Communications in Hand

Light and radio waves and radiation are variations of the same thing. They are all parts of the same electromagnetic spectrum. (This may be the first article in a flying magazine to start with a discussion of radiophysics!) Light, or the visible spectrum band, is only a small part of the spectrum. And for most of human history, it was the only known band. In 1800, infrared radiation was discovered: invisible light. The following year, another type of invisible light, ultraviolet, was discovered at the other end of the light spectrum. By 1860, a spectrum of electromagnetic waves was theorised, made up of an infinite number of different frequencies, and travelling at the speed of light. The last part of the spectrum to be discovered was gamma rays, in 1900.

That’s all interesting, but what has this got to do with handheld radios?

Governments of most countries consider the electromagnetic spectrum to be the exclusive property of the state, and regulate the radio band of the spectrum. To broadcast radio waves, a government licence