What is Radio

The ability to communicate via radio has changed dramatically over the past 5 years. Some people make money with these changes, some fear them and almost all people benefit from them. The physical properties of radio have not changed, but the applications have. Cellular phone systems offer paging, paging systems offer two-way voice messaging, wireless local loop systems offer phone and high speed data service and mobile satellite systems are bypassing the global telephone network. With all these recent changes, professionals and those involved in the telecommunications industry must continually become aware of competing applications of wireless technology. Until recently, to keep up to date with the latest systems, several books and courses were necessary to allow the industry player to understand the basics of each of the new technologies. This book is intended to provide the basics of wireless technology and provide an introduction to the latest in competing wireless technologies.

Radio comes from the word radiate and radiating electromagnetic energy is stored in our airwaves. Electromagnetic energy can be used to transfer information through the airspace by modifying or mixing the information with the electromagnetic radio waves. Wireless applications share one resource which all radio technologies share airspace.

There are hundreds of applications for wireless including AM/FM radio, broadcast or satellite television, pagers, baby monitors, garage door openers, military surveillance, aircraft guidance systems, police coordination, taxi dispatching and many others. Because radio signals operating on the same frequency interfere with each other, the use of...