What is Radio: Definition and 691 Discussions

Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected to an antenna which radiates the waves, and received by another antenna connected to a radio receiver. Radio is very widely used in modern technology, in radio communication, radar, radio navigation, remote control, remote sensing and other applications.
In radio communication, used in radio and television broadcasting, cell phones, two-way radios, wireless networking and satellite communication among numerous other uses, radio waves are used to carry information across space from a transmitter to a receiver, by modulating the radio signal (impressing an information signal on the radio wave by varying some aspect of the wave) in the transmitter. In radar, used to locate and track objects like aircraft, ships, spacecraft and missiles, a beam of radio waves emitted by a radar transmitter reflects off the target object, and the reflected waves reveal the object's location. In radio navigation systems such as GPS and VOR, a mobile receiver accepts radio signals from navigational radio beacons whose position is known, and by precisely measuring the arrival time of the radio waves the receiver can calculate its position on Earth. In wireless radio remote control devices like drones, garage door openers, and keyless entry systems, radio signals transmitted from a controller device control the actions of a remote device.
Applications of radio waves which do not involve transmitting the waves significant distances, such as RF heating used in industrial processes and microwave ovens, and medical uses such as diathermy and MRI machines, are not usually called radio. The noun radio is also used to mean a broadcast radio receiver.
Radio waves were first identified and studied by German physicist Heinrich Hertz in 1886. The first practical radio transmitters and receivers were developed around 1895–1896 by Italian Guglielmo Marconi, and radio began to be used commercially around 1900. To prevent interference between users, the emission of radio waves is regulated by law, coordinated by an international body called the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which allocates frequency bands in the radio spectrum for different uses.

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  1. D

    How to build a radio relay station?

    if i decide to build two relay stations 100 miles apart, what frequency or frequencies should i use to send a radio signal across 100 miles from 1 relay station to the other relay station.
  2. R

    Understanding Radio Bands: Amplitude & Frequency

    Just wondering if I understand "radio bands" correctly I am not sure I do. Lets say you have a radio band of 10 GHZ to 30 GHZ and another from 10 HERTZ to 30 HERTZ, the information or a song transmitted will sound the same in those two ranges, the only thing that matters is the amplitude or the...
  3. B

    Does Planck's relation apply to radio waves?

    I have some doubts about whether Planck's relation (E=hf) applies to radio waves. This has been bugging me because trying to apply Planck's relation to radio frequency results in some inconsistencies that I've been unable to resolve. BTW, I have no physics training, so please go easy on me...
  4. A

    Understanding Radio Waves & Oxygen Absorption at 60GHz

    Homework Statement: I am having difficulty understanding what exactly is happening when radio transmissions are being absorbed by oxygen at 60GHz at the atomic level. Homework Equations: Refraction/reflection, oxygen absorptions/attenuation, frequency I have tried to find the answers online...
  5. Buzz Bloom

    I Large Bipolar radio bubbles in the Galactic Centre

    I confess that I am unable to understand the technical presentation in this article. I am hoping that someone at PF will be able to respond with a simplified summary about what this article is describing. Quote from Abstract The Galactic Centre contains a supermassive black hole with a mass of...
  6. A

    A Exploring Time Travel Teleportation: Computer Bytes & Radio Signals

    Time travel teleportation can be achieved in small scale experiment in millisecond. Using a computer byte in radio signals. I look forward for comments.
  7. th078

    Radio frequency shielding for Raspberry Pi Zero

    So I'm trying to put together a Pi Zero mini computer to use for security-oriented applications, for example encrypting/decrypting messages, working with encryption keys, etc. It's cheap, very small and thus easy to carry around. However, I'm not entirely comfortable with the presence of the...
  8. Michael Price

    A Resolving power of a radio telescope array: Quantum or classical?

    My question is: is the resolving power of an array of radio telescopes a quantum or a classical effect? The increase in resolving power of a single telescope, as aperture size increases, is easy to explain in terms of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. But when we go an array of telescopes are...
  9. T

    Those California Earthquakes disrupted HF radio....

