Minor mystery: a month or so ago the car radio in the MINI Cooper began to show a new phenomenon. Normally, punching a preset button jumps to the chosen station almost instantly. But for button #3, set to FM frequency 94.7 MHz, there's now a significant chunk of dead air time — about two seconds — before the sound begins. Why? Did something change inside the receiver after all these years? Perhaps there's a minor miscalibration and it now takes a while to find the signal. Or did something change with the radio station? Perhaps it's out of place, or using a different modulation scheme, or doing something else that makes lock-in take longer. Both hypotheses seem improbable. But the phenomenon has been consistent for several weeks now. What's going on? Something else entirely?

(cf. MINI Cooper Wiper Ratio (2009-06-19), ...) - 2011-11-02