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.


You might also like...

2024 BEITC Update: ATSC 3.0 Broadcast Positioning Systems

Move over, WWV and GPS. New information about Broadcast Positioning Systems presented at BEITC 2024 provides insight into work on a crucial, common view OTA, highly precision, public time reference that ATSC 3.0 broadcasters can easily provide.

Chris Brown Discusses The Themes Of The 2024 NAB Show

The Broadcast Bridge sat down with Chris Brown, executive vice president and managing director, NAB Global Connections and Events to discuss this year’s gathering April 13-17 (show floor open April 14-17) and how the industry looks to the show e…

Standards: Part 4 - Standards For Media Container Files

This article describes the various codecs in common use and their symbiotic relationship to the media container files which are essential when it comes to packaging the resulting content for storage or delivery.

Standards: Appendix E - File Extensions Vs. Container Formats

This list of file container formats and their extensions is not exhaustive but it does describe the important ones whose standards are in everyday use in a broadcasting environment.

Standards: Part 3 - Standards For Video Coding

This article gives an overview of the various codec specifications currently in use. ISO and non-ISO standards will be covered alongside SMPTE 2110 elements to contextualize all the different video coding standard alternatives and their comparative efficiency - all of which…