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Frame from am radio tower power Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

am radio tower power

Aaron
Demos
YouTube
Cited on HN 7 times, 2020–2023, never outright recommended score 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Shared as a curiosity showing that with enough power almost anything can demodulate AM radio.

A one-minute clip where an AM radio station can be heard through the arcing of a high-power transmitter tower.

“With enough power, literally anything can become an AM radio.” (HN, 2022)

7 citations · Demos

7 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@cranium Feb 2020 Cites it
on HN thread Ask HN: What’s the most important modern simple invention?
I'm surprised nobody mentioned radio communication. The AM (Amplitude Modulation) transmission is even quite simple to understand and build. You can even create an electric arc between the ground and the transmitting tower as a cheap (and dangerous) receiver: [this video]
AM radio demodulated by an arc at a transmitter tower.
@PoachedSausage Jun 2020 Cites it
on HN thread 40 uses for Germanium Diodes (1950) [pdf]
I'm not entirely sure what process is converting to sound, but the metal fence makes a great antenna and we are talking about 10's of feet from the antenna with 500 kW AM at 200 kHz going into it. It could actually have been arcing: [this video]
Demonstrates arcing near a high-power AM tower.
@1970-01-01 Mar 2022 Cites it
on HN thread How is portable AM radio possible?
Fun link time: With enough power, literally anything can become an AM radio. No tuning or filtering is required. [this video] [link]
With enough power anything demodulates AM.
@blincoln Aug 2023 Cites it
on HN thread Radio frequency hearing in humans and its effects (2003)
I grew up in a house that was next door to a radio rebroadcasting facility, and we could definitely hear the radio station coming from the walls of our house sometimes, e.g. even their station identification so there was no ambiguity. I assumed it was the house wiring (mostly knob and tube) acting as an antenna. I'm reasonably sure that was AM, though. Was the sound you heard like either of these? [this video] [link]
Example of hearing AM radio from structures.

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