Does a FM radio give you better car control over even a quality AM radio and why. Thanks.

FM is less likely to glitch. This is because an AM radio uses Amplitude Modulation and any noise can add to the amplitude of the signal and cause glitching, FM uses Frequency Modulation and it is much harder for noise to adjust the frequency of a signal than it is the amplitude. This is why FM radios are more immune to glitching than AM radios.

Oh

I want to add that when FM radios were alot more expensive than AM radios and I was a college student without a lot of money I used an AM radio and didn't have any troubles with it at all.

The price difference between AM and FM is much closer now than it was 15 years ago

I think the worst advice I got when I started RC was to buy an AM radio because "the crystals are less expensive and if you are going to race, you will need some extra crystals so you can change frequencies if there is a conflict" and that "synthesized radios do have the range that single frequency transmitters do".

I am now happily using a 3PJ with a Hitec Spectra module. I wish I had spent the money on the in the beginning instead of wasting it buying a couple AM radios and crystals and then upgrading along the way.

Does a car respond faster if using FM radio over AM radio.Does a FM radio send the signal faster than AM radios.

Yes there is an issue about AM radios with specific sounds or other things from work plants. Also if there is a CB communication system (what trucking companies use) close to a racetrack you'll find out you have constant glitching on the very same spot. I experienced that the last time I raced.

Stephane Courchesne

Does a car respond faster if using FM radio over AM radio.Does a FM radio send the signal faster than AM radios.

No radio waves travel at the speed of light either way they are modulated.

PCM encoded waves still travel at the speed of light but there is a computer processor in the transmitter that has to endode them and a processor in the receiver that has to decode them but we are talking millions (maybe billions) of instructions a second that these processors can handle so the practical answer there is no but if you have a very fast responding oscilloscope you might be able to see a difference.