Ford reverses course and will keep AM radio 🎙️

[rlhdweman]

You can also tell an hour in advance before the change in the clouds that a thunderstorm is coming with AM. As kids in the 70's we had enough notice to get across town & home before the storm with our transistor radios.

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[Red Ryder]

I work in broadcast engineering and some of the comments in this thread just go to show how little some folks know about the reasoning behind this bill.

The EAS is part of a larger internet connected system called IPAWS and every broadcast station also monitors that, but if a cyber attack takes out the internet, guess what - you still have the radio path. IPAWS also feeds the emergency alerts on your phone. Something takes out the mobile phone infrastructure, guess what - you still have the radio path.


I think this about sums it all up.

Thanks, well described.

I don't think many understand the fragility of the internet and the importance of long-haul radio communications for when it happens.

Not being dramatic, but "it" may be a coordinated cyberattack, a widespread natural disaster or any number of things. We've gone digital on most communications, having some trusty and comparatively inexpensive backup infrastructure is a good thing.

 

[Sembazuru]

The EVs will get an online software update to put AM back into the vehicles, and Ford will keep including it in future vehicles as it looks at innovative ways to deliver emergency alerts, Hall said.

What I find interesting about this part is enabling AM isn't just a software fix. You still need some hardware, specifically an RF section that can be tuned from 530 kHz to 1700 kHz where conventional AM broadcasts are including an antenna that can be tuned to those frequencies. By Ford claiming that an online software update can reenable AM, that means that the hardware already exists in those vehicles. If they were dropping AM, why does the hardware still exist in those vehicles if it wasn't going to be used. Yes, the hardware pieces are a trivial cost, but it is still a cost in an industry that cuts costs where it thinks it can get away with it.

I wonder if Ford was expecting to not be able to get away with completely dropping AM reception and left the hardware in just in case they were forced to reenable it.

 

[1929]

Listen to AM every day. Very pleased Ford made the right decision here to keep AM.

 

[Maverstang]

What I find interesting about this part is enabling AM isn't just a software fix. You still need some hardware, specifically an RF section that can be tuned from 530 kHz to 1700 kHz where conventional AM broadcasts are including an antenna that can be tuned to those frequencies. By Ford claiming that an online software update can reenable AM, that means that the hardware already exists in those vehicles. If they were dropping AM, why does the hardware still exist in those vehicles if it wasn't going to be used. Yes, the hardware pieces are a trivial cost, but it is still a cost in an industry that cuts costs where it thinks it can get away with it.

I wonder if Ford was expecting to not be able to get away with completely dropping AM reception and left the hardware in just in case they were forced to reenable it.

The radio uses a commodity semiconductor that includes the AM strip as a no cost throw-in on the die. The only extra parts are a couple of inductors and capacitors in the front end.

Ford was most not redesigning any radios yet, just doing some parts delete, and maybe not even that for the first year given it is a standardized product module.

So reversing the decision was not a problem, probably far more time and energy spent on policy handwringing and marketing double talk than any real technical work.

 

[mspmms]

The radio uses a commodity semiconductor that includes the AM strip as a no cost throw-in on the die. The only extra parts are a couple of inductors and capacitors in the front end.

Ford was most not redesigning any radios yet, just doing some parts delete, and maybe not even that for the first year given it is a standardized product module.

So reversing the decision was not a problem, probably far more time and energy spent on policy handwringing and marketing double talk than any real technical work.

 

[JimParker256]

I take it your plan is to post this to EVERY thread in the MTC? Posting it in the Memes thread was totally appropriate. Cross posting to the "I accidentally started this thread..." thread was a bit redundant. I appreciate the effort it takes to make these things, but..

 

[mspmms]

I take it your plan is to post this to EVERY thread in the MTC? Posting it in the Memes thread was totally appropriate. Cross posting to the "I accidentally started this thread..." thread was a bit redundant. I appreciate the effort it takes to make these things, but..

I'm a little confused.

Can you point me to this post?

 

[JimParker256]

I'm a little confused.

Can you point me to this post?

