Removed by mod
FM is more affected by physical barriers (buildings, etc.). Range is around 30 miles. AM range is around 100 miles during the day and further at night.
Don’t states with frequent hurricanes still recommend switching to AM in the event of disaster? There are a lot of situations where cell phones or FM may not work, but you could get an AM signal.
See this comment: https://sh.itjust.works/comment/11323676 on an alternate thread to this same discussion which gives a great run down of AM & FM radio systems.
Would be nice if phones came with am/fm radios built in
It’s a shame that they took out this feature from smartphones when they killed the aux jack
They used to, back when we lived in a real society
I’m not sure what people would do with normal radios, but people in a severe weather area might own a weather radio that gets alerts from NOAA, and that’s on VHF, though they usually have AM/FM as well. I lived in tornado alley for a while and yeah, we would listen to whatever we could receive (FM in more populated areas, but AM when way out in the sticks) and we had a NOAA radio too.
Can’t have right wing talk radio cut off at the knees. Considering the interference generated by electric motors, I look forward to the added expense in EVs to add a feature I will never use.
There are also AM NPR stations (I wasn’t aware of this myself until a few days ago), especially in large states with small populations like Alaska.
Unless there’s an emergency.
The way I read it, this is ensuring everyone has the most effective analogue radio in their car because that’s how emergency broadcasts would go out. Seems sensible to me.
To be fair the law seems to require it be done at no extra cost to the consumer, but I’m sure they’ll find something else that suddenly becomes much more expensive to install than it was before.
I listen to NPR, and not requiring AM radio in cars would literally (or “finally” if you’re an idiot conservative) kill the National Public Radio system for good.
The vast majority of NPR broadcasts on FM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NPR_stations
I’ve run out of free articles. Can someone please post the article?
This story originally appeared on Ars Technica
Looks like you can read the article, without a paywall, here: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/05/am-radio-is-a-lifeline-lawmakers-say-tech-and-auto-industries-disagree/
Open in browser, enable reader mode, (likely on the right side of the address bar)
What would nuclear Armageddon sickos do then?
AM radio is great at programming people
Why do you say that?
The problem is AM radios in electric vehicles. AM radio picks up interference from electricity, as most people who listen to AM radio and have driven under high power lines already know.
So electric car manufacturers want to sub in FM/Bluetooth radios instead.
You want your AM radio trash? That’s what “I Heart Radio” is for.
The problem is AM radios in electric vehicles. AM radio picks up interference from electricity, as most people who listen to AM radio and have driven under high power lines already know.
Not just EVs. When I drove a 2003 Civic Hybrid AM radio was worthless there too. So its:
- Hybrids
- Plugin Hybrids
- BEVs
- Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles too?
So anything but ICE. So all the cars that offer any kind of better environmental impact that full ICE have trouble with AM. I don’t think AM is worth it for that.
If the justification is that AM radio is useful in emergency scenarios, the sound quality is largely irrelevant. As long as you can make out instructions and warnings that might be given after a disaster (such as “Avoid area A due to flooding”, “Heated shelter available at schools”), then it’s serving its point. Whether it’s good for music or talk shows isn’t the point here.
It’s also the fact that if everyone stops using AM, the RFI pollution from EVs and other tech will balloon even more than it already has. Those frequencies are used for a lot more than just emergencies. I’d bet the push for this came from the military or the FCC.
If the justification is that AM radio is useful in emergency scenarios, the sound quality is largely irrelevant.
Then the electric motor was running on my Civic hybrid (accelerating or braking), the only thing you’d hear on any AM station was “BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”. Not a single word spoken or note of music was intelligible.
AM would work okay when the car was not driving. If lawmakers want to legislate a radio that only works when the car isn’t moving, I suppose they can. It just doesn’t seem very useful to me.
