John Kean, Dave Hershberger, and Tom King recently set out to take measurements of RF noise levels on various roadway types from open interstate highways to city streets, to determine how the noise would affect AM broadcast reception. These environments reflect the current habits of AM radio listening, which is primarily in vehicles. In addition to RF noise level, RF signal levels were measured for three AM stations operating on frequencies in the low, middle and high ends of the AM broadcast band. These measurements provide a better understanding of how AM radio reception is affected by RF signal strength and noise in a range of roadway environments from rural to dense urban environments. On this episode of TWiRT, John Kean and Dave Hershberger join us to describe the testing methodology and the results and conclusions we can infer from them.
Show notes:
- NRSC-R102: Measurement of AM Band RF Noise Levels and Station Signal Attenuation
- SDRplay RSPdx-R2 Wideband Full-Featured 14-bit SDR Covering 1kHz to 2GHz
- Test Plan for Measurement of Multipath Distortion Parameters for AM SFNs
Guests
Dave Hershberger – Senior Scientist (retired) at Continental Electronics
John C. Kean – Senior Engineer at Cavell, Mertz & Associates
Host
Kirk Harnack –
Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, Akamai Broadcasting, & South Seas Broadcasting
Follow TWiRT on X and on Facebook
Follow Kirk on X – @kharnack
Follow TWiRT on X – @TWiRTshow and Facebook
Sponsored by
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. Broadcast Bionics – making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Aiir, providing PlayoutONE radio automation, and other advanced solutions for audience engagement.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard – The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.
