Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with AM

100 meters in 10 feet or less?

puckish — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:29:11 -0800

DIY antenna for a crystal radio kit. Can I do this with less than 100 feet of wire? This is for the oatmeal crystal radio box kits. We're doing a workshop with kids in a few weeks, and I'm not sure if we're going to have access to a roof antenna.

What other options do I have for being able to wire these up and get them to work? Loop antennas? Can I just throw a wire out the window? It's been about ten years since I've thought seriously about dipoles / yagis, and I'm a little lost.

I've looked here and here, and read this previous question (I'm also planning to take a look at the ARRl handbook). Any suggestions for how to set this up?

Thanks!

Radio Interference Along the Beltway

jocelmeow — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:55:28 -0800

What causes massively scrambled FM radio reception along the Capital Beltway near Falls Church, Virginia? There is a stretch of the Beltway in Northern Virginia where the FM radio reception is abysmal. If I remember correctly, it is near the Falls Church and Fairview Park exits, but it's definitely south of Tyson's Corner. It was so when I was growing up there 20+ years ago (80s-90s) and friends who live there now say it remains so.

The problem always occurs in the same area and both day and night - you drive into it and no matter where you are tuned on the FM band, the station becomes unintelligible, the reception totally scrambled and overwhelmed by loud static.

The AM band is unaffected - and tuning to AM talk radio was always my father's answer to the problem. After a mile or two, maybe three, everything goes back to normal on the FM dial.

I have looked up the radio towers located in Falls Church, Merrifield, Vienna, and Fairfax.

Those pages list the commercial, private, and broadcast towers in those locations and their assigned frequencies, but I have no expertise that would allow me to judge whether those listed towers are the problem. I have some guesses based on location, but none of the towers I looked at seemed to be broadcasting in the FM band - but then again, I don't know if they'd have to be in order to interfere.

So do you know what is the cause of this Bermuda Triangle of radio, or can you help in interpreting the tower listings to potentially identify the problem? Thanks.

In which you help me to compile the greatest Sunny 70s AM Radio Playlist The World Has Ever Known.

Senor Cardgage — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:47:08 -0800

In which you help me to compile the greatest Sunny 70s AM Radio Playlist The World Has Ever Known. It's an ongoing pet project of mine that I revisit every time the weather gets all nice and summery out. As it is now. So to give you some context...

I have labored (lovingly) to create the world's greatest and most exhaustive playlist of 1970s AM radio classics that have that "summer" sound, or at least ones that sound like summer to me. For instance, I always thought the Doobies' "Black Water" was a summertime jam, but Wiki tells me it was a late winter release in the year it was released.

Good examples from my POV would be songs like:

Seals & Croft "Summer Breeze" ("Diamond Girl" fits too)
Ozark Mtn Daredevils "Jackie Blue"
Firefall "Strange Way"
Chicago "Wishing You Were Here"

And so on.

Thus far I have 5.8 hours of tracks. 91 of them.

You can see what Ive got already here...

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/506/itunes1.jpg

(anyone know how to extract just the relevant playlist txt out of iTunes?)

So what say ye gents?
Comb that chest hair, rev up yer custom van, splash on some Hai Karate and lets do this thang....

Looking for full audio of 70s pop radio broadcasts

Senor Cardgage — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:44:19 -0800

Im sort of a 70's nostalgia head, and as such would love to find some audio (format not important) of 70s radio broadcasts, commericals and all. Now Ideally I would like to find files from the mid to late 70s of just raw radio broadcasts. I would love to get the songs, the dj/announcer, even the commercials if at all possible. I want to get as close as possible to being able to pretend Im just listening to the radio.

Of course Im not even sure how possible or likely any of this stuff is to track down, but I figured I'd give it a shot.

As far as genre goes, Im pretty wide open. AM? Disco? AOR rock? All of these would do just fine. I'd even be interested in popular country/western station recordings.

What say ye, MeFiHive?
Is this a futile search?

How do you center yourself, if you were off center to begin with?

kanemano — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 11:53:27 -0800

I have been blind in one eye since the age of two, so I know nothing of this whole binocular vision thing that people keep talking about, I have made it to forty without feeling I have missed anything (except the whole 3D magic eye posters from the early 90’s) but last year I started taking yoga and now I feel unbalanced, as if I am leaning to the side with the good eye, as a possible result I have developed tendinitis in the leg on my dominant side, Has anyone else have the result of feeling off balance from yoga and how do you realign yourself to a position that wasn’t plum to begin with. I just started a new job so I will have to wait a few weeks for my health insurance to catch up before I can start going to physical therapy.

