I'm kind of sad the more I learn about Teslas

Are you referring to the HD-radio IBOC-on-AM deal? I kinda forgot that was a thing after reading about some tests years ago.

...Well look at that! hdradio.com says the USA now has 8 AM HD-digital stations. I don't live near enough any to receive.

 

Oh, they started including HD tuners in cars around 2005, and it started really taking off about 8 years ago. By now I'd say if a given new car still receives radio it will definitely be HD-capable.

One big difference between digital radio and digital television (as implemented in the USA) is that digital radio is transmitted on exactly the same frequencies as its analog basis, and there is no pressure to reassign that RF spectrum for any other purpose.

This is in contrast to digital TV where everything was shuffled twice, resulting in tuners becoming obsolete.

 

We have hd am in our 10 year old Toyotas. You can turn it on and off.
On sounds like buzzing in a tin can

 

You can use methods like forward error correction to allow a complete bitstream to be recovered even when a significant portion was not received clearly. HD radio uses this extensively.

There's also a well developed (50+ years) system called concealment where the impacts of lost audio data can be minimized. I don't know if HD radio uses this but I feel safe assuming that they do.

Also, because the HD radio system is transmitted "on top of" the analog signal, it is easy for the receiver to kick down to analog mode if reception is just too poor. In the early days there were many problems with synchronization, but they've gotten better.

 

In my Prius, the inability to turn of traction control is what hampered rocking. I've done it with other automatic transmissions.

I did catch an ad for a drive-in not too long ago. Maybe beginning of the pandemic. They were running a double feature of the latest Godzille movie with Detective Pikachu. Wish I had gone.

And they all buy from the same factory on Alibaba.

In the Subaru, you had to turn on the ability to get the HD stations in the settings. Otherwise the radio display just acted like a non-HD unit.

With the HD stations, I don't get static. If there is interference, the station just goes silent.

 

... just one letter short of "Homicidal".

 

No idea, the sound is consistently tinny, and we’re just outside Boston. We keep it off

 

We've got a Tesla in the family. I'm afraid to drive it...

 

There's an un-tapped market, for Luddite vehicles.

I think a lot the new beads and trinkets in cars are there for the benefit of... the manufacturers. Yes I know, hard to believe they would stoop..., maybe not that hard.

Case in point, a touch screen with vital heat/vent controls, that USED to be ergonomic sliders and dials, with detents, that you could find and adjust, without ever taking your eyes off the road. Now, you get to play with an iPad, till you're alerted by honking from the oncoming traffic.

 

I don’t think you do, or at least I don’t understand why?
You seem to really like manual transitions, AM radio, basically 30-50 year old technology.

This is fine, there is nothing wrong with liking old, familiar tech. But a Tesla is the opposite of that. Nothing old, everything new. There are EVs that have some trappings of older tech (even they won’t have a manual transmission).

As for the Police vehicle, odds are good they use USB ports to connect to the vehicle, and/or the vehicle was adapted for police service.

 

I haven't listened to AM in many decades.

My lower-middle-priced, ~1-year old, VoLTE-capable Motorola smartphone includes an FM radio feature. So did both flip phones I had earlier. All three required plugging in an earphone (as antenna, in addition to its usual purpose).

 

The Charge EV might have one, and not a simulated one.

 

Many EV conversions used a DC motor mated to the factory manual.

 

My recent trip to DC included 4 hours on I-81 in the Shenandoah Valley:

The mountains limit FM signals to those along the route:

• Right-Wing Christian Radio - the largest block if this is appealing. Their 'news' repeats Q-Anon and resentment programming.
• Singing Through Pinched Nose Country Music - hints of yodeling often complaining of who done wrong ... no confessions about being the one who done the wrong. Resentment lyrics. This is far, far removed from Blue Grass.
• Public Radio Dead Zone - having a couple of large universities often has light-weight, fact based news with classic music filler.

My preference is to have my iPhone loaded with albums of my music: Alanis Morissette, The Band, Bob Dylan, Devo, Eurythmics, The Firesign Theater, Julie Brown, Little River Band, Ok Go, Robert Palmer, Samir Mezrahi ... Pink Floyd, Joe Cocker, Moody Blues, Rocky Mountain Boys, Mozart ... Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Rolling Stones, Beatles ... Bill Monroe.

Then set the iPhone to randomly play the songs.

Bob Wilson