with all the antennas in some new cars -- high-tech luxury sedans may carry 18 or more -- it takes a major engineering effort to design vehicles that do not bristle with metal quills.
Why You Have Bad Radio Reception
I used to listen to the news on a local AM station on my way to work for
5 minutes. Since I retired, the AM has never been used. Come to think of it, I pay for SiriusXM and no commercials and no longer listen to FM.
My problem is living on a hillside. Unlike a car, I cannot move my house.
I haven't really been a radio fan since I got my first 8 track in my
67 Chevelle. My 69 Corvette didn't even have a radio, just an 8 track. I was a cassette guy when I got away from 8 tracks (80s) I assume the MP3 players in my cars have a radio but I never tried them. My wife had XM and we turned it on in the cars we are giving the kids (tomorrow) but I never screwed with that either. I like my tunes, no blathering, no commercials and I hear what I like.
The problem is the antennas for GPS, Sync or OnStar are not suitable for radio. Wrong wave length. FM is happiest with a 30" mast and AM just wants as much metal as you can stick up in the air. Serious AM DX'ers used 100' long wire antennas. With a long wire I could get WLS in Chicago from PG Md on a 5 tube table radio back in the 50s when that was a thing. (Dick Bionde)
No antenna needed. I have it in my car and the plan allows me to listen on line or on my phone, no added cost.
I think there are only two AM stations around here. When I was in AZ I used to listen to a lot more AM. In fact idle curiosity about why the oldies for KOMA in Oklahoma City came in so well at certain hours led to a ham license.
The Mexicans thought 50,000 watts was amateur hour so they came in so hot I build a directional loop antenna to tone them down.
There's nothing on AM radio. I listen to audiobooks in the car, unless the trip is very short. Then it's the classical or jazz FM stations. If they're playing something I hate, I try the two oldies stations (70s/80s/90s, and boy howdy--that makes me feel old).
Cindy Hamilton
Cellphone reception in the house is often spotty and sometimes I have to go outside to make a call. I can of course listen to any radio station on my pc or tablet with home wifi.
That's funny as I listen to an oldies FM station in the car and they are starting to play rap. I'm older than rap and never had listened to it as it was not there in my youth.
Hey young lady, the Oldies stations is 50s/60s.
There's George Noory, host of the nationally syndicated program Coast to Coast AM. How can you live without him? Without his callers I wouldn't know about the little green men who are taking over America.
But I admit, his show is on late at night when I'm not in the car.
Tbey don't have an oldies station in Baltimore. I don't know what that means. They have one in central Pennsylvania when I'm there.
I could pay for Sirius and I can use my phone and bluetooth to the car radio, but I like simple, just turn on the radio and listen.
Absoluely. I noticed her child-like outlook but ignored it.
At home when I want music I listen to 181.FM Good Time Oldies. I use Radiomaximus, which is free, but I'm sure there are other ways.
And I recorded 300 songs from it and put them on a flashdrive. In the US in the car I usually listen to c-span or npr** but when I'm in a country with no English, I play the flashdrive.
**I don't usually mind the conservatism of AM radio, but the endless commercials are a problem.
Came time to renew the SiriusXM and thought about dropping it. I had to go to the store so got in the car and turned on an FM station that plays music I like. All the way to the store was no music, just commercials.
Bought what I went for got in the car to go home. Same station, nothing but commercials on the entire ride home. Paid to renew XM and never looked back.
My cell phone switches between Wi-Fi calling and the tower, mid call, as I walk around the house. 90% of the time, if I walk down into the basement, it'll switch to WiFi calling with no interruption to the call.
Depending on your phone/PC devices (Android/Windows vs. iPhone/iOS) there are apps that allow you to (digitally) connect your cell phone to your other devices and use them to make "cell phone" calls over WiFi, via the PC/tablet.
My play list on my big MP3 thumb drive goes from Bessie Smith and Muddy Waters to Taylor Swift and Lord Huron. I mix it up pretty good. I also have other thumb drives with more of a genre on them. I am never out of things I like to listen to.
"R&B" from my youth was Chuck Berry and Motown. There was music in their music. I don't know what the cRAP they play now could be called.
My family shares an Amazon Music account. The app occasionally creates playlists based on the most recent music choices. Since the range of our ages spans 4 decades, and none of us have ever shied away from exploring new artists ("new" meaning we've never listen to them before, not "new" meaning current day) I'll bet the playlists that Amazon builds are even more varied than your MP3 drive. ;-)
Those playlists often lead us to more new artists to explore, across multiple genres.
Got any "The Dead South" on that drive?
I can see that.
Even NPR has some commericals 90% are for other shows on NPR, which I think is waste of their time and mine. I listen to the radio when I want the radio. I almost never turn it on just because I know something is on. (Cartalk is an exception but I came across that by chance, not because they advertised it.)
The other 10% are from those who fund the station. They used to just give their name, like Acme Heating and Cooling, but now they get to add a sentence or a little more, like Acme h&c, where they do professional work and you get the best bang for your buck. So that's not nearly as time consuming but it's worth mentioning just to show how times change.
It says "Monday-Friday noon-3:00 pm eastern " and that's just when it is now.
So I'm listening now, on the PC. I hope he'll explain how to stop the little green men I heard about. They worry me as much as e.coli!
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