As a kid the two household items that used to severely interfere with AM radio (and TV) at home were the Sunbeam Mixmaster and the Singer sewing machine with their brush type motors sparking away like the first radio transmitters.

And electric whipper snippers, for the same reason.

Marcc said: "Now you can see how far the enforcement of RFI standards have gone toward non existent."

I was scratching around the site and found this thread. Marcc you are SO right. RFI standards have disappeared. I drive along my local street and the AM radio in my Toyota is beset by buzzes and hash. And the new Hyundai is even worse. Their AM radio is c__p. I don't know who to complain to about the interference, and even if I did would anybody take any notice! Luckily in my shed I still have incandescents so no problems.

The other thing that touched me was your location. I lived in Albury when I was young. 2AY came in loud and clear on my crystal set, and I could get 2CO most nights. I never did get 3NE. But I do remember the transmitter mast outside Wang when we travelled down the highway to Melbourne. Ahh thems were the days.

Sometimes the location can be an issue. We, since the dawn of radio have never managed to get a WA station, but Adelaide yes. Radio Australia is not that far away 76Km but there is a Granite Range with a lot of Iron in it that tends to be an issue with anything SW coming from that direction.

There has been a breeding program 3NE now has 2 masts, I think 135 degrees out of phase? I have not checked up on 2CO recently. It is historically significant as to when it was put there: I think 1925?

Something went wrong there antenna wise: Age related. I used to get it as far as Broadford in daytime. One significant piece of history was that it had an Alexanderson Antenna as a radiator. Very significant person in radio in Sweden & America. Ended up working for GE.

Knowing Australia's sense of History, when it was replaced, it was not with the same thing (which worked) but was probably chopped up for Beer money.

Sweden honours him. They preserve in working order one of his Generators (RF) used to transmit from Europe to USA. Apparently vastly superior to some of Marconi's efforts.

One thing to be wary of with really old sets is switch mode PSU's. I have a Brother FAX that I took out of service for sending out signal at around 175kHz. Which got into an Autodyne IF.

My new Microwave interferes with the Radio on AM, the 1980's Philips (Sharp never did). Should have got rid of the ones mismanaging that years ago.

RFI standards have disappeared.

The standards haven't disappeared. It is just the willingness of manufacturers to do more than simply declare their goods to be compliant that is the problem. The bottom line is, self assessment doesn't always work.

I drive along my local street and the AM radio in my Toyota is beset by buzzes and hash. And the new Hyundai is even worse. Their AM radio is c__p.

The Japanese have almost always regarded AM radio as second rate at best and they have seldom put much effort into building a really good tuner. Most valve radios eat any transistorised AM radio for breakfast, lunch and tea in terms of sound quality and in most cases being able to actually receive a signal. There are a few exceptions but only at the high end of the price range.

The newer car stereo units that contain sockets for USB keys loaded with MP3 files vary in quality too. I have been in a position to listen to these in various cars and the codecs that process the file information is very good in some cars and lousy in others - where sound quality is almost unbearable. The price of the vehicle does not give an indicator as to performance with this function either.

With regard to radio, because the Commonwealth Government is coy about moving with a radio broadcasting industry conversion to digital transmissions car makers will continue to hold off on including DAB+ reception in their car entertainment units. A few cars now offer it but most don't and this is likely to continue since DAB+ is only available in the capital cities.