@@FarpointFarms I have to dissagree with you on this one. People will suppress the memories, but they will carry the scars with them for the rest of their lives. My mother who was born in 1930 growing up in the depths of the great depression is one who still does. "Yes, I know, we all know, Uphill in the snow in both directions."
AM Radio continues to be vital and so important in emergency situations. My heart goes out to Americans who have suffered this Atlantic Hurricane Season. Back in 2022 Canada's Atlantic Provinces were hit with a terrible September hurricane. We lost power for from 5 days to 3 weeks depending on location in the Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland. Most of our radio stations have switched to FM but we did have CBC Radio out of Sydney, Nova Scotia on 1140 AM. The internet was gone, power was gone and for for us it was portable transistor radios and CBC that kept communications open. We have been thinking of America and were pleased to send linemen and specialized trucks from Nova Scotia Power Inc to help local power companies in Florida. For me depending on digital and multiple cell towers, relays, is fraught with danger. Thankyou AM Radio! Mary Rafuse Nova scotia, Canada
Thank you for the kind words, I am also impressed that you guys would come all that way to get us back up and running, hats off to all the linemen who did their best to get power back.
Excellent presentation…very helpful & teaches us some important lessons. You have SAVED at least one life and family. Put a star in you heavenly crown….you clearly care. That is a rare quality today!
Only the users of AM radio know it exisits. There is little promotion/advertising of the stations. At least AM stations should say something before majior storms.I have always been a AM user But there is little to listen to in alot of markets.
@@FarpointFarmsIf you are in the mountains of NC....why did you have to rely on WPTF all the way over in Raleigh? Aren't there closer stations in Greensboro or Winston Salem? And what about all of the more powerful fm stations in that region? 🤔
Another thing I did, that I feel is important, is I looked up every radio station in my state, and typed up a list of them all, and taped it to the inside of my hall closet door, so I'd have the information in emergency if I ever needed it, to look for stations, or if I had to travel in an emergency.
Thankfully, I haven't been in an emergency quite like Helene. Your comments about emergency preparedness and radio in particular are very valuable. Thank you! 👍👍👍
I was a firefighter in Salinas California when the Loma Prieta (1989) earthquake hit. My big chunky voice pager immediately went off telling all of us to stay home and mind our neighborhoods until orders came. I got changed into my uniform grabbed the flashlight and a wrench and went from house to house turning off the gas. Standard practice. Our radios could reach as far as King City and we were able to relay some news locally. But for the most part, the entire Central Coast was in blackout. The quake was so violent, that it literally destroyed physical infrastructure (antennas and masts) for 100s of miles around. Thankfully KGO got special permission to boost their signal and reach all of us via AM.
I live in central Missouri, and during the catastrophic ice storm of 2001, I had a battery operated radio, and our local AM station was invaluable!! They provided daily updates on the progress of power restoration from our rural electric cooperative. I was wondering how long we would be out, and then I heard the report on that station that the cooperative reported 350 poles snapped off at the ground, it was then, that I knew it was going to be a while. I was out of power for 6 days, it was 9 before everyone was restored, and we didn't have the challeneges of roads and bridges being washed out or completely destroyed. To be certain, we had many trees down to be cleared from roadways, but all roadways were still intact. We also have less challenging terrain here, I am in the NW transition area, right at the edge of the Ozarks, so we go from rolling to hilly terrain, no mountins at all. AM signal also carries a greater distance than FM (depending on transmitting power)... EVERYONE should have AM radio capability with battery backup in their homes, AND in their car. Our local station is on the same frequency as yours (1450), and is also 1,000 watts. It comes in better at my home than your station does there at yours...BUT... I live 21 miles away from the transmitter, so am a bit closer. I will tell you this: That same station, right here at my home, comes in much clearer and better in my CAR radio than any radio I have in the house. so that's a tidbit of information, for what it's worth. Also, my analog flip clock radio from 1976 brings it in better than my digital radio (mini CD-radio combo)
@@jw6180 Here, the network of rural electric cooperatives really pulled together, every cooperative in the state that was not affected sent a crew to our area, the damage was all in West Central, Central, and Osage Valley electric coop service areas, and we had crews from the other 38 coops across the state. We had crews working on our road from Howell-Oregon Coop, almost 200 miles away!
A historical and technical perspective on AM radio… which has hindered AM radio in remaining (in the non-technical ‘eyes’ of the public) viable: • Man-made interference. The FCC is totally to blame for this. Between computers, household light dimmers, LED household light 💡’bulbs’, any switching-mode power ‘bricks’ that operate anything from the AC coming in to your home… the AM band noise floor has steadily increased and is (and has been) unacceptable for some time. This was not the case 50 years ago, relatively speaking. There are rules for conducted and radiated noise emissions from all of these but the FCC has done NOTHING to enforce nor fine the manufacturers of these devices. • Deaf AM receivers. No ‘tuned RF stage’ ahead of the mixing and IF stages. Manufactures (short of your vehicle radio) won’t put the additional money in to their design. The better home receivers and ‘pocket transistor’ radios from decades ago had this. Night and day difference in the sensitivity to pick up regional signals as well as distant (> 100 miles) station during day and, of course, night. • The manufacturers, in order to combat the excessive noise of the band (target point 1)… restricted the audio bandwidth… now… the reproduced audio of 90+% of all radios with AM is less than a poor cellphone call. The ‘Internet’ stream of your local AM station is markedly better than the over-the-air signal. It doesn’t drop out going under a bridge, doesn’t get ‘jammed out’ by noise from overhead power lines or as you pull up to an intersection with LED traffic signals. Who wants to deal with that? This has resulted in public perception (real) that AM is that ‘buzzy thing’ when comparing, shall we say, an AM/FM bedroom clock radio and the type of reception you will get when going from FM over to the AM band.
@@kennethandrysiak4130 Every one of your statements line up perfectly with what I experience in everydy life when listening to AM. It's absolutely true that the signal was cleaner back in the 1970's compared to today. The radio I had then was a 1967 Solid State Windsor 500 model. My reception during the ice storm was fairly good on that little battery powered mini cd player I had (manufactured early 2000's), but most likely because everyone's power was gone at the time. Once all electricity is back on, that radio is pretty worthless when trying to hear AM.
Our local station KSCO in Santa Cruz has served this community for decades. She brought us thru a major flood, earthquake, and fire. Snaps to MZ the owner, and his staff.
Retired WHS teacher here. Also a former radio news director from the 1980s. We rode out the storm at our house four miles outside Boone. After everything went out Friday morning, I turned on the local radio station and heard an hour or so of info while they were still on the air. Then nothing for days. That Sunday, we came down the mountain to check on (more) elderly relatives who live alone, and the local stations in our hometown were also off the air, including the station I once did news for. The ONLY emergency info I could find on AM or FM was from WWNC 570 AM, which was simulcasting on the iHeartRadio Asheville network on FM. They did what most stations would have done in the old days -- emergency info 24/7 for at least a week. By the way, my old station used to tout having an actual bomb shelter where they could transmit info locally in an emergency. I think the bomb shelter was converted into the owner's plush office in the 1980s. Still, I don't understand why local stations couldn't have used a portable transmitter -- like the Marti unit I once used for remotes -- and run it off a generator. Or an FM transmitter like the ones folks use for their Christmas light displays. Anything would have been better than the nothing we got. Thanks for what you're doing, Erik. Great job.
In an aside, I'm thinking that FM transmissions would have been more valuable early in the emergency, if for no other reason than that half of us have Android phones with FM radio apps. I still have old transistor radios, but many, if not most, people now probably don't. The local stations could still reach us on our cell phones via their FM chips (and wired earplugs for the antenna).
Good to see you smile again! I bought a C.Crane Solar Observer AM/FM/Weather radio with multiple charging options. Also got their AM band loop antennae with stand. I love this radio! Looking forward to more of these lessons learned, what worked and what didn’t videos to help with planning and preparation. P.S. 680 AM WPTF is still running. Thank you! Prayers up 🙏🏻🫶
Sadly, the Solar Observer was discontinued recently. I bought one and liked it so much that I bought one for my brother. Of roughly 20 radios in my collection it's in my top 5. Absolute tank.
We had two hurricanes back in 1982 & 1992 that took out all power and comms on the entire island of Kauai, Hawaii in the middle of the pacific, the local radio stations quickly set up temporary antennas and generators to transmit both AM and FM within a matter of a couple of days, as for communications the mobile ham and CB operators quickly communicated with each other throughout the entire island, the neighboring islands and the lower 48 via AM(SSB), FM, VHF, CW, etc.
Old days the transmitter shacks would have studios to do news broadcasts from. Aflac Transmitter tower in Rowley Iowa has fuel to run 5 day. A kitchen, well and septic system to support a live in staff. There should be more of this.
My brother lives in Charlotte and though they were spared this time they have had long term power outages in the past. I've had this same radio for about a week and love it.
Here in Concord NH, we have a 1000 watt AM WKXL. Some years ago they went to a 24 hr. schedule. Being what was a 'graveyard' station, it's interesting that the FCC has loosened the rules regarding shutdown times. I toured the station in 1986 (40th anniversary), and still have the fridge magnet to prove it! Oh, they're on 1450 khz...
Hey great video. I Watch every video. Just wanted to let you know that I have a half of an old base antenna up that has a old piece of coax on it and I wrap the inside end to the small antenna on my little radio and it help so much on bringing in stations from far away. I am a CB'er and a Ham operator and also have a bad habit of collecting radios... good luck !!
