So BMW can't build a car that meets EMI specs so they just turn off the AM reception and hope that nobody notices? Are there no EMI regulations in Germany? Or maybe its the same mindset that allowed Volkswagen to cheat on their smog emissions by using engine software to trick the inspectors.
If they can successfully claim that AM radio is obsolete, others might claim that Amateur Radio is obsolete when we try to complain about interference to our service. Or maybe the cell providers would like to force everyone to stream their news online so that we pay for our data service.
The reason that US cars don't have "HD Radio" installed is that the satellite radio providers signed agreements with automakers to put satellite receivers in cars and they don't want to install a free service that might take customers away from subscription based satellite radio services. That plus the fact that "HD Radio" in the USA is a proprietary system that requires payment of licensing fees to iBiquity Inc, unlike Europe's open source digital radio standard.
If we don't demand that technology providers observe some level of social reponsibility they will likely argue that the benefits of their new technology will outweigh the loss of "obsolete technology" and the public might accept that argument instead of asking them to spend a little more money to clean up their pollution.
Dan Schultz N8FGV
------Original Message------
I stumbled across an article relating much of the same, today. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098893_bmw-i3-electric-car-quirk-no-am... So, save the planet or save the spectrum. Perhaps not both at the same time?
:-)
--- Zach N0ZGO