No real AM or FM radio in the R2

[SwampNut]

I work in telecom, and this event is a big topic of disaster recovery for the industry. Neither stations nor cell was perfect. The cell network has vastly improved in 20 years, the radio stations have gotten worse.

You can feel insulted all you want, but the fact remains that radio is approaching dead tech status fast. Like phone landlines.

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[Emma]

I work in telecom, and this event is a big topic of disaster recovery for the industry. Neither stations nor cell was perfect. The cell network has vastly improved in 20 years, the radio stations have gotten worse.

You can feel insulted all you want, but the fact remains that radio is approaching dead tech status fast. Like phone landlines.

All well and good but that the cell networks have “vastly improved in 20 years” is no comfort to me when I am driving alone at night in areas that have no service.

 

[racekarl]

False.

LOL, I can't WAIT to hear how an FM radio would help this. Most of the cell networks still worked, some radio stations shut down.

Anyway, I'm rooting for page 32 by tonight.

OF COURSE you object to these sentiments. You're exhibit A of the "I'm so smart and eveyone else is dumb" camp. It's easy to see from all the responses from other people who have called you out for this many times. You never seem to hear it and do any self reflection and improvement. I have contemplated blocking you many times but it's finally time. Bye Felicia.

 

[Millbarge]

You are maybe too young to have lived through the grid shut down 20 years ago.

"Grid shut down"? Like the electrical outage? Is that how you think FM signal is transmitted?

 

[Emma]

"Grid shut down"? Like the electrical outage? Is that how you think FM signal is transmitted?

No I didn’t say or imply that. I think you may have misunderstood me. When the grid shut down, there was no cell service and when there was, the lines were too busy for anyone to make calls or get online to get information, at least where I was.

 

[Millbarge]

No I didn’t say or imply that. I think you may have misunderstood me. When the grid shut down, there was no cell service and when there was, the lines were too busy for anyone to make calls or get online to get information, at least where I was.

Ok, but FM reception is your priority worry in that situation that happened 20 years ago.....? I get not having a real FM radio is an annoyance, but that's a real stretch to argue why it's anything more than an annoyance....

 

[tivoboy]

Seems like something like this would work:

https://www.amazon.com/Streaming-Earbuds-Bluetooth-Transmitter-Speaker/dp/B0BLCRQMWW​

That would let you play FM as well as music stored on a memory card.

There's also a million devices like this that should let you plug in anything with a 3.5mm output:

https://www.amazon.com/Twelve-South-Bluetooth-Adapter-AirPods/dp/B0F3QZYBM7​

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Edit: These probably aren't going to work with a Rivian, although I wonder if it's something Rivian could support with a software update.

Yes I think as others have already said, simple BT pairing devices that will pass a 3.5 or other audio input don’t seem to play well with the Rivian head unit audio streaming service over BT..phone sure, dongle most likely not.

That is where I was going with a cell phone that allowed audio IN, and then streaming that over Bluetooth I know I’ve seen some phones that support that (mostly for MIC in, but audio might be possible) but I can’t recall which ones did it.

The airfly works great, but I think it’s one direction, BT TO a 2.5/3.5 mm plug - like one would find in Plane or a car with aux..

 

[forestwalker]

You are maybe too young to have lived through the grid shut down 20 years ago. Or you don’t live somewhere where the service can be spotty or nonexistent. Those places still do exist. There’s no need to insult others

well, I was 25, 20 years ago, but you are correct, I have no idea what on earth youre referring to when you say "grid shutdown" and no one is insulting anyone. It's just bonkers is all.

 

[forestwalker]

And in general, the dynamic of people commenting that someone else's complaint about a missing feature is trivial or out of touch is also one we've seen repeatedly here, but it's still indefensible.

This is also bonkers.

 

[SwampNut]

OF COURSE you object to these sentiments. You're exhibit A of the "I'm so smart and eveyone else is dumb" camp. It's easy to see from all the responses from other people who have called you out for this many times. You never seem to hear it and do any self reflection and improvement. I have contemplated blocking you many times but it's finally time. Bye Felicia.

Absolutely nothing in my post which you quoted says anything like that at all. You just made assumptions and ascribed them to me.

well, I was 25, 20 years ago, but you are correct, I have no idea what on earth youre referring to when you say "grid shutdown" and no one is insulting anyone. It's just bonkers is all.

In 2003, rampant mismanagement, government stupidity, and weather colluded to shut down power throughout a large part of the Northeast. The person I was responded to insinuated that somehow FM radio would either survive this, or help. Obviously, more services still running is some level of help, however, many of the radio stations also shut down. Cell networks and wireline carriers were also affected with some outages, but wireline was pretty stable, and cell was mostly just overloaded.

Believe it or not, tech has changed slightly since then, and the cell networks are vastly different. Radio stations however have been squeezed through margin losses and private equity bullshit into doing with less backup, and are less robust now.

Citing something that has zero resemblance to modern tech kinda tells you that there's a lot of straw-grasping in this conversation.

 

[jtm1631]

I hate to bring this thread back on track but just a data point for people.

Our cabin is about 9 miles the last spot with cell coverage. Normally, any cell based apps in Apple CarPlay (iHeart Radio) cut out pretty quickly after losing cell signal.

In the R2, the radio lasts for about 5 miles past where it would normally cutout. During the 130 mile drive there were plenty of areas where the radio stopped, but it seems to have better range than I have historically had with my cell phone.

YMMV

 

[stevejust]

I get not having a real FM radio is an annoyance, but that's a real stretch to argue why it's anything more than an annoyance....

Happy to abide.