Excellent video! Really gives a sense of what it is like to be in a disaster area. Good job to the radio station for getting on the air and broadcasting vital information.
Glad the AM radio got back up in your area. I went through this in the tornado outbreak of 2011 in Alabama. Radio was our lifeline for a few days. I'll never forget the insulation raining down like snow and the smell of ozone in the air. We fared very well, and were reasonably well-prepared, but I am better prepared now. I saw a news report shortly after Helene came through your area, where the police were saying they were so glad to get the Star Link for their cell phones, as it was the only way they could communicate with their own caravan and bases. I couldn't believe it! I would have thought that in the back of a closet somewhere, the authorities would have some high-watt two-way radios like they used in days of old, for use in case of emergency. That technology has worked very well for over 100 years.
We had a devastating hurricane in southern England in 1987. No power anywhere, telephone lines not working etc. Medium wave (AM) radio was the only way to get information. FM band was empty. Nothing there. No internet back then but if it had existed that would have been down too.
We have a local 1000w Am station 5am-5pm. Morning show is the best. Local news and information. A swap and shop , cooking programs. And so on. Glad we have a local station. Am is so important for our country and local communities. Speaking of which on your 7300 behind you. That’s a great receiver as well, do you have a long wire antenna attached to that 7300?
Sounds like you are lucky like me. This station does local from 6 to 9 every morning, and on weekends does the swapshop as well. I am happy to have them here.
I have a friend in Georgia who lost power and water for 18 days thanks to the hurricane. So, I have recently updated some kits with Countycomm, Xhdata, and Tecsun receivers that cover just about everything including SSB. Backup batteries for the radios, 2200 mAh bricks, and USB C cables to keep it all charged up. I also have a small solar setup and 100 amp hour battery for Hf/Vhf/Uhf communications. Thanks for the excellent reminder video! With most folks listening to streaming radio these days, we forget about where to get info when those systems are down. 73, Brett K5WXP
It is good to hear that you are well prepared, I hope that your friend is doing better. There is a town near me that is hoping to get power back by Thanksgiving-- I could not imagine what they are going through
@@FarpointFarms thanks! I can't imagine being without things for that long. I'm certainly not set up for that length of time!. Hoping things get back on track for everyone soon. Thanks again for the video!
I hardly ever listen to FM. I rely on an AM station 125 miles away to get Dan Bongino. It's amazing what you can pull in on AM at night too, on a long wire.
@@FarpointFarms well, it took a long wire up in a tree feeding an Ft-710 to get the show reliably. I can barely hear it from here in a car during the day.
Hey Eric -- glad to hear your family is safe. The local AM station is likely operating their backup LOW-POWER AM transmitter, and the owners are likely running it on a small generator. The same goes for their makeshift studio. The station is likely running about 50 to 100 Watts AM carrier power, which equates to around 200 to 400 Watts Peak Envelope Power (PEP). That's 1/10th to 1/20th of their normal operating power level. Something else you'll notice is the local station operating frequency -- 1450 KHz or 1.450 MHz. It's further up the AM Broadcast Band, where ground-wave coverage isn't as pronounced and typically needed compared to the lower-frequency, high-power regional stations. Nevertheless low-power, community-serving, local AM and FM radio stations are still needed in today's world. They serve the vital mission of connecting localities. God bless you and your neighbors. 73 from the Frozen Chosen in south-central Alaska. P.S. I've enjoyed your radio adventures and learning over the years. Steven, NL7W -- Not in but around Palmer, Alaska, USA
The road where the station was was flooded and closed and the power lines to the transmitter was damaged. It took them a few days to get back on the air- they were trying their best to so what they could
I hope that people can learn from our mistakes and get better prepared. I think that after this, people will pay closer attention to the weather reports for our area.
Hello Eric. At some point in the near future, people in that area and surrounding areas would be interested in a face to face class on learning about CBR. From A-Z. Buying a good affordable & dependable radio and antenna & how to use it effectively in an emergency. I’m here in the Northeast and due to Helene, a storm that had no effect on us, i have three family members and a buddy that have all purchased a CB and antenna. My buddy is even going to get his technician HAM license. (He is in Supply NC.) God bless all y’all and thank you for these videos.
Thank you for this post. I love AM radio and it has been such an important part of my life and this shows just one way. I'm sorry so many are letting broadcast AM slip away.
This is what me and a fella named "Rick" did during the blizzard of '93 at an AM/FM station located in Western NC. We lost power about 9 hours into the storm after 80MPH winds and three feet of snow fell. Over the next 24 hours, another three feet of snow fell, and the wind sculpted 9' drifts and every tree that was dead fell across roads and power lines. We were on generator power for days, and I didn't get away for 6 days when the road past my house was opened by the National Guard. We stayed at our mikes until we were relieved, passing emergency comms from local and State government to the people of Western NC. The importance of local AM stations staying "on the air" to relay life saving info cannot be emphasized too much!
That is what it is all about- you were relaying vital information to those who needed it. I have heard stories about that storm- they are still talking about it today
My heart goes out to everyone who experienced loss in the storm. I have lived through two weather events where we had no power in the region. An "inland hurricane" was the most recent, back in 2008 I think it was. Most people had no power for about 2 weeks. Trees were down all over the place. One very important lesson I learned during that storm was that debit cards do not work in stores. If you didn't have some cash paper money, you could not buy ice to preserve what food you had. You also could not buy more food for future use or anything else. In the beginning of that ordeal, gasoline was not available anywhere, unless you were able to drive out of the region to a place that wasn't hit by it. We got our news like you did, from a little radio running on batteries.
At a recent family gathering, I brought up the topic of emergency radios and was surprised to hear no one has a radio in their home. I probably have a dozen around my house. A few days ago, I bought a $13 NOAA radio on Amazon just to have another spare. I'm fortunate that one of my local AM radio stations (WOWO) transmits at 50k watts during the day and 9k at night.
Dad, (ww2 vet), believed this forty/fifty years ago. He was an early-day prepper before the term was coined. A lot of depression era folks, ( migrated west from Oklahoma), felt that way about things. Be prepared for a rainy day. He stored water, canned food, batteries and gas in the garage and regularly cycled them. The cars always had a full tank. He also bought a GE super radio, (gen 1),. It sits proudly on my fridge and I still use it daily to catch the national/local news or talk radio on am just because, lol. Cheers. 👍
@@FarpointFarms He told me some pretty gruesome things - yeah. Friends blown up or that wouldn't be coming home etc.. He came up behind pattons battalion after the bulge. But he came back not hating Germans but loving the people and their culture. Imagine that! Troops had it pretty rough back then compared to these days. Many of them suffered frostbite sleeping in frozen soil. It was the stories of the depression that stick with me. Growing up, mom and dad saved things because they knew what having nothing meant. Rubber bands from the newspaper. Paper clips. Safety pins, that kind of stuff. And they stored everything in empty pickle jars. This wasn't that unusual for that generation either. Many of them did it. "Nothing is guaranteed they'd say. Not even tomorrow. Grandma, (another okie), used to say, "what's worth having is worth taking care of". That goes for the country and the people in our lives as well. Cheers!. 👍
Thank you sir, its you and others like you that have made me "up my game" into preparedness to included UHF/VHF/HF comms and AM radio. I consider it all as " insurance" if you will, may never need it or use it but if i do then i have increased my chances of a successful outcome. Again thank you
I have read within the last couple weeks about West Virginia being apart of a multi-state coalition to save am radio due to the events of Hurricane Helene.
Our local station WJCW am 910 does very little during emergencies. Most of their programming is robotic. The station is within eyesight of my home, and the station is unmanned a good portion of a 24 hour day. WJCW signal reaches many that were in the 1000 year flood in TN. It is sad, especially since the FCC requires stations to broadcast helpful information during an emergency.
This is what happens to these smaller local channels when the owners can't generate enough $$ to pay for some on air talent. Since no one works there, it's all on autopilot. Then when they were needed the most, they had no one on staff to man the phones, the radio and the web to keep everyone informed. It's a sad reminder that we need to support these stations and encourage their owners to offer home grown content.
I live in Madison County and for a few days the only way we were able to get news was on a little AM radio. Nothing local on shortwave. Not really anything on the CB, but was able to listen to the weather channels on my son's CB.
It's a good thing you were able to get some local information from your AM radio- a lot of other folks in the area were not so lucky! I had to use my CB to get weather updates
My thoughts on AM radio is that it's important, helpful and an easily accessible medium for everybody. I don't understand why it's letting to atrophy like the railroads. I could take a guess.
I think it’s very important for folks to be able to understand how important radio is and to be able to monitor everything that could be out there. AM radio, NOAA Weather ,GMRS, Ham, Public Safety, CB, and FM. Cell phones and the internet are great, but they won’t be there when power and infrastructure is gone.
people have short memories of how internet and cell phones stop working. Only a select few will remember and get other sources in case there is a next time
From what I've seen on the Ringway Manchester channel the UK is almost finished with AM. We need to keep it alive in North America. Besides being useful in emergencies, it also makes it fun to build crystal radio sets and other project radios.
a good tuneable loop antenna for MW also helps a lot with better reception. Loops are good as they don't require power & don't require a physical connection to the radio (works by induction).
