road information updates (think mountain pass conditions) are broadcast over AM radio.
- cf100clunk 3y agoVast areas of the Americas are barren of any FM radio reception but receive AM well. The manufacturers that want to drop AM radio seem to find that fact inconvenient.
- Beldin 3y agoI've seen three arguments in favour of AM: 1. Range 2. Bouncing off of ionosphere 3. Easy to DIY a radio. I would guess the first two have nothing to do with the type of modulation, but with the frequency bands being used and/or the transmitter power. That is: I would guess it'd work equally well for frequency modulated radio signals broadcasted on those bands with the same transmitters. So those arguments are in favour of using certain specs for broadcasting, but don't seem to require any specific modulation. (Would love to hear if that's incorrect though) I'm not sure about DIY'ing a radio - no clue how the modulation complicated things. That could well be a reason favoring AM.
- cf100clunk 3y agoOn your points: 1. Yes, with analogue signals, given equal ERP (Effective Radiated Power) levels, FM modulation breaks down with a ''cliff effect'' (suddenly) while AM blasts on. Typically, on the receiver end as the range increases, an FM Radio stereo signal will drop to mono for a while, then just disappear even if a carrier is still detected in a sensitive signal meter. With HD Radio digital FM, weak signal will cause an abrupt loss of any subchannel(s) and reversion to only analogue before the cliff effect takes place. Again, analogue AM signals barrel on until they simply diffuse into the background noise. HD Radio digital AM signals drop to analogue as the range increases, which is why none of them are run digital-only. 2. Yes, AM band signals bounce around a bit in the evening sky, so AM Radio stations often have nighttime power reductions specified in their licenses. The FM Radio band can experience its own effects like tropospheric ducting (see any number of radio and TV DXing sites for much deeper info) but with nowhere near the predicatability and stability of strong AM signals being bounced. 3. Yep. See the crystal radio and ferrite coil comments elsewhere in this thread. Other: Regarding the modulation being transmitted on a particular band, it has a lot to do with tolerance of interference. A perfect example comparing FM and AM on the same band is when the North American analogue TV standard NTSC was being devised, which originally used all AM modulation, but the audio portion of the signal was found to be so disrupted by the video portion that the relatively new FM modulation was used for the audio instead. In AM radio there is only just the audio, so in effect the problems of interference at the source are gone and pushed out to the receiver end as being an accepted norm. It used to be common for charging and ignition systems of cars and trucks that were of the old breaker point type to generate clicking, tapping, and whining on the AM band (the title of Frank Zappa's ''Dinah-Moe Humm'' is a reference to the problem of dynamo or magneto noise from DC generators) but shielding, AC alternators, and the use of condensers and better materials by the automakers solved those problems. Home AM radios would pick up refrigerator solenoid clicks and other such noises, which could be very problematic in apartment blocks, but again better shielding and other techniques in consumer electric devices were soon practiced. Nevertheless, environmental interference on the AM radio band has always been a problem to this day. FM radio has its own problems with interference, but typically in congested urban areas in which ''picket fencing'' from large structures can occur. Digital radio, like iBiquity's IBOC HD Radio system, uses error correction and buffering to combat such interference problems. So, you could transmit either AM or FM modulation on your signal on a given band, but you'd better be ready for the interference consquences of each.
- jmclnx 3y ago>Unlike radio alerts, they can also contain an embedded hyperlink to guide the recipient to helpful information within seconds of receiving the alert; given that 85% of Americans with a cell phone own a smartphone Really stupid quote, who paid for the article. If an emergency, people may need to travel in their auto. Am I suppose to play with my Cell Phone while driving ? Also if a weather issue will Cell Towers work ? How will your Cell Battery get charged. Real dumb thinking. AM Radio signals can be heard many hundreds of miles, some even a thousand miles. So yes, to me AM is a must for dire emergencies.
- bombcar 3y agoI also like the implication that 15% of Americans without smartphones are just unworthy of continuing to live in disaster situations.
- deprecative 3y agoMaybe it's harsh but if you can't be bothered to get equipment necessary for survival why should anyone else care?
