Re: AM radio law opposed by tech and auto industries is close to passing

On 2024-05-03 17:43, John Larkin wrote:

On Thu, 02 May 2024 05:24:08 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
wrote:
 

AM radio law opposed by tech and auto industries is close to passing
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/05/am-radio-is-a-lifeline-lawmakers-say-tech-and-auto-industries-disagree/
A recent test of the emergency alert system found only 1 percent got it via AM.
>
Strange. most is FM these days, or digital?
Something to do with Soros buying radio stations ;-) ?

 
AM radio is a century-old technology. It makes more sense to push
microwatts of light over a fiber, or a few watts from a gen6 cell
node, than to spray tens or hundreds of kilowatts of RF out into the
universe.

>
Heh. The power needed is not that related to being old technology, but
to the frequency used. The lower the frequency, the more power is needed.
>

 
I wonder what fraction of AM transmitter power winds up in receiver
front-ends. Surely way below 1e-9. Electricity keeps getting more
expensive so operating an AM station may be bad business.

>
AM at MW can work without batteries, with a totally passive receiver and
high impedance headphones.
>
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