Trailer AM radio reception

Major Dad wrote:

n7bsn wrote:

TheGriswolds wrote:
My FM radio works fine but can't seem to get anything on the AM dial in the trailer. Are the antennas that bad for AM or maybe something is disconnected. Anyone else have bad AM reception?

Assuming your radio is connected to it's antenna, and it probably is if you are getting lots of FM stations since most use the same antenna. The problem may, and probably is, not with your radio but with the other "stuff" in your rig.

Your AC to DC puts out a LOT of radio interference (RFI). Unplug your rig and see if the AM radio is better. Make certain your inverter (if you have one) is off too, they also can generate RFI.

It is possible that the control board on your refer is to blame, but this is less likely.

Also your blower motor on the furnace can generate RFI.

Weather affects AM much more so than FM, as does EMI. I have tried a lot of different things to improve AM reception in the trailer, but too many electronic systems with their own electric fields make AM reception on the camper radio poor at best. (I'm on my third system in the trailer, but that's a problem with poor products).

Also IIRC from USAF radar school, there are no radio waves that follow the curvature of the earth. radio waves are line-of-sight. If conditions are right, AM signals reflect off the ionosphere back to earth, then back to ther ionosphere, etc. True story...a few years back while we were traveling through NW Arizona during the lunch hour I was surfing through the AM band looking for Paul Harvey's noon broadcast and found a clear strong signal. At the end of the broadcast the news station identified itself as a Traverse City MI station. I started surfing the dial and found other strong signals from the upper Great Lake region. That day AM was "FM" (freaking magic!)

X2 what Major Dad said. AM signals will skip off the atmosphere, especially at night in clear weather. I have been able to pick up AM stations as distant as Chicago, New Orleans, Atlanta, Cincinnati, & New York City at night on a portable radio from my home.

And, on our first RV (fifth wheel) the radio antenna was an automotive type antenna (typical towable RV installation) mounted on the entertainment slide exterior wall surface (our current TT's radio antenna is a roof mount) and the AM radio reception was worse than what we currently experience in the TT; I guess the additional height gained by the roof mount antenna marginally improves reception.