AM Radio in Mach-E

[machefan2022]

This reminds me of the reason Pickup trucks that cost ~$80k still have those tall antenna's on the fender. AM radio waves have a specific wave height, and you need a pole antenna to gather those most efficiently. manufacturers have found AM reception to be important to truck buyers so they still put the mast antenna on trucks.

Between the electric motors and not much of an antenna AM reception will be poor.

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[dcortez]

Whenever I use my AM radio, it is mainly static even for nearby stations that are not in my other cars. I like to listen to local sports stations and one talk station. I know it is tough to do AM radio due to all the electrical systems. I am wondering if this is expected in the Mach-E as I have a 2022. Anyone else having this issue? My work around for now is to use the iHeart Radio App on my iPhone.
I am wondering if I should I bring it back to the dealer to make sure the radio is properly grounded or the antenna is hooked up properly?

 

[dcortez]

Whenever I use my AM radio, it is mainly static even for nearby stations that are not in my other cars. I like to listen to local sports stations and one talk station. I know it is tough to do AM radio due to all the electrical systems. I am wondering if this is expected in the Mach-E as I have a 2022. Anyone else having this issue? My work around for now is to use the iHeart Radio App on my iPhone.
I am wondering if I should I bring it back to the dealer to make sure the radio is properly grounded or the antenna is hooked up properly?

Last week I drove a new Solterra and Toyota Bz4. (same car mechanically). Both had AM Radio built in to the radio (no Tune In or streaming from Iphone). The AM radio worke great in LA basin. All local AM stations were clear and could be heard using radio "scan" "tune" etc. Save to favorites

How does Toyota do this when Ford, VW, Tesla, etc. reject AM radio due to "interference"" from the motors/inverters? The Toyota Screen says this is HD AM radio. I think AM stations are now broadcasing digital signals, similar to FM and TV. In event, it does work great.

I don't think streaming radio from Tune In or I heart works. In my area, they have only 2 or 3 local AM stations and that does not do it for me.

I hope Ford figures this out gets what Toyota and Subaru are doing with there new EVs. To bad these EVs do not have a glove box! How dumb is that??

 

[MachEMaster]

I turn on the AM traffic radio as soon as I break West of the high tension electrical wires. Station tunes in clear after that!

 

[Maquis]

Last week I drove a new Solterra and Toyota Bz4. (same car mechanically). Both had AM Radio built in to the radio (no Tune In or streaming from Iphone). The AM radio worke great in LA basin. All local AM stations were clear and could be heard using radio "scan" "tune" etc. Save to favorites

How does Toyota do this when Ford, VW, Tesla, etc. reject AM radio due to "interference"" from the motors/inverters? The Toyota Screen says this is HD AM radio. I think AM stations are now broadcasing digital signals, similar to FM and TV. In event, it does work great.

I don't think streaming radio from Tune In or I heart works. In my area, they have only 2 or 3 local AM stations and that does not do it for me.

I hope Ford figures this out gets what Toyota and Subaru are doing with there new EVs. To bad these EVs do not have a glove box! How dumb is that??

Very few AM station transmit in HD. Most HD are in metro areas. My wife once worked for the company that commercialized HD, but the automakers, at that time, chose to go with satellite instead, and HD became marginalized. Without the huge base of automotive HD receivers, investing in HD didn't make financial sense for smaller-market stations. It was later that automakers started including HD in cars and by then, satellite was completely entrenched.

My 2021 first build car has AM and it doesn’t seem to work any worse than AM in my ICE vehicles.

 

[Northofnine]

Hi all,
Here in Ontario Canada I use and IOS app call Radioplayer.
it shows up in carplay and I use that to listen to AM radio Toronto news and Sports radio.
maybe something similar wherever locally.
As long as I have good cell service it sounds good wherever I am.

 

[dcortez]

Very few AM station transmit in HD. Most HD are in metro areas. My wife once worked for the company that commercialized HD, but the automakers, at that time, chose to go with satellite instead, and HD became marginalized. Without the huge base of automotive HD receivers, investing in HD didn't make financial sense for smaller-market stations. It was later that automakers started including HD in cars and by then, satellite was completely entrenched.

My 2021 first build car has AM and it doesn’t seem to work any worse than AM in my ICE vehicles.

Thanks this is great information. Is HD AM also dying? In the So California region where I tested the Solterra and BZ4 new models just now reaching the dealers, I found both EVs did receive virtually ALL AM stations broading LA, Orange, Riverside, San Diego Counties. I assume this is working because in this big radio market all AM stations have convered to HD technology.

As to streaming using apps, I have been unable to find a streaming service that includes virtually all AM stations in So Cal. For example, KNX 1070 the only all news station is not on any of the streaming services. But they do simulcast on FM so you can stream it there.

 

[dcortez]

Hi all,
Here in Ontario Canada I use and IOS app call Radioplayer.
it shows up in carplay and I use that to listen to AM radio Toronto news and Sports radio.
maybe something similar wherever locally.
As long as I have good cell service it sounds good wherever I am.

From what I could find out, Radioplayer works in Canada, UK and some European countries I could not find this service for US locations. Sounds like a good app for Canada. Hope they bring it to the US.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Does AM HD-Radio work in the Mach-E ('21-22 models)? I've never been within range of a AM HD station.

 

[Maquis]

Does AM HD-Radio work in the Mach-E ('21-22 models)? I've never been within range of a AM HD station.

I don’t know. HD stations also transmit a normal signal, so that they can be received by any radio. The first HD receivers had a light that would illuminate to show it was receiving HD, like FM used to do with stereo.

 

[mkhuffman]

Does AM HD-Radio work in the Mach-E ('21-22 models)? I've never been within range of a AM HD station.

No. We have local AM HD stations and they come in as regular AM in my car. AM HD sounds awesome, as good as FM HD. I wish it would catch on.

 

[MnSparty38]

Another supporting article.


Ford dropping AM in all non-commercial 2024 models.

https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2023/04/01/ford-am-radio-commercial/70062845007/

Admittingly, I have used AM in a long time, mostly stream music and podcasts from my phone.

 

[sukhoi_584th]

Frustrating. I use AM every day, and don't have an alternative due to poor cell coverage in many areas I go.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

This is obviously the solution.

 

[21st Century Pony]

For those of our members testing AM reception, I remind us all about the receptivity shift in AM bands between daytime and nighttime. From the little I remember of my long-ago LRS Army comms training, the ionosphere becomes a reliable AM multi-bounce layer once the sun goes down.

To wit, I remember driving once in eastern Bavaria in my BMW 318i in the middle of the night and being able to pick up French AM broadcasts from some Paris station, as well as another cool AM station from Vienna Austria, very clearly. Those were both several hundred miles away from my location.

So my recommendation: try to test the AM in your area at night as well as when the sun is up.

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