How do I find the lack of radio waves?

mdbell79 — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:06:24 -0800

What town in the United States has the lowest amount of detectable radio waves? Obviously, there are a lot of places (or used to be, anyway) where you can't get anything to come up on the radio dial. Which of those places would have the absolute least radio? As in, even though there are maybe hundreds of remote locations in the US (and let's say the continental US, because Alaska is probably the winner here anyway) where it's impossible to pick up anything listenable, would there be any place where there wasn't any radio that could even be detected?

Is there even a way to find this out?

Even better, is there any way to find out what the answer would have been in 1970? 1980?

I'm thinking mainly commercial AM/FM radio, and I don't even have a clue how to start looking into this. I figured that if anybody could help me figure it out, it'd be the metafilter crowd. If you need more information about what I'm looking for before you can help, I'd be glad to offer what I can. This is research for a project I'm working on, and although it's not vital it's a detail I'd like to be able to incorporate.

What's the radio scale bar for?

Jimbob — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 07:33:31 -0800

A number of radios I've owned in my life, in addition to the AM and FM frequency labels, also have a "Scale" label, going from 1 to 10, across the range of frequencies. What's this all about? Is it ever used for anything? I've never heard a radio station say "Tune to 6 on your Scale Bar".

What's going on with my local AM station?

kbanas — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 12:07:57 -0800

Every since the daylight savings change last weekend, my favorite local AM talk station only comes in sporadically. What in the world could be going on? I work in Ann Arbor, which is a city about 40 miles west of Detroit. My girlfriend lives in the city of Livonia, which is, more or less, about halfway between the two cities.

Over the summer, I started listening to a local sports talk radio station, 1130 AM WDFN (Detroit's The Fan), which broadcasts out of the Detroit-Metro area. Most commonly I listen to their afternoon talk show on my drive from work to my girlfriend's house - from about 5:00PM until 5:30PM - and I've never had any trouble.

Except something has happened that is very confusing to me. Now, I must preface this by saying that I have only in the last couple of days become really aware of this problem, so I have yet to really collect a satisfactory dataset.

On Monday, the day after the time change, I left work a little early (around 4:30), and drove out to my girlfriend's house, and had no trouble listening to the broadcast.

On Wednesday I had to stay late, so I left work at around 5:30. I noticed, much to my dismay, that I could not tune in the radio station at all. It was pure static. This has never happened before, and I thought it was odd, but I thought maybe they were doing some sort of tower maintenance or something and I just shrugged it off as an anomaly. I kept trying as I drove toward Livonia, and once I got relatively close, the station started to come in again. By the time I was in Livonia proper, it was back to working as per usual.

Yesterday, I left work at 5:00. The station was fine. I was driving toward the freeway, and at exactly 5:14 it was like someone flipped a switch and the station just cut out again. It was instantaneous - from crystal clear reception to absolutely nothing. I kept trying the station as I got closer to Livonia, and, again, as I got near the city the station started to come in again.

What the hell!

Why would this start happening all of a sudden? What's going on?

I have some theories.

First, I know there's the whole thing about how at night you can hear radio stations across the country because something, something, something, science, science, science something about radiowaves bouncing off the atmosphere.

Could this have something to do with it? I ask because I have only had this problem in the last week, and the only variable that has changed is the time - now when I leave work at 5:00-ish it's dusk, and by 6:00- 6:15 it's completely dark.

Another thing I noticed (just now) on the Wikipedia page for WDFN is this little note on their broadcasting power: "50,000 watts (Daytime), 10,000 watts (Nighttime)"

Could it be that at around 5:15 they're switching over to the less powerful "nighttime" broadcast mode, and the signal is simply no longer powerful enough to reach me out in Ann Arbor?

I know this is a weird question, and thanks for any help!

Mp3 players and AM radio

xaire — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:46:18 -0800

Are there any mp3 players with AM tuners? I want to get my dad an mp3 player to listen to while working out, but in addition to grooving to Lynyrd Skynyrd, he wants AM radio. I have searched the internet on and off over the past year and had no success, but most information I found on the topic was old (2004 or so). Am I searching in vain? Is the required antenna just too big? Are there any plans to release one in the future?

This is a question about AM radio reception in my car.

thirteenkiller — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 08:14:30 -0800

This is a question about AM radio reception in my car. I currently live two states away from where I grew up, and every now and then I drive back for a visit. When I start getting close, I try to tune in to my hometown public radio station, 910 AM. It seems like I can never get good reception until I'm just 20 or 30 miles out. When I leave my hometown again, though, having tuned into the station in town, I get good clear reception for nearly 200 miles. Why does this happen? It really does seem to be a regular thing. My antenna is imprinted in the rear right window of my car. Is it possible that once my radio has been tuned into the station, it can maintain it longer? Or am I just imagining things?

