Good to hear that Dale...thank you!
Charlie, N0TT
> FWIW, I read on May 23rd that Ford has done an about face and WILL
> provide AM radio in all of their vehicles, gas or electric. Their
> CEO cited the emergency weather and news alerts as the main reason
> to retain the AM band.
>
> Incidentally, I get the impression that most of you on this
> reflector are not significant users of the AM broadcast band. I
> fully agree that FM has much better fidelity, but I am a major user
> of AM, both on the road and at home. Why? I live in Iowa and was a
> transplant here in 2000. I spent 50+ years in the Chicago area and
> enjoy the Cubs and Bears. I am about 200 miles from the xmtr sites
> of WGN, WBBM, and WSCR. CBS combined the xmtrs of WBBM (780 kHz)
> and WSCR (formerly WMAQ on 670 kHz) at one tower site in Glendale
> Heights, a west 'burb of Chicago. Both my vehicle AM radio and my
> RCA (nee "GE") Superadio pull in those stations just fine, day or
> night.
>
> So, Ford fans, rejoice!
>
> 73, Dale
> WA9ENA
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Charles Coldwell <coldwell@gmail.com>
> Sent: May 22, 2023 2:20 PM
> To: RFI RFI <rfi@contesting.com>
> Subject: Re: [RFI] RFI to AM and ham freqs in new vehicles
>
> This was in an email from the New York Times
>
> Major automakers are eliminating AM radio from new vehicles, arguing
> the
> antiquated system is unnecessary and is incompatible with electric
> engines.
>
> But House lawmakers will convene a hearing in early June to discuss
> the
> importance of keeping AM radio in cars, committee spokespeople
> confirmed
> exclusively to The Technology 202.
>
> House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair *Cathy McMorris Rodgers*
> (R-Wash.)
> and ranking Democrat *Frank Pallone Jr.*(N.J.) will hear testimony
> from
> public safety experts about why they think AM radio is still
> essential for
> vehicles.
>
> *The hearing comes as lawmakers in both the House and Senate **sound
> the
> alarm*
>
> *on **AM radio being phased out*
> *,
> a move they say could prevent Americans from receiving public
> emergency
> notifications and stifle political discourse.*
>
> AM radio was popular through the 1960s and ’70s, but once FM
> radio came on
> the scene, it was able to provide better audio quality at the cost
> of
> transmitting across a shorter distance.
>
> *The debate has made unlikely alliances, as lawmakers argue that AM
> is a
> crucial service that can reach Americans in life or death situations
> when
> FM or other transmission methods fail.*
>
>
>
>
>
> - A bipartisan, bicameral bill introduced last week would direct
> the
> National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to issue a
> rule
> requiring carmakers to keep AM broadcast radio in their vehicles
> without a
> separate payment or fee.
> - It also requires automakers selling cars without AM radio before
> the
> effective date to disclose that AM is not present.
> - The bill, titled the AM for Every Vehicle Act, has endorsement
> from
> Sens. *Edward J. Markey* (D-Mass.) and *Ted Cruz* (R-Tex.), as well
> as
> Reps. *Josh Gottheimer* (D-N.J.) and *Tom Kean Jr.*(R-N.J.).
> - It also has endorsements from Federal Communications Commission
> Chair *Jessica
> Rosenworcel* and Republican Commissioner *Nathan Simington*, who
> call it
> a “clear public safety imperative.”
>
> “AM radio plays an essential role in our communities,
> especially during
> public emergencies when other alert systems that rely on the
> electric grid
> and cellphone networks may not work. I’m looking forward to
> the Energy and
> Commerce Committee holding a hearing on this important matter
> soon,”
> Pallone said in a statement to The Technology 202.
>
> *Republicans have also argued that popular conservative talk shows
> that
> rely on AM airwaves could suffer from the phaseout.* Eight of the
> country’s
> 10 most popular radio talk shows are conservative, as our colleague
> *Marc
> Fisher *previously reported
>
> .
