Chapter-7

Radio Communication System:

A very useful and interesting application of electronics is found in Radio communication
and broadcasting. Radio communication is of two types: Radiotelephony and
radiotelegraphy. Radiotelephony is used to transmit the voice and music signals while as
radiotelegraphy is used to transmit message by interrupting continuous radio wave with a
telegraphic code.
As the transmission of intelligence is accomplished with the help of wires and does not
require wires this method of communication was previously known as wireless
communication. The basic elements required in radio communication are as follows:

Mic. Transmitter Receiver Speaker

A microphone or a telegraphic key is required at the input of any transmitter. The

microphone converts the incoming audio signal into electrical vibrations. The transmitter
generates the radio wave. The transmitter is coupled with antenna that radiates the radio
wave. At the receiving side the receiving antenna receives the electromagnetic wave and
feds it into the receiver. The receiver performs the selection, amplification and
demodulation of the received signal and the loudspeaker or the headphone connected to
the receiver output converts the electrical signal into sound signal.
Radio Transmitter:
In a radio transmitter, a carrier wave (radio wave) of a fixed frequency is generated. The
electrical version of the information to be transmitted is superimposed on it and the
resulting wave is conveyed to the transmitting antenna In a radio-telephone transmitter,
the information is superimposed on the carrier wave by modulating its amplitude (i.e.
amplitude modulation) or frequency (frequency modulation).
AM transmitter:
The block diagram of an amplitude modulated (AM) radio transmitter is shown in the
figure below:
 • RF master oscillator: The transmitter is required to be operated at a desired
constant radio frequency. This is accomplished by the master oscillator which is
crystal controlled. The power output of the master oscillator is not large so it has
to be amplified at the succeeding stages.
• RF buffer amplifier: Its purpose is to isolate the master oscillator from the
following stages so that variations in coupling and antenna loading do not affect
the oscillator frequency.
• Frequency multipliers: If the transmitter is to generate a higher carrier frequency,
the frequency multipliers are employed to multiply the frequency of the master
oscillator output to the desired value. As the master oscillator uses crystal
oscillator, the size of the crystal becomes impractical for higher frequency
generation and is not stable also.
• Audio Amplifier: The speech or the music signal to be transmitted is converted
into equivalent electrical signals by a microphone. The level of this signals need
to be amplified before transmission. The audio amplifier amplifies the audio
signal.
• Modulator: The amplitude modulation of the RF carrier by the amplified audio
signal is done at the modulator.
• Intermediate RF amplifier: For low-level modulation, the output of the modulator
is fed to this stage for amplification.
• RF power amplifier: The modulated carrier is finally amplified by this stage
before being fed to the antenna. For high level modulation, the modulator output
is applied to this final RF amplifier.

Radio Wave Propagation:

Before moving into the details of radio wave propagation let us analyze the electrical
nature of the earth. Basically, the earth behaves like a leaky capacitance. The equivalent
circuit of earth is a resistance shunted by a capacitor as shown in the figure below:

So as per the equivalent circuit of the earth we can say that, electromagnetic waves of
higher frequencies are practically short circuited to earth through the capacitance. We
may therefore expect only a limited range of frequencies to pass over the surface of the
earth, without being absorbed by earth.

Once launched, the radio wave propagates to its destination, where a receiving antenna
must intercept a portion of the radiated energy. These waves can easily penetrate non-
metallic objects but are largely attenuated by metals. They travel best in free space and
require no material medium for propagation. The radio wave frequencies are divided into
various bands as shown in he table above. There are several ways depending mainly on
its frequency, by which a radio wave may travel from the transmitting antenna to the
receiving antenna.
 The above diagram shows the different methods of propagation of radio waves. We shall
describe some of the important types of propagation below:
• Ground wave: At frequencies up to approximately 2MHz, the most important
method of propagation is by ground wave. Ground waves are vertically polarized
(electric field vector E will be perpendicular to magnetic field vector H) waves
that follow the ground and can therefore follow the curvature of the earth to
propagate far beyond the horizon. Ground wave propagation is useful only at low
frequencies since high-frequency waves are largely absorbed by ground. Below
500hz, ground waves can be used for communication up to a distance of about
1500km from the transmitter. AM radio broadcasts in the medium frequency band
are meant for local area s and occur mainly by the ground wave. The ground
waves at higher frequencies are used in FM and TV and thus gets absorbed by the
earth and hence become insignificant after a few kilometers from the transmitter.
The ground wave induces charges in the earth, which travel along the earth’s
surface. This induced current will flow through the resistance of the earth and the
loss is known as dissipation loss. This energy loss in the earth depends on the
conductivity and dielectric constant of the earth. It is noted that medium wave
propagation will be very poor in marshy areas because of poor conductivity, and
is fairly good in other areas and best in river-based areas.
• Space or tropospheric wave: In space wave propagation, radio waves travel
within the first 15kms over the surface of the earth, i.e. in the troposphere. The
space wave has two components: 1) Direct or LOS wave 2) Ground reflected.
Both these component waves are shown in the figure above.
 The ground reflected wave undergoes a phase shift of 1800 at the point of
reflection. Thus, if the path length of the ground-reflected and the direct waves
differ by a wavelength, the two waves will arrive at the receiving end in opposite
phase and cancel each other. On the other hand if the path lengths differ by half a
wavelength, the wave will arrive in phase and will reinforce each other. Thus by
varying the height of the antenna, the path lengths traveled by two waves can be
changed and alternate enhancement and reduction of the signal strengths can be
obtained. This phenomenon is known as selective fading.
As the space wave does not undergo continuous absorption by the earth surface, it
can cover great range than the ground wave. FM and TV programs in the VHF
band are transmitted by direct waves with contributions from the ground-reflected
wave. Transmission in the UHF band occurs solely by the direct wave. It must be
remembered that transmission around the globe is not possible by the direct wave
since the curvature of the earth precludes a direct view of the transmitting antenna
from the receiving end. This kind of receiving area is known as Shadow Zone.
The shadow zone can however be covered owing to refraction or scattering of the
wave by earth’s atmosphere and diffraction by the roughness of the earth surface.
An increased signal in the shadow zone may also occur when the moisture content
of the air at the earth surface is very high and decreases sharply with increasing
height. The rapid decrease of the air refractive index with increasing height will
then cause the curvature of the rays moving through the atmosphere to be larger
than that of the earth. Hence the rays initially moving parallel to the earth surface
are trapped and travel around the curved surface of the earth by successive
reflection. This phenomenon is known as duct propagation.
• Sky Wave: In sky wave propagation, radio waves arrive at the receiving antenna
after reflection from the ionized layers in the earth’s upper atmosphere, called the
ionosphere. Short wave transmission around the globe takes place by sky waves
via successive reflection at the earth surface and the ionosphere as shown in the
figure below:

• The Ionosphere:
Long distance communication in the high frequency band is possible because of
refraction in a region of the upper atmosphere called ionosphere, where some of
the air molecules are ionized by solar radiation. The ionospheric layers vary in
height from 60 to 400 km above the earth surface.
The ionosphere can be divided into three regions known as D,E and F layers. The
F layer itself is divided into two parts, called F1 and F2. The level of ionization
increases with height above the earth and is greater in the daytime. At night, when
solar radiation is not received, the D and E region disappear and the F 1 and F2
layers combine into a single F layer.
The signal is returned from the ionosphere by a form of refraction. The ionized air
contains free electrons, which can move in the presence of electromagnetic
waves. The interaction is complex, but the net effect is an effective decrease in
dielectric constant, which causes the wave to bend toward the earth.