Erik, I watched this video. Glad your power is back. I can’t wait to see the upcoming videos on the things you found out about living of grid even temporary. We tend to get hurricanes around West Palm Beach, Fl more than you. I have live of grid several times up to two weeks. I have camping supplies that helped. Our power company here has been making major strides putting power lines underground and changing out wood poles to concrete ones. I live near major cities, West Palm Beach, Ft Lauderdale, Miami. AM radio is alive and well here. I quickly went to UA-cam and found that there are a lot of videos showing how to improve am radio reception. Maybe one of these could help you. Can’t hurt to watch.
Hello Erik; I am happy you finally got electric power back. Good video and excellent video subject. Your area went through literal Hades and lives were lost and no one thought what had happened could actually become a nightmare reality. AM radio operates on the broadcast spectrum of lower frequency than 160 meters amateur radio band. 160 meter antennas are massive in that the length of wire used for a tuned dipole antenna is really long. With broadcast AM being even lower in frequency that means the tuned dipole length is even longer. Once you get an antenna tuned (as if for transmit); the reception is greatly improved. In other words the signal to noise ratio is greatly improved and reception is far more easier to listen, aside from static crashes from distant lightning storms. You don't need large heavy wire either. For listening: 18 guage copper wire will work just fine. I use a 160 meter off center dipole for 160 meters and it gives me satisfactory result with broadcast AM reception as well. Those short wire antennas that come with those radios work semi - ok with shortwave, but are not very good at AM broadcast band. The level of devastation of the aftermath of the storm is mind boggling and heart wrenching to say the absolute truth on the smallest scale possible. I have a generator but I will aquire solar panels and controllers and a massive bank of lifepo4 batteries and inverters as generators use fuel to run and are noisy and also advertise your location from the engine running on the generator. Solar is I think the smart way to go with preps and your not chasing after fuel ⛽ either. PS I use an FT-840 Yaesu hf rig to listen to AM and it does a really good job in that listening need. My other rig is a Kenwood TS-480hx and it has excellent receiver as well as 200 watts pep on transmit. Another amateur radio operator kb9vbr uses a Yaesu FT-891 for POTA activation contest. That rig has an ultra sensitive receiver and 32 bit dsp noise reduction infrastructure. I plan on getting one myself, as its a solid little rig. Great video as always Erik and GOD bless 73 Earnest K5EWM.
I figured the radio station took major damage from storm. AM radio can reach more people especially at night .Many have back up systems . Some even have back up tower and transmitter . In NY our highway system has a AM station that is just for travel info like delays and road closures and weather reports related to highway system. This is paid by threw way tools . Some car companies wanted to stop AM radio in cars. AM radio is more likely to get emergency information out. This is true in many areas . The reason the emergency information was not hurd on 2 way radio like where to go for water ETC is many did not even know . This is where NEWS media really comes threw. They can focus on that info getting to the people. Great job putting this together . Many can learn from this. Their will be more storms !
It is amazing how much the AM radio is used in times of need. People really tend to forget how important it is, cell service was not working at all for days here and it was really hard to get info out.
During Helene and Milton the Daytona Beach area had A.M. radio, but know that these days almost all stations are automated and those stations did not offer any storm coverage
I guess that we were lucky here as the local station was providing updates every 15 minutes, I was traveling to some other areas that were hit hard, and their station was doing updates non-stop. It was refreshing to hear that, but heart breaking hearing what they were saying
Most likely hard hit areas with no infrastructure at the stations on the AM band go to generator and preprogrammed trash with no value, I did look often….
I can say for a FACT that AM is essential during a disaster. I worked for a communications company in New Orleans when Katrina hit. Of course I had all of the latest high tech tools with me when the company sent me to Baton Rouge for 28 days. Within a day after the storm hit, all comms infrastructure failed. No internet, no 2-way radios because repeaters were dead, no TV, and no phones because the switch for the 504 area code was dead. Nothing. I had thousands of dollars worth of equipment with me, and the most valuable piece of equipment in my hotel (besides my S&W), was a $10 battery powered AM radio that I had packed in my bail out bag. I ran the radio 2-3 hours a day in the dark for two weeks.
A very good addition to help receive the station better is to get a simple magnetic loop parasitic antenna that is placed close to your AM radio to enhance the signal. I have several multi band battery operated radios. Another option is to get a crank wind radio if you have limited batteries. Finally, a sad note. Tesla and other EV manufacturers are getting rid of AM radio in their vehicles because of the electronic noise levels literally wipeout the AM band. Also keep a list of Clear Channel radio stations handy if there are no radio stations in your area, or they’re totally gone. AM is here to stay and it should be a law that they must exist for national emergency situations.
The N2GE 145.190 repeater and the people on it have been a Godsend as well. Also 147.270 in Jonesborough tn has been amazing. Im almost there but also to late on my general test to help
It should be law that all cars sold in 2024 still have AM receive capability. If they don't want it tied into the main car's audio system then the car must contain an AM receiver that can be plugged into the accessory (lighter 12V) outlet, and must be provided just like a tire jack is provided.
I'm just watching your videos from the storm aftermath, Erik, and I'm learning from them already. Sorry y'all had to deal with all of that, and we're still praying for the folks in the worst hit areas. I know they'll need a lot of support through the coming months. So far, I'm curious about one thing. That looks like an Icom 7300 behind you. If it is, did you also try to receive this local AM station using it and your HF antenna? The reason I ask is that I sometimes listen to broadcast AM with my HF rig and it does a really good job, even during the day.
I just pulled your link and posted it to my FB page. If you want to see how people are with AM (and FM that is somewhat less useful but better than anything else) at a yard sale i bought a C Crane Skywave radio, AM/FM, weather, Air band, SW 2.3-26, Clock, Alarm, AA battries, USB power possible, no crank (they are high failure) no solar (a joke). - new about 80 dollars and funcionally the same as the the current skywave 2 for $0.25. Twenty Five CENTS! I have amother cheaper one like it, picked up for a couple bucks. I listen to AM on the road a lot, my wakeup is local AM, not the usual woke bull shit, we have a station in Harrisburg and one in York that each have a morning guy with some sense. The HBG guy is W3HP on WHP 580. Nice vanity call.
AM broadcast is still relevant, especially in emergencies. However, they need to stay analog. That is the simplest modulation format to receive and there are millions of analog receivers already out there. Almost everyone has at least one. There was a push by the FCC to convert them all to a digital format. I don’t know the status of that effort. I hope it has gone away.
The larger black Ham radio on the bottom shelf looks like an IC-7300..... If so, it has a great "General Receive" mode and lots of filter options and would have been better...in my opinion. What antenna were you using?
Am radio is very important. They need to be able to up the broadcast power in an emergency. Generator backup power needs to be provided by the local government. Politicians are very short-sighted.
Thanks for radio tips. My best AM is a Tecsun PL 660 SLV. I was wondering if a piece of wire strung up vertically on a pole (PVC) and clipped to the small radios antenna would boost reception?
I also have a Tecsun, but the PL-330 instead. The AM reception seems to be superior in these radios, as I've been experimenting in DX'ing at night. I picked up a Tecsun AN-200 Tunable medium wave Loop Antenna to see if it would increase my range, but to date it does not significantly improve my reception as the Tecsun radio is already a quality receiver. I've heard that attaching a 100-foot-long wire to the Antenna Output of the AN-200 might improve reception, but my apartment life limits long wires or antennas. However at night my AM reception is over 600 miles using only the Tecsun without any external antennas. Good luck!
@@electrictao5180 Thanks for the info. I'll try an inexpensive 20' wire on a pole and maybe also split some antenna wire to make an indoor dipole. You might want to try the dipole inside your apartment. Worth a try.
@@bobjones9727 Thanks I'll give the dipole a try. I already tried using the Xhdata AN-80 external fm/SW antenna coiled (23 ft) box, but no improvement on AM.
@@electrictao5180 Try attaching a wire to a cold water pipe, NEVER to a gas pipe. A friend once did a remote Dxpedition connecting a wire to a long chain link fence. He couldn't believe it!
I had not heard you mention NOAA Weather radio. Any reception? External antennas are available, as well as simple wire extensions or coils . A wire / coil extension can help Am also.
I'd like to see a video on what ham bands worked best. Was 80 meters useful. Did 2-meter repeaters stay alive? What about GMRS? BTW, 24 miles is the general range for a 1,000-watt ERP AM, so the signal was actually very good for the distance.
Thank you for the donation- It really does help the channel. Some of the repeaters did not work because there was no power to them. GMRS was surprisingly quiet during all of this
Large markets like LA, Chicago I think stilll benefit from the big AM's. Our local station along with Facebook Live was very helpful during the flood that hit us here in East Tennessee(Hurricane Helene). In Greene County the Nolichucky river flooded here and in Unicoi County. Unicoi got it worse than we did except for destroying a bridge on hwy 107 toward Erwin( the video's all over UA-cam). Other bridges in the county were stressed and were facing failure. Some lost their homes and damaged property. A couple of state parks nearby are destroyed. Greeneville Greene County lost its water supply for a few days as the intake pump house was overwhelmed at the river. Was not a good few days after September 27th.
There was a good bit about the decline of a radio on npr . Politics aside it was pretty informative. Maybe the fcc or homeland or fema could help support local am in colleges and high schools seeing most would be non profit have generators and house local re supply efforts during emergencies.
Did this radio have an external antenna besides the little whip antenna you get with it? Do you have any videos of your antenna set up? I see about 5 radios in the background
Oddly, none of those radios in the background can pick up that station. The little radio I filmed with was just using the stock antenna, but it worked!
