Ford Improves In-Car Radio, Including HD

Immortalized in numerous songs about summertime and freedom, car radios have long been an integral part of driving. In fact, 93 percent of Americans listen to radio weekly, more than TV or smartphones, according to Nielsen’s Audio Today: Radio 2016 report.

That’s why Ford says it remains committed to boosting the range and clarity of FM radio signals with dual radio reception systems, which use a second receiver and the rear-window heater grid as another antenna. The technology debuts with available Sony® audio systems on the new 2017 Escape and Fusion – marking one of the industry’s first applications of dual reception for HD Radio, which uses a special receiver to broadcast a digital signal over a traditional radio.

Dual FM radio reception helps the radio choose between multiple signals on the same frequency. A second antenna and receiver reduces interference from the same radio signal when it is received twice – especially prevalent in cities and mountainous areas, where radio signals tend to bounce around the landscape. The result is longer, clearer radio listening.

Another benefit: the second receiver helps determine which FM signal is strongest, and the radio plays that station. Think of it like a second opinion; if another signal becomes stronger, the radio switches to that one.

“With dual antennas, the broadcast transitions seamlessly. No spits or wisps, and no hearing two radio stations at the same time,” said Andy Adrian, Ford antenna and reception engineer. “The system delivers the clean, high-quality sound you expect from a Ford vehicle.”

To test the dual antenna technology, Ford conducted a 4,200-mile test of radio signals in key cities across the U.S. – Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, New York City, Pittsburgh and Seattle. What they found was that the system allows listeners hear their favorite stations longer when traveling between cities, since there’s no middle zone where the radio plays overlapping stations.

Say, for instance, you’re heading from Chicago, listening to one station, on your way to Detroit, where the same frequency plays another station. Before, at a certain mid-point between the cities, one station became weaker and suffered from interference, at times playing both stations at once. In this example, interference may last up to 15 minutes, while with dual FM reception systems, there would be no interference at all.