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Comment by itishappy | Hacker News Reader

AM radio does still have one big thing going for it: It works when cell service doesn't, such as in the deep woods or during a cell service blackout.

On the other hand, as I don't keep a radio in my house, I guess we're all expected to go turn on the radio in our cars if cell service drops? I'm not sure that'll be a response many people think of...

I'm not sure that's an argument against an AM emergency broadcast system, but I'm also not sure if cars are really the place to mandate them. I wonder if there's regulations requiring government organizations (post offices, libraries, and/or police stations) to keep AM receivers on-hand?

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On a lark I ordered a weather radio from Amazon a little while back. Since I live in the storm-infested Midwaste, I thought it was a good idea.

It arrived, I plugged it in, and somewhat familiarized myself with how it worked.

And then two days later it was lit up, blaring as a tornado was making kindling of homes about a mile from where I live (West Omaha, Nebraska).

While the cell phone also kicked off, I like the redundancy and non-reliance on cell.

(Apparently the sound of the tornado warning is already imprinted in the mind of one of my cats. While I was watching tornado videos on YouTube, she crawled under the couch when she heard the familiar sound coming from my laptop.)

I'd argue this is an essential purchase if you live in storm country. The loud "beep beep beep" of the weather radio has become part of the usual sounds of spring for me.

Glad you made it out of the tornado intact. I'm in Kansas and I really dislike this time of year.

Even if commercial/government AM radio did not matter at all this would still be a huge problem because innumerable other vital and not so vital things use the shortwave radio bands. Interfering in this is against the law already. Many of these vehicles should not be allowed to be sold commercially according to current unenforced FCC regulations.

Totally agree! That's unfortunately not what's being regulated here...

> On the other hand, as I don't keep a radio in my house

AM radios are about $10 new, and probably considerably less at your local equivalent of Goodwill. Having one seems like a very cheap and very simple disaster preparedness measure.

i'm sure they don't cost anywhere near that much, here's one for 7 dollars new even here in argentina found immediately upon searching https://www.mercadolibre.com.ar/radio-portatil-am-fm-parlant...

with some effort you can probably find one under a dollar new

Here's an AM/FM/Shortwave for $10 [1]. This is not an endorsement as I haven't used this model. I personally have a Tecsun radio bought for around $30 that does a great job. Will be useful in an emergency. And about once a year, I play the game of "what's the farthest AM station I can receive?" Kinda fun.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Shortwave-Operated-Reception...

> I guess we're all expected to go turn on the radio in our cars if cell service drops?

That would be the first thing I would do if the power/cell service was out and the emergency sirens were going for a while.

Not too sure I agree with a mandate to require a radio to be installed in every new vehicle as there are a few reasons I can imagine someone would order a car/truck without one. Maybe they intend to immediately replace the factory system with a full on custom block thumper or a company doesn't want their employees to get any funny ideas by listening to NPR or something.

I’m not sure I’d know how to listen to AM radio over the air. Don’t think my Honda has one. Don’t know about my stereo receiver. Think I have a many decades old transistor radio in th house somewhere because I ran across it a few years back.

It is very likely both your Honda and your receiver tune in AM.

Usually you press some kind of source of band button they will toggle through your options. AM/FM, or AM/FM/XM/CD/AUX/CarPlay/etc.

Once you’re on AM, it works just like FM from a user perspective. Just tune to the station you want, or hunt until you hear words or music instead of static.

Probably the case. I've just never had occasion to use AM so I've never looked for it.

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