SEMESTER I

Course Title: Basics of Radio

Course Code: JMC 102

Working of Radio

 What is a Radio?

Radio is a way to send electromagnetic signals over a long distance, to deliver

information from one place to another. A machine that sends radio signals is called
a transmitter, while a machine that "picks up" the signals is called a receiver.

 How radio works?

Every so often it occurs to me that radio reception is pure magic. When you turn on
the radio you hear music, voice or other audio entertainment that is broadcast from
hundreds or thousands of miles away. It's really not magic.

 What are Radio Waves?

Both AM and FM radio programs are transmitted over the air via radio waves, which
are part of a broad range of electromagnetic waves that include visible light, X-rays,
gamma rays and others. Electromagnetic waves are all around us in different
frequencies. Radio waves are similar to light waves but are at a frequency our eyes
are not sensitive to.

"Radio waves" transmit music, conversations, pictures and data invisibly through the
air, often over millions of miles -- it happens every day in thousands of different
ways! Even though radio waves are invisible and completely undetectable to
humans, they have totally changed society.

 Radio Basics: The Parts

All radios today, however, use continuous sine waves to transmit information
(audio, video, data). The reason that we use continuous sine waves today is
because there are so many different people and devices that want to use radio
waves at the same time.
Any radio setup has two parts:

The transmitter
The receiver
The transmitter takes some sort of message (it could be the sound of someone's
voice, pictures for a TV set, data for a radio modem or whatever), encodes it onto a
sine wave and transmits it with radio waves. The receiver receives the radio waves
and decodes the message from the sine wave it receives. Both the transmitter and
receiver use antennas to radiate and capture the radio signal.

 The Concept of Modulation

Electricity in the air is nothing but random noise. To be turned into useful signals that
transmit information (music or voice) it must be modulated, and modulation is the
basis for AM and FM radio signals. In fact, AM stands for amplitude modulation and
FM stands for frequency modulation. Another word for modulation is change. The
electromagnetic radiation must be modulated or changed to be useful as a radio
transmission. Without modulation, no information is carried in a radio signal.
Modulation is an easy concept to understand and is all around us. Our sense of
vision is a good example of how modulation works. A blank piece of paper is useless
unless it is modulated or changed. Someone must write or draw on the paper for it to
communicate useful information. Hearing is another example; still air must be
modulated or changed with music or a voice to be useful. In radio broadcasts, the
electromagnetic radiation or electricity in the air must be modulated.

Modulation is the process where speech, music and the like are impressed
onto the carrier wave of a transmission. Detection or demodulation is the reverse
proces which takes place in a receiver. The speech, music etc is recovered and may
then be amplified and applied to an ear piece or a loud speaker. The most common
forms of modulation are Amplitude Modulation (AM) and Frequency Modulation (FM)
both of which use different modulation and detection circuits.

 Basic types of modulation

1. AM (Amplitude Modulation)
2. FM (Frequency Modulation)
3. PM (Phase Modulation)

 AM Radio Broadcasts
AM radio uses amplitude modulation and is the simplest form of radio broadcast.
AM radio has the advantage of transmitting over greater differences because AM
signals bounce off the upper atmosphere but suffers from more noise and
interference than FM, especially during thunderstorms. The electricity generated by
lightning produces noise spikes picked up by an AM tuner. AM radio also has a very
limited audio range, from 540 to 1600KHz.
  FM Radio Broadcasts

FM radio uses frequency modulation, which changes or modulates the frequency of

the unmodulated signal while keeping the amplitude of the signal constant. FM radio
operates in the range of 88MHz to 108.0MHz, a much higher range of frequencies
than AM radio.
The distance ranges for FM transmissions are more limited than AM, usually less
than 100 miles, but are better suited for music. FM broadcasts are also commonly in
stereo, although a few AM stations also broadcast stereo signals.

(Refer to the picture AM& FM Radio Broadcasting)

 How a radio Station Works?

History of Radio

Radio is the wireless transmission of signals, by modulation of electromagnetic

waves with frequencies below those of visible light.

Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that

pass through the air and the vacuum of space. It does not require a medium of
transport. Information is carried by systematically changing ( modulating) some
property of the radiated waves, such as their amplitude or their frequency. When
radio waves pass an electrical conductor, the oscillating fields induce an alternating
current in the conductor. This can be detected and transformed into sound or other
signals that carry information.

 The Invention:
Radio owes its development to two other inventions, the telegraph and the telephone
all three technologies are closely related. Radio technology began as "wireless
telegraphy".

Radio can refer to either the electronic appliance that we listen with or the content
listened to. However, it all started with the discovery of "radio waves" -
electromagnetic waves that have the capacity to transmit music, speech, pictures
and other data invisibly through the air.

1860: Scottish physicist, James Clerk Maxwell predicted the existence of radio
waves

1891 Nikola Tesla began wireless research. He obtained a U.S. patent for the
invention of the radio, as defined as "wireless transmission of data."