I think FEMA/DHS should deploy mobile 10KW AM stations in a truck with a generator and a mast for use on 1240 AM (an old CONELRAD) or a prearranged local frequency that can be advertised.
What was the status of the FM stations at the same time? I am able to receive 4 to 5 AM stations and approximately a dozen FM stations here in central Texas.
AM radio is NOT dead, but it sure could benefit from having more music stations rather than talk, talk, talk all of the time. It's a huge disservice to rural communities to have nothing but blather when that sky-wave propagation brings the signal to them when the sun goes down. And even when living in the city like I do, the only music on AM here is WMTR 1250 or Cousin Brucie on WABC 770 on Saturdays. It's just terrible.
I remember growing up we would have reports of livestock and other farm related news. Now we don't hear any of that. We still have a ton of farmers around here so it surprises me that we don't hear that.
Okay what makes am more better than fm? Does am travel through mountains more than fm? Least with fm you do have a clear sound not sounding like you have a fan on in the background. Some am stations got an fm transmitter transmitting a clear signal. In my area we have 1260 on 94.9 and am 600 on 99.9. 680 is heard on 104.5.
Benefits of AM include more range for same power input so if a station has to run reduced power, they can still get out as long as their antennas are still up. If you have an AM transmitter, like a manpack, you can transmit a couple hundred miles on batteries. I talked 60 miles with my CB on four Watts output power. Atmosphere can help and hinder AM transmissions. I remember listening to WOR in New York while in Nashville, TN in a car in early morning and a Nashville, TN station while in central Virginia one afternoon with a RadioShack handheld transistor radio. I use AM to determine how close thunderstorms are. Lightning causes static crashes on AM and I can tell how close or far a storm is by frequency and amplitude of the static crashes. I've seen days where I thought for sure we were gonna get hit but when I turned on the AM, not a static crash could be heard and we never got hit. Aircraft use AM. Yes, it can be noisy, but some radios come with things to mitigate it. To answer your question about travelling through mountains, it can't but it can lens and skip over them. Look up NVIS.
In Japan AM Radio is still popular and needed. The mountains tend to block FM signals within the interior, that is away from the costal cities. Anyone who depreciates the value of AM Radio is simply ignorant in regards to the power of nature.
@@barneymm2204 Good point about static crashes. I'll have a radio tuned to a 'dead spot' for activity while keeping weather radar on my laptop. It's not uncommon to hear static crashes from 100 miles away.
AM radio used to be great, but the programming has gotten so crappy, that it’s almost not worth listening to anymore. I’ve got good radios, but even my local 50KW doesn’t get out as good as it used to. I find that I can hear out-of-state stations better.
I agree that some of the programing has gotten bad (not really bad but more scripted since they are all owned by parent companies). We are in a 'fish bowl" so we are lucky to get any reception
I picked up a Cobra handheld CB specific for gathering local information during emergencies. Inside it is pretty much useless. What is the least I can get away with to improve reception inside. I'm in a rental home, so I can't get into a lot of fancy installation.
Check out Walcott Radio or Right Channel Radios. I'm not advocating them, they're just the ones I have experience with. Each of them have a way to drill down to help you make a decision. Remember that ground planes help and are necessary if you get a 102 whip. I have a metal plate and some steel shelves I use as ground planes but you can use wire and I think I saw a vid where someone used cookie sheets, but didn't remember if that worked for them.
The antenna on your hand held is already a compromise antenna but you can improve it dirt cheap by attaching about 96 inches of wire with an eyelet or spade lug crimped on the end of the wire to any screw on the hand-held that is the ground side. Keep the wire as straight as possible. This will create a counterpoise the will improve your reception and greatly enhance your transmitted signal.
You'll certainly need to upgrade the antenna. There are some long wire options for CB now, and there is the B100 antenna that can be used indoors as well.
The Tecsun AN-200 is superb, but is radio dependent. The better the radio design is, the less effective it may be. With many lesser radios it can be remarkably effective. Worth the money. About $30.00. Many instructional videos are available online.
AM was known for emergency news, people the people today think the cellular phone is going to be best thing for communications, towers will go down, phone companies will go down, keeping a good battery radio with be the best way to get information in your area and in the state, also two way radios are good to have in case you have to leave your house and go to a safe place..
i bet your ICOM 7300 with an end-fed or other wire antenna would have picked up that station better than the portable radio. It also has NB and DNR which could have improved the SNR.
@@FarpointFarms oh wow! My FTDX-10 picks up broadcast AM amazingly well. With DNR it sounds almost as good as mono FM. Sometimes can't beat a portable radio for AM..
In Australia we have the government funded ABC Australia which goes over to emergency broadcasting in times of emergency. Especially the lower frequency stations on the broadcast band travel a very long way. Pitty they shut down the ABC shortwave broadcast station here, they say not needed because of the internet being readily available for broadcasting duties now. The AM broadcast band could follow suit in the future.
AM radio, like short wave radio and broadcast TV, is one of those things no body wants until they absolutely need it.
Very True, people forget about the bad times when times are good
@@FarpointFarms I have to dissagree with you on this one. People will suppress the memories, but they will carry the scars with them for the rest of their lives. My mother who was born in 1930 growing up in the depths of the great depression is one who still does. "Yes, I know, we all know, Uphill in the snow in both directions."
AM Radio continues to be vital and so important in emergency situations. My heart goes out to Americans who have suffered this Atlantic Hurricane Season. Back in 2022 Canada's Atlantic Provinces were hit with a terrible September hurricane. We lost power for from 5 days to 3 weeks depending on location in the Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland. Most of our radio stations have switched to FM but we did have CBC Radio out of Sydney, Nova Scotia on 1140 AM. The internet was gone, power was gone and for for us it was portable transistor radios and CBC that kept communications open. We have been thinking of America and were pleased to send linemen and specialized trucks from Nova Scotia Power Inc to help local power companies in Florida. For me depending on digital and multiple cell towers, relays, is fraught with danger. Thankyou AM Radio! Mary Rafuse Nova scotia, Canada
Thank you for the kind words, I am also impressed that you guys would come all that way to get us back up and running, hats off to all the linemen who did their best to get power back.
Radio's of all types are very important for all kinds of emergencies
Very true
Excellent presentation…very helpful & teaches us some important lessons. You have SAVED at least one life and family. Put a star in you heavenly crown….you clearly care. That is a rare quality today!
Only the users of AM radio know it exisits. There is little promotion/advertising of the stations.
At least AM stations should say something before majior storms.I have always been a AM user
But there is little to listen to in alot of markets.
It is a shame that they younger generations are not aware of the importance. I do like your idea of them saying stuff before a big storm
@bradchristy5002-- Thank you for such kind words, it really does mean a lot. I just want people to learn from what I did wrong.
So glad they have restored your power!
We were lucky- there is a town not too far from here that they are not expecting it until Thanksgiving- I could not even imagine
We have a 50,000 watt AM station in Cincinnati, 700 WLW and a couple other stations too. 55 WKRC. AM is alive and well!
Sounds like the Raleigh powerhouse 680WPTF.
World's Largest Wireless is still loud and clear here in OKC at night.
@@FarpointFarmsIf you are in the mountains of NC....why did you have to rely on WPTF all the way over in Raleigh? Aren't there closer stations in Greensboro or Winston Salem? And what about all of the more powerful fm stations in that region? 🤔
Another thing I did, that I feel is important, is I looked up every radio station in my state, and typed up a list of them all, and taped it to the inside of my hall closet door, so I'd have the information in emergency if I ever needed it, to look for stations, or if I had to travel in an emergency.
That my friend is a VERY good idea. I'm now going to do the same. Thanks!
That is a terrific idea.
Thankfully, I haven't been in an emergency quite like Helene. Your comments about emergency preparedness and radio in particular are very valuable. Thank you! 👍👍👍
I hope that no one has to have an experience like Helene- I would not wish this on my worst enemy
@@FarpointFarms I send thoughts and prayers to everyone who faces these terrible hurricanes.
Keep the prayers coming, it is helping
Three cheers for Curtis Media and their engineers!!!
Agreed. They really came though and have really acted as a beacon for us in these times of need.
I was a firefighter in Salinas California when the Loma Prieta (1989) earthquake hit.
My big chunky voice pager immediately went off telling all of us to stay home and mind our neighborhoods until orders came.
I got changed into my uniform grabbed the flashlight and a wrench and went from house to house turning off the gas.
Standard practice.
Our radios could reach as far as King City and we were able to relay some news locally.
But for the most part, the entire Central Coast was in blackout.
The quake was so violent, that it literally destroyed physical infrastructure (antennas and masts) for 100s of miles around.
Thankfully KGO got special permission to boost their signal and reach all of us via AM.
Wow. I do remember watching that on the news back then. It's crazy what mother nature can do to us at times.
That was a powerful reminder how vital communication is, looking forward to learning more, thank you
Indeed. Thanks!
I live in central Missouri, and during the catastrophic ice storm of 2001, I had a battery operated radio, and our local AM station was invaluable!! They provided daily updates on the progress of power restoration from our rural electric cooperative. I was wondering how long we would be out, and then I heard the report on that station that the cooperative reported 350 poles snapped off at the ground, it was then, that I knew it was going to be a while. I was out of power for 6 days, it was 9 before everyone was restored, and we didn't have the challeneges of roads and bridges being washed out or completely destroyed. To be certain, we had many trees down to be cleared from roadways, but all roadways were still intact. We also have less challenging terrain here, I am in the NW transition area, right at the edge of the Ozarks, so we go from rolling to hilly terrain, no mountins at all. AM signal also carries a greater distance than FM (depending on transmitting power)... EVERYONE should have AM radio capability with battery backup in their homes, AND in their car. Our local station is on the same frequency as yours (1450), and is also 1,000 watts. It comes in better at my home than your station does there at yours...BUT... I live 21 miles away from the transmitter, so am a bit closer. I will tell you this: That same station, right here at my home, comes in much clearer and better in my CAR radio than any radio I have in the house. so that's a tidbit of information, for what it's worth. Also, my analog flip clock radio from 1976 brings it in better than my digital radio (mini CD-radio combo)
Amen!