- maerF0x0 3y agoWhat I'd like to see is a polling effort to see what percent of people have and know how to use their AM radio, vs percent with smart phones. A quick google suggests 87% of the world's population has a smart phone. Less than that percent of people own a car (cause kids dont have cars, maybe access to a car is sufficient?) Of course all this also comes down to resiliency and the better question of "Why not both?" -- a quick search on alibaba suggests you can get an AM radio for about $2, I doubt it adds more than $2 to a car manufacturer's cost (fully loaded with engineers parts distribution etc)
- e28eta 3y agoOther articles on this topic I’ve read mention EMI being a problem, and so I suspect it’s more than $2. For example, from the Verge in March: > Ford was joined by BMW, Mazda, Polestar, Rivian, Tesla, Volkswagen, and Volvo in staking out the position that AM radio is incompatible with EVs, citing electromagnetic interference from the powertrain. Indeed, Tesla made this same argument when it removed AM radio from its vehicles back in 2018. > According to a Vice article from 2016, the problem is when the interference gets picked up by the radio: >> EVs are powered by a rechargeable battery, electric motor, and a frequency converter that controls how much power the car’s electrical motors put out by turning voltage on and off thousands of times a second, basically chopping up energy. This process causes electromagnetic interference that gets picked up by the radio. I’m in favor of AM radios in cars
- thrillgore 3y ago[flagged]
- m348e912 3y agoIt's a bad take to factor in "content" into your opinion on the "medium". Talk radio has been moving to FM for some time, and there is plenty of AM/FM simulcast stations as well as additional programming made available via HD Radio. Suppose for a moment that AM was primarily driven by NPR type programming, would you still feel the same way?
- throw0101b 3y agoSee also previous discussion, "Ford to drop AM radio in new models, except commercial vehicles": * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35416627 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35416627
- WalterBright 3y agoWhen I was a kid I made an AM radio simply by connecting a 3 foot wire to the phono input to the amplifier.
- poo-yie 3y agoYou're probably also the kind of guy who writes his own C++ compiler!! ;)
- cf100clunk 3y agoI had a crystal radio set. It had the one crystal, one long wire, one ferrite core to loop the end of the wire around for tuning, one small speaker, and one wire for grounding. No electricity required. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_radio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_radio
- senko 3y agoMeanwhile in Europe: https://www.worlddab.org/dab/emergency-warning https://www.worlddab.org/dab/emergency-warning Oh, and also https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/security-and-emergencies/emergency-assistance-vehicles-ecall/index_en.htm https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/security-and-em... for good measure (unrelated).
- 082349872349872 3y agoI also don't listen to FM much anymore, but it may be worth recalling: in the States they still rely on sending little pieces of paper around for many payments, so there's probably a similar analogue fetish occurring in this instance. Anyone know which channels the Chinese send their emergency alerts over?
- explaininjs 3y agoPersonally, I’d never buy a car without AM radio. It’s often the only signal available when out in the wilderness, and even within civilization it’s the only readily accessible chunk of the EM spectrum that seems to still allow free speech. (edit: would love to hear people’s experience with CB/shortwave/ham/etc radio) I don’t know that we need legislation guaranteeing it, but I’d hope the invisible hand of the market sides with me anyways. That said I don’t see myself getting a new car regardless, at least not one made after the law requiring a television screen in your field of view while operating multi ton machinery at 60+ mph was put in place.
- amanaplanacanal 3y agoI’m wondering where you are that there is free speech on AM radio. Stations have licenses granted by the government, and stations get fined if they broadcast anything untoward. Any sort of wired communication has freer speech than that.
- explaininjs 3y agoUSA. Regarding the government, from 10pm to 6am the only thing prohibited is “Obscene content”, which is that which “appeals to an average person's prurient interest; depicts or describes sexual conduct in a "patently offensive" way; and, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value”. I haven’t yet found myself in want of that sort of material. At least not in audio-only form… https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/obscene-indecent-and-profane-broadcasts https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/obscene-indecent-and-pr...
