Foundations Of Amateur Radio

Foundations of Amateur Radio We think of radio as operating on a specific frequency. We select an antenna resonant on a single band. We configure the radio for that same band and then turn the dial or the VFO, or Variable Frequency Oscillator to a particular frequency within that band. All of our language is geared towards this concept of tuning, of picking out, selecting one special tuned, resonant frequency and listening to it. I've said this before, but that's not actually what's happening. Your radio is receiving all RF frequencies, all of them, all at the same time, all the time. Your antenna is better at hearing some frequencies than others, but that doesn't stop it from hearing everything at once. Your radio is getting all that RF information at the antenna connector. After that, every step along the way is removing unwanted information, first it removes all the bands you're not listening to, then the VFO selects which part of what remains to let through to the decoder and the result finally arrive