The times when I might need FM radio are the times when it is also either

1) pouring down torrential rain that could cause a flash flood on old ore road in the middle of Big Bend National Park, so I would need to be able to reach whatever handcrank radio I have (maybe even in the frunk) in the rain or in the way back, or

2) it would be in conditions in the Sierra Nevadas during a wild fire where yeah, maybe I could get the radio out, but then I'd be inhaling extra particulates from the rapidly spreading wild fire I'd be actively trying to figure out how to drive away from, or

3) it'd be because I'm driving through the plains of Oklahoma or Iowa while literally watching the sky form a megacell of a tornado on the horizon where I -- at 75 mph more than anything need to know whether if I continue driving I'm going to wind up hitting a fucking F5 tornado and wind up pulling a Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ, or whether if I pull over right where I am, that same thing is likely to happen, and which direction anything touching down is traveling or likely to travel.

4) Or maybe I'm just headed to the beach, but I can't even tune into the most localized surf report because the App doesn't carry pirate radio frequencies, and so I miss the tsunami warning.

Bottom line: this removal of the FM tuner and antenna is likely to get someone killed. Maybe multiple people. And it's predictable as shit. If Rivian were marketing this vehicle as a Starbuck's-running mall crawler I wouldn't mind at all.

But they're telling people to go have adventures in it, and it doesn't have oh shit handles and what should be as critical a safety feature (for that particular purpose) as seatbelts or airbags. If you can't get access to NWS or the EBS in a vehicle, it's not suitable for adventures. I thought not only should it have an FM antenna, they should have considered adding a GMRS receiver as an option. That would've been... you know, adventure like.

So there's two sets of people in this world: those who can immediately recognize the removal of the FM transmitter as a safety issue, and those who can't. And if you can't, maybe get out of the debate about it because if you've never been in a situation where it actually matters to have an FM signal because you don't have cell phone reception, what the fuck do you actually know?

 

[kanefsky]

In the R2, the radio lasts for about 5 miles past where it would normally cutout. During the 130 mile drive there were plenty of areas where the radio stopped, but it seems to have better range than I have historically had with my cell phone.

Most likely the R2 is pre-buffering more content, but it could also be due to having a better signal from the antenna on the outside of the vehicle or from using a different cell network.

With pre-buffering there's a tradeoff between hearing things in real-time and being able to handle gaps in coverage. To me the main use for radio is for listening to live news, sports, weather, traffic, finance, etc. as close to real-time as possible. If you're only listening to prerecorded content you can just download as much as you want to your phone in advance.

YMMV

That's a different thread

 

[Zoidz]

Happy to abide.

The times when I might need FM radio are the times when it is also either

1) pouring down torrential rain that could cause a flash flood on old ore road in the middle of Big Bend National Park, so I would need to be able to reach whatever handcrank radio I have (maybe even in the frunk) in the rain or in the way back, or

2) it would be in conditions in the Sierra Nevadas during a wild fire where yeah, maybe I could get the radio out, but then I'd be inhaling extra particulates from the rapidly spreading wild fire I'd be actively trying to figure out how to drive away from, or

3) it'd be because I'm driving through the plains of Oklahoma or Iowa while literally watching the sky form a megacell of a tornado on the horizon where I -- at 75 mph more than anything need to know whether if I continue driving I'm going to wind up hitting a fucking F5 tornado and wind up pulling a Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ, or whether if I pull over right where I am, that same thing is likely to happen, and which direction anything touching down is traveling or likely to travel.

4) Or maybe I'm just headed to the beach, but I can't even tune into the most localized surf report because the App doesn't carry pirate radio frequencies, and so I miss the tsunami warning.

Bottom line: this removal of the FM tuner and antenna is likely to get someone killed. Maybe multiple people. And it's predictable as shit. If Rivian were marketing this vehicle as a Starbuck's-running mall crawler I wouldn't mind at all.

But they're telling people to go have adventures in it, and it doesn't have oh shit handles and what should be as critical a safety feature (for that particular purpose) as seatbelts or airbags. If you can't get access to NWS or the EBS in a vehicle, it's not suitable for adventures. I thought not only should it have an FM antenna, they should have considered adding a GMRS receiver as an option. That would've been... you know, adventure like.

So there's two sets of people in this world: those who can immediately recognize the removal of the FM transmitter as a safety issue, and those who can't. And if you can't, maybe get out of the debate about it because if you've never been in a situation where it actually matters to have an FM signal because you don't have cell phone reception, what the fuck do you actually know?

I'm with you. There are people here who live in blissful ignorance on this topic. I have a vacation property on a barrier island that has very marginal cell phone coverage - coverage and streaming regularly drop out. The community broadcasts road closures and other warnings and info on a community low power AM frequency. I can't receive that information in my R1. Another mountainous area we vacation in has no cell service at all. We can get two or three FM stations there. No OTA TV. We use FM to listen to live sports and news when in that part of the state, and for important info during power outages - which happen frequently.

 

[Alan in Tempe]

Bottom line: this removal of the FM tuner and antenna is likely to get someone killed. Maybe multiple people. And it's predictable as shit. If Rivian were marketing this vehicle as a Starbuck's-running mall crawler I wouldn't mind at all.

I thought the "nobody needs an antiquated radio" crowd were obnoxious extremists, but you have shown me outrageousness covers both ends of this debate. (Thanks!)

Personally I think the number of people killed by not having a built-in FM radio due to missed emergency warnings would be more or less the same as the number of people killed trying to be the 17th caller to the FM station giving away concert tickets while driving. (I did say more or less!)

Personally, I also think Rivian should not have deleted the FM radio, as it is likely to lose them sales, and seriously piss off some customers who didn't realize their shiny new R2 didn't come with a real radio. If I end up not buying an R2 when my order window opens, the missing FM radio will be a small part of the reason why (but most certainly not the most important reason).

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