    ...and so did the Canadian and Indonesion quakes. An Amatuer Radio (Ham) operator runs what he calls an "RF Seismograph" in Vancouver, British Columbia that noted a blackout on 10 meter and above bands and increased noise on 80 meters. Here is the ARRL article with a few more embedded links...
  10. B

    Astrophysics question: Wire mesh radio telescope antenna

    The answer says its 1 meter i don't understand how they arrived at this, The mark scheme suggests that the 50mm is the resolving power or Rayleigh criteria? https://downloads.umutech.net/Physics/Past_Papers/PA05/Astro/MS/physics_u5_astro_ms_jan_2003.pdf
  11. Nathan Warford

    B Radio source Hercules A and galaxy 3C 348

    I have found plenty of information about the radio source Hercules A. Its large radio jets are 1.5 million light years long from end to end, the supermassive black hole that produces Hercules A is 3 to 4 billion solar masses, and the black hole exists in the center of galaxy 3C 348. However, I...
  12. A

    Understanding Polarization-Dependent Phase Shifts of Radio Waves

    I've seen this video: There it is explained that an electromagnetic (here radio) wave has a phase shift if it was radiated in horizontal polarization, but it does not experience the phase shift when it was emitted vertically polarized when it gets reflected on the ground. When reading up on...
  13. Garth

    A new kind of radio transient: ERBs, by Ali Frolop et al.

    A new kind of radio transient: ERBs arXiv:1903.12412v1 [astro-ph.HE] 29 Mar 201 Another fascinating paper by Ali Frolop et al. in yesterdays arXiv: Garth :oldwink:
  14. D

    I am trying to build a radio to transmit Morse code

    I am trying to build a radio to transmit morse code. I have built A wien bridge oscillator on a breadboard. I think the wien bridge Oscillator works. How long should The antenna be?
  15. Mark Palmer

    Electrical Troubleshooting Crystal Radio: Tips for Building and Improving Reception

    If anybody here has any experience with building a crystal radio, I would appreciate a response. My grandson and I are doing radio projects. This involves basic crystal build using a coil, diode, and resistor. The system is grounded and uses an antenna with no external power and a high...
  16. A

    These Are The Most Promising SETI Radio Signals

    Hi! Just in case someone is interested in SETI, I made a video about the most promising radio signals detected so far. Here it is: https://www.youtube...h?v=4MxNEfIfQjI Hope you enjoy it! What is the most promising SETI radio signal for you guys? Do you think we will discover an intelligent...
  17. Greg Bernhardt

    Stargazing Astronomers discover 2nd mysterious repeating fast radio burst

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/fast-radio-bursts-1.4969863
  18. iVenky

    From Maxwell's equations to EM waves

    Hi, I just finished studying Maxwell's equations. Based on my understanding, when you solve maxwell's equation, you get the wave equation and it simplies to in a charge and current-free region. I understand that these two equations are similar to an equation of a wave in space. What I am...
  19. Imager

    B No low-frequency emission from Fast Radio Bursts

    I didn't see where anyone else had brought this up. From the article: The telescopes are the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) and the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), and they were synchronized to observe the same patch of sky, searching that area for fast radio bursts...
  20. G

    Radio Frequency Acceleration in Particle Accelerators

    So, I've been really interested in Particle Physics since 6th grade when I did a project on particle accelerators. I understand most of it, except for one thing, the radio frequency cavities which are used for acceleration. I just want to ask, how do the Superconducting Radio Frequency Cavities...
  21. Akshaya dhakal

    Can we see radio waves or other invisible waves with our eyes?