>
> *AM radio has largely been **discontinued in electric vehicles*
> *
> made
> by companies like Tesla, Ford, BMW, Mazda and Volkswagen on the
> grounds
> that the motors in those vehicles create electromagnetic frequencies
> on the
> same wavelength as AM radio and could lead to interference.*
> Automakers
> also argue that AM’s phaseout trends with the population that
> grew up with
> AM: one that is getting smaller and older.
>
> The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an automaker trade group,
> has
> previously
> said
> that
> AM mandates are unnecessary and that the Integrated Public Alerts
> and
> Warning System can be transmitted across AM, FM and other types of
> radio,
> as well as cellular networks in case of an emergency.
>
> Former Federal Emergency Management Agency officials in February
> wrote to
> Transportation Secretary *Pete Buttigieg*
> arguing
> that the United States should seek assurances from automobile
> manufacturers
> to keep AM in new cars.
>
> “AM radio plays an essential role in our communities,
> especially during
> public emergencies, and we look forward to hearing from public
> safety
> experts about the importance of ensuring this continues to be a
> resource
> for Americans,” McMorris Rodgers said in a statement to The
> Technology 202.
>
> On Mon, May 22, 2023 at 02:34 Jim Brown wrote:
>
> > On 5/21/2023 6:11 PM, n0tt1@juno.com wrote:
> > > Personally, I think it's
> > > because they don't want to deal with filtering out all those RF
> > > square waves in the vehicles. Or maybe they know that
> > > EU is, or has already, discontinued Broadcast AM radio.
> >
> > This has been widely reported in the press for several months.
> I've been
> > driving a Tesla Model 3 for 2.5 years, and have a VHF/UHF FM rig
> in it,
> > no observable RF noise. When looking for installation advice, I
> came
> > across several youtube videos from an OT in 5-land who first did
> that,
> > then advanced to an HF rig. He reported that to be pretty noise
> free as
> > well. The 12V system won't support a lot of power. I've charged at
> home
> > from the outbuilding that houses my shack, first from a 120V/15A
> outlet,
> > now from 240V/30A, can't hear any noise with my Kenwood TH-F6A
> > (wide-band RX) probing along the power cable, or in my radios in
> the shack.
> >
> > The Tesla designers were VERY good about RF shielding that's
> quite
> > frequency-selective. A talkie with a duck is deaf inside the
> vehicle,
> > but cell phone works great inside the vehicle at knee level in
> the
> > center pedestal (and, of course, in my pocket).
> >
> > As to RFI to the AM band -- I haven't probed that, but no issues
> on 160M
> > when charging.
> >
> > Vehicles are sold worldwide, so discontinuance of AM broadcasting
> in any
> > large market could drive mfrs to drop AM in vehicles. AM has been
> on a
> > long downward spiral for several decades, and noise has long been
> a
> > problem. A colleague was chief engineer at WLS in the '80s and
> '90s
> > (maybe longer, don't remember when he retired). Their 50kW clear
> on 890
> > kHz was maybe 25-30 miles S of Chicago, and had chronic complaints
> of
> > ignition noise from Fords that wiped them out in the northern
> suburbs --
> > I'm guessing 50 miles or so from their omni stick. And as we all
> know,
> > noise has increased exponentially in the intervening decades, and
> the AM
> > band takes the greatest hit.
> >
> > Starlink, a related company, is quite the opposite. The PSU for my
> dish
> > is mondo-noisy, took a half-dozen ferrites with multiple turns to
> quiet
> > it down. I love that system, which I bought as redundancy for
> ComCast,
> > whose power backup was next to non-existent. They've since
> improved
> > quite a lot. But with no cell service in the mountains, we can't
> be
> > without internet, so it's great to have both systems.
> >
> > 73, Jim K9YC
> >
> > 73,
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > RFI mailing list
> > RFI@contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
> >
> --
> Charles M. Coldwell, W1CMC
> Belmont, Massachusetts, New England
> "Turn on, log in, tune out"
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