@@jw6180 Here, the network of rural electric cooperatives really pulled together, every cooperative in the state that was not affected sent a crew to our area, the damage was all in West Central, Central, and Osage Valley electric coop service areas, and we had crews from the other 38 coops across the state. We had crews working on our road from Howell-Oregon Coop, almost 200 miles away!
I remember that storm from the news coverage, Ice storms are a special kind of disaster since there is no power and freezing cold.
A historical and technical perspective on AM radio… which has hindered AM radio in remaining (in the non-technical ‘eyes’ of the public) viable:
• Man-made interference. The FCC is totally to blame for this. Between computers, household light dimmers, LED household light 💡’bulbs’, any switching-mode power ‘bricks’ that operate anything from the AC coming in to your home… the AM band noise floor has steadily increased and is (and has been) unacceptable for some time. This was not the case 50 years ago, relatively speaking. There are rules for conducted and radiated noise emissions from all of these but the FCC has done NOTHING to enforce nor fine the manufacturers of these devices.
• Deaf AM receivers. No ‘tuned RF stage’ ahead of the mixing and IF stages. Manufactures (short of your vehicle radio) won’t put the additional money in to their design. The better home receivers and ‘pocket transistor’ radios from decades ago had this. Night and day difference in the sensitivity to pick up regional signals as well as distant (> 100 miles) station during day and, of course, night.
• The manufacturers, in order to combat the excessive noise of the band (target point 1)… restricted the audio bandwidth… now… the reproduced audio of 90+% of all radios with AM is less than a poor cellphone call. The ‘Internet’ stream of your local AM station is markedly better than the over-the-air signal. It doesn’t drop out going under a bridge, doesn’t get ‘jammed out’ by noise from overhead power lines or as you pull up to an intersection with LED traffic signals. Who wants to deal with that?
This has resulted in public perception (real) that AM is that ‘buzzy thing’ when comparing, shall we say, an AM/FM bedroom clock radio and the type of reception you will get when going from FM over to the AM band.
@@kennethandrysiak4130 Every one of your statements line up perfectly with what I experience in everydy life when listening to AM. It's absolutely true that the signal was cleaner back in the 1970's compared to today. The radio I had then was a 1967 Solid State Windsor 500 model. My reception during the ice storm was fairly good on that little battery powered mini cd player I had (manufactured early 2000's), but most likely because everyone's power was gone at the time. Once all electricity is back on, that radio is pretty worthless when trying to hear AM.
Our local station KSCO in Santa Cruz has served this community for decades. She brought us thru a major flood, earthquake, and fire. Snaps to MZ the owner, and his staff.
Great shout out to them, glad to hear that your local station is taking care of the community
Retired WHS teacher here. Also a former radio news director from the 1980s. We rode out the storm at our house four miles outside Boone. After everything went out Friday morning, I turned on the local radio station and heard an hour or so of info while they were still on the air. Then nothing for days. That Sunday, we came down the mountain to check on (more) elderly relatives who live alone, and the local stations in our hometown were also off the air, including the station I once did news for. The ONLY emergency info I could find on AM or FM was from WWNC 570 AM, which was simulcasting on the iHeartRadio Asheville network on FM. They did what most stations would have done in the old days -- emergency info 24/7 for at least a week. By the way, my old station used to tout having an actual bomb shelter where they could transmit info locally in an emergency. I think the bomb shelter was converted into the owner's plush office in the 1980s. Still, I don't understand why local stations couldn't have used a portable transmitter -- like the Marti unit I once used for remotes -- and run it off a generator. Or an FM transmitter like the ones folks use for their Christmas light displays. Anything would have been better than the nothing we got. Thanks for what you're doing, Erik. Great job.
In an aside, I'm thinking that FM transmissions would have been more valuable early in the emergency, if for no other reason than that half of us have Android phones with FM radio apps. I still have old transistor radios, but many, if not most, people now probably don't. The local stations could still reach us on our cell phones via their FM chips (and wired earplugs for the antenna).
I agree with the portable transmitter and generator Idea. It was a surprise not to hear anything for al long as we did.
I do find it odd that there are no local news FM stations. No counting the translators that have such low power that they are pretty useless.
Good to see you smile again! I bought a C.Crane Solar Observer AM/FM/Weather radio with multiple charging options. Also got their AM band loop antennae with stand. I love this radio! Looking forward to more of these lessons learned, what worked and what didn’t videos to help with planning and preparation. P.S. 680 AM WPTF is still running. Thank you! Prayers up 🙏🏻🫶
Thanks- it feels good to be getting somewhat back to "normal"
Sadly, the Solar Observer was discontinued recently. I bought one and liked it so much that I bought one for my brother. Of roughly 20 radios in my collection it's in my top 5. Absolute tank.
We had two hurricanes back in 1982 & 1992 that took out all power and comms on the entire island of Kauai, Hawaii in the middle of the pacific, the local radio stations quickly set up temporary antennas and generators to transmit both AM and FM within a matter of a couple of days, as for communications the mobile ham and CB operators quickly communicated with each other throughout the entire island, the neighboring islands and the lower 48 via AM(SSB), FM, VHF, CW, etc.
That is good that they were able to get set back up so quickly
Old days the transmitter shacks would have studios to do news broadcasts from. Aflac Transmitter tower in Rowley Iowa has fuel to run 5 day. A kitchen, well and septic system to support a live in staff. There should be more of this.
That is the way they all should do it- Fuel for 5 days is impressive
We have WSB here in Atlanta @750 News/Weather/Traffic. Most people have forgotten about it but it's still up.
Most stations are now running "Canned" shows, but some still have local flair. The two stations around here are both still local.
My brother lives in Charlotte and though they were spared this time they have had long term power outages in the past. I've had this same radio for about a week and love it.
I am glad that Charlotte was spared, with the sheer amount of people there, it would have been so bad. Glad you like the radio
Here in Concord NH, we have a 1000 watt AM WKXL. Some years ago they went to a 24 hr. schedule. Being what was a 'graveyard' station, it's interesting that the FCC has loosened the rules regarding shutdown times. I toured the station in 1986 (40th anniversary), and still have the fridge magnet to prove it! Oh, they're on 1450 khz...
That's awesome! It's amazing how much history you can see in those old stations, and I bet that fridge magnet is a real gem!
Hey great video. I Watch every video. Just wanted to let you know that I have a half of an old base antenna up that has a old piece of coax on it and I wrap the inside end to the small antenna on my little radio and it help so much on bringing in stations from far away. I am a CB'er and a Ham operator and also have a bad habit of collecting radios... good luck !!
Thanks!!
Thank God you are seeing some relief there , have a blessed day
Thanks! I'm just glad to have the power back on. There are some that are still without power and might be for weeks more
Excellent video! Really gives a sense of what it is like to be in a disaster area. Good job to the radio station for getting on the air and broadcasting vital information.
I'm glad you got something out of the video! Hopefully, it helps some people think of their own plans in case of an emergency.
Great educational video. Thank you. Glad your ok.
Thank you
so glad your power is back on! AM radio is still relevant!
Thanks man! It was quite an event.
❤your commentary has pushed radio of all life to a respected level of enthusiasm and professionalism that few ever could conceive. Thank you Eric!!!
I am just trying to share what I learned and hopefully others can benefit from my experiences.
Love George noory, art bell and old talk radio!
Those were the good old days- I loved catching them on late night drives
Glad the AM radio got back up in your area. I went through this in the tornado outbreak of 2011 in Alabama. Radio was our lifeline for a few days. I'll never forget the insulation raining down like snow and the smell of ozone in the air. We fared very well, and were reasonably well-prepared, but I am better prepared now.
I saw a news report shortly after Helene came through your area, where the police were saying they were so glad to get the Star Link for their cell phones, as it was the only way they could communicate with their own caravan and bases. I couldn't believe it! I would have thought that in the back of a closet somewhere, the authorities would have some high-watt two-way radios like they used in days of old, for use in case of emergency. That technology has worked very well for over 100 years.
Some did have to break out the stuff from the closets the first few days. Nothing was working
We had a devastating hurricane in southern England in 1987. No power anywhere, telephone lines not working etc. Medium wave (AM) radio was the only way to get information. FM band was empty. Nothing there. No internet back then but if it had existed that would have been down too.
Another example of how important it is. I bet it is rare for a hurricane to hit England
@@FarpointFarms Extremely rare yes. People still talk about it to this day.
We have a local 1000w Am station 5am-5pm. Morning show is the best. Local news and information. A swap and shop , cooking programs. And so on. Glad we have a local station. Am is so important for our country and local communities. Speaking of which on your 7300 behind you. That’s a great receiver as well, do you have a long wire antenna attached to that 7300?
Sounds like you are lucky like me. This station does local from 6 to 9 every morning, and on weekends does the swapshop as well. I am happy to have them here.
I am lucky because I live near a good AM station that does a lot of community service.
