Why is Modulation important in Broadcasting??

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mabsj2

Joined Apr 24, 2008
22
FM and AM are the two kinds of modulation used in Broadcasting.

But i just don't get it, why is Modulation so important in Broadcasting.
Can't a station be broadcast without doing any modulation??

Why is it so important and is it done in Digital Broadcasting???
 

Caveman

Joined Apr 15, 2008
471
FM and AM are the two kinds of modulation used in Broadcasting.

But i just don't get it, why is Modulation so important in Broadcasting.
Can't a station be broadcast without doing any modulation??
What you are doing in a broadcast is transmitting information. What modulation is doing is putting that information at a specific frequency band. Different frequencies are used as different channels. If you just transmit the frequency (ie. no modulation), you only have one frequency worth of information, which is really nothing at all. You can't even make it bigger and smaller because that is amplitude modulation and adds bandwidth. It would be a single constant sine wave. That's it.

BTW, CW, ie. continuous wave, is typically the method used for morse code where you either transmit or not the carrier frequency. But if you look at the math of it, turning on and off the carrier adds bandwidth (not much, but there is some), so it is a form of modulation as well. In fact it is a simplification of amplitude modulation.
 

milkisgood

Joined May 4, 2008
6
The simple answer is that you MUST have modulated waves because normal voice/information is in a frequency range that is way too small to make it across any reasonable distance.

So you have to combine those waves or "hide" those waves with something called a carrier signal (which is basically a much higher frequency signal) so that it will make it across any reasonable distance without much data loss or noise.

That combination of information waves and carrier waves is called modulation and it's essential to have it to ensure that whatever a company broadcasts in one place is approximately reproduced in another (consumer) place.

and that's the answer.

(by the way, I'm describing FM here, but the same principle can be applied to AM)
 

subtech

Joined Nov 21, 2006
123
I guess I'm part of the dying breed of Morse Code Geeks. (Geez! I'm dying? I guess if Papa says so........)
Continuous Wave (A1A)
Radio communication at its most basic (and some say its most fun) level.
It takes effort.
It takes "want to".
Oh yeah, it also takes a radio.
But, thats about all it takes.

If you'd like to be part of a dying breed and have a ton of fun whilst you keel over, look here:
http://www.fists.org/
 
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Papabravo

Joined Feb 24, 2006
22,082
CW (Continuous Wave) and Morse Code is about the only form of radio communication that does not rely on modulation. Unless you consider turning the transmitter on and off as a kind of modulation technique.
 

Papabravo

Joined Feb 24, 2006
22,082
No. In fact that would almost defeat the purpose of having a narrow filter to improve the rejection of nearby signals. Paddles, like the Bencher BY-2, which I use are just two independent switches which go to a keyer circuit. It is the keyer circuit that produces precisely timed and spaced dits and dahs for the speed you select.
 

AlexR

Joined Jan 16, 2008
732
CW (Continuous Wave) and Morse Code is about the only form of radio communication that does not rely on modulation. Unless you consider turning the transmitter on and off as a kind of modulation technique.
Since turning a transmitter on and off produces sidebands it must be considered a form of modulation.
Actually so-called CW is an example of AM with 100% modulation and a very low modulating frequency!!!
 

Papabravo

Joined Feb 24, 2006
22,082
Many of us in the Amateur Radio Community consider it to be the original instant messaging. We were doing it long before the term was invented.
 

Papabravo

Joined Feb 24, 2006
22,082
Since turning a transmitter on and off produces sidebands it must be considered a form of modulation.
Actually so-called CW is an example of AM with 100% modulation and a very low modulating frequency!!!
I don't see it that way, but there's room for all kinds. In fact what comes out the antenna looks like a pretty solitary peak on a spectrum analyzer.
 
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thingmaker3

Joined May 16, 2005
5,083
Many of us in the Amateur Radio Community consider it to be the original instant messaging. We were doing it long before the term was invented.
I recall an excerpt from some TV show where the world-record holder text-messager teenager-dude was out-performed in devastating style by two seasoned citizens using Morse code.
 

Papabravo

Joined Feb 24, 2006
22,082
It was the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and those guys were radio telegraphers and were clipping along at 40+ wpm.
 
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Thread Starter

mabsj2

Joined Apr 24, 2008
22
going to start doing Amateur Radio. i love radio.... that's why i am so curious about things concerning radio.
 
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