    There are many electromagnetic waves. Some of them are visible while other are invisible. Can we see those invisible electromagnetic waves? How Please give with scientific reason.
  22. C

    Triangulating Sound: Creating an Extensible Algorithm

    I would like to be able to triangulate a sound's location based on the inputs of two robotic sensors. I know this involves trigonometry, but I am a little out of practice. I think the practice of triangulation also is useful for radio signals. I would like to create a triangulation algorithm...
  23. P

    SR - Time dilation, space-time diagram, and radio signals

    Homework Statement P.S.: I'm not sure if it is allowed to ask multi-part questions. Two equally old sisters Alice and Barbara leave Earth simultaneously in opposite directions. The following velocities and distances have been measured in the Earth system. Alice travels with a speed of ##v_A =...
  24. DaveC426913

    How do old-timey radio buttons work?

    Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, every car had a push-button radio like this: You pushed a button and the dial would zoom to the preset location. To set a location, you would manually dial to the right location, then pull the button out, then push it in. I had set my sights on figuring...
  25. J

    Electrical Fixing a 1965 GM Car Radio AM | Troubleshooting Tips

    The radio would work sometimes if it didn't pushing on the tuning buttons hard or hitting the dash underneath would make it work if it didn't work, this has been that way for 30 years, now it does not come on at all. I always thought it must be broken connection some where. I had applied voltage...
  26. prashantakerkar

    Recording and Playback Radio receiver programs

    What are the methods to record and Playback Radio programs tuned to FM frequencies ? Is there a way to interface the radio receiver with DVD player or Flash drive or any other media for recording and Playback ? Thanks & Regards, Prashant S Akerkar
  27. B

    B Radio Waves & Penetration: Why Can They Pass Through Walls?

    Why do radio waves pass through walls while visible light can't? I guess this has something to do wit the wavelength. What I know is that higher wavelength means higher ability of penetration. So why radio waves penetrate obstacles?
  28. T

    How Do Microwave transmitters work without physical connections?

    So I recently picked up 40 of 10.525 GHz Microwave RADAR transmitters: I opened up one out of curiosity and had something like this (image attached) . I noticed some parts of the PCB aren't even connected to anything. How do the different shapes and sizes of the PCB interact with each-other...
  29. J

    Stargazing Phase of radio waves received by a radio telescope dish

    I understand that a radio telescope can be tuned to receive radio waves generated by neutral hydrogen atoms present in galactic gas, for example, within the spirals of the milky way. I think I understand that the incoming radio waves will be a mixture of red- and blue-shifted photons depending...
  30. M

    Hi, has anybody had trouble building the ELENCO 108 AM/FM RADIO KIT

    Hello, i build the radio like they say in the book, and i did everything with VOM(testing with only multimeter), everything was like in book , but when i finish, i switch to am or fm, i just hear high noise :doh:
  31. R

    How do I stop multiple radio frequencies ....Micro, Infra an

    How do I stop multiple radio frequencies ...Micro, Infra and combined frequencies used in a sweep rotation(?? guessing here) ...from any space. Thank you for any advice you can give. Been traveling. For the record I thought...wearing magnets ?? I have some minimal back ground in RF but am a...
  32. Cool4Kat

    Help understanding Armstrong's 1924 Superheterodyne Radio Receiver

    Hi, I was wondering if any of you fine people can help me understand a few things about Howard Armstrong and Harry Houke's superhet radio receiver built in 1924. My fist question is that they used a second harmonic and I don't understand why. Where was the second harmonic used and how did it...
  33. T

    Why does the sun affect radio wave propagation?

    I noticed HF radio waves travel farther and easier when the sun is out rather then during the night. Why?
  34. J

    How does a Ruhmkorf coil produce radio waves?

    Does the spark frequency = the interruptor frequency = radio signal frequency. From the sources I have found these frequencies don't seem to match. We use a 9V DC one at school. Many Thanks
  35. T

    Can a Copper Coil Harvest Power from Power Lines for an FM Radio Receiver?

    I had an idea of building an FM receiver that is powered from the electromagnetic fields generated by power-lines. My question is , how can I make the electromagnetic field receiving antenna? Will a simple copper coil work? If so, can the same coil be used as the RF antenna or will that have to...
  36. T

    B Why does GPS require an accurate clock?

