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Commonly used radio terminology |
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Written by Garfield Lucas
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This is a brief list of some commonly used terms and expressions used by radio enthusiasts and resellers. It is not an exhaustive list and many of the terms can be found in greater detail in the Wikipedia.
AMAmplitide modulation - often used to describe the medium, long and short wave bands.
Bandwidth controlBandwidth control on a short-wave radio receiver allows you to control the selectivity of the receiver so that interference can be reduced considerably.
CWCarrier ware or continuous wave. Thi is used for Morse code transmission.
EON-traffic systemEnhanced other network - allows you to listen to an RDS programme without missing news even from other networks.
FMFrequency modulation - often used to describe the VHF wave band.
Ionosphereshortwave travel around the earth by bouncing between the earth and the ionosphere (The part of the earth's atmosphere that reflects shortwave back to the earth).
LCDLiquid crystal display - many digital radio's and radio scanners have LCD displays.
Local/DX switchDX stands for distance. This switch adjusts the sensitivity of the radio to improve reception of distant stations or prevent over loading of the radio by a very strong local transmitter.
NFMNarrow frequency modulation - as distinct from WFM. This is used in communications radio such as Uk citizens band radio. It allows a lot of chanels for a small bandwidth but the audio quality is poor in comparison to wide FM.
Notch FilterA notch filter removes a very narrow slice from a received signal. either from the radio frequency itself (RF notch) or from the audio output (audio notch) of the receiver.
Narrow/Wide switch
With so many stations broadcast on adjacent frequencies, its is possible to adjust the signal bandwidth and sharpen the tuning to reduce unwanted noise.
Pre-setsThis allows you to programme your favourite stations on you radio.
PLLPhase Lock Loop - an Electronic circuit in digital radios that locks onto your chosen station to give clear drift free reception.
RDSRadio Data System - this ennables the radio receiver to display the radio station name and depending on the model of radio, some program information as well.
RF GainA control that permits the sensitivity of the reciver to be continuously varied.
SSBSingle Sideband abilityy to receive signals from the upper or lower part of the carrier wave. This is needed to listen to ham radio and utility stations. Single side band operation makes it possible to concentrate the full transmission energy with suppressed carrier noise.
ScanningThis feature allows the receiver to automatically tune through a desired frequency range, stopping on all frequencies where a signal is present.
SelectivityThe ability of the receiver to select the station it is tuned to, aand to reject signals from all the other stations broadcasting on a nearby frequency.
SensitivityThe ability of a shortwave radio to pick-up weak signals. It is usually measured in microvolts. The lower the measurement in microvolts, the weaker the signal the radio can receive.
SquelchThis mutes the receiver audio when the strength of the signal drops below a preset level.
Synchronous detection This feature is found on some modern shortwave receivers such as the Grundig Satellite 800, Sony SW7600 and SW100E. It is a circuit that replaces the carrier in an AM signal with an internally generated replacement signal to reduce the effects of fading.
Varible Bandwidth TuningThis is a circuit that allows the selectivity of a receiver to be continuously varied.
WFMWide frequency modulation - as distinct from NFM. WFM is used for high quality audio on the broadcabst VHF & UHF bands for FM Radio and analog television.
World BandAnother name for short wave band.
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Last Updated ( 2007-11-17 11:49 UTC )
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