How far from the electric vehicle does the noise radiate. If I'm driving behind one will it mess up my radio too? If my house is next to a busy road will it interfere with the radio in my house, every time an electric vehicle passes?

Sidebar: Don't have an electric car. Haven't listened to the radio on an actual radio in over a year, I just stream 1010 and 1050 on my phone, pretty much 24/7.

AM radio oughtta be able to survive if they don't keep messing with it.

I bet a good number of big yellow board members stream radio these days.

Last edited by betaylored (July 2, 2021 11:46 pm)

paterson1 wrote:

I think you are right betaylored and the AM radios in cars for years have been pretty bad. Sound quality is often terrible.

Narrowband!  Put your hand over your mouth and talk.  Does that sound like your AM tuner?

I've fared well over the years amassing some better bandwidth AM tuners (not quite full wideband 10 KHz response), but a few with response to 6 or 7 KHz, making for at least a clearer sound.  The AM section in my 1999 Toyota Camry is above average, and my portable GE radio fares well too.
 

Radiowiz wrote:

The electric cars simply come with HD radios. The AM stations can transmit in HD2
(or HD3...is there an HD 4?)
Doesn't HD solve the problem?
 

The HD2 to 4 sub channels are on FM and most of those in Canada are carrying AM stations but not all AM channels are carried in such a way. There is now one AM HD station in Toronto at 530 but sub channels on HD AM are not feasible at least for now.

Technically the carriage of AM on FM sub channel s is not really AM but who knows maybe in 14 years radio may become streaming dominated for both AM and FM. High resolution streams for music may become more common.

Last edited by Fitz (July 3, 2021 11:10 am)

Fitz wrote:

Technically the carriage of AM on FM sub channel s is not really AM but who knows maybe in 14 years radio may become streaming dominated for both AM and FM. High resolution streams for music may become more common.

People don't care about the medium (AM, FM, satellite, streaming, whatever), but they do care about the content.

 

As an electric car owner, (Tesla Model 3) without AM, the short answser is no problem.  I assume that other car makers will have EVs with well thought out AM radio work-arounds.  Many Toronto AM stations are on FM on hd (680, 590, 1010, 1050, 740 and 640) So the etnic AM stations are missing.  (Though there is a lot of ethnic content on FM/HD). However the TUINEIN app, which is integrated into the Tesla audio system, provides (by default a full list of local stations and regional stastions (am and fm) which can be streamed.  So any AM station in the region, can be streamed by tiouching the stastion logos.  You can scroll through for dozens of stations in surrounding regions. This (default) Toronto area  list includes 1280, 540, 1540, 1430, 1650, etc.  As well as all other english language locals.  You get all those stations (and 10,000 more) with the connectivity package.  Most people take that package for navigation and other apps, including spotify, slacker, which are preinstalled.   Buffering and loss of signal haven’t been an issue over 3 months of Downtown and midtown driving.  I listen to FAN 590 a lot in the car on HD.  No reception problems.  Incidentally, besides having more than a dozen FM/HD presents, there are at least additional TUNEIN presets, all easly to access.   Makes the old 5 button am/fm radio so 20th century.  Last comment, I suspect that car and truck makers will continue to up their game, with audio systems that have great fidelity.  So if AM broadcasters focus on providing a great stereo stream, they may survive.  Unfortunately very few AM broadcasters have spent time or money ensuring that their audio streaming rivals their FM competitors.  AM and FM broadcasters will also benefit from the lack of engine or transmission noise in the cabin. Most  people who ride in an EV, take note that the  is that the audio quality is so good.