    Why do GPS need a cesium clock accurate to 10ns? Is this strictly for time keeping or is there some synchronization between satellites?
  37. T

    What makes a yagi antenna directional?

    How exactly do the elements "connect" to each other to make an antenna directional? I see some Yagi's have a reflector but most do not.
  38. P

    Stargazing How is noise removed in radio telescopes?

    For an optical telescope, light pollution is a problem and that's why put ground-based telescopes in remote places where there isn't much light. However, aren't we bombarded by radio waves from satellites for our phones and TVs? How do radio telescopes remove those?
  39. J

    Time for radio signal to get to a receiver

    Homework Statement A radio transmitter is located 17.5 km away. The broadcast signals travel at the speed of light (c = 3.00 x 108 m.s-1) through the air towards a radio receiver. Calculate the time it takes the radio signal to travel from the transmitter to the receiver. Homework Equations...
  40. T

    Electronics 3D Printed 2.25 Ghz Microwave RADAR horn antenna

    So I printed this antenna with some conductive filament , however the microwaves seems to be going between the layers of the plastic. I surrounded it with Aluminum and still leaking, what can I do to fix it? Can conductive silver paint work?
  41. T

    I What would be a useful application for 10 Thz nano-antennas?

    Reading: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3597338/ However I don't understand what a useful application for this is? can someone explain?
  42. T

    A ELI5: Fourier Series Explained

    Working on some microwave stuff, read about this but can't understand the explanations online.
  43. T

    Why do radio transmission harmonics occur?

    What I understand about harmonics, is when something is transmitted at high power, the antenna resonates on other frequencies besides the desired one. But Why?
  44. Clear Mind

    Stargazing Does a Radio Telescope Have Aberration and How Does it Affect Its Performance?

    I was studyng my exam of astrophysics laboratory, while treathing the optical aberration I've wondered: does radio telescope have aberration? Is a paraboloid antenna in a single dish affected by coma? and the radio telescope made by arrays of resonant structures? Maybe those are silly...
  45. R

    Basic Radio Questions -- Oscillators, Mixers and Modulators

    1 - Is a carrier wave always made by some kind of oscillating/oscillator circuit? 2 - Does modulation "modify" or better "modulates" the carrier wave to change the audio signal to amplitude or frequency modulated? 3 - What is the difference between a "radio mixer" and "modulator" do they have...
  46. T

    B Can Digital Radios Tune Without Moving Parts?

    I get how analog ones with knobs tune by physically changing length of elements to match the frequency, but what about the ones that just have a screen and you type in what frequency you want?
  47. OldWorldBlues

    Easy way to calculate losses for re-purposing a transformer?

    Hi everyone! This is my first thread :) I've been working a bit with AC and radio, and would like to make a simple(-ish) circuit in which a 1-volt peak audio signal is stepped up to around 5 volts with a transformer, and is fed into a crystal oscillator to make a crude-but-effective AM...
  48. T

    Can a radio frequency be lowered by a passive circuit?

    Is it possible to design an unpowered antenna, (possibly some kind of RLC circuit) which will receive a radio wave at a particular frequency and then re-emit it at a lower frequency?
  49. C

    Trouble with getting AM receiver to work

    Hello, I have assembled the following AM radio reciever circuit: Purpose of the circuit: To receive AM radio signals and provide the output audio of these signals ( demodulated ). Circuit elements: L ~ 1.5mH , C ~ 300pF , Amplifier IC: LM324N , Diode: 1N4004 ...
  50. R

    I Detecting Asteroid Collisions: 'Oumuamua & Radio Telescopes

    A reasonably read and educated laymen, would response to a claim that science and technology still have no means to detect a big asteroid collision with earth, by saying that according to what he read and saw in communication channels reliable enough, an object of that size on course to hit...
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