The Radio Portal

A variety of radio antennas on Sandia Peak near Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected to an antenna which radiates oscillating electrical energy, often characterized as a wave. They can be received by other antennas connected to a radio receiver; this is the fundamental principle of radio communication. In addition to communication, radio is used for 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 to a receiver that is typically colocated with the transmitter. In radio navigation systems such as GPS and VOR, a mobile navigation instrument receives radio signals from multiple 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. (Full article...)

A 10 dB 1.7–2.2 GHz directional coupler. From left to right: input, coupled, isolated (terminated with a load), and transmitted port.

Power dividers (also power splitters and, when used in reverse, power combiners) and directional couplers are passive devices used mostly in the field of radio technology. They couple a defined amount of the electromagnetic power in a transmission line to a port enabling the signal to be used in another circuit. An essential feature of directional couplers is that they only couple power flowing in one direction. Power entering the output port is coupled to the isolated port but not to the coupled port. A directional coupler designed to split power equally between two ports is called a hybrid coupler.

Directional couplers are most frequently constructed from two coupled transmission lines set close enough together such that energy passing through one is coupled to the other. This technique is favoured at the microwave frequencies where transmission line designs are commonly used to implement many circuit elements. However, lumped component devices are also possible at lower frequencies, such as the audio frequencies encountered in telephony. Also at microwave frequencies, particularly the higher bands, waveguide designs can be used. Many of these waveguide couplers correspond to one of the conducting transmission line designs, but there are also types that are unique to waveguide. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

General images - load new batch

The following are images from various radio-related articles on Wikipedia.

List articles

Did you know...

Selected quote - show another

Subcategories

Radio topics

Formats Community radio, Music radio, Old-time radio, Radio comedy, Radio documentary, Radio drama, Sports radio, Talk Radio, Top 40
Networks BBC Radio, Blue Network, Columbia Broadcasting System, Mutual Broadcasting System, National Broadcasting Company, Sirius Satellite Radio, XM Satellite Radio
People Fred Allen, Gracie Allen, Don Ameche, Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen, Jagadish Chandra Bose, George Burns, Charlamagne tha God, Ronald Colman, Jim Connors, Frank Conrad, Norman Corwin, Charles Coughlin, Frankie Crocker, Ebro Darden, Alice Faye, Stan Freberg, Sean Hannity, Vaughn Harper, Phil Harris, Bob Hope, Hal Jackson, Spike Jones, Tom Joyner, Hans von Kaltenborn, Larry Elder, Larry King, Kay Kyser, Frances Langford, Rush Limbaugh, Guglielmo Marconi, Angie Martinez, Elizabeth McLeod, J. Carrol Naish, Ozzie Nelson, Arch Oboler, Dorothy Parker, Virginia Payne, Harold Peary, David Sarnoff, Red Skelton, Kate Smith, Stephen A. Smith, Howard Stern, Nikola Tesla, Jonathan Toubin, Lurene Tuttle, Rudy Vallée, Fred Waring, Orson Welles, Wendy Williams, Angela Yee
Shows Abbott and Costello, Amos 'n' Andy, Arch Oboler's Plays, The Breakfast Club, Burns and Allen, Cavalcade of America, CBS Radio Mystery Theater, Dragnet, Duffy's Tavern, Ebro in the Morning, Fibber McGee and Molly, The Goldbergs, The Howard Stern Show, Inner Sanctum Mysteries, The Jack Benny Program, Life with Luigi, Lights Out, Lux Radio Theater, Opie and Anthony, The Archers, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, Quiz Kids, The Screen Guild Theater, The Shadow, Suspense, Theater Guild on the Air, Twenty Questions, The Whistler, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Tom Joyner Morning Show, Rush Limbaugh Show
Technology Amateur radio, AM broadcasting, FM broadcasting, International broadcasting, Internet Radio, Digital Radio Mondiale, HD Radio, Digital Audio Broadcasting, GNU Radio, Software-defined radio, Transistor radio, Vacuum tube, Pirate radio

Top 40

Industry Radio promotion

WikiProjects

  • Radio December 12, 2006 "...to create, expand, and maintain Wikipedia articles related to radio, including radio propagation and reception, radio programming, radio personalities, and the business of radio." (Example: Mutual Broadcasting System)
  • Radio Stations February 15, 2005 "...to coordinate the activities of creating and maintaining articles about radio stations." (Example: Pulse FM Kingborough & Huon)
  • Podcasting January 21, 2007 "...to make Wikipedia's knowledge of notable Podcast and podcast-related information as complete as possible." (Example: Podcast)
  • Amateur Radio (Inactive), August 24, 2006 "...to improve Wikipedia's articles related to Amateur radio, maintain the amateur radio category and its sub-categories for clean organization, and to produce and maintain templates for Amateur radio-related topic identification." (Example: Amateur radio)

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Sources

Discover Wikipedia using portals