The Ionosphere

An English mathematician, Oliver Heaviside, and a U.S. electrical engineer, Arthur Edwin Kennelly, almost simultaneously predicted in 1902 that radio waves, which normally travel in straight lines, are returned to Earth when projected skyward because electrified (ionized) layers of air above the Earth (the ionosphere) reflect or refract (bend) them back to Earth, thus extending the range of a transmitter far beyond line of sight. In 1923 the suggestion was proved to be accurate when pulses of radio energy were transmitted vertically upward and returning pulses were received back from the reflecting layer. By measuring the time between the outgoing and returning pulses, it was possible to estimate the height and number of layers. Three layers can normally be distinguished at distances from 50 to about 400 kilometres (30 to 250 miles) above the Earth’s surface. The layers result from a breakdown of gas atoms into positively charged ions and free electrons caused by energy radiated from the Sun. The electrons maintain a separate existence in the lower layers for as long as the Sun’s energy is being received, and in the upper layers some can remain free throughout the hours of darkness.

The three layers are designated D, E, and F. The D layer is approximately 80 kilometres (50 miles) high and exists only during daylight hours. Because it absorbs medium frequencies and the lower frequencies of the shortwave bands, it limits the range of such stations during daylight. The E layer, about 110 kilometres (68 miles) high, maintains its reflectivity for four or five hours after the Sun sets and so extends the range of such stations to as much as 1,000 kilometres (620 miles). This layer also serves as a good reflector of shortwaves during the day and into the night, until its reflectivity drops.

Most important of the three layers is the F layer, which has considerable power to reflect the higher frequencies. During the day it often splits into two layers (F₁ and F₂) at about 200 and 400 kilometres (125 and 250 miles), but at night only one layer is generally present at a height of about 300 kilometres (190 miles).

Radio noise, fading, and interference

Any sudden discharge of electrical energy, like that of lightning, produces transient (short-duration) radio-frequency waves, which are picked up by antennas. These packets of radio-frequency energy produce the crackle heard on an amplitude-modulated radio receiver when an electrical storm is nearby and may be classed as natural noise.

Switching of high-voltage power lines can produce similar effects; the lines help to carry the noise-producing signals over long distances. Local switching of lights and electrical machinery can also produce the familiar crackle when the receiver is close to the noise-producing source. These sources are classed as man-made noise.

Generally noise of both types decreases as the frequency is increased. An exception is automobile ignition noise, which produces maximum effect in the very-high-frequency range, causing a sound in nearby loudspeakers every time a spark plug fires. Many countries have legislation requiring the suppression of man-made noise by means of filters that reduce the amount of radio-frequency energy released at the source. Metallic shielding of leads to and from the noise source curtails the radiated interference. It is also possible to install various noise-reducing devices at the input to radio receivers.

Noise is also caused by irregularities in the flow of electrons in metals, transistors, and electron tubes. This source of noise ultimately limits the maximum useful signal amplification that can be provided by a receiver. Noise due to the random movement of electrons causes a hiss in the loudspeaker. Radio noise can also be picked up from outer space as a hiss similar to random electron noise.

Fading of a signal, on the other hand, is due to variation in the propagation characteristics of the signal path or paths. This is particularly true when propagation depends on reflection from the ionosphere as it does for shortwaves. Propagation of waves in the very-high-frequency range and above, which penetrate the ionosphere, can be affected by temperature changes in the stratosphere, that part of the atmosphere up to about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the Earth’s surface. The fading effect can be greatly reduced at the receiver loudspeaker by various electronic controls, such as automatic gain control.

The phenomenon of interference occurs when an undesired signal overlaps the channel reserved for the desired signal. By interaction with the desired carrier, the undesired information may cause speech to become unintelligible. Countermeasures include narrowing the desired channel, thus losing some information but preventing overlap, and using a directional antenna to discriminate against the undesired transmission.

Radio circuitry

Components

 The basic operating principles of the major circuitry and active and passive components used in radio are described in the article electronics. In this section, only enough description is included to permit the reader to understand the applications to radio circuitry.

  Active devices: vacuum tubes and transistors

An electron tube or transistor, designated an active element, functions basically as an amplifier, and its output is essentially an amplified copy of the original input signal. The simplest amplifying electron tube is the triode, consisting of a cathode coated with material that provides a copious supply of electrons when heated, an open-mesh grid allowing electrons to pass through but controlling their flow, and a plate (anode) to collect the electrons. The plate is maintained at a positive voltage with respect to the cathode in order to attract the electrons; the grid usually has a small negative voltage so that it does not collect electrons but does control their flow to the plate. The output voltage is usually many times greater than the input voltage to the grid. The tube must be pumped to a high degree of vacuum, or the plate current flow is erratic.

Other electrodes, also in the form of open-mesh grids, may be included in the tube to perform various special functions. An example is the four-electrode tube known as the tetrode, in which an open-mesh grid (screen grid) maintained at a positive voltage is placed between plate and control grid. This reduces the effect of plate voltage on electron flow and increases the amplifying property of the tube. Introduction of a third grid, known as a suppressor grid, produces the pentode (five-electrode tube), which can provide even greater amplification.

The transistor, which has largely replaced the electron tube as the active element in low-voltage electronic circuits, is made from semiconductor materials—that is, substances that are neither good conductors nor good insulators. Two common semiconductor materials are germanium and silicon, to which small amounts of impurities such as indium, gallium, arsenic, or phosphorus are added to impart electrical charges to them. Arsenic and phosphorus, for example, provide extra negative charges, giving n-type (signifying excess negative charges) material; indium or gallium yield a shortage of electrons or an excess of positive charges or holes, giving p-type (signifying excess positive charges) material.

A transistor is a sandwich of semiconductor materials with the same impurity in the two outer layers and a different impurity in the centre layer providing current carriers of opposite charge to those produced by the outer layers.

If the outer layers are reservoirs of positively charged current carriers (p type) and the centre layer provides an excess of electrons (n type), the transistor is known as a p–n–p (positive–negative–positive carriers) type. If the p and n layers are reversed, the transistor is an n–p–n type. The two outer layers are termed the emitter and collector, and the centre layer is known as the base.

A transistor is an amplifier of current; the vacuum tube, in contrast, is an amplifier of voltage. The transistor produces an adequate supply of current carriers (electrons and holes) at room temperature and does not require a heated cathode as does the vacuum tube. Thus the power required from the power supply is much reduced, less heat is produced, and the transistors and their circuitry can be packed into a smaller container and takes up less space. Transistors are also physically much smaller than comparable electron tubes. Thus the transistorized portable radio can fit in a pocket—a distinct advantage over the cumbersome tube radio it has replaced.

In its early form the transistor was capable of amplifying only comparatively low frequencies because the exchange of electrons and positive charges across the sandwich was slow. Modern techniques however, have overcome this difficulty so that amplification up to frequencies over 1,000 megahertz is commonplace.