A Practical Guide To RF In Broadcast: Part 1 - History, Modulation & Regulation

This is the first of a multi-part series exploring the science and practical applications of RF technology in broadcast.

About 'A Practical Guide To RF In Broadcast'

A Practical Guide To RF In Broadcast is a Themed Content Collection that will publish during 2023. The complete series of twelve articles provides an extensive technical guide to RF technology within broadcast. It is a major work that will serve as a reference resource for professional broadcast engineers.

Broadcasting has encountered more technology change over the past thirty years than many of us care to think about. Analog has changed to digital delivery, SD has changed to HD and 4K, and sound is transitioning to deliver higher levels of immersive experience through object and surround sound. But the one consistent technology that has stood the test of time is RF.

RF differs from most other broadcast technology as it’s fundamentally analog. As the laws of physics haven’t changed in the past hundred years, then the underlying rules that govern all RF systems haven’t changed either. But what has changed is how we use RF in the context of modern broadcasting along with our understanding of how waves propagate through the universe.

Broadcasting has always driven technology to its limits, and this is certainly the case with RF. Morse devised the first channel coding system ninety years before Shannon formalized his achievements through information theory. And this in turn led to the development of the highly efficient coding systems that we use in modern broadcasting such as CODFM and 5G-NS.

Our RF understanding is sure to improve for as long as users continue to use mobile devices.

A Practical Guide To RF In Broadcast is a collection of twelve articles presented in four parts.
Each part tackles a different theme and there are three articles per part. 
Details of all four parts can be found HERE


About Part 1. History, Modulation & Regulation

Part 1 is a free PDF download which contains three original articles:

Article 1 : The History Of Broadcast RF

We start at the beginning... Wireless delivery of news, messages and data is older than wire itself!

Article 2 : Broadcast Modulation

Defining the different types of RF modulation, power levels, regulatory standards and licensing for CW, AM, FM, and TV RF transmission.

Article 3 : Government Spectrum Regulation

The regulatory bodies such as the FCC, ITU and national governments, and how RF standards and regulations are set and enforced.


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