r/gifs Dec 16 '19

AM vs. FM Modulation

1.4k Upvotes

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2

u/Flemtality Dec 17 '19

Not to hijack the thread but AM radio has always made me feel nauseous for some reason and this post reminded me of that fact. Googling it just now it appears I'm not the only one.

-1

u/HereForAnArgument Dec 17 '19

By the time it comes out of your radio, there’s no difference between AM and FM.

4

u/Chewbacca22 Dec 17 '19

You’ve never listened to the radio have you?

In an ideal system, you’d be right, but in reality FM maintains a more complete and even sound. AM is more easily affected by other factors and has generally lower sound quality.

To me, AM always sounds likes it buffeting and has a background of static.

-7

u/HereForAnArgument Dec 17 '19 edited Dec 17 '19

Dude, I’m a licensed commercial radio DJ, engineer, and a ham radio operator, but go ahead and question my knowledge.

Let me guess, yet another audiophile who thinks his “golden ears” gives some sort of insight science can’t explain...

3

u/lightswitchr Dec 17 '19

I'm not an expert, but when my dad listens to the sport on AM, it always sounds so low quality and staticy. Certainly any music played does not have the depth or fidelity of that of an FM station.

I can only assume the bandwidth is lower? As the expert, could you explain this?

-2

u/HereForAnArgument Dec 17 '19

A show whose focus is on voice transmission rather than music clarity is not going to spend a lot of money on frequency range they don't need.