MP3 Files to Old School AM Radio?

aladfar — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 13:12:50 -0800

I'd like to "broadcast" my MP3 based collection of classic radio drama and spoken word recordings so that I can listen to them on a 1930's era AM radio. There are all sorts of little USB to FM transmitters, but I can't find a convenient (as in, no soldering required) solution for AM. Any suggestions? Also: Cost is a bit of an issue. I'd like to keep the bill below $50 if possible.

Brian Wilson and "I am the Walrus"

billysumday — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 17:55:39 -0800

I recently heard a rumor that after listening to the song "I am the Walrus", Brian Wilson decided to shelve a project that he was working on. The rumor continued, as rumors are wont to do, stating that "I am the Walrus", with its intricate production, finally pushed Brian Wilson over the edge and into Crazy Town. This rumor . . . it's true? So far, the Google has failed me. MeFi music historians, please help me.

I have some questions about listening to the radio in Europe.

jordanian2 — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 17:13:05 -0800

I have some questions about listening to the radio in Europe. I'm studying abroad in Pau, France, next semester, and I think it'd be a good learning experience if I brought a walkman with me and listened to French radio. And then after the semester is over, I plan to travel to other countries (Germany, Italy, Greece, etc.) and listen to the radio there, too.

The following questions are really dumb...but I hope you don't judge me :) First, does European radio use FM and AM bands? Will my American walkman work ok? And does Radio France transmit to Pau, France (some of the Radio France stations look really great).

Thanks for your help!

best am fm radio

curiousleo — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 18:47:17 -0800

Which am/fm radio is most powerful? I work at a office where am/fm receptions are bad....
I have most difficult time listening to my favorite am/fm stations.. they do come out... but with very bad noise...

I tried GE superradio from amazon.com.... it was worse than my RiteAide special am/fm radio...

What model should i get? or should i try to get a larger antenna...?

I am hoping to spend as little money as possible..

re: AM radio reception

jmccw — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 06:57:21 -0800

when scanning AM radio stations in my car, why does seeking UP always catch fewer stations than seeking DOWN? this has been the case with each of the 3 cars i have owned. anyone else get this?

I miss my AM radio.

verytres — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 00:07:14 -0800

I miss my AM radio. Help me find a unit that actually receives it. I love my NPR. Really, I do. I just miss the more eccentric side that AM radio offers.
Sadly, though, my medium-priced stereo doesn't pick up a single AM station, hardly even AM static, and the stations I want don't offer webcast (though that wouldn't really help me...I want bedside availability.)
Difficulty-- Downtown Baltimore, with three hospitals within a mile or so, semi-skyscrapers all around, and a Supermax prison, too, if that matters (No, really, this is a nice neighborhood! )
So do I simply buy another clock radio, or do I buy shortwave (I know nothing about this; forgive if I sound noob ) or some sort of AM specific expensive thing GoogleAds push?
Jeez, finding free wifi is easier.

AM Radio Reception

thimk — Tue, 17 May 2005 14:04:45 -0800

Why can I get AM radio stations crystal clear in my car and cannot get them in my house no matter what antenna (that is ones provided by audio equip) I use?

What segments or content should I host on my AM radio show?

oflinkey — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 19:11:27 -0800

Emergency guest-hosting a tiny, AM radio show..... [+] I have one hour, uninterrupted by commercials, to do whatever I would like on the radio.
This show is on a local AM station, and has a listenership of 'round about 12 people, on a station
which has pretty left-leaning nationally syndicated shows on other times of the day
(think Democracy Now!). I can literally do whatever it is I want. I have been on this show before as
a co-host, but I am the only one this week. That said, I am wondering if anyone has suggestions as
to what kinds of blocks I might do that would be away from the usual, end-of-year drivel, New Year's
Resolutions, recounting the wackiest celeb stories of 2004, blah blah blah. In the past we have done
shows on synesthesia, the local zoo, Planned Parenthood in schools, the history of packaging and advertising,
local music and poetry, as well as local art projects. This is short notice, as I am the emergency host,
so guests might be hard to come by at this late date.
Thus....
What sort of things would you like to hear on a radio show like this?
What kind of segments have you always wanted to hear but have not yet heard?

What are some good debating tactics to use when appearing on an AM radio show?

inksyndicate — Mon, 14 Jun 2004 10:50:42 -0800

What are some good debating tactics to use when appearing on an AM radio show?