Right - the distance you can communicate is mostly determined by the antennas (both ends) and the frequency. Modulation mode does play a part because some modes are more efficient than others, e.g. a good SSB transmission concentrates all the transmitted energy into intelligible vocal frequencies while AM wastes a lot of energy on a carrier wave and a duplicate of the audio. FM has superior noise rejection but very poor weak signal performance.
They get mixed up a lot though, because AM is used on the short, medium and long-wave broadcast bands and FM on the VHF broadcast band, so terms like "FM radio" or "the FM band" are used.
This is false. At any given frequency/power the type of modulation (AM or FM) has zero effect on the distance the the signal travels.
I think she's confusing modulation type with frequency. Low frequency signals travel further than high frequency.
This is why we need engineers in government and not ignorant politicians.
Right - the distance you can communicate is mostly determined by the antennas (both ends) and the frequency. Modulation mode does play a part because some modes are more efficient than others, e.g. a good SSB transmission concentrates all the transmitted energy into intelligible vocal frequencies while AM wastes a lot of energy on a carrier wave and a duplicate of the audio. FM has superior noise rejection but very poor weak signal performance.
They get mixed up a lot though, because AM is used on the short, medium and long-wave broadcast bands and FM on the VHF broadcast band, so terms like "FM radio" or "the FM band" are used.