RADIO WAVES USED IN MEDIA TECHNOLOGYName: Sheraz Hussain Student Number: P11235672Module: TECH1002

What are Radio Waves?

Radio Waves are seen as a type of electromagnetic radiation. This type of radiation has long wavelengths, with frequencies ranging from 3 kHz to 300 GHz. The wavelengths can be as long as 100 kilometres.

Radio waves are used for many things such as communication devices like mobile phones and broadcasting devices such as televisions.

Electromagnetic Spectrum

Radio waves have the lowest frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum. They are also only mainly used as a means of communication. High frequency electromagnetic waves include x-rays and gamma rays.

AM Radio has a lower frequency than FM.

Television Broadcasting

Television is a media source which allows us to transmit and receive moving images and sound.

The way in which this is done is through video and sound signals transmitted through the air. These signals can be picked up by using an antenna which help use as much as the signal and perhaps amplify it.

‘Sky’ the television broadcasting company use a similar method in which they use a satellite dish to receive signals which are sent to the television through a cable.

Mobile Phones

To communicate using a mobile phone you need to have a network. Mobile networks are used to transmit signals from a mobile phone to a base station.

These signals carry data such as text messages and calls back and forth from and to the base station, by converting it into radio waves.

Mobile phones also have access to the internet, which requires radio waves.

A base station is normally close by, within a few miles. Depending on where you live, you should receive a decent network coverage because of the overall network coverage in a geographical area.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is short for Wireless networking It lets electronic devices to exchange data through

a computer network, wirelessly. Devices with Wi-Fi include Personal Computers, Gaming consoles, Smart phones and many more. Main network resource is the internet, and it can connect with this through a wireless network access point.

Wi-Fi (Continued)

Wi-Fi uses radio waves like mobile phones and creates a zone called WLAN(Wireless Local Area Network.

Using an internet connection, a Wireless Transmitter device converts the data into a radio signal and sends it.

The transmitter can be seen as a broadcasting signals it gets from the internet.

These transmissions are sent to the Wi-Fi enabled device, such as a laptop and receives the radio signal through a wireless adaptor. These radio signals are important as they carry the data from the router and adaptor and make it wireless.

Conclusion

Overall Radio waves are an important element in media technology, and not just in AM and FM Radio. They allow for many mediums of media to work efficiently.

Their are many mediums of media old and new which rely on these radio waves to be transmitted from one place to another. Old mediums of media such as television broadcasting use radio waves as well as new technology such as Wi-Fi and rely on it just as much.

Bibliography Andy Darvill. The Electromagnetic Spectrum. What is the

electromagnetic spectrum?[online] Available at: <http://www.darvill.clara.net/emag/index.htm >

[Accessed 20 January 2012 ]

Tech-FAQ. How television broadcasting works [online] Available at: <

http://www.tech-faq.com/how-television-broadcasting-works.html> [Accessed 20 January 2012]

O2. How mobile networks work. [online] Available at: < http://www.o2.com/cr/how_mobile_networks_work.asp> [Accessed 20 January 2012]

BBC Webwise. What is Wi-Fi? [online] Available at: < http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/about-wifi> [Accessed 21 January 2012]

Thank you for your time.