- jcalvinowens 3y agoI was going to ask the same thing... it's hard to understand that viewpoint, in my mind broadcast radio is one of the least free forms of speech that exists. Most of us would get fined for broadcasting a typical lunch conversation.
- explaininjs 3y agoI was specifically comparing it to other forms of broadcast em radiation, obviously an E2E encrypted signal conversation will allow you to say more, but both the audience and stage are far smaller. Specifically, in the “wild west” hours (10-6) many AM stations will open up the phone lines to start an open dialogue with anyone who cares to join in, regarding just about anything they care to discuss. The types of people that call in and the topics they bring up are often very different from what you encounter online, and certainly miles away from what you’ll see on network television or any other form of mass media.
- thewebcount 3y agoI have no preference either way to keep or get rid of AM radio, but I have to wonder, do people under 30 even know what AM radio is or how to tune into it? Just like with manual transmissions and cursive writing, it's probably something they've never had any need to do. Does it help in an emergency if you not only don't know how to do it, but also don't know to do it. I was born in the 70s and listened to plenty of AM radio, but for the last 30+ years AM radio has basically meant "low quality far right talk and religious programming maybe with some country music on the side." I haven't even thought of turning on AM radio in literally decades.
- alocasia-1 3y agoI often see signs instructing to tune to whatever AM for weather info, so I don't think it's that far fetched. Kids learning to read ask questions about stuff they see. And FWIW, I was in line for a drive thru PCR covid test in late 2020 at a fair ground and they were broadcasting the instructions on an AM station, informing us by sign to tune in.
- nkotov 3y agoI turned on AM during a cross country road trip. It was fun exploring for an hour before switching back to bluetooth.
- galleywest200 3y agoIn my state (Washington) we have signs over most of the coastal highways and mountain passes saying "tune to XXXX AM when lights are flashing". So I am certain under 30's in Washington State know this.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- joker_minmax 3y agoWhere I live, the women's sports is on the AM radio when men's is on the FM band owned by the same station. There's also a BBC World Service mirror on AM. There's also a lot of non-English AM radio in the city I grew up in. I am under 30 and have used AM for these purposes quite often. Like a stone with lots of life underneath - just because something looks unused on the surface doesn't mean there isn't a bustling community.
- KRAKRISMOTT 3y agoThe BOM for a an AM radio is a few dollars only, what's the point of even lobbying? An antenna coaxial and a superheterodyne circuit on the main radio baseband (modern cars all come with a cellular connection) is all you need. You barely need any new parts, the existing components can be modified to support the feature.
- vvoid 3y agoIt's not to trim the BOM, it's because electric vehicles emit copious amounts of interference. It is easier to drop AM radio than suppress the RFI. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/10/business/media/am-radio-cars.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/10/business/media/am-radio-c... Technical point, you generally would not be able to recover an AM broadcast signal from a cellular baseband. You might be able to get it from a direct sampling receiver (some RTL-SDRs can do this), but it implies additional band filters and of course an antenna.
- taylodl 3y agoSo you're hunkered down in your home's tornado safe spot. How's the AM radio in your car going to provide you updates? It's not. That's why you should have an emergency radio. They even make models that are hand-cranked so that you don't even need power. They also have flashlights and distress signals. There's no need for Congress to stick their noses into matters they obviously haven't thought through.
- ars 3y agoIt's you that has not thought things through. Without AM radios in cars there will be no AM stations left, they'll shut down. Your hand cranked radio won't do you much good.
- taylodl 3y agoApparently you don't know the USDOT runs an AM station called the Highway Advisory Radio (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelers'_information_station) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelers'_information_station... There's nothing special about AM radio from a sending information to the populace perspective. If people are only listening to AM radio during emergencies then according to your thinking those same stations would be shut down. No, let's cut through the BS. This is about a GOP-led Congress legislating the ability for their constituents to continue being able to listen to conservative talk radio and trying to, not so cleverly, frame it as assisting people during an emergency. It should be easy to see it doesn't add up.