Well, it's gone now. Earlier I had three thread update notices, to I opened each of them in a separate browser tab and that same meme was in all three... I went back and forth a few times to make sure I wasn't in the same thread multiple times. Perhaps it was deleted - or perhaps I'm hallucinating.... But I could swear it was there earlier, right below the "fat bottom girls" post... Weird!

 

[mspmms]

Well, it's gone now. Earlier I had three thread update notices, to I opened each of them in a separate browser tab and that same meme was in all three... I went back and forth a few times to make sure I wasn't in the same thread multiple times. Perhaps it was deleted - or perhaps I'm hallucinating.... But I could swear it was there earlier. Weird!

I am no longer confused, but it appears that someone here . . .




. . . may be.

 

[JimParker256]

I am no longer confused, but it appears that someone here . . .




. . . may be.

Entirely possible... It's happened before!

 

[NJBob]

I work in broadcast engineering and some of the comments in this thread just go to show how little some folks know about the reasoning behind this bill.

Most people know about the Emergency Alert System from the scary buzzing noises and random tests at night and how annoying it is when local emergency managers overuse the Civil Emergency Message alert. But on the highest level, it's designed to take over every broadcast station in the country in the event of a grave threat - think a nuclear attack or alien invasion.

The medium wave band used by AM broadcasting in the United States has propagation characteristics that make it the best way to send a signal for very long distances. For this reason, FEMA has a direct link to ~75 clear-channel AM stations called "primary entry point" to use as the first level of this system. A "clear-channel" AM station is one that is allowed to use the maximum power output of 50 kilowatts 24 hours a day, and more importantly there are, in almost every case, no other stations on that frequency anywhere in the country.

The EAS is part of a larger internet connected system called IPAWS and every broadcast station also monitors that, but if a cyber attack takes out the internet, guess what - you still have the radio path. IPAWS also feeds the emergency alerts on your phone. Something takes out the mobile phone infrastructure, guess what - you still have the radio path.

In practice, this generally just means all the radio and TV stations in your area have a tuner locked onto the nearest primary entry point AM station and the local stations relay these emergency messages should they come. But if something takes out all your local TV and radio stations, that's when it becomes important for you to be able to receive the PEP station directly.

This is why Congress wants to keep AM available in cars, and EV manufacturers who cut corners when minimizing RF interference are taking the lazy way out and nixing AM radio. Hyundai and GM figured it out, so you can definitely have AM radio in an EV. This isn't because right wing talk radio almost exclusively exists on AM and the lawmakers somehow depend on that, that's not rational.

from u/theairwavearchitect on Reddit.

I think this about sums it all up.

Yeah I worry that other cars on the road will spew out rf ruining the am radio in my car. Always thought the fcc had a rule that prohibited interference. But your point is spot on.

 

[Phileaux]

Such BS AM radio needs to die. I don't know a single person who listens to AM anymore, so this just seems like big government forcing their hand, threatening companies unless they cha ge course .

Not sure how true this is, I haven't listened to AM for about 15 years, so this could be wrong. But I've heard it's gone downhill, like full on conservative wackjobs extremist radio show hosts levels of downhill. If that's the case, I want nothing to do with it.

It doesn't cost that much more to program AM radio functions into a car, but it still costs more period. I don't want to pay more for a car just to have features I'll never use.
[/QUOTE

AM radio signals travel further than FM (especially at night) and uses less bandwidth. Local/ regional with no cell service it's important.

 

[mspmms]

AM radio signals travel further than FM (especially at night) and uses less bandwidth. Local/ regional with no cell service it's important.

This shows the difference between FM and AM (and TV) signals.

* In order to reduce any confusion @JimParker256 the above is not a meme (for now)

 

[KimoCarew]

Such BS AM radio needs to die. I don't know a single person who listens to AM anymore, so this just seems like big government forcing their hand, threatening companies unless they cha ge course .

Not sure how true this is, I haven't listened to AM for about 15 years, so this could be wrong. But I've heard it's gone downhill, like full on conservative wackjobs extremist radio show hosts levels of downhill. If that's the case, I want nothing to do with it.

It doesn't cost that much more to program AM radio functions into a car, but it still costs more period. I don't want to pay more for a car just to have features I'll never use.

We could put the bandwidth to much better use than religious zealots, rush Limbaugh wannabes and ranchero music stations.

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