In this letter to the editor, the reader responds to a story posted by Nielsen, “Why Removing AM/FM Radio Is a Multi-Billion Dollar Gamble for Automakers.” Radio World welcomes letters to the editor on this or any story. Email [email protected].
I have been intrigued by the discussion about removing AM and now FM from vehicles. I have a couple of thoughts:
My Toyota has over 400,000 miles on it; I know I will be replacing it at some point.
AM/FM radio in the vehicle is more important to me than bluetooth for my cell phone, or certainly satellite radio. Operating hand-held devices while driving is now illegal in Pennsylvania and other states.
For me, any vehicle without AM/FM radio will not be considered. It is that simple.
But this whole discussion is addressing a symptom and not the problem, which is that cars, especially electrics and hybrids, generate too much RF noise.
I once looked at a hybrid that I really liked, but when we did a test drive and my Icom IC-R10 told me that everything below 500 MHz was rendered unusable. That was game over for that particular vehicle.
These noise generators affect more than just in-vehicle radio receivers.
My amateur radio station lets me know, loud and clear, when one of these vehicles drives down the street.
It is long past time that the FCC enforce their Part 15 unintentional radiator rules.
The car manufacturers will whine that drives cost up, but that is the cost of business and their poor technical decisions.
And if this changes the calculus of fossil fuel vs. hybrid vs. electrical vehicles, well so be it.
It is time to face facts, brutally as they are.
— James A. Sanford, PE, retired United States Navy Captain
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