- taylodl 3y agoI should have also pointed out that NOAA operates the National Weather Radio and operate more than 1,000 transmitters in the U.S. and U.S. territories that continually provide weather updates and forecasts for your area. That hand-cranked radio? It receives NOAA weather broadcasts. Once again I say this GOP-led Congress is engaging in sleight of hand to maintain a market for conservative AM talk radio.
- galleywest200 3y ago> If people are only listening to AM radio during emergencies then according to your thinking those same stations would be shut down. What? Sports radio is still very popular. I catch the baseball game that way sometimes.
- gumby 3y agoIf there were a crisis I'm not sure it would occur to me to try AM radio, or any radio, nor would I know where to tune (I guess I could search). Back in the '89 Bay Area earthquake I did think of this, and the FM stations were broadcasting the emergency signal and told me where to tune to. But back then tape or radio was generally the choice anyway. I haven't listened to broadcast radio in 20 years.
- diebeforei485 3y agoI think they should enable AM radio when the car is parked. If the electric motor isn't running, the interference shouln't be an issue.
- topspin 3y agoUnfortunately that's not the case. There are other devices (heaters, AC, etc.) that need power at different voltages than the primary battery, so there are switching converters. Some of those are rather noisy. One of the many youtube hams that also happens to have a Leaf points out that despite applying comprehensive body grounds, line chokes and other measures a Nissan Leaf's AC will zero out most of the HF bands when he is operating mobile.
- K0balt 3y agoWhile it is true that there are other modes of emergency communications, AM radio relies on nearly zero infrastructure integrity. As long as a broadcast station has diesel or batteries and hasn’t burned to the ground, it can continue to deliver urgent and life saving information to millions of people over hundreds of kilometers, despite the complete failure of all other intermediary infrastructure. An high quality AM radio costs about 25 cents to integrate into existing infotainment systems, plus the cost of the coax and antenna. Realistically speaking, we are talking about less than 5 dollars in additional expense at scale. That’s cheap for a communication system that is extremely robust in the face of the worst possible types of disasters and emergencies. Cell phone and data networks are fragile by comparison and subject to congestion and other issues. An AM radio in every cellphone would be a software-only fix, as long as you used the headphone or charging cable as an antenna lead. Software defined radio means just about any modern microcontroller can act as a radio receiver over a broad spectrum of wavelengths for Pennie’s in additional components. This is about capture of the infotainment environment in vehicles, not the one to five dollars needed to include AM broadcast technology.
- xenadu02 3y agoAM is also one of the easiest bits of infrastructure to cobble together: you need an oscillator, an audio amplification circuit, a microphone, and a length of wire. The circuit is so simple anyone can build one DIY or with a hobby kit (though obviously the range on a low power device is tiny).
- tr_user 3y agowhy's that a car problem? Give everyone $20 and they can buy a radio with batteries.
- johnklos 3y agoLike many other authors looking to sensationalize and editorialize, this author forgets that poor people exist and forgets that rural areas exist. Also, the author seems be unaware that an emergency could make existing infrastructure unusable. AM radio's value for emergency situations is that it can be received literally hundreds of miles from the transmitter. What're the reasons for NOT including AM? The only thing I found is mention that including it will "hinder progress". What progress? Since when does including the most basic, tiny bit of functionality somehow "hinder progress"? Is there literally any other reason at all? Please, someone, tell me. Is this really a news piece if the author can't even come up with the slightest reason beyond the most specious bit of bullshit from a self-interest group?
- DoingIsLearning 3y ago> What're the reasons for NOT including AM? The only thing I found is mention that including it will "hinder progress". What progress? It's always about manufacturing cost. Automakers will trim a BOM to save 60 cents on a car. If they have the data that AM is not a 'requested'/desired feature when purchasing a car then of course they would want to trim it. Also AM radio imposes quite a few extra design constraints in terms of EMI, in a vehicle that by definition is extremely electrically noisy.
- EMCymatics 3y agoWe need AM in all cars.
- joker_minmax 3y agoDidn't even realize they were making cars without AM. How else am I supposed to listen to local sports and bluegrass? Tape a radio to my freaking dash? Some of yall sound like you've never met a rural person in your life. The BBC world service mirror in my city is on AM for pete sake.