I am glad to hear that- not everyone is as lucky
I have a friend in Georgia who lost power and water for 18 days thanks to the hurricane. So, I have recently updated some kits with Countycomm, Xhdata, and Tecsun receivers that cover just about everything including SSB. Backup batteries for the radios, 2200 mAh bricks, and USB C cables to keep it all charged up. I also have a small solar setup and 100 amp hour battery for Hf/Vhf/Uhf communications.
Thanks for the excellent reminder video! With most folks listening to streaming radio these days, we forget about where to get info when those systems are down.
73, Brett K5WXP
It is good to hear that you are well prepared, I hope that your friend is doing better. There is a town near me that is hoping to get power back by Thanksgiving-- I could not imagine what they are going through
@@FarpointFarms thanks! I can't imagine being without things for that long. I'm certainly not set up for that length of time!. Hoping things get back on track for everyone soon. Thanks again for the video!
I like your mention of a big battery….I need to get one for my comms room.
@@paulhause9040 Lifepo4's are getting very reasonable. Couldn't pass this one up at 170 dollars.
I hardly ever listen to FM. I rely on an AM station 125 miles away to get Dan Bongino. It's amazing what you can pull in on AM at night too, on a long wire.
I am impressed that you can hear it from that far away
Bongino! 👍
@@FarpointFarms well, it took a long wire up in a tree feeding an Ft-710 to get the show reliably. I can barely hear it from here in a car during the day.
Hey Eric -- glad to hear your family is safe. The local AM station is likely operating their backup LOW-POWER AM transmitter, and the owners are likely running it on a small generator. The same goes for their makeshift studio. The station is likely running about 50 to 100 Watts AM carrier power, which equates to around 200 to 400 Watts Peak Envelope Power (PEP). That's 1/10th to 1/20th of their normal operating power level. Something else you'll notice is the local station operating frequency -- 1450 KHz or 1.450 MHz. It's further up the AM Broadcast Band, where ground-wave coverage isn't as pronounced and typically needed compared to the lower-frequency, high-power regional stations. Nevertheless low-power, community-serving, local AM and FM radio stations are still needed in today's world. They serve the vital mission of connecting localities. God bless you and your neighbors. 73 from the Frozen Chosen in south-central Alaska. P.S. I've enjoyed your radio adventures and learning over the years. Steven, NL7W -- Not in but around Palmer, Alaska, USA
The road where the station was was flooded and closed and the power lines to the transmitter was damaged. It took them a few days to get back on the air- they were trying their best to so what they could
Thanks Eric, its certainly beneficial to hear a real-life scenario. As bad as this was/is people should plan for even worse (ie: EMP or CME event).
I hope that people can learn from our mistakes and get better prepared. I think that after this, people will pay closer attention to the weather reports for our area.
Hello Eric.
At some point in the near future, people in that area and surrounding areas would be interested in a face to face class on learning about CBR. From A-Z.
Buying a good affordable & dependable radio and antenna & how to use it effectively in an emergency.
I’m here in the Northeast and due to Helene, a storm that had no effect on us, i have three family members and a buddy that have all purchased a CB and antenna. My buddy is even going to get his technician HAM license. (He is in Supply NC.)
God bless all y’all and thank you for these videos.
Yes please! I’m interested as well.
How about a live show here on UA-cam? Maybe Next Saturday at 6pm eastern time?
@@FarpointFarms i’m not equipped to do something like that, but i thought it may make for some great content for your channel.
Thank you for this post. I love AM radio and it has been such an important part of my life and this shows just one way. I'm sorry so many are letting broadcast AM slip away.
It is a shame that it is not an integral part of how people get local news.
This is what me and a fella named "Rick" did during the blizzard of '93 at an AM/FM station located in Western NC. We lost power about 9 hours into the storm after 80MPH winds and three feet of snow fell. Over the next 24 hours, another three feet of snow fell, and the wind sculpted 9' drifts and every tree that was dead fell across roads and power lines. We were on generator power for days, and I didn't get away for 6 days when the road past my house was opened by the National Guard. We stayed at our mikes until we were relieved, passing emergency comms from local and State government to the people of Western NC. The importance of local AM stations staying "on the air" to relay life saving info cannot be emphasized too much!
That is what it is all about- you were relaying vital information to those who needed it.
I have heard stories about that storm- they are still talking about it today
My heart goes out to everyone who experienced loss in the storm. I have lived through two weather events where we had no power in the region. An "inland hurricane" was the most recent, back in 2008 I think it was. Most people had no power for about 2 weeks. Trees were down all over the place. One very important lesson I learned during that storm was that debit cards do not work in stores. If you didn't have some cash paper money, you could not buy ice to preserve what food you had. You also could not buy more food for future use or anything else. In the beginning of that ordeal, gasoline was not available anywhere, unless you were able to drive out of the region to a place that wasn't hit by it. We got our news like you did, from a little radio running on batteries.
That’s a great point about the cash. I completely forgot about that! Most people don't carry cash anymore.
At a recent family gathering, I brought up the topic of emergency radios and was surprised to hear no one has a radio in their home. I probably have a dozen around my house. A few days ago, I bought a $13 NOAA radio on Amazon just to have another spare. I'm fortunate that one of my local AM radio stations (WOWO) transmits at 50k watts during the day and 9k at night.
I wish that our station had that kind of output.
Dad, (ww2 vet), believed this forty/fifty years ago. He was an early-day prepper before the term was coined. A lot of depression era folks, ( migrated west from Oklahoma), felt that way about things. Be prepared for a rainy day. He stored water, canned food, batteries and gas in the garage and regularly cycled them. The cars always had a full tank. He also bought a GE super radio, (gen 1),. It sits proudly on my fridge and I still use it daily to catch the national/local news or talk radio on am just because, lol. Cheers. 👍
Your dad seems like he was a pretty smart man, being in WW2 he probably saw first hand what happens when you did not have anything.
@@FarpointFarms He told me some pretty gruesome things - yeah. Friends blown up or that wouldn't be coming home etc.. He came up behind pattons battalion after the bulge. But he came back not hating Germans but loving the people and their culture. Imagine that! Troops had it pretty rough back then compared to these days. Many of them suffered frostbite sleeping in frozen soil. It was the stories of the depression that stick with me. Growing up, mom and dad saved things because they knew what having nothing meant. Rubber bands from the newspaper. Paper clips. Safety pins, that kind of stuff. And they stored everything in empty pickle jars. This wasn't that unusual for that generation either. Many of them did it. "Nothing is guaranteed they'd say. Not even tomorrow. Grandma, (another okie), used to say, "what's worth having is worth taking care of". That goes for the country and the people in our lives as well. Cheers!. 👍
What frequency is the world news on?
Thank you sir, its you and others like you that have made me "up my game" into preparedness to included UHF/VHF/HF comms and AM radio. I consider it all as " insurance" if you will, may never need it or use it but if i do then i have increased my chances of a successful outcome. Again thank you
I have read within the last couple weeks about West Virginia being apart of a multi-state coalition to save am radio due to the events of Hurricane Helene.
I hope so! 🙏🏻
That is a great idea- People need communication in emergency events
Our local station WJCW am 910 does very little during emergencies.
Most of their programming is robotic. The station is within eyesight of my home, and the station is unmanned a good portion of a 24 hour day.
WJCW signal reaches many that were in the 1000 year flood in TN.
It is sad, especially since the FCC requires stations to broadcast helpful information during an emergency.
Why was it underutilized? Could locals have knocked on the doors to get things started?
@@jw6180the station runs on autopilot. Ain't nobody home.
This is what happens to these smaller local channels when the owners can't generate enough $$ to pay for some on air talent. Since no one works there, it's all on autopilot.
Then when they were needed the most, they had no one on staff to man the phones, the radio and the web to keep everyone informed. It's a sad reminder that we need to support these stations and encourage their owners to offer home grown content.
I live in Madison County and for a few days the only way we were able to get news was on a little AM radio. Nothing local on shortwave. Not really anything on the CB, but was able to listen to the weather channels on my son's CB.
It's a good thing you were able to get some local information from your AM radio- a lot of other folks in the area were not so lucky! I had to use my CB to get weather updates
Very informative to get a real world view.
I just want people to learn from what worked and did not work.
My thoughts on AM radio is that it's important, helpful and an easily accessible medium for everybody. I don't understand why it's letting to atrophy like the railroads. I could take a guess.
It’s not just important, it’s critical to keeping people safe and informed.
@@FarpointFarms
Yes, and if it is critical (like critical care unit, critical condition) why is it being let to atrophy?
Sorry- I guess it was auto correct-- It was to say it is important
@@FarpointFarms
No need to apologize. You have a great channel.
I think it’s very important for folks to be able to understand how important radio is and to be able to monitor everything that could be out there. AM radio, NOAA Weather ,GMRS, Ham, Public Safety, CB, and FM. Cell phones and the internet are great, but they won’t be there when power and infrastructure is gone.
people have short memories of how internet and cell phones stop working. Only a select few will remember and get other sources in case there is a next time
From what I've seen on the Ringway Manchester channel the UK is almost finished with AM. We need to keep it alive in North America. Besides being useful in emergencies, it also makes it fun to build crystal radio sets and other project radios.
It’s really a shame the UK is phasing out AM so quickly. I have one of those crystal radio kits
a good tuneable loop antenna for MW also helps a lot with better reception. Loops are good as they don't require power & don't require a physical connection to the radio (works by induction).
