Rolf Taylor says the AM debate wants to listen to extra from those that’ve turned to the senior band throughout occasions of disaster
On this letter to the editor, the writer feedback on Karl Zuk’s latest visitor commentary “AM Listening Is Higher Than Ever … in My Tesla!” Touch upon this or any article. E-mail [email protected].
Relating to the Article AM Listening is Higher Than Ever….
What appears to be forgotten, time and again, is the “what if” eventualities we pay specialists to consider.
What if there’s a extremely robust photo voltaic flare that knocks out a lot of the grid and plenty of satellites (they occur on a regular basis however miss us, and so they do someday hit)? What occurs if there’s a nuclear bomb(s) detonated over our nation? What if cyber attackers knock out massive parts of our infrastructure?
Similar to the worldwide pandemic, these low likelihood occasions can and do occur, and forethought is critical. And specialists agree that the power to speak is essential in such eventualities (e.g. the fog of warfare phenomenon).
Within the above eventualities, the power of particular person AM stations to broadcast to tons of of hundreds of sq. miles turns into related. And interference would really lower throughout a large scale energy outage. However this works provided that there are receivers able to working with out business electrical energy.
[Related: “Endless Audio Options in the Car Do Not Make for Easy Listening“]
The federal government’s public non-public partnership, the place radio stations licensed to serve the general public are fortified with modest authorities expenditure, makes a number of sense. To take away AM from the equation, even when one stayed with broadcast radio or TV, would enhance the associated fee by a number of orders of magnitude. Attempting to engineer an answer that may preserve some redundant mobile or web community, if even doable, would most likely enhance prices a thousand-fold or extra.
What additionally appears absent from these discussions is precise listener testimonials. The place are the tales of the listeners who spent days of their attic, huddled subsequent to their radio, whereas ready for rescue from a flood? These individuals exist. Their testimonials ought to certainly be included within the AM receiver debate!
The above is my opinion and doesn’t characterize the view of another social gathering, together with my employer.
— Rolf Taylor, Rocket Engineering and Consulting, Springfield, Va.
[Also Related: “Letter: Radio Needs Tesla to Fix This Car Dashboard Flaw“]