1894: Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose (J. C. Bose) invented the Mercury Coherer
(together with the telephone receiver)

1895: Guglielmo Marconi an Italian inventor, proved the feasibility of radio

communication. He sent and received his first radio signal in Italy.

1901: Guglielmo Marconi used J.C Bose’s invention to receive the radio signal in his
first transatlantic radio communication over a distance of 2000 miles from Poldhu,
UK to Newfoundland, St. Johns in December 1901. Guglielmo Marconi was
celebrated worldwide for this achievement, but the fact that the receiver was
invented by Bose was not well known. Guglielmo Marconi was an early radio
experimenter. But although frequently regarded as the true inventor of the radio, the
coherer used by him was actually developed by J.C. Bose, who was ignored at the
time.

Radio Broadcasting in India

Broadcasting in India actually began about 13 years before AIR came into existence.

June 1923: The first radio programme was broadcast by the Radio Club of Bombay

November 1923: Setup of Radio Club in Kolkata.

1927: Inaugration of IBC on experimental basis @ Mumbai and Kolkata. (An
agreement between the Government of India and a private company called the
Indian Broadcasting Company Ltd.)

1930: Liquidation of Indian Broadcasting Company(IBC).By now the taste of

broadcasting in India was firmly established and there was public insistence on its
continuance. The service was therefore continued by the liquidator of the company
at the expense of the Government of India.

March,1935: Separate office of the controller of broadcasting was created.

August 1935: Lionel Fielder of BBC was appointed the first Controller of
Broadcasting.

1936: The Indian State Broadcasting Service was changed to All India Radio that
remained under Department of Communication.

1941: AIR came under Department I&B.

February 1946: AIR came under Information and Arts.

September 1946: Department of Information and Arts changed to Department

of Information and Broadcasting.

At the time of partition, India had six radio stations with 18 transmittors (Delhi,
Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Tiruchirapalli and Lucknow) with a coverage of 2.5% of
the area and just 11% of the population.and three radio stations went to Pakistan
(Lahore, Peshawar and Dacca, now in Bangladesh).

1947: Gandhiji broadcasted over AIR 3 months prior to his assassination.

1957: AIR was officially renamed to “Akashwani”.

October ,1957 : Vividh Bharati Services started popular film music as its main
component.

November ,1967 : Commercials on Vividh Bharati introduced

July, 1969 : Yuva-Vani service started from Delhi.

Sardar Vallabhai Patel was the first Minister of Information and Broadcasting in
Independent India.

The phenomenal growth achieved by All India Radio has made it one of the largest
media organisations in the world. AIR today has a network of 414 broadcasting
centres with 218 full fledged stations. It also has 145 medium frequency tranmittors
(MW), 48 short wave transmitters (SW) and 405 FM transmitters. The coverage is
92% of the area , serving 99.20% of the people in the largest democracy of the
world. AIR today broadcasts in 23 languages and 146 dialects catering to a vast
spectrum of socio-economically and culturally diverse populace.

Programmes of the External Services Division are broadcast in 11 Indian and 16

foreign languages reaching out to more than 100 countries. These external
broadcasts aim to keep the overseas listeners informed about developments in the
country and provide a rich fare of entertainment as well. AIR operates at present 18
FM stereo channels, called AIR FM Rainbow, targeting the urban audience in a
refreshing style of presentation. Four more FM channels called, AIR FM Gold,
broadcast composite news and entertainment programmes from Delhi, Kolkata,
Chennai and Mumbai.

All India Radio (AIR) has been serving to inform, educate and entertain the masses
since it's inception, truly living up to its motto – ‘Bahujan Hitaya : Bahujan
Sukhaya’.AIR has a three-tier system of broadcasting. These three levels of
programmes are the National, Regional and Local each having distinct audiences.

National programmes are broadcast from Delhi for relay by the Capital, Regional and
Local Radio Stations. Some of these are the National Programme of Talks and
Features in Hindi and English, the National Programmes of Drama and Music.

The Regional Stations in different States form the middle tier of broadcasting. They
originate programmes in the regional languages and dialects. Regional Channels are
located in the major linguistic-cultural region of every state. 116 Regional Channels
are spread over 29 states & 6 Union Territories including the North-Eastern Service
at Shillong that projects the vibrant cultural heritage of the North-Eastern region of
this country. The Regional Channels, broadcast largely on the Medium Wave
frequency, follow a composite programme pattern comprising of music - classical,
light, folk and film, News and Current Affairs, Radio plays, features, Farm and Home
programmes, programmes on Health & Family Welfare and programmes for Woman,
Children etc.
Local Radio is relatively a newer concept of broadcasting in India. Local radio
stations serve small communities, showcase local culture and broadcast area
specific programmes for the benefit of the community. The transmission is in the FM
mode. The programming is flexible and spontaneous and the stations function as the
mouth piece of the local community. At present there are 86 Local Stations spread
across the country.

For More Facts Visit :

http://allindiaradio.gov.in/Profile/Factss%20at%20Glance/Pages/default.aspx

http://allindiaradio.gov.in/Profile/Milestones/Pages/default.aspx