Erik, I watched this video. Glad your power is back. I can’t wait to see the upcoming videos on the things you found out about living of grid even temporary. We tend to get hurricanes around West Palm Beach, Fl more than you. I have live of grid several times up to two weeks. I have camping supplies that helped. Our power company here has been making major strides putting power lines underground and changing out wood poles to concrete ones.
I live near major cities, West Palm Beach, Ft Lauderdale, Miami. AM radio is alive and well here. I quickly went to UA-cam and found that there are a lot of videos showing how to improve am radio reception. Maybe one of these could help you. Can’t hurt to watch.
The one thing that is on the short list is a solar shower. I have a few more videos coming out
The best improvement for me was a Tecsun AN-200 loop antenna. That, with a Qodosen DX 286 is amazing. I could hear a flea sneeze on Neptune!
Hello Erik; I am happy you finally got electric power back. Good video and excellent video subject.
Your area went through literal Hades and lives were lost and no one thought what had happened could actually become a nightmare reality.
AM radio operates on the broadcast spectrum of lower frequency than 160 meters amateur radio band. 160 meter antennas are massive in that the length of wire used for a tuned dipole antenna is really long. With broadcast AM being even lower in frequency that means the tuned dipole length is even longer.
Once you get an antenna tuned (as if for transmit); the reception is greatly improved. In other words the signal to noise ratio is greatly improved and reception is far more easier to listen, aside from static crashes from distant lightning storms. You don't need large heavy wire either. For listening: 18 guage copper wire will work just fine.
I use a 160 meter off center dipole for 160 meters and it gives me satisfactory result with broadcast AM reception as well. Those short wire antennas that come with those radios work semi - ok with shortwave, but are not very good at AM broadcast band.
The level of devastation of the aftermath of the storm is mind boggling and heart wrenching to say the absolute truth on the smallest scale possible.
I have a generator but I will aquire solar panels and controllers and a massive bank of lifepo4 batteries and inverters as generators use fuel to run and are noisy and also advertise your location from the engine running on the generator.
Solar is I think the smart way to go with preps and your not chasing after fuel ⛽ either.
PS I use an FT-840 Yaesu hf rig to listen to AM and it does a really good job in that listening need. My other rig is a Kenwood TS-480hx and it has excellent receiver as well as 200 watts pep on transmit.
Another amateur radio operator kb9vbr uses a Yaesu FT-891 for POTA activation contest. That rig has an ultra sensitive receiver and 32 bit dsp noise reduction infrastructure. I plan on getting one myself, as its a solid little rig.
Great video as always Erik and GOD bless 73 Earnest K5EWM.
I figured the radio station took major damage from storm. AM radio can reach more people especially at night .Many have back up systems . Some even have back up tower and transmitter . In NY our highway system has a AM station that is just for travel info like delays and road closures and weather reports related to highway system. This is paid by threw way tools . Some car companies wanted to stop AM radio in cars. AM radio is more likely to get emergency information out. This is true in many areas . The reason the emergency information was not hurd on 2 way radio like where to go for water ETC is many did not even know . This is where NEWS media really comes threw. They can focus on that info getting to the people. Great job putting this together . Many can learn from this. Their will be more storms !
It is amazing how much the AM radio is used in times of need. People really tend to forget how important it is, cell service was not working at all for days here and it was really hard to get info out.
During Helene and Milton the Daytona Beach area had A.M. radio, but know that these days almost all stations are automated and those stations did not offer any storm coverage
That was my experience here in Houston when Beryl came in. AM wasn’t very helpful.
I guess that we were lucky here as the local station was providing updates every 15 minutes, I was traveling to some other areas that were hit hard, and their station was doing updates non-stop. It was refreshing to hear that, but heart breaking hearing what they were saying
Most likely hard hit areas with no infrastructure at the stations on the AM band go to generator and preprogrammed trash with no value, I did look often….
So true ,,but baseball and high school sports are a good thing too I'm an AM lover thanks for your work
Our station covers a lot of the local high school sports games. It certainly helps build community.
Honestly, some of the simplest solutions are the best solutions
Exactly!
While a loop antenna is really nice on AM, a simple piece of wire of random length attached to your existing antenna can often get better reception.
Yes it does
People need to set up radio clubs in their area for emergency situations and news on all the bands (ham, CB, GMRS, etc.).
I think that is a great idea, we used to have one here a few years ago, but they are not as active anymore.
@@FarpointFarms You could call the clubs "Farpoints Communications Clubs" wherever they are around the country.
I can say for a FACT that AM is essential during a disaster.
I worked for a communications company in New Orleans when Katrina hit. Of course I had all of the latest high tech tools with me when the company sent me to Baton Rouge for 28 days.
Within a day after the storm hit, all comms infrastructure failed. No internet, no 2-way radios because repeaters were dead, no TV, and no phones because the switch for the 504 area code was dead. Nothing.
I had thousands of dollars worth of equipment with me, and the most valuable piece of equipment in my hotel (besides my S&W), was a $10 battery powered AM radio that I had packed in my bail out bag. I ran the radio 2-3 hours a day in the dark for two weeks.
You made the best point, all the high tech equipment could not work, but your little ole radio was the life saver.
@@FarpointFarms It sure was. That's how I first heard that the levee broke and the city was under water.
I have an MLA-30 magnetic loop antenna that I bought to use with SDR. It is an excellent amplified external antenna for AM reception.
I agree on that one- it really does help pick up all kinds of stations
A very good addition to help receive the station better is to get a simple magnetic loop parasitic antenna that is placed close to your AM radio to enhance the signal. I have several multi band battery operated radios. Another option is to get a crank wind radio if you have limited batteries. Finally, a sad note. Tesla and other EV manufacturers are getting rid of AM radio in their vehicles because of the electronic noise levels literally wipeout the AM band. Also keep a list of Clear Channel radio stations handy if there are no radio stations in your area, or they’re totally gone. AM is here to stay and it should be a law that they must exist for national emergency situations.
I just ordered a passive loop antenna! It's an old radio shack unit. Let's hope it works.
The N2GE 145.190 repeater and the people on it have been a Godsend as well. Also 147.270 in Jonesborough tn has been amazing. Im almost there but also to late on my general test to help
I am a truck driver, and have it locked on the AM dial
Then you are a smart man- great info is out on the AM stations
Amen
I'm on AM multiple days weekly
I am a bit jealous, it is hard to get reception where I live.
It should be law that all cars sold in 2024 still have AM receive capability. If they don't want it tied into the main car's audio system then the car must contain an AM receiver that can be plugged into the accessory (lighter 12V) outlet, and must be provided just like a tire jack is provided.
I'm all for it. It's crazy that they're even considering getting rid of it.
tried to reach you on skip 34 CB Pa but, you may not have had it on for power conservation...I understand
Yeah, we were trying to conserve power as we did not know when the power would come back on.
After what happened in North Carolina I am thinking about getting my ham radio license and a few ham radios
I would recommend it, in some places, the ham operators were the ones relaying info to others.
I'm just watching your videos from the storm aftermath, Erik, and I'm learning from them already. Sorry y'all had to deal with all of that, and we're still praying for the folks in the worst hit areas. I know they'll need a lot of support through the coming months. So far, I'm curious about one thing. That looks like an Icom 7300 behind you. If it is, did you also try to receive this local AM station using it and your HF antenna? The reason I ask is that I sometimes listen to broadcast AM with my HF rig and it does a really good job, even during the day.
It is a 7300, I have tried that but is still did not pick up the local station. There are just too many mountains in the way
I just pulled your link and posted it to my FB page. If you want to see how people are with AM (and FM that is somewhat less useful but better than anything else) at a yard sale i bought a C Crane Skywave radio, AM/FM, weather, Air band, SW 2.3-26, Clock, Alarm, AA battries, USB power possible, no crank (they are high failure) no solar (a joke). - new about 80 dollars and funcionally the same as the the current skywave 2 for $0.25. Twenty Five CENTS! I have amother cheaper one like it, picked up for a couple bucks. I listen to AM on the road a lot, my wakeup is local AM, not the usual woke bull shit, we have a station in Harrisburg and one in York that each have a morning guy with some sense. The HBG guy is W3HP on WHP 580. Nice vanity call.
My grandpa taught me to make a crystal radio. It's really a neat little thing.
Sounds like your grandpa was a pretty cool guy, I hope he taught you other cool things.
AM broadcast is still relevant, especially in emergencies. However, they need to stay analog. That is the simplest modulation format to receive and there are millions of analog receivers already out there. Almost everyone has at least one. There was a push by the FCC to convert them all to a digital format. I don’t know the status of that effort. I hope it has gone away.
I thought I was ready for Beryl but I forgot about communication. I found a cheap AM/FM radio that provided information about the aftermath.
There are always holes in our plans. That was certainly the case here.
The larger black Ham radio on the bottom shelf looks like an IC-7300..... If so, it has a great "General Receive" mode and lots of filter options and would have been better...in my opinion. What antenna were you using?
The IC7300 actually won't pick up our local station with a long wire antenna. It may be the location of it vs. The radio on the table in the house.
Am radio is very important. They need to be able to up the broadcast power in an emergency. Generator backup power needs to be provided by the local government. Politicians are very short-sighted.
You are 100% correct-
Thanks for radio tips. My best AM is a Tecsun PL 660 SLV. I was wondering if a piece of wire strung up vertically on a pole (PVC) and clipped to the small radios antenna would boost reception?
I also have a Tecsun, but the PL-330 instead. The AM reception seems to be superior in these radios, as I've been experimenting in DX'ing at night. I picked up a Tecsun AN-200 Tunable medium wave Loop Antenna to see if it would increase my range, but to date it does not significantly improve my reception as the Tecsun radio is already a quality receiver. I've heard that attaching a 100-foot-long wire to the Antenna Output of the AN-200 might improve reception, but my apartment life limits long wires or antennas. However at night my AM reception is over 600 miles using only the Tecsun without any external antennas. Good luck!
@@electrictao5180 Thanks for the info. I'll try an inexpensive 20' wire on a pole and maybe also split some antenna wire to make an indoor dipole. You might want to try the dipole inside your apartment. Worth a try.
@@bobjones9727 Thanks I'll give the dipole a try. I already tried using the Xhdata AN-80 external fm/SW antenna coiled (23 ft) box, but no improvement on AM.
It certainly would! The "Long Wire Antenna" is just that. A long wire clipped to the existing antenna. They can really boost a faint signal.
@@electrictao5180 Try attaching a wire to a cold water pipe, NEVER to a gas pipe. A friend once did a remote Dxpedition connecting a wire to a long chain link fence. He couldn't believe it!
Clear channel 50000 watt KAAY, Little Rock, Arkansas "the mighty 1090!"
I wish we had one near us, our little local station is 1000w
I had not heard you mention NOAA Weather radio.
Any reception? External antennas are available, as well as simple wire extensions or coils .
A wire / coil extension can help Am also.
I had to use my CB radio with NOAA to get weather updates, but that is a great point that having one would help.
I'd like to see a video on what ham bands worked best. Was 80 meters useful. Did 2-meter repeaters stay alive? What about GMRS? BTW, 24 miles is the general range for a 1,000-watt ERP AM, so the signal was actually very good for the distance.
Thank you for the donation- It really does help the channel. Some of the repeaters did not work because there was no power to them. GMRS was surprisingly quiet during all of this
How did that first HOT shower feel after the power came back on?
It was AMAZING....best shower ever
I have the ATS25 multiband all mode reciever, it's a lot of radio for around 100 bucks, works Great.
That is good to know, thanks for sharing
Large markets like LA, Chicago I think stilll benefit from the big AM's. Our local station along with Facebook Live was very helpful during the flood that hit us here in East Tennessee(Hurricane Helene). In Greene County the Nolichucky river flooded here and in Unicoi County. Unicoi got it worse than we did except for destroying a bridge on hwy 107 toward Erwin( the video's all over UA-cam). Other bridges in the county were stressed and were facing failure. Some lost their homes and damaged property. A couple of state parks nearby are destroyed. Greeneville Greene County lost its water supply for a few days as the intake pump house was overwhelmed at the river. Was not a good few days after September 27th.
Everything is needless until you need it and then older technology is usually the better option.
Very true indeed.
There was a good bit about the decline of a radio on npr . Politics aside it was pretty informative. Maybe the fcc or homeland or fema could help support local am in colleges and high schools seeing most would be non profit have generators and house local re supply efforts during emergencies.
That sounds like a great idea about the local schools or colleges to do that.
Did this radio have an external antenna besides the little whip antenna you get with it? Do you have any videos of your antenna set up? I see about 5 radios in the background
Oddly, none of those radios in the background can pick up that station. The little radio I filmed with was just using the stock antenna, but it worked!
Could you plug in a outdoor antenna for better reception??
Yes you can
Nice coffee mug.
Thanks- Good catch on it
I think FEMA/DHS should deploy mobile 10KW AM stations in a truck with a generator and a mast for use on 1240 AM (an old CONELRAD) or a prearranged local frequency that can be advertised.
That would make great sense, so they probably would never do that
Okay, so I don't doubt what you guys are saying about AM radio in emergencies. In my area, we have two local AM stations. I can't stand either one. 😢
Sorry that they are not good enough to listen all the time- but hopefully in the time of need, they will be what you need
What was the status of the FM stations at the same time? I am able to receive 4 to 5 AM stations and approximately a dozen FM stations here in central Texas.
The local ones were also off line because of the storm. I was not able to pick up other stations (probable due to the widespread outages and damages)
AM radio is NOT dead, but it sure could benefit from having more music stations rather than talk, talk, talk all of the time. It's a huge disservice to rural communities to have nothing but blather when that sky-wave propagation brings the signal to them when the sun goes down.
And even when living in the city like I do, the only music on AM here is WMTR 1250 or Cousin Brucie on WABC 770 on Saturdays. It's just terrible.
I remember growing up we would have reports of livestock and other farm related news. Now we don't hear any of that. We still have a ton of farmers around here so it surprises me that we don't hear that.
Oldies AM stations actually exist! There are 2-3 in NH. You may find a couple with an online search.
Okay what makes am more better than fm? Does am travel through mountains more than fm? Least with fm you do have a clear sound not sounding like you have a fan on in the background. Some am stations got an fm transmitter transmitting a clear signal. In my area we have 1260 on 94.9 and am 600 on 99.9. 680 is heard on 104.5.
Benefits of AM include more range for same power input so if a station has to run reduced power, they can still get out as long as their antennas are still up. If you have an AM transmitter, like a manpack, you can transmit a couple hundred miles on batteries. I talked 60 miles with my CB on four Watts output power. Atmosphere can help and hinder AM transmissions. I remember listening to WOR in New York while in Nashville, TN in a car in early morning and a Nashville, TN station while in central Virginia one afternoon with a RadioShack handheld transistor radio. I use AM to determine how close thunderstorms are. Lightning causes static crashes on AM and I can tell how close or far a storm is by frequency and amplitude of the static crashes. I've seen days where I thought for sure we were gonna get hit but when I turned on the AM, not a static crash could be heard and we never got hit. Aircraft use AM. Yes, it can be noisy, but some radios come with things to mitigate it. To answer your question about travelling through mountains, it can't but it can lens and skip over them. Look up NVIS.
Thanks for the reply @barneymm2204
In Japan AM Radio is still popular and needed. The mountains tend to block FM signals within the interior, that is away from the costal cities. Anyone who depreciates the value of AM Radio is simply ignorant in regards to the power of nature.
@@barneymm2204 Good point about static crashes. I'll have a radio tuned to a 'dead spot' for activity while keeping weather radar on my laptop. It's not uncommon to hear static crashes from 100 miles away.
AM radio used to be great, but the programming has gotten so crappy, that it’s almost not worth listening to anymore. I’ve got good radios, but even my local 50KW doesn’t get out as good as it used to. I find that I can hear out-of-state stations better.
I agree that some of the programing has gotten bad (not really bad but more scripted since they are all owned by parent companies). We are in a 'fish bowl" so we are lucky to get any reception
A tunable loop antenna would of greatly increased the signal or very long wire.
That is a great idea,
What happened to the cool breaker 19 intro? Was the best.
I was trying to change it up a bit. I have a video of just the song if you want to listen
I picked up a Cobra handheld CB specific for gathering local information during emergencies. Inside it is pretty much useless. What is the least I can get away with to improve reception inside. I'm in a rental home, so I can't get into a lot of fancy installation.
Check out Walcott Radio or Right Channel Radios. I'm not advocating them, they're just the ones I have experience with. Each of them have a way to drill down to help you make a decision. Remember that ground planes help and are necessary if you get a 102 whip. I have a metal plate and some steel shelves I use as ground planes but you can use wire and I think I saw a vid where someone used cookie sheets, but didn't remember if that worked for them.
@@barneymm2204, Plenty of hams including me, used metal cookie sheets and a mag mount antennas's,
The antenna on your hand held is already a compromise antenna but you can improve it dirt cheap by attaching about 96 inches of wire with an eyelet or spade lug crimped on the end of the wire to any screw on the hand-held that is the ground side. Keep the wire as straight as possible. This will create a counterpoise the will improve your reception and greatly enhance your transmitted signal.
@@radiotec76 The only screws are 2 small screws for the belt clip. I replaced the rubber antenna with a 51".
You'll certainly need to upgrade the antenna. There are some long wire options for CB now, and there is the B100 antenna that can be used indoors as well.
Can you recommend a good AM antenna? We only get one station at night.
The MLA-30+ loop antenna is a great small AM antenna.
The Tecsun AN-200 is superb, but is radio dependent. The better the radio design is, the less effective it may be. With many lesser radios it can be remarkably effective. Worth the money. About $30.00. Many instructional videos are available online.
AM was known for emergency news, people the people today think the cellular phone is going to be best thing for communications, towers will go down, phone companies will go down, keeping a good battery radio with be the best way to get information in your area and in the state, also two way radios are good to have in case you have to leave your house and go to a safe place..
i bet your ICOM 7300 with an end-fed or other wire antenna would have picked up that station better than the portable radio. It also has NB and DNR which could have improved the SNR.
It does not. In fact it doesn't pick it up at all.
@@FarpointFarms oh wow! My FTDX-10 picks up broadcast AM amazingly well. With DNR it sounds almost as good as mono FM. Sometimes can't beat a portable radio for AM..
In Australia we have the government funded ABC Australia which goes over to emergency broadcasting in times of emergency. Especially the lower frequency stations on the broadcast band travel a very long way. Pitty they shut down the ABC shortwave broadcast station here, they say not needed because of the internet being readily available for broadcasting duties now. The AM broadcast band could follow suit in the future.
Oh , you have no idea !
I sadly do. Sometimes I